残疾学生称赞使用人工智能的辅助技术
📖 逐句对照翻译
Assistive technology involves special equipment and computer software that is meant to help people with disabilities.
辅助技术涉及旨在帮助残疾人的特殊设备和计算机软件。
The latest assistive technology is being powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which might help many students who have difficulties with speaking, reading, writing, and working with language.
最新辅助技术正由人工智能（AI）驱动，这可能帮助许多在说、读、写和语言处理方面有困难的学生。
Although many schools are struggling with how and where to use AI, some are welcoming AI applications for students with disabilities.
尽管许多学校仍在为如何使用人工智能以及在哪里使用人工智能而苦恼，但一些学校却欢迎为残疾学生应用人工智能。
The U.S. Education Department requires schools to provide assistive technology to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a U.S. federal law.
美国教育部根据《残疾人教育法》这一美国联邦法律，要求学校为残疾学生提供辅助技术。
The Education Department has told school officials they must consider whether students need tools like text-to-speech and alternative communication devices.
教育部门已告知学校官员，他们必须考虑学生是否需要文本转语音和替代通信设备等工具。
New rules from the Department of Justice also require schools and other government organizations to make apps and online content available to people with disabilities.
司法部的新规定还要求学校和其他政府组织向残疾人提供应用程序和在线内容。
Concerns about assistive technology
对辅助技术的担忧
However, there is concern about how to make sure that students using assistive technology are still learning.
然而，人们担心如何确保使用辅助技术的学生仍在学习。
Students can use AI to organize thoughts into an outline, summarize complex reading material, or even translate the works of William Shakespeare into today’s English.
学生可以利用人工智能将思绪整理成大纲，概括复杂的阅读材料，甚至将威廉·莎士比亚的作品翻译成现代英语。
A computer can read materials aloud for students who have vision and reading problems.
计算机可以为有视觉和阅读障碍的学生大声朗读材料。
More and more, those voices produced by machine sound closer to human voices.
越来越多由机器产生的声音听起来更接近人类的声音。
Alexis Reid is an educational therapist in the Boston area who works with students with learning disabilities.
亚历克西斯·里德是波士顿地区的一位教育治疗师，专门与有学习障碍的学生打交道。
Reid said, "I'm seeing that a lot of students are kind of exploring on their own, almost feeling like they've found a cheat code in a video game."
里德说：“我发现很多学生都在自行探索，几乎感觉自己像在电子游戏里找到了作弊代码。”
But Reid said it is far from cheating: "We're meeting students where they are."
但里德表示，这远非作弊：“我们是在学生所在的地方与他们相遇。”
Ben Snyder is a 14-year-old freshman from Larchmont, New York, who was recently told he has a learning disability.
本·斯奈德是一名来自纽约州拉奇蒙特的14岁新生，最近被告知他有学习障碍。
He has been increasingly using AI to help with homework.
他越来越多地使用人工智能来帮助完成作业。
He sometimes uses AI to explain math problems.
他有时会用人工智能来解释数学题。
He likes a program called Question AI.
他喜欢一个叫Question AI的程序。
One day, he asked the program to help him write an outline for a book report.
有一天，他请这个程序帮他写一份读书报告的提纲。
He finished the work in 15 minutes.
他在15分钟内完成了工作。
Usually, it would have taken him an hour and a half to create the same outline.
通常，他需要花一个半小时才能完成同样的提纲。
But he said he would not use AI to write the report.
但他说他不会用人工智能来写报告。
"That's just cheating," Ben said.
“那只是作弊，”本说。
Paul Sanft is director of a Minnesota-based center where families can use assistive technology tools and borrow devices.
保罗·桑夫特是明尼苏达州一个中心的主任，该中心让家庭可以使用辅助技术工具并借用设备。
He knows some people will use the technology to do the work they should be doing by themselves.
他知道有些人会利用这项技术来完成本应由自己完成的工作。
“That's always going to happen," Sanft said. "But I don't think that's the biggest concern with people with disabilities, who are just trying to do something that they couldn't do before.
“这种情况总是会发生的，”桑夫特说，“但我认为，对于残疾人来说，这并不是最大的担忧，他们只是想做一些以前做不到的事情。”
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The U.S. National Science Foundation is providing financial support for AI research and development.
美国国家科学基金会正在为人工智能的研发提供资金支持。
One group receiving support is called the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education and is linked to the University of Buffalo in New York state.
其中一个获得支持的团队名为国家特殊教育人工智能研究所，它与纽约州立大学布法罗分校有关联。
It is developing tools to help children with speech and language disabilities.
它正在开发帮助有言语和语言障碍儿童的工具。
Venu Govindaraju is the director of the institute.
维努·戈文达拉朱是该研究所的所长。
He said speech-to-text technology is not as good at understanding children's voices, particularly if there is a speech problem.
他说，语音转文字技术在理解儿童声音方面表现不佳，尤其是在存在言语问题时。
He said AI technology is not good at understanding children’s handwriting either.
他还表示，人工智能技术也不擅长理解儿童的笔迹。
The case of Makenzie Gilkison
麦肯齐·吉尔基森的案例
Makenzie Gilkison had trouble spelling words.
麦肯齐·吉尔基森拼写单词有困难。
The 14-year-old from near Indianapolis, Indiana, has a condition called dyslexia.
来自印第安纳州印第安纳波利斯附近的这位14岁少年患有阅读障碍症。
It makes reading difficult.
这使阅读变得困难。
"I just assumed I was stupid," she said, thinking of her early grade school years.
“我当时只觉得自己很笨，”她说着，想起了小学低年级的时光。
Last year, Gilkison was named to the National Junior Honor Society, an organization that supports leadership and academic success among middle school students.
去年，吉尔基森被选入国家初级荣誉学会，这是一个旨在支持中学生领导力和学业成功的组织。
She said she improved her school performance by using a special AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that read for her.
她说，她通过使用一个特殊的人工智能聊天机器人、一个单词预测程序和其他为她朗读的工具，提高了她在学校的成绩。
"I would have just probably given up if I didn't have them," she said.
“如果没有他们，我可能早就放弃了，”她说。
In September, Makenzie's school system started using chatbots to help special education students in high school.
今年9月，Makenzie所在的学校系统开始使用聊天机器人来帮助高中的特殊教育学生。
She said teachers sometimes struggled to provide students with the help they needed.
她说，教师们有时难以向学生提供他们所需的帮助。
The students were happy when they heard about the program.
学生们听到这个项目时都很高兴。
Until recently, students needed to wait for someone to help them, unable to move ahead on their own.
直到最近，学生们还需要等待他人的帮助，无法自行前进。
"Now we don't need to wait anymore," she said.
“现在我们不用再等了，”她说。
I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.
我是小马里奥·里特。
And I’m Jill Robbins.
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
Heather Hollingsworth reported this story for the Associated Press.
希瑟·霍林斯沃思为美联社报道了这一故事。
Jill Robbins adapted it for Learning English.
吉尔·罗宾斯为《学习英语》改编了它。
