Contributing Author: Penny Reed

Overview

Although schools have been required to provide AT devices and services since 1990, many districts are still struggling to put in place a service delivery system that meets the needs of all their eligible students. Why are we still struggling? One answer may lie in the components of successful change in schools. In their article on effective systems change, Garmston and Wellman (1995) suggest that you must have a dual focus on developing the individual service provider's capabilities and expanding the district's capacity to provide services.

Clearly "developing the individual service provider's capabilities" involves a variety of training and staff development. But what is the district's capacity to provide services? It is the organization, procedures, and information flow that either facilitate or inhibit specific actions.

The components of the district's capacity to provide AT services include:

1. Establishing AT policy & procedures
2. Developing AT forms that guide decision making and service delivery to integrate the use of AT into existing systems
3. Addressing AT training needs
4. Providing access to AT equipment
5. Identifying AT information sources
6. Identifying sharing mechanisms

Administrative Support

What constitutes administrative support? We all know when we feel supported, but exactly what is it that creates that support. Certainly one of the most significant aspects of support is an administrator who expresses an interest in the area of concern. In this case that would be assistive technology.

Efforts to become knowledgeable about the laws related to assistive technology. So, one aspect of administrative support is having an administrator who has put forth the effort to become knowledgeable about the laws related to assistive technology and to require the special education staff to become knowledgeable also. While we wouldn't expect the administrator to know how to prescribe or operate specific devices, a supportive administrator will know the general range of assistive technology that exists for students served in the district.

Establishing clear expectations that all children with disabilities in the district are considered for AT. By stating this new policy, the administrator identifies a district-wide goal for all district staff. This statement of course, must then be supported with defined procedures, forms, training and ongoing assistance.

Allocating staff time to address assistive technology needs. A supportive administrator has designated or recruited someone to be responsible for assistive technology and gone to bat with the school board to justify designating staff time for assistive technology. In a small district that may mean shifting some caseload to another service provider. In a larger district it means developing a job description and hiring one or more full time staff to focus on acquiring assistive technology devices and training others to use them.

The funding of the assistive technology itself. There needs to be some money set aside within the special education budget to allow for the acquisition of a variety of assistive technology. Some of this may be hardware or software needed for individual students, but some of it needs to be purchased to be available throughout the district for trial use.

Hiring AT knowledgeable staff and staff training. Making it a priority to hire staff who are knowledgeable about assistive technology and to send staff to training when opportunities arise is an important component of administrative support.

AT Policy

Most school districts already have a Special Education Handbook or Policy & Procedures Manual. Each school district needs to include guidelines for providing assistive technology services and directions for accessing information and help. Wherever it is placed, there should be something that a staff member could turn to for direction if a parent requests an assessment or s specific assistive technology service. Many due process hearings or lawsuits could have been prevented if the teacher who was first asked a question by a parent had a resource to which to turn for help. School districts often look to their State Education Departments to provide guidance in the development of education programs and policies as well as to other districts that have successfully implemented AT.

Suggested AT Policies that may be included:

• Assistive Technology definitions and intent of use for students with disabilities
• School district responsibility in providing AT
• Criteria in establishing student need for AT
• Qualifications of personnel to provide AT services
• AT assessment, selection of AT devices/services and effectiveness measures
• Identification of types of AT services
• AT service reimbursement
• Funding and AT ownership identification
• Use of AT in settings outside of school building
• Transfer of AT devices between schools, school and home, preschool to elementary school, and school to adult systems
• Availability and use of accessible instructional materials
• School district responsibility for non-public schools
• Available AT technical assistance and training
• Software installation and review; copyright issues

AT Policy Guideline Examples

State AT Policy Guidance

Check to see if your state has developed such guidelines in the use of AT with students with disabilities. They may be helpful as your district develops its own AT policy and procedures manuals. The following state guidelines may be of assistance:

Connecticut Tech Act Project (CTTAP)
AT Guide to Providing Devices and Services for People with Special Needs.

Kentucky
AT Guidelines for Kentucky Schools

New York State
NYS AT Guidelines
Instructional Materials to be Provided in Alternate Formats (2002)
This amendment requires that alternate formats are available at the same time that instructional materials are available to students.

California
Special Education Assistive Technology Program

Utah
Interagency AT Implementation and Reference Guide

Technology Plans

Another place to include policies on the use of AT is within the school district's Technology Plan which identifies how the district will address the integration and use of technology into various systems.

Example: The Williamsville Central School District in Western New York has incorporated AT into their Technology Plan. Check out Appendix B in this document for their AT Rationale and Definitions.

Developing AT Policy

There are several resources available to assist in the development of more specific AT policy and procedures for an individual school district. Several areas should be considered in the development of the document.

Kentucky has developed an Assistive Technology Policy Checklist that suggests that thirteen elements should be considered when analyzing or developing school policies concerning the use of assistive technology. They can be used as general criteria to guide policy development.

The QIAT (Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology) Consortium of AT practitioners has developed a list of indicators for school districts as they strive to develop and provide quality assistive technology services aligned to federal, state and local mandates. We have provided a Working Guide to drive the process.

AT Procedure

Each school district needs to include guidelines in their Policy & Procedures Manual for providing assistive technology services and directions for accessing information and help. Wherever it is placed, there should be something that a staff member could turn to for direction if a parent requests an assessment or s specific assistive technology service. Many due process hearings or lawsuits could have been prevented if the teacher who was first asked a question by a parent had a resource to which to turn for help.

Suggested AT Procedures that may be included:

• How and when AT is considered for all students
• Referring a student for AT screening, assessment or service
• Identifying an AT device
• Trial use of a device; collecting data
• Timeline of AT assessment and device selection
• Removing AT from school property
• Inclusion of AT devices and services on the IEP

Example: Michigan's Wayne County AT Guidelines
These county guidelines are an identified and approved process for providing assistive technology for those students who are in need of such accommodations so that they may benefit from public education.

Making Assessment Accommodations

Making Assessment Accommodations: A Toolkit for Educators is a resource developed by the ASPIIRE and ILIAD IDEA Partnership Projects at CEC to help educators understand the "how-to's" and "why's" of providing accommodations for state and district-wide assessments for students with disabilities.

Using this framework of accommodations, P. Reed and P. Walser provide AT suggestions for each type of accommodation listed.

AT Forms

It is critical that a school district provide guidance to all staff in the delivery of assistive technology services. Part of that guidance should include forms that relate to the specific AT procedures described in a Policy and Procedures Manual. Classroom personnel see these forms as a continuation of AT policy; how AT is integrated into existing systems is well defined with the use of forms. If current forms and handbooks do not include AT information, then adapting existing forms or developing new forms will be a first step.

Suggested AT forms include:

• Referral form to use when an IEP member or other individual, requests an AT assessment,
• Form to guide and document the consideration of AT in the IEP meeting,
• Form(s) to guide and document the assessment of a child's need for assistive technology,
• Form to guide and document the decision-making process related to trial use of assistive technology
• Form to describe the AT Implementation Plan
• Areas on the IEP (or new forms/sections) where AT use should be documented
• AT Loan Forms

Many districts have developed their own AT forms; others use and sometimes modify those developed by AT Groups listed below.

Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative
Permission is given by WATI to change the header on any of the forms to include your organization name. You only need to retain references to WATI at the bottom of each page.

• Overall Process
  • Directions/Procedure Guide
• Information Gathering
  • AT Consideration Guide
  • Referral/Question Identification Guide
  • Student Information Guide.
  • Environmental Observation Guide
• Decision Making
  • AT Decision Making Guide
  • AT Checklist
• Trial Use
  • AT Trial Use Guide
  • AT Trial Use Summary

Georgia Project for AT Resources
This AT site provides forms including AT consideration checklists, Student background information and various Assessment protocol forms.

• Consideration Checklist & Assistive Technology Resource Guide
• Background information protocol
• Augmentative Communication Protocol
• Academic and Learning Aids Reading Protocol
• Academic and Learning Aids Written Expression Protocol
• Academic and Learning Aids Additional Academic Information Protocol
• Computer Access Protocol
• Vision Protocol
• Voice Recognition Protocol

EXTRA!!! You can view short video clips of AT listed in the GPAT Resource Guide at the Georgia's Valdosta State University website. This is an excellent source increasing awareness when considering AT.

Boston Public Schools Access Technology Center
This site provides tools to support the use of AT in public schools to identify student areas of need and to provide appropriate no/low, mid and high tech support strategies and tools for diverse learners. Forms include specific curricular examples of tools related to Student Access Map (SAM) materials:

• SAM Flow Chart
• Sam Access Maps for Reading and Writing
• Tools & Strategies to support access to standards-based learning

Training

Certainly there has been a huge need for staff development in order to help service providers develop and/or increase their knowledge of assistive technology devices and their skills in operating and utilizing specific hardware and software. But districts that focus only on staff development without attention to the components of the district's capacity to actually provide AT services will have a lot of frustrated staff members.

Training Opportunities

Training opportunities have increased dramatically in the last few years. Districts bring in AT Specialists for Staff Development Days or schedule a series of training sessions on AT. Most states have either a conference focused on assistive technology or a special education conference that includes a strand on assistive technology. For information on education/technology conferences, contact your state department of education.

There is a wealth of AT information on the Internet, including specific training on AT processes and devices. Also available is information on AT certification programs- some of which can be obtained through online courses.

It is important for school districts to provide a range of opportunities for staff to pursue AT information. Some of these opportunities are listed below.

Self-Study Book & Internet Opportunities

AOTA Self-Study series on Assistive Technology is part of their Classroom Applications for School-Based Practice. It is available from the American Occupational Therapy Association.

AT the Virtual AT University (VATU@usm.maine.edu) you can earn a certificate in AT

The Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program from Northridge, CA. Offers a combination of online and face-to-face training workshops.

The Assistive Technology Training Online Project provides a range of AT information for classroom use.

National Conferences on Assistive Technology

The THE Journal offers a full listing of all Education Technology (including AT) conferences

ATIA Conference. Sponsored by the Assistive Technology Industry Association, this conference is being held in Orlando, FL the third week in January.

Closing the Gap Conference, Minneapolis, MN, held the third week in October.

Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference sponsored by California State University Northridge (CSUN), held the third week in March in Los Angeles, CA.

TAM Conference. Annual conference on instructional and assistive technology sponsored by the Technology and Media Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. It is held in various locations throughout the United States, usually in January.

Technical Assistance

Another important need is ongoing access to technical assistance. Sometimes that technical assistance can come from the vendor, if the question is about the operation of a specific piece of hardware or software. However, there are many questions that arise that are not appropriate to ask a vendor. Questions about the many AT options that might be available to meet a specific need are not appropriate to ask a vendor. The vendor will obviously know their own products better than they know any other products and should not be asked a question that requires an unbiased answer. In addition many application questions are not appropriate to address to a vendor who may or may not be qualified to answer them.

To effectively provide support to individual teachers and therapists providing assistive technology services, there needs to be a designated contact person in each school building who will attempt to answer questions. If that person cannot answer the question, they will know who to forward it to within the district. Creating this tree of support and technical assistance is a key to providing appropriate and effective AT services.

These AT Contact people in each building also create an effective way to disseminate information that has the potential to reach every corner and level of the school district, no matter its size.

Access to AT Equipment

With more students with disabilities in general education classrooms, school districts must make sure that AT is available for teachers to use and try out with various students. AT tools must be available as part of classroom/school equipment that address all student functional tasks including: Written Communication, Spoken Communication, Reading, Studying and Organization, Math, Recreation and Leisure and Activities of Daily Living.

In order to integrate its use into the curriculum, service providers in schools need immediate access to an array of AT items for intervention purposes and for trial use before purchase. Two cost-effective solutions that can ensure AT availability include: AT ToolKits and AT Loan Closets as methods.

AT Toolkits

Edyburn & Gardner (1998) have advanced the concept of AT ToolKits as one means of identifying and validating the core AT tools and strategies that enhance the use of AT as an intervention. Included in the AT Toolkits are basic, easy-to-use AT items that are responsive to curricular activities and that need minimal time to set up or learn. With an AT ToolKit of devices immediately available for teachers to consider, the outcomes may result in :

• Improved participation of more students
• Increase in IEP team knowledge of potential of AT tools
• More frequent consideration of AT tools as solutions
• Increased interest in new AT solutions that may better meet the needs of the student
• Additional student information for a more specific device feature match

The Toolkit items should be organized according to the student task at hand (i.e. writing, reading, organization, etc.) to make their use more pertinent to the teacher.

AT Loan Closets

Access to a wide range of AT to use for extended assessment or trial periods is critical to the success of AT services in school districts. No piece of equipment or software should be purchased for permanent use until its appropriateness and effectiveness have been documented by trial use. The only way to improve on the AT abandonment rate of over 70% (Gavin & Scherer, 1995) is to prove that the child is willing and able to use it in the learning environment before it is purchased and that the IEP team agrees on its potential.

A large district will want, and need, their own AT Loan Closet with an adequate inventory of AT devices. Smaller districts will find it more cost efficient to participate in a collaborative effort with other districts. In many states there are statewide or regional lending libraries that make it possible for even the smallest rural school districts to have access to a wide range of assistive technology to try out. As a beginning, a district will want to acquire or obtain access to a variety of items to address each of the functional areas mentioned above.

For any loan system, be sure to include a Sign Out sheet that requires information on the student task that the AT device is being used for. Loan procedures, such as length of loan, sign out and return requirement, should be clearly defined.

References

Edyburn, D.L. , & Gardner, J.E. (1998). The use of technology to enhance professional productivity. In J. Lindsey (Ed.), Computers and Exceptional Individuals, 3rd ed., Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

Fennema-Jansen, S. & Edyburn, D.L. (October, 1998). Essential tools of the trade: An occupational therapist shares her toolkit. Closing the Gap.

Gavin, J.C. & Scherer, M.J. (1996). Evaluating, Selecting and Using Appropriate Assistive Technology. Gaithersberg, MD: Aspen Publishers, Inc.

Kaplan, M. & Edyburn, D.L. (August, 1998). Essential tools of the trade: An assistive technology specialist shares her toolkit. Closing the Gap.

AT Information Sources

Keeping up with a rapidly changing field like assistive technology is a challenge. In order to do so, school staff must have access to a variety of current and relevant resource materials. While not everyone needs to read all of these, as many as possible should be available so that individuals can access them as needed. Subscribing to several and keeping them in a central location can make it easier to keep current in this rapidly changing field.

Here are links to some of our favorite AT journals, newsletters, books, manuals, videos, CDs, and web sites.

Journals/Newsletters
Professional and popular journals and periodicals on the use of technology in education

Resource Materials
Several resources for AT guides for planning and using AT in schools

Catalogs
Catalogs and contact numbers of popular AT devices for students; a "must" for AT Resource Rooms.

Videos
A list of AT videos for all ages compiled by Al Cavalier

Software Resources
Software packages to help with AT device and software feature match for students and other teacher tools.

Books
A list of AT publications, both classic and current on the use of AT in schools.

Sharing AT Information

The diversity within the field of assistive technology and the rate at which information changes makes it absolutely necessary that there be a vehicle for sharing information within the district. This could be a newsletter (in either electronic or hard copy format), a column or section within an existing newsletter, a web site, an electronic bulletin board, a corner within each staff lounge, a time slot at staff meetings, or any other vehicle that can be effectively used to disseminate information.

Newsletters

When creating a newsletter, it is important to keep it short. If something is too long and complicated, it goes on that "stack" on the desk. (The one that you are going to get to later!) One piece of paper (two pages, front and back) is the best length if we want something to be read immediately. Many school districts are effectively using a monthly newsletter to keep their teachers informed and interested in assistive technology. Other districts have found it effective to include assistive technology in an already existing newsletter. This may make it inexpensive to disseminate information, as the budget for the newsletter is already there.

• In Janesville, Wisconsin, Kathy White, AT Coordinator, has been creating newsletters on different uses of assistive technology for three years to disseminate information throughout her district. They are now on a central website, making her newsletters, fact sheets, and assessment forms are all easy to find.
  • Software for Literacy
  • Using the Internet to Encourage Reading

• Milwaukee Public School's Assistive Technology Program and the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative publish a newsletter six times during the school year. It includes information about new technology, ideas for implementation, new web sites, lists of training opportunities, and other information related to assistive technology.

• Direction: Technology in Special Education Newsletter
  DREAMMS for Kids

• IntelliWorld:
  A free e-mail newsletter for the IntelliTools' global family of special education professionals, teachers and parents.

• Tapping Technology Newsletter
  Maryland Technology Assistance Program

• T.R.E.A.T. Resources (Technology Resources for Education Center Assistive Technology) Albany, NY
  

Professional Groups

It is important for individuals who are striving to learn more about assistive technology to be connected to others with the same interests and goals. Collegial support is a key ingredient for success in any endeavor. It is especially important as individuals work to increase their use of various software and hardware. In large school districts it may be necessary to connect teachers and therapists from throughout the district who share common interests or who are working to apply assistive technology with similar populations. In smaller districts a collegial network must be established across districts. In many areas interested persons meet on a county or regional basis. Attending a meeting on a regular basis that is focused on applications of assistive technology helps the teacher or therapist gain much needed information about the technology itself. Perhaps even more important, it creates a network of individuals who know each other and are comfortable calling or emailing each other to ask questions and explore ideas.

In many states professional organizations help to create these networks of support. Several professional associations exist in the areas of augmentative communication, computer access, rehabilitation, and general disability issues. Each of these national organizations has branches or subdivisions in many states. You can find out more about them by visiting their websites.

American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)
4720 Montgomery Lane
Bethesda, MD 20824
(301) 652-2682
Fax: (301) 652-7711

AOTA is a nationwide organization of occupational therapy professionals. Membership includes a special interest section on technology.

ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association)
10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 897-5700
(800) 498-2071
Fax: (301) 571-0457

National association of professionals working in speech, language, and hearing fields. Membership includes many specialists in augmentative communication.

Council for Exceptional Children: Technology & Media Division
1920 Association Drive
Reston, VA 22091-1589
(888) CEC-SPED
Fax: 703-264-9494

The Technology and Media Division of the national association of special education teachers, university faculty, researchers and administrators, focuses on the technology needs of students with disabilities. Publishes "Journal of Special Education Technology".

United States Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (USSAAC)
P.O. Box 5271
Evanston, IL 60204-5271
(847 869-2122
Fax: (847 869-2161

The purpose of USSAAC is to bring together individuals who are committed to providing augmentative + alternative communication for people with disabilities.