THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN SPECIAL NEED EDUCATION CLASSROOM IN NIGERIA CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS

Abstract

Training of special need and learners with disabilities have been going on in Nigeria for decades before the wider introduction and acceptance of technology in classroom instruction. The   introduction of technology in Special Need Education classroom generated questions ranging from whether there are teachers with requisite competency in the use of technology among SNE teachers and whether there are technological devices suitable and available for teachers and SNE learners in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper seeks to among other things address the concept and classification of Special Need Education and learners with Disabilities, identify the relevance and the challenges of technology for SNE classroom instruction in Nigeria, and analyze issues around the use of technology in special need and learners with disabilities classrooms. Some highlights on the instructional guides for the classroom teachers that would make children with learning disabilities benefit maximally from the use of assistive technology tools in the classroom or out of classroom were provided. Above all, the paper observed that technological skill deficit and unavailability of devices in schools form the major setback in the use of technology for teaching SNE in Nigeria. Therefore, the authors suggests that adequate provision of devices should be made and that training and retraining of teachers, the involvement of specialist of Educational Technology in SNE teachers training and in classroom teaching should be prioritized to ensure adequate use of technology in SNE classroom.