Making it Work: Implementation of Assistive Technology Recommendations

There are often complaints that when is it recommended that a student uses assistive technology in the classroom, it fails to get implemented. There must be many details addressed in order to the assistive technology implementation to be effective. In this post we will look at two resources provided in the text, “Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experience of Students with Disabilities” to assist you in developing implementation plans.

Resource 1: Effective Implementation of AssistiveTechnology Guide as provided by Special Education Technology of BritishColumbia

This guide is a seven part file that was designed to provide educators with a guide for successfully implementing a wide variety of assistive technologies with students with special needs.  A comprehensive implementation plan and samples of specific tools are included in this resource. I liked how the guide began at the gathering information part of the process and brought you all the way to planning transition for the student. This is a great resource to refer to or keep in your “assistive technology” binder or file folder.

After viewing the guide I explored this website a little further and actually found great links to accessible books and boardmaker resources. This website contained so much useful information!

Resource 2: TexasAssistive Technology Network: Assistive Technology Implementation Module

This resource is a module which was created for people who are or will be involved in assistive technology decision making or implementation. As outlined on the website the objectives of the module were as follows:

Participants will learn:

·         The purposes and results of assistive technology

·         The big ideas in assistive technology implementation

·         How to plan for assistive technology implementation

·         Evaluating the effectiveness of assistive technology implementation

This module was very thorough and reviewed quite a few of topics I have touched on in my previous posts such as the SETT framework and QIAT (Quality Indicators of Assistive Technology). I found the PowerPoint presentation and the TIPS blank template to be the most useful resources provided in this module. The PowerPoint would easily inform or remind the viewer of the many processes of implementing AT for a student. The TIPS template was a great resource for me to keep on hand to make sure that implementation of AT is successful and that monitoring of the effectiveness of the AT continues.