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Assistive Technology is any technology, software, program, or tool, which supports and helps a student be successful and independent, especially in a situation where they would likely not be. It should be used in conjunction with other supports to alleviate additional challenges and allow the student to focus on the one skill (such as comprehension and removing the decoding, or creative writing and removing the spelling and grammar).
The AT should help the students and not be so complicated or difficult to learn that they actually hinder the student's learning instead. The supports should be available to everyone and used regularly in order to promote their use and limit the stigmatisms. It should also be geared to the student and their specific needs. For example, using a text-to-speech program to read higher vocabulary texts doesn't help a student who also struggles with comprehension.
Often AT is necessary for one student but will benefit many others. In education we are told over and over again that what teaching style, manipulative, assistance, etc. is necessary for one will be beneficial for all, and we should get used to implementing them into our lessons and assessments (Universal Design).
For further definitions of AT visit the following sites:
The Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee has a list of software licensed for use in Ontario schools.
The following attachments also help define AT. The first is an article created by Rob Kapetanov and shared within the Use and Knowledge of AT AQ course through the University of Windsor.
The second is the Education for All document; pages 127-130 and 137-138 address AT.
Resistence Is Futile is an article explaining how AT is necessary for students with learning disabilities and it discusses roadblocks that students and teachers run into when integrating AT and how to overcome them.
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