Letts, Ia. - Picture a classroom full of students, all with little white ear buds.

Some educators might bemoan the sight. Not Scott Grimes. He calls it the future of special education.

Grimes is the principal at Louisa-Muscatine Elementary School, the latest proving ground for the use of Apple iPods and other MP3-type players as learning tools. School officials this semester are using the devices to help students with learning disabilities take tests. “It literally came out of an ‘Aha!’ type moment that this could happen now,” Grimes said.

The trend began more than a year ago at the college level, led by professors at Duke University who made lectures and study materials available on iPods. But more K-12 educators have become convinced that the devices can help students learn everything from math and music to foreign language.

Louisa-Muscatine officials decided this year to apply the digital approach with special education students such as fourth-grader Samantha Garcia, who was asked to experiment with an iPod to take a test.

Like most young people, Samantha was already familiar with the device. She said it would be “cool” to use it in class.

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