FARMINGTON – Some school children may need only a simple piece of triangular rubber on a pencil to make it possible for them to write. Others may need the assistance of more advanced technology to help them communicate. But their teachers, pre-school through high school, can benefit from knowing about the variety of special materials and devices available to help their students learn.

Starting Jan. 17, a course offered at the University of Maine at Farmington will examine the range of “assistive technologies,” how to use them, where to find them and how to determine which items might serve the needs of students that teachers see in their classrooms.

Assistive Technology in Special Education” is a graduate-level course. Featuring a mix of regular classroom teachers and special education specialists, the course can provide examples of how all teachers can serve as resources for each other in support of students.

The class will meet from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 17 to May 3, in a classroom in the UMF Computer Center, corner of High and South streets.

The grad-level course is offered as part of the collaboration between UMF and the University of Southern Maine that has been serving teachers in central and western Maine for nearly two years. The course is open to anyone who has already earned a bachelor’s degree and is designed for those working with children in pre-school through high school – in schools and in day care centers and other family service centers.

The class offers an opportunity for educators in western Maine to matriculate into USM’s Master in Special Education program, taking at least six of the required USM courses at the UMF campus.

The registration period runs through Jan. 14. For more information, call UMF’s Pam Wilson, 778-7186.