Friday, February 21, 2014

Assistive Technology (AT) Assessment Process in the School Environment



It was interesting for me to realize how many different ways the SETT (Student, Environment, Tasks, and Tools) process can occur.  Two  ways new to me were the Consulting and Coaching models where outsiders come to work with the student and the other team members to observe and help formulate the child's AT needs.  This helps me to realize that I can ask for more input should I believe that there is something "missing" or not being considered for a students with needs.

A video (link at end) focusing on a students' needs and strengths in order to determine appropriate technology was very clear in the importance of assessing both what the student can do and what they need help with in order to successfully determine AT needs.  Too often we think about what is lacking; this video demonstrated the necessity of incorporating what they can do in order to best be matched with tools.  For instance, if they can push buttons but not hold a pencil, then you are seeing both what they can do and then you can look to determine what they need to do in their environment like generate a summary.  Finally, this website offers ideas of what kinds of technology may work and is a terrific resource also for recent research on AT: http://techmatrix.org/
 

1 comment:

  1. I agree that the way in which the "team" was used and included in the process was interesting. I wonder how districts decide to use one "team" model over the other and what factors are involved in making that decision (i.e. Time, money, resources).

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