Much research has been done on the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize education. AI is increasingly making it possible to break down barriers so that no student is left behind.
This possibility is real, but only if we ensure that: all Learners benefit.
Too many students, especially those with special needs, do not make the same academic progress as other students. Digital media, on the other hand, relies heavily on visuals and text, with audio often taking a backseat and playing an increasing role in education.
For average users, this is fine in most cases. However, this is not the case for blind and deaf students, whose sensory limitations often prevent them from accessing quality education. The stakes are much higher for these students, and they are often underserved by digital media.
Therefore, developing AI-powered tools that address all learners must be a priority for policymakers, school districts, and the education technology industry.
Related: 'We need to be a little more nimble': How school districts are responding to AI
Good teaching is not a one-way street where students simply absorb information passively. For learning content to be most effective, students must be able to interact with it. However, this can be especially challenging for students with special needs who work using traditional digital interfaces.
Mice, trackpads, keyboards, and even touch screens aren't always appropriate for students' sensory and developmental abilities. AI-driven tools allow more students to interact in a natural and accessible way.
For visually impaired students
Digital classroom materials have traditionally been difficult for visually impaired students to use independently. Digital media is visual, and to widen access, developers typically have to manually code descriptive information into every interface.
These technologies often impose rigid information hierarchies that users must tab through using keys or gestures. The result is a landscape of digital experiences that are either completely inaccessible to visually impaired students or can be experienced in a way that lacks the richness of the original.
For these students, AI-powered computer vision provides solutions that scan documents, scenes, and apps and describe visual elements audibly through speech synthesis. Combined with voice recognition, it enables seamless conversational navigation without strict menus or keyboard commands.
Free tools like Ask Envision and Be My Eyes demonstrate this potential. Using only AI-enabled cameras and microphones, these apps can capture and describe what you point at, and answer subsequent questions.
These technologies have the potential to allow students with visual impairments to fully benefit from the same engaging and personalized educational technology experiences that other students have had for years.
For students with hearing impairments
In some ways, the visually oriented world of digital media is ideal for hearing-impaired students. Audio is often a secondary consideration. Especially when it becomes user readable.
When audio is required for understanding, such as in a video, the workaround most digital developers offer is text-based captioning. Unfortunately, this means that users already need to be proficient readers.
For younger learners or those who cannot read fluently or quickly, translation into sign language is the preferred solution. This is where AI comes in handy, converting speech and text into animated signs, and computer vision reading user gestures and converting them into text and commands.
Although some early developments have been made in this area, more work is needed to create a fully sign language-enabled solution.
For the youngest learners
Developmentally appropriate interaction with traditional desktop/mobile apps remains a challenge for young learners, even those without a diagnosed disability. Young children are illiterate and cannot use most text-based interfaces. Additionally, fine motor control is not fully developed, making it more difficult to use a mouse, keyboard, or trackpad.
AI voice control addresses these issues by allowing students to simply speak their requests and responses, making the interaction more natural for readers and writers. By allowing your child to simply ask for what they want and answer questions verbally, you allow your child to take a more active role in their learning.
Speech control may also allow for more reliable assessments of knowledge because there are fewer confounding variables when students do not attempt to translate their understanding into input that the computer can understand.
Computer vision can facilitate text-based interaction methods. For example, you can replace your username/password login form with a QR code. Many school systems already do this.
Computer vision can also be used to enable interaction between the physical and digital worlds. Students can complete assignments by writing, drawing, or building something from objects, and the computer can “see” and interpret the student's work.
Sometimes it is more developmentally appropriate to use physical objects to teach certain concepts. For example, having children count using real objects is often better than using digital representations. In some cases, traditional methods may be more accurate, such as practicing handwriting with a pencil and paper instead of a mouse or trackpad.
Even without physical objects, computer vision allows for the assessment of kinesthetic learning, such as calculating with fingers or clapping to indicate the syllables of a word.
related: What students say: Teachers assign us tasks that rely on memorization and then tell us not to use artificial intelligence
A major obstacle in education is that each student is unique, and we lack the tools and resources to tailor student learning to their individual strengths and needs. AI technology has the potential to bring about transformative change.
We all have a responsibility to work together and ensure that AI-powered accessibility becomes the norm rather than the exception: districts, policymakers, and the edtech industry.
We need to share knowledge and urgently advocate for policies that prioritize and fund the rapid introduction of these innovative tools to all learners. Accessibility cannot be an afterthought. It must be a top priority embedded in every program, policy and initiative.
Only through a collaborative effort can we bring the potential of accessible AI to every classroom.
Diana Hughes is Vice President of Product Innovation and AI. era of learning.
This story about AI and special needs students was produced by hechinger reporta nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.. Apply Hechinger Newsletter.