Assistive Technology FAQ’s and Other Tips

1. Referrals:

• Q - I have students who need Assistive Technology, how do I get what they need? – or – I have a student who needs an AT evaluation, what do I need to do?

• A – Determining which AT tools or strategies are needed for students to achieve IEP goals and make academic progress is always a collaborative team process. If your building team needs information about AT or assistance implementing technology – email me slenzo@op97.org

For more information read my previous blog post, which describes the referral and evaluation process.

To make an AT referral, download (from my handouts) “AT Referral”; send it via interoffice mail to me (Sheri Lenzo) at the Central Office.


2. Talking Text:

• Q – How do I make the computer read text out loud?

• A – First, headphones help when using this feature. On a Macintosh computer go to System Preferences > Choose Speech > Select “Text to Speech” > √ check the box next to “Speak selected text when the key is pressed”. You will be asked to assign a key combination to this function - speak text you’ve highlighted; I usually use “apple + R” (R for read).
  

• For detailed instructions, download (from handouts) “Text to Speech – Macintosh”.

3. Struggling Writers:

• Do you have struggling student's who don't like to write? Do you have students who do write but don't like to edit?
  
• Learning to use special features built into the computer and some cool editing features in Microsoft Word can make the writing process easier and more manageable for those students. If you would like to collaborate with me to teach your students the fun features that make writing easier for them, send me an email.

4. Why is your arrow so BIG?

• Make the computer cursor easier to see for students just learning to use the computer, and
  
• those with low vision.
  
• Download (from handouts) “Enlarge Cursor”.

5. Classroom Suite - Facts

• CS is not difficult to use once you get started - contact me for assistance. I can help set up a lesson and assist in the classroom or lab - as much, or as often, as needed.
  
• CS will speak letters, words, &/or sentences as students' type.
• CS has word prediction - which seems to help some very poor spellers and weak typists.
• There are many custom lessons ready to use, plus electronic books students' can have read out loud.
• I create custom lessons for teachers upon request. I've done this for Irving, Whittier, Brooks, and Holmes.
  
• General Education classrooms are using Classroom Suite too!
  

Assistive Technology Evaluations and Referrals

This information was originally posted in October 2006. To view the original article go to my Blog Archive > 2006 > October > “Overview of the Assistive Technology Evaluation”.

The procedure for considering Assistive Technology for a student is a collaborative team process. My role, as an Assistive Technology Coordinator, is to provide information and guidance to IEP teams considering AT for a student. Decisions about Assistive Technology are ultimately made by a student's team.

An Assistive Technology Evaluation is the process of determining which (if any) technology tools or strategies are needed to support or enhance student learning.

The process, in general, works as follows:

• Phase 1 - Gather information about the student related to the area(s) of concern
• Phase 2 – Brainstorm & generate ideas
• Phase 3 – Implement / test the best ideas for a period of time
  

Possible outcomes of the trial (phase 3) include:

1. The tool / strategy was successful and is recommended & implemented.
   
2. It was unsuccessful and another idea may be tried or added.
3. The team needs more time / more information to make a decision, the trial is extended.

• Phase 4 – AT Implementation & Follow-up

Assistive Technology assessment is always an ongoing process because students' need's change over time, as do the tools and technologies available.

To request my assistance with an Assistive Technology Evaluation - Go to my "Handouts" - Download "AT Referral" form - fill it out and send it to me at the Central Office.

Writing Ideas for Emergent Writers

The development of LITERACY (reading and writing) evolves through a CONTINUUM of related skills, from emergent to conventional. This process has been described many ways; one example of the writing continuum:
1. Pre writing = play with letters, scribble, pretend writing, approximate letters.

2. Emergent Exploration = drawing with writing, invented spelling, produce favorite letters, tell/retell stories with pictures and words.

3. Developing Sentences = write words, put words together - unconventional, complete sentence starters, shared writing (copy, complete word or sentence).

4. Basic Mastery = produce sentences with correct convention but errors of punctuation, spelling and grammar.
5. Developing Extended Responses = paragraphs, errors in organization & grammar, limited vocabulary, ideas better verbalized than written.
6. Writing mastery = editing skills, expanding ideas and word use, complex sentences and ideas…

Pre Writing and Emergent Exploration: In order for students to reach the developing and basic mastery levels of writing, they need to spend time in the exploration phase. Our students with multiple disabilities, and those who are averse to writing or holding a writing tool require even more time – time to play with and experiment with letters and words. Every student needs a “pencil” (this may be a computer, pointing, a switch, eye gaze, etc…) and an “alphabet” (an onscreen keyboard, paper alphabet board, AAC device, etc.) along with DAILY writing opportunities.
Here are some ideas for the Pre-writing / Emergent / Exploration phase:
1. Build background knowledge of letters: talk about letters & connect them to something students know (names, etc).

2. Have student choose letters – use a flip-book or page with the alphabet - write down the letters the student chooses, read back their writing (pronouncing as written) and discuss with them; or use a computer & open a blank Classroom Suite (or Word) document, increase the font size, and let them play with the keyboard – always print their work.

* You can do this with your non-verbal students, and students using Step-by-step switches – check with me for more information about that.

3. Give your students a topic to write about / with a picture: Such as: “Going to the Movies”. [Look at the "Handouts" on my blog - use the 'Memories From Home' handout to develop student writing topics.]

4. Typical emergent writers will produce first in an alphabetical order: aaaaaa cccccc eeeeeeee ggggggg jjjjjjj oooo pp; then move to a more variable letter placement: iszfjmwwwmosuz
Allow students to experiment this way – no need to direct students to “find the letter d”, just play with letters. Classroom Suite can be set to say each letter as it’s typed.

5. Ask your students: “What do you want to write about?”- offer choices for students who need options: “Do you want to write about your dog or your trip to Grandma’s house?”

6. Use upper case for students with visual impairments – expose students to both, but it’s harder to discriminate between lower case letters.

7. Classroom Suite Activities

• Blank document – type with Option: “speak letters” and “speak words”. If your students are writing sentences, select Option “speak words” and “speak sentences”.

• Classroom Suite Activities found in: Instructional Classrooms > Literacy > Writing o 1. Pre writing [• ABC Book • Abc song • Balls Move write • Beginning alphabet writing (use the mouse to click on letters) • Winter writing
o 2. Emergent Explore Words [• abc & word write • make 3 letter words • Snow • Sun]
o 2. Errorless Sentences [• Silly Subject Predicate • Winter is writing • Write about favorites]
o 2. Errorless Stories [• Errorless Car Story • Errorless Pizza Story]

CONTACT ME for more information about writing for students who need alternative “pencils” – I will also adapt or make new Activities in Classroom Suite to meet the needs of your classroom, curriculum, theme, or individual students.

-Sheri Lenzo

Electronic Book News From Closing The Gap:

The ABC Project:
A group of volunteers are collaborating with Accessible Book Collection to convert picture books into a switch accessible format for children with low incidence disabilities (children with physical, visual, attention, and cognitive disabilities).

If you are interested in volunteering to convert books to a switch accessible format, email Linda Bastiani (wilson.lindab@gmail.com) or Joe Rickerson (joe@accessiblebookcollection.com) to get started. For more information about this volunteer effort go to: http://accessiblebookcollection.wikispaces.com/

Resources for Electronic Books

1. Accessible Book Collection – www.accessiblebookcollection.org

District 97 has a subscription to this resource. Students who have a print disability (visual impairments and blindness, reading disabilities, and physical impairments that make it difficult or impossible to read printed books) are the only students eligible to use these books. If you would like information about using the ABC subscription, contact me.

2. BOOKSHARE
Bookshare has a new grant to fully support all schools & students (having a print disability) with free access to the Bookshare library, and free software to use the books.

With this grant they plan to add hundreds of textbooks to their library.
Schools will also be able to order textbooks from Bookshare. Here’s how it will work:

• One primary contact will be designated per district.
• Students need to be certified as eligible, due to a print disability.
• Special education teachers can certify a student as eligible.
• Books will be in DAISY format – we’ll use free software to convert the format.

Please contact me if you would like assistance using, or obtaining electronic books for your students!

Knowledge and Accessibility: Promoting Higher Ordered Thinking

This is from a presentation by: Dan Herlihy, Susan DuBuske, Pattie Rea

When we make curriculum modifications for our students, how do we maintain the content integrity and higher ordered thinking process? In other words how do we keep from diluting curriculum too much?
Bloom's Taxonomy is a helpful tool that will answer those questions; it’s a great way for teachers to gauge the type of learning and level of thinking required of students. Benjamin Bloom developed this classification of intellectual behavior related to learning, along with a team of educational psychologists, in 1956! Six levels were identified within the cognitive domain, from simple recall or recognition of facts, as the lowest level, through increasingly more complex and abstract mental levels to the highest order - creating a new idea (termed Evaluation, by Bloom).
They were originally represented on a pyramid here they are, in top down order:

• Evaluation
• Synthesis
• Analysis
• Application
  
• Comprehension
• Knowledge

How does this help teachers? By using key words and higher-order questioning when planning & modifying lessons we can establish and encourage better critical thinking, especially at the higher levels. As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" category 80% to 90% of the time. (That is the lowest level!) These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher order level of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more extensive and elaborate answer.

Bloom’s taxonomy constitutes a continuum of learning characteristics, not a sequentially acquired skill set. Therefore it is NOT necessary for a student to master a level before moving to another level, students need exposure to learning activities at all levels. This merges nicely with differentiated instruction – using a variety of instructional strategies that address diverse student needs and enhance learning for all students.

(check out my Handouts section.)
Next step, Handouts: I posted a Bloom's Taxonomy Planning Guide - use this to support lesson planning, striving for higher order thinking activities.
I also posted a Bloom's Taxonomy Polygon - with a visual overview of the Taxonomy.

I'd love to share more about this; if you are interested, please contact me.

Writing With A Personal Connection

Follow-up to yesterday’s post: here’s a writing project idea for your students. This idea relates to providing a ‘Personal connection with the Curriculum’. Request a picture or item from home that relates to a home event or story about a student, and the story details to go with it. In the “Handouts” section I’ve added something you can send home called “Memories from Home”. This would make a nice long-term (or short term) writing project for students.

In my next post I’ll talk about ways to adjust learning activities to address various levels of the thinking & learning processes, from lower order thinking to higher order thinking.

Closing the Gap - Literacy Supports for Students with Severe Disabilities

Today at Closing the Gap: I spent 8 hours learning strategies to support literacy for students with complex special needs. In addition to the notes / summary below, I have new ideas for writing activities using Classroom Suite, and incorporating AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices as a writing tool.
Teachers – email me your sight words, target vocabulary, &/or spelling words, and I’ll make them into writing activities!

Creative Expression: Supporting Literacy Skills in the Classroom for Students with Severe Disabilities Pattie King-DeBaun, Dan Herlihy October 16, 2007

Six Conditions of Learning
Pattie King-DeBaun related the following 6 conditions as the foundation for learning. I’ve added ideas for how to “Apply” these conditions in the classroom.

1. Knowledgeable Others –
The best way to learn a new skill or idea is to learn from someone who already knows. In addition to learning from knowledgeable “others”, we learn from peers, and for students with a disability that includes successful older students and adults with similar unique qualities.
• Apply – create a story, supported with photos, to illustrate how a person with unique abilities would do a task (such as painting a picture using a head stick); or film the person doing the task and show it as a movie to the student and their classmates. If painting, follow-up with a painting activity – ‘paint without using your hands’.
• This idea could be incorporated into Classroom Suite as an electronic book or movie clip.

2. Means of Communication / Interaction –
All communication, intentional or not, must be encouraged.
• Apply – Provide students with a support system for communication that contains multiple ways of communicating – this is important for students with limited verbal communication who are just learning to use a device, or as a backup to the device. A system might contain all of these and more…
o A Photo album to set topics
o Alphabet board to reinforce use of alphabet
o Word banks with core words – a 3 ring binder with communication pages organized by categories, or file folder boards
o A comment board for social remarks and feelings
o A voice output device (simple low tech to high tech)

3. Cognitive Clarity –
Learners need to know why they are doing what they are asked to do and what it will help them accomplish. Teachers must know what it is they are asking learners to do and why.
• Apply – Communication vocabulary expansion
Provide a purpose for communication. Introduce / expand a student’s use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication through training tasks. For your Open Court lesson or story of the week:

• Find 3 words on your device that describe this character
• Find 3 words that describe how you think the boy felt in the story
• Look at this picture and tell me 3 things that describe what you see

• Apply – Writing
The ultimate purpose for writing is to generate novel thoughts. This is a laborious process for AAC users. Do not expect that students should always use generative-based writing; for emerging, and early writers, provide word banks and phrases.

4. Cognitive Engagement –
Learning requires that the learner be engaged cognitively in the learning process – participation alone is insufficient.
• Apply –

• Every student needs a pencil, the ‘pencil’ will vary depending on the physical abilities of the student; it can be a computer, a word processor, an Intellikeys keyboard, a communication board, a tape recorder, or a communication device. When not using a computer you can use an alphabet board and scribe the letters.
  
• Every student needs opportunities to write – and use their “pencil”.
• Every student needs access to the alphabet - no matter what learning level they are at.
• Print all student work composed on computer – send it home, and include it in a writing portfolio. Printing immediately is highly motivating to the student, and gives them a paper copy the same way a pencil & paper would.

• Student Writing Sample –
An early writer might produce work as follows here. Mary’s assignment was to write a story. She selected a topic and wrote independently using an Intellikeys Keyboard. Her writing (translated in parentheses):
Title: Twkj t b (?)
Mom pd prtd wh m. (Mom played pretend with me.)
Ye hsded fi ed sld. (We had fish and salad.)
It ks et gd. (It was not good.)
N I wt to bd (Then I went to bed.)

5. Repetition with Variety – To learn a skill and generalize it across contexts, instruction must provide repetition of the skill in a variety of ways. Provide opportunities for students to practice using the skills they know, allow them to use their skills/knowledge in a variety of ways.
• Apply - Write for different purposes. Move beyond the same writing assignments or activities. Model and give students the opportunity to understand that writing is meaningful and serves a purpose, do not just write for writing. Use sight words and core vocabulary to:

• Compose a letter
• Re-tell a story – familiar story or own personal experience
• Relate an event
• Make Lists – shopping, things to do, things to wear in winter, etc
• Sign in
• Older students write stories for younger students
• Email & Instant message
• Journal

6. Personal connection with the Curriculum –
Learners must find enough of themselves in the curriculum that they can relate the known to the new.
Research suggests that children often use their names as a basis for their further learning in writing. When children are aware of some letters within their names, they will begin to use these letters in their writing. (Harste, Woodward, & Burke, 1984).
• Apply – Use Photo Albums for writing

• Create a record chronicling the life of the child (school activities, or home)
• Use a photo album to select a topic for writing, relate an event from a picture, or describe the picture.

• Apply – Prompt Children through Telling Stories

Elicit and support storytelling:
Teacher: “Will you tell me the story that goes with your picture?”
Student: [Silence]
T: “What’s happening?”
S: [“me”]
T: “Okay and what are you doing?”
S: [“me …park”]
T: “Oh, so does your story go, ‘One day I was at the park?’”
S: [nod - ‘yes’]
T: “What did you do next?”
S: [“play”]
T: “Oh, so you played at the park, you can write that here. Keep going. How does it end?”
S: [“Fell down, ouch”]
T: “Oh no; you can write that here. I fell down. How did you feel?”
S: [“sad”]
T: “I felt sad.”

Contact me if you would like more information or assistance with these ideas.

Tomorrow’s CTG topic: Knowledge and Accessibility: Promoting Higher Ordered Thinking and Accessible Testing Activities!

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part 1 - Considerations for Teaching and Learning

(Workshop summary- Autism Spectrum Disorders: Therapies to Consider, by Tina K. Veale, Ph.D. Eastern Illinois University; September 28, 2007)

Let’s start with the question; what is an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)? ASD is a spectrum of disorders involving social, communicative, and behavioral symptoms that manifest from neurobiological and/or genetic origins. The communication and social interaction components of ASD have the most notable impact on daily activities and relationships in all environments (school, home, community). Autism Disorder and Asperger Disorder are examples of ASD’s.

Autism Learner Characteristics:
In order to teach a child with Autism, it’s helpful to think the way a person with Autism would think. Individuals with Autism have several unique learner characteristics. These learners:
• Prefer a fast pace - when the flow of information is interrupted, mental engagement or attention is lost.
• Do not like repetition.
• Respond best to Visual Directions, auditory directions are harder to follow. Combine verbal instructions with a visual representation or gesture. For readers, write directions and highlight.
• Attend to one sensory stimulus at a time, and use only one sensory receptor (hearing, vision, touch, etc) at a time (mono channel or mono processing). Classic multi-sensory teaching is confusing to these learners.

• Present visual information first
• Add auditory next
• Demonstrate
• Use a sequential process to present information

• Respond well to encouragement, “Show me”

• Cognitive inferences are very difficult – help the learner make the inference through specific feedback: “you did this one right; this one is wrong. Lets see how you did this one; now do this one the same way”.

• Need sit well supported. Full contact with their seat (seat & back support) gives them good sensory input through their body and feet making them more ready to learn: sitting straight, legs quiet. Rifton chairs are excellent seats to accomplish this. (http://www.rifton.com/products/sitting/seatingsystem/index.html)
Learners can distract themselves with moving body parts, and not sitting up straight.
• Have an intelligence and aptitude for learning new material.
• Are detailed focused – not big picture oriented – and they may not choose the same details that the teacher is interested in.
• Are good sequential learners – doing one step at a time. They are not good simultaneous learners (process many things at same time). Language & social skills are examples of simultaneous functions while dismantling the radio is a sequential function.
• Respond to timing and rhythm
• Have good rote, phonological (sound) memory, and can file words by first sound.
• Are highly motivated to finish tasks – sequential learners.
• Are motivated to be successful – and by successful learning experiences.

Individuals with Autism Disorder experience the following challenges to learning:
• Attention deficit - impulsivity
• Can process only one stimulus at a time
• Cognitive Inflexibility. (“Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adapt cognitive processing strategies to face new and unexpected conditions in the environment. Cognitive Inflexibility occurs in situations where a person needs to be flexible in order to deal with changes in the environment, but fails to do so. An example of this inflexibility occurs when actions that have shown to be effective in previous situations are insistently carried out in new situations where they are ineffective.”) [Source: José J. Cañas, http://www.ugr.es/~ergocogn/articulos/cognitive_flexibility1.pdf. ]
• Narrow range of interests – ideational perseveration (one thought repeating)
{Strategy – help them interrupt the repeating idea sequentially – say: "you are thinking about cars" > redirect> “I need you to switch”, or > “I played with cars too, first the car zoomed, then beeped, then crashed, and finally went home – good-bye”.}
• Nonverbal messaging
• Executive function disorder – it’s difficult to plan and carry out daily routine activities.
• Emotional regulation

Asperger Disorder (AD) Learner Characteristics
Difficulty with social skills and change (or transitions) are features of AD, and individuals with AD prefer sameness & routine. They may develop obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and the individual with AD may have difficulty estimating personal body space. Individuals with AD may be overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, or may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see. It's important to know that the person with AD perceives the world very differently. Therefore, many behaviors that seem odd or unusual are due to those neurological differences and not the result of intentional rudeness or bad behavior. Individuals with Asperger Disorder also have unique learner characteristics.
These learners:
• Do NOT like a fast pace
• Are not good with time, space, amount, timing & rhythm. Awareness of the passage of time, and estimation of time are poor.
• Tend to be Disorganized - Executive function disorder – which affects the ability to complete tasks; individuals with AD may need support throughout life to stay organized.


There are several different types of therapies for children with ASD’s and Associated Conditions. In part 2, I’ll summarize those presented by Tina Veale, in “Autism Spectrum Disorders: Therapies to Consider”.

Assistive Technology and the Law

Welcome back to school. This is my first posting in a long time, I hope to publish more this year.

What are our legal obligations to provide AT? This question is raised fairly often.

• Under the reauthorized IDEA, children with disabilities, ages birth through 21, must be considered for assistive technology use if it is needed in order to receive a free and appropriate public education (FAPE). These AT devices and services must be identified by their IEP team and their use determined within the natural environment; the one in which they will use the device.

• Every IEP Team is now required to "consider" the child's need for Assistive Technology for every child in special education, as part of the new Special Factors requirement in reauthorization of IDEA:

(3) DEVELOPMENT OF IEP-
B) CONSIDERATION OF SPECIAL FACTORS-
(v) consider whether the child requires assistive technology devices and services.

• Consideration
esped: p. 37 Education Accommodations / Special Factors
Consideration is a brief process, one that can take place within every IEP meeting. In order to consider the need for assistive technology, at least one person on the IEP Team must have some knowledge about assistive technology.
When considering a child's need for AT, there are only four general conclusions that can be reached.

1). The first is that current interventions (what ever they may be) are working and nothing new is needed, including AT.

2). The second possibility is that AT is already being used (or there has been a trial with AT) so that we know that it does work. In that case the IEP Team should write the specific AT into the IEP to insure that it continues to be available for the child. When writing AT tools into an IEP, be sure to describe the AT FUNCTION rather than a brand or product name (for example, instead of the brand "AlphaSmart", indicate that a "portable word processor" is needed.)

3). The third possibility is that the IEP Team may conclude that new AT should be tried. In that case, the IEP Team will need to describe in the IEP the type of AT to be tried, including the features they think may help, such as "having the computer speak the text as the student writes".

4). Finally, the last possibility is that the IEP Team will find that they simply do not know enough to make a decision. In this case, they will need to gather more information. That could be a simple process of calling someone for help, or obtaining print or online resources to help better "consider" what AT might be useful. It could also be an indication that the child's team needs to consider a formal evaluation. In this case AT will be further evaluated before a recommendation is made.

TWO FAQ's:

Where do you write Assistive Technology tools and strategies on the IEP? In esped, go to page 41. Materials/Miscellaneous.

Who provides the AT equipment that a student needs? Each situation is different. A student's equipment will often be provided by the school district, however some students will obtain their equipment through private and personal resources.

The Top 10 Things I learned at Closing The Gap

1. I learned to make a Blog, which is fairly obvious since I’m posting this on my Blog. It’s pretty easy and I have some good information on - Blogs, Wiki’s, Podcasts, and Webcasts: New Tools for Students with Disabilities.

2. The Tango is a new Augmentative and Alternative Communication device that has changed how AAC looks and works. Designed for kids, it looks cool and prioritizes the focus of AAC to make social conversation quickly and easily accessible, while sentence construction (cleverly designed also) which takes more time and effort to generate takes a back seat.

3. Data collection – How to collect it, What to collect, How to analyze it, What to do with it.

4. Special Education Research – what does the research show? Check out this website
http://www.uwm.edu/~edyburn/what.html for a look at the top 12 research articles in 2004 and 2005.

5. For students who struggle with the process of writing: there are some simple, and easy ways to use record their answers on tests, writing ideas, and more using a microphone and Microsoft Word!

6. Students who cannot physically write or type might need more than voice recording; typing with voice (Speech Recognition or Voice Recognition) is more difficult to use, but is an option available for highly motivated students.

7. For students who struggle with reading there are many ways to access digital text that can be read on a computer screen. We have several options available in District 97.

8. Macros! Wow! This is a great tool to help students who need computer steps reduced because of physical needs, or because of memory or cognitive needs. Students can use one mouse click to automatically perform several functions in sequence, such as opening and logging into email.

9. For students with severe disabilities ask me about the “Early Literacy Engagement Progress Monitoring Checklist” (by Pati King-Debaun, M.S. CCC-SLP) as a way to collect data on literacy skills.

10. No time to make Augmentative and Alternative communication materials? Take a look at the ideas in Augmentative Resources http://www.augresources.com/

For information on any of these topics, contact me through email.

Overview of the Assistive Technology Evaluation

An Assistive Technology Evaluation is the process of determining what technology tools or strategies are needed to support or improve student learning. The AT evaluation is carried out by the student’s IEP team, which includes all special services providers (Resource teacher, OT, PT, Speech), their classroom teacher, and parents.

In a Formal AT evaluation the student's team will identify the school tasks of concern, assess the student’s abilities and needs, determine the IEP goals related to the task, identify assistive technology tools or strategies to try, obtain trial equipment, and document the effectiveness of the trial use.

Phase 1 Information gathering
The student’s IEP team meets to gather information about the student’s needs and abilities. Using the WATI Assistive Technology Consideration Guide, the team determines specific tasks, and what the student goals are for these tasks. During this phase questions which should be addressed include the specific difficulties the student is experiencing, information about challenges and needs as well as strengths, and areas in which assistive technology might be of assistance to the student.

Phase 2 Brain Storming & Idea Generating
Focusing on the specific features the student needs, the team discusses and identifies several assistive technology tools and strategies to try, then selects the best ideas to try.

Phase 3 Trial the Best Idea
The team obtains any equipment needed, determines goals (related to the students IEP) that this technology will address, the length of time for a trial (usually a minimum of 2 to 4 weeks), and begins the equipment test in specified learning environment(s). Information, or data, is collected during the trial period. At the trial review date the team reviews the results of the trial and decides the next step.

Phase 4 AT Plan in Practice
The student’s team puts the recommended assistive technology into practice, and monitors it’s effectiveness. Assistive technology assessment is an ongoing process, as the needs of students change over time.