Assistive Technology Team
Heather Sanderson
Eastern Connecticut State University
Assistive/Adaptive Technology EDU612
August 13th, 2018
My school has an extensive team of professionals trained in assistive technology available to help students and teachers. I will go through the assistive technology members and how they help the students they work with. I will also identify some strengths and weaknesses of how our team works, as well as my role in the process.
The first person I think of when assistive technology is mentioned at my school is a woman who is a speech and language pathologist in our district but is also an adaptive technology specialist. She travels around the district and pulls students who need one to one training with the adaptive technology they are using. At their training sessions she makes sure the student is able to use the technology on their own and answers any questions they may have. She will arrange more training sessions with the student if they are having difficulty with the technology. She will also meet with teachers when they specifically ask her for guidance. She has a website which posts an AT tip of the week throughout the school year which is a fun and informational resource for teachers and parents who work with her.
We have a second speech and language pathologist that is an assistive technology specialist who travels around the district on Fridays to support teachers and students with assistive technology needs. This woman’s role is very similar to our adaptive technology specialist, except she only does this training only once a week.
Each school in our district has a speech and language pathologist to work with students who need help is this area. Our speech and language pathologists are very knowledgeable on assistive technology that is available on the iPad. Every student in our district from K-12 is issued an iPad. The iPads are a great resource for students who need assistive technology in speech or language. Our speech and language pathologists meet with students regularly based on what their IEP requires. During these meetings they often go over iPad apps that students should use to assist them in their learning. Our speech and language pathologists also provide a list of apps on their website that students can use as a resource.
Next we have the occupational therapist. Each school in our district works with a designated occupational therapist who meets individually with students based on their IEP guidelines. The occupational therapist works with assistive technology for students who need more physical support such as a special pencil grip for writing or modified desk for wheelchair accessibility. The occupational therapist makes sure the student knows how to use their assistive technology and will watch them use it to make sure they are being supported properly. The occupational therapist is available to both the student and their teachers if there are any concerns or questions.
At my school we also have a staff of three full time technology professionals. Each school in our district has their own technology team to oversee all technology at the school such as the Wi-Fi, the SMART Boards, and especially the one to one iPads. While these professionals are not trained specifically in assistive technology they do have quite a bit of knowledge in that area and when one of my students is having any difficulty with their assistive technology on their iPads, I will send them to our tech department and they almost always can solve the problem.
Our school also has special education teachers who are very well trained in assistive technology. At our school we have about 500 students per grade grouped into 4 teams. Each team of about 125 students has a math, science, history, English, foreign language, and if they have an IEP, they also have a special education teacher. This team of teachers works closely together with the same group of students and we have a meeting every day while our students are at electives. During this time the special education teacher will answer any questions we have on the implementation of our student’s assistive technology. She provides updates on the student’s assistive technology progress or needs. The special education teacher also works with her students in a small class setting and is able to oversee whether their assistive technology is sufficiently helping and can also answer any of the student’s questions about their assistive technology.
To oversee all of the assistive technology professionals we have an Administrator of Pupil Services, as well as a Special Education Director. Each school also has their own Special Education Supervisor. These upper level administrators make sure the assistive technology team is running smoothly and is often where the parents turn to when there are major issues with any implementation of the assistive technology.
The IEP meeting is where all of these professionals I have mentioned come together and report how the assistive technology is working, as well as give other updates on the student’s academic process. The classroom teacher is also present at these IEP meetings and this is where I often learn about the extent of the assistive technology being used. While I know about the obvious assistive technology like the FM System because I wear the microphone, I often do not know about apps that my students are using every day to assist them. One of the deficiencies of how our assistive technology team works is that the classroom teacher and the paras are often left out of the loop. The special education professionals are regularly meeting one to one with the students, training them on the assistive technology, but the classroom teachers and paras do not get trained. Also, the classroom teacher and paras are many times not informed of what assistive technology the student is using which makes us unequipped to answer the student’s questions when the assistive technology is not working properly. While all of these special education professionals are always willing to answer any questions I may have, I usually do not have a question until a problem arises and at that point I am really of no assistance to the student. I feel my school district should have more training sessions for teachers and paras on the assistive technology being used throughout the district. While there is professional development time set aside for teachers, where the school district can spend more time training us on assistive technology, I am not sure how the district can arrange for para training. The para is often the one that needs to be trained the most because they are working one to one with the student every day and they actually get the least training out of the whole staff. The paras are not required to go to IEP meetings, professional development, or after school faculty meetings because they have a different contract. Also, because paras get paid hourly, I do not think the school system would have enough money to train them after school. This is area where our school district needs to improve and has actually been a topic of conversation with many of my paras when we are struggling to figure out an assistive technology app that one of our students has a question about.
My role on the assistive technology team is to report on whether the assistive technology is sufficiently supporting the student academically. If the student is not succeeding in the classroom, I need to report to their special education teacher and any other assistive technology team member to reassess the student’s needs and come up with a plan for success. I also have to make sure the student is using their assistive technology and that the technology is working properly.
Overall the strengths of our assistive technology team are that they do a great job of getting top notch assistive technology to the students who need it, they spend a great deal of time training the student one to one on how to use the technology, and we have many professionals trained and knowledgeable about assistive technology to help students and teachers along the way. The weaknesses of our assistive technology team are that the classroom teachers and paras are often not trained in how to use the assistive technology and are not always informed on which assistive technologies the student is using, although the assistive technology professionals are always willing to help us when we specifically ask for assistance.