Idaho Parents Unlimited, Inc.

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology is any device which helps an individual with a disability to perform tasks of daily living. There is a wide variety of assistive technology devices, from low tech, homemade aids to computers and sophisticated electronic equipment. Students who require assistive technology are those with mental or physical impairments that interfere with learning or other life functions. They may have mild learning problems like learning disabilities or they may have physical or cognitive disabilities of some degree.

Assistive technology is one of the services which can be provided in a special education program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but parents have to be knowledgeable about how to go about getting assistive technology into their children’s educational plans. Assistive technology should always be considered as an option in each IFSP or IEP.

IDEA requires that students who need special education are entitled to assistive technology when it is necessary:

• to support placement in the least restrictive environment,
• to ensure that a student benefits from his or her education, or
• to implement the goals and objectives in the student’s IEP. School districts are not required to provide all of the possible assistive devices that might be nice to have. Assistive technology is required, however, when its presence enables the student to make reasonable progress toward the goals the IEP team identifies.

Assistive technology can appear in three places in the IEP:Assistive technology can appear in three places in the IEP:

• as part of the goals and objectives
• as a supplementary aid to support placement in the least restrictive environment, such as the use of word processing, use of a calculator, use of a hand held spell checker, etc
• as a related service necessary for the student to benefit from his or her education, the student will receive training in the use of assistive equipment like an electronic communication device, a power wheelchair, or a personal computer. Assistive technology can also be a part of students’ transition planning as they move from high school into adult pursuits.

Assistive technology may be considered appropriate when it does any or all of the following things:

• Enables an individual to perform functions that can be achieved by no other means
• Enables an individual to approximate normal fluency, rate, or standards—a level of accomplishment which could not be achieved by any other means
• Provides access for participation in programs or activities which otherwise would be closed to the individual
• Increases endurance or ability to persevere and complete tasks that otherwise are too laborious to be attempted on a routine basis
• Enables an individual to concentrate on learning or employment tasks, rather than mechanical tasks
• Provides greater access to information
• Supports normal social interactions with peers and adults
• Supports participation in the least restrictive educational environment.

Section 508, an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, adopted by Congress in 1986 and amended in 1992, requires that Federal agencies’ electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. This includes Schools. There is a lot of information technology in our schools, but all too often either the hardware or the software is not truly accessible to the students or employees with disabilities who are intended to use it. Too often web content or operational educational software is not designed to be accessible. The potential for information technology to maximize independence, participation, and production of students with disabilities will only occur when parents, teachers and lab managers procure, develop and use accessible information technology.

Funding Assistive Technology

Assistance on all aspects of Assistive Technology is available through the Idaho Assistive Technology Project which is located at the Center on Disabilities and Human Development,

• 129 West Third Street, Moscow, ID 83843. Other ways to gain their assistance:
• Web site: www.educ.uidaho.edu/idatech/
• 1-800-432-8324 Toll free
• 1-208-885-3559 Phone
• 1-208-885-3628 Fax
• or by e-mail at:
• Yvonne Wright ywright@uidaho.edu
• Sue House sueh@uidaho.edu