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Mary Sagstetter, M.A.Ed
AbleNet, Inc.
Patricia Wright, M.A.
AbleNet, Inc.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
requires that each student’s Individualized Education Plan
(IEP) consider if assistive technology is a service that needs to
be provided. As parents and educators become more aware of the
power that assistive technology can have in a child’s
educational program more children’s IEPs are containing
assistive technology equipment and services. Many school
districts are meeting the response of this service demand through
designating Assistive Technology Specialists. Assistive
Technology Specialists can have a myriad of roles. Roles and
responsibilities for the Specialist might include assessment and
equipment recommendations, ongoing direct support to a student,
staff development and the development of district-wide assistive
technology standards are just a few of the daily tasks that an
Assistive Technology Specialist might encounter. However, an
Assistive Technology Specialist can not be omnipresent nor
omniscient, support for students using assistive technology
additional support must come from other professionals involved in
the student’s education. This is particularly important for
students with severe and profound disabilities. Often students
with severe disabilities have multiple service providers who are
responsible for facilitating their education. Service providers
might include: general education teachers, special education
teachers, paraprofessionals, speech and language pathologists,
occupational therapists, physical therapists, vision specialists
to name just a few. Meyer (1987) and her colleagues noted that
many of the indicators of a quality program for students with
severe disabilities concern collaboration and interaction between
the multiple service providers.
Decentralization of service delivery is not a new concept to
special education. There is great clarity in the understanding
that there is little value in setting a goal for a child to learn
how to operate a computer and then providing instruction one-time
per week when the Assistive Technology Specialist is in the
classroom. Service delivery needs to be augmented by having all
the educators that provide support to a student be responsible
for implementing all of the educational objectives. Augmentative
and Alternative Communication services provided to students in
schools has long been a multidisciplinary activity in which
speech-language pathologists have had active roles as the
communication specialist (Buekelman & Mirenda, 1992). In
Scotland, Speech and Language Pathologists felt that in order to
increase user success the professionals supporting the equipment
needed training in more than device features. In order to have
device users achieve success training needed to include
communication strategies, social interaction skills, training
others, changing other’s attitudes and support users in
every day environments (McCall & Moodie, 1998). In a previous
survey regarding Augmentative and Alternative Communication
users, special educators identified: administrative support,
availability of teaching aides, time, training, support from
parents and support from speech and language pathologists as
critical areas in need of attention for augmentative and
alternative communication students to succeed (Soto, 1997). It is
interesting to note that speech and language pathologists and
special educators felt that critical to the success of a user
with their device was the professionals ability to train others
and the ability to change other’s attitudes. Development of
other professionals skills are clearly pivotal to the success of
augmentative and alternative communication.
Ferguson et.al (1992) determined that one of the components that
led to the success of students with severe disabilities included
in general education settings required teachers, regardless of
their official labels, to provide students with supports by
flexibly working together through the development of
relationships. The release of categorical roles is one strategy
that can lead to collaborative transdisciplinary teaming and
fluid service delivery in special education. Collaborative
transdisciplinary team members work together to solve problems
and make decisions. Problem solving involves defining the
problem, diagnosing the problem, generating alternative
strategies to address the problem, deciding on and implementing
one strategy and evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy
selected, all of these combined lead to a fluid service delivery
for students receiving special education services.
Empowerment of teachers is another strategy that has led to
success of students with severe disabilities being included in
general education settings. When teachers are empowered they have
input in restructuring school communities in respect to policy
and procedure, thereby reflecting their perspective including the
needs of individuals with severe disabilities. Teachers who are
committed to the management of school-based changes are able to
more accurately meet the needs of students with severe
disabilities, parents and the community (Cosden, 1990). It is
reasonable to assume that the information gathered from Speech
and Language Pathologists and Special Education Teachers
regarding decentralization of service delivery would be a valid
starting point for Assistive Technology Specialists.
In order to address individual and district needs Assistive
Technology Specialists have developed strategies in an attempt to
insure quality service delivery to students receiving the service
of Assistive Technology. Strategies include developing systemic
Assistive Technology teams in each school building or region with
whom the Assistive Technology Specialists directly interacts and
then those teams carryout the direct service needs. Providing an
inventory of assistive technology needs for both teachers and
students provides an additional method to insure quality service
implementation. Other Assistive Technology Specialists have
determined an appropriate starting point for teachers who are
hesitant to incorporate assistive technology in their
instruction, thus providing an excellent jumping-off point for
those teachers to garner success, feel empowered and move
forward. Blackman (1990) states that once teachers become
personally invested in strategy implementation they provide both
simple and innovative classroom interventions that are geared
toward success for individuals with severe disabilities.
This session will focus on the strategies developed by Assistive
Technology Specialists that are leading the infusion of
technology throughout their district. It is all about real people
and how they make it work.
Blackman, H. (1990). Typically Asked Questions About Inclusion.
LaGrange Area Department of Special Education.
Buekelman, D.R. & Mirenda, P. (1992) Augmentative and
Alternative communication: management of severe communication
disorders in children and adults. Baltimore: Paul H.
Brooks.
Cosden, M.A. (1990). Expanding the Role of Special Education.
Teaching Exceptional Children.
Winter 1990, pp. 4-8.
Ferguson, D.L., Meyer, G, Jeanchild, L., Juniper, L. &
Zingo, J. (1992). Figuring Out What To Do with The Grownups: How
Teachers Make Inclusion "Work" for Students with Disabilities.
The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, Vol. 17, No. 4
pp. 218-226.
McCall, F & Moodie, E. (1998). Training Staff to Support AAC
Users in Scotland: Current Status and Needs. Augmentative and
Alternative Communication, Vo. 14, No. 4, pp. 228-238.
Meyer, L.H., Eichineger, J. & Park-Lee, S. (1987). A
Validation of Program Quality Indicators in Educational Services
for Students with Severe Disabilities. The Journal of the
Association of Persons with Severe Handicaps, Vol12, No. 4, pp.
251-263.
Soto, G. (1997). Teacher Attitudes Towards Augmentative and
Alternative Communication. Augmentative and Alternative
Communication, 13(3), 186-197.
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