Building Capacity Helps Everyone

Even if your district is small and you are able to support every classroom that needs assistance with technology for students in special education, it is in everyone’s best interests to build capacity on campuses. It is likely that your district will grow over time in size and AT needs. Also, the ability of technology to meet a growing number of student needs is increasing. And technology that supports students in special education also may benefit students who are not currently identified as special education students.

Having campus experts to support staff and students using assistive technology oftentimes will make the district AT lead’s job easier. Campus experts also may get AT support to students faster. And having experts on hand can build the campus' confidence in using AT. Once these support systems are established, include them in your district processes so that campus administrators and staff understand who to contact for what purpose and when to reach out to the district AT lead.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Provide training on equipment and programs to staff who support regularly on campuses, including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, teachers for the visually impaired, etc. Then, allow those staff members to be responsible for training classroom staff and students, as well as monitoring and programming equipment.
• Identify an AT lead or team on each campus that will support that campus with AT needs not met by the other experts (i.e., spreading information about AT policies, supporting IEP documentation, reporting AT issues to the district AT lead, etc.)
• Select a team of technology-savvy students who can act as peer mentors to students using AT. Students often learn best from their peers, and this arrangement provides social interaction between special education and general education students.
• Educate campuses on the difference between instructional technology and assistive technology so that classroom staff are not seeking support from the IT staff for special education needs.