Special Education Teachers' Knowledge and Use of Assistive Technology for Inclusive Classrooms in Saudi Arabi

Studies indicate that there needs to be increase knowledge and use of assistive technology for elementary special education teachers' in order to help students with disabilities accessing to learning materials and general education curriculums in inclusive setting. This study was designed to investigate the knowledge and use of assistive technology by elementary special education teachers in inclusive classrooms in Saudi Arabia. The sample of this study was 346 elementary special education teachers at The Ministry of Education from different regions in Saudi Arabia. This study is descriptive and inferential study in nature and uses quantitative method to collect and analysis data. The study found that the teachers in this study have room to improve upon their knowledge and use of assistive technology. profiles based on overall, the elementary special education teachers have lack of knowledge and use of assistive technology. According to multivariance analysis results, the assumptions for the MANOVA were met and the analysis showed only one main effect, which was age. However, this effect was small, as there was only one group difference and the effect did not hold up for the univariate between-subject's tests. Also, the result showed that, there are no differences in knowledge and use of assistive technology related to age, gender, qualifications, teaching experience, and types of disabilities. Those results will help the policy makers at The Ministry of Education to understanding the state of knowledge and use of assistive technology to establish the level at which special education teachers are ready to adopt and implement the use of the assistive technology in their teaching exercises. In conclusion, The Ministry of Education should establish professional development programs for special education teachers and there are some recommendations for practices in this study to develop elementary special education teachers' knowledge and use of assistive technology.