Assistive Technology
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Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of
Assistive Technology (AT) is technology that is designed to assist people with disabilities in performing daily functions that would otherwise pose a challenge. "Assistive technology devices are items frequently used by people with functional deficits as alternative ways of performing actions, tasks, and activities." (LaPlante, p. 1) Assistive Technology can be placed into two categories: Assistive Technology Devices and Assistive Technology Services. The AT devices are the actual pieces of technology, hardware, software, etc. "The Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act provides a legal definition of assistive technology services as '…any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device'".
THE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 1998, as amended (P.L. 108-364), provides funding to support grants to states throughout the U.S. and its territories for assistive technology (AT) programs. The mission of the state AT programs is to get technology into the hands of those who need it so they can be more independent and improve functional capabilities to reach educational, life, and employment goals. [1]
Other terms that were used to refer to AT are "assistive devices, adaptive technology, tools and equipment, and aids and appliances". (LaPlante, p. 2)
The goal of AT is to help people with disabilities live their lives as independently as they can. Having this technology designed and available gives people with disabilities equal opportunities to be successful in all aspects of life.
Types of AT Devices:[2]
- Aids for Daily Living – Self help aids for use in activities such as bathing, cooking, dressing, eating, and home maintenance
- Communication Aids – Devices for people with limited or no speech including augmentative communication devices and electronic and manual communication boards.
- Educational Aids – Devices that allow people with disabilities to perform work or school-related activities. Examples are input and output devices, modified or alternate keyboards, and special software (including speech recognition software) that allow people with disabilities to use a computer.
- Mobility Aids - Devices to allow freer movement which include patient lifts, transfer aids, and all types of wheelchairs and three-wheel vehicles.
- Prosthetics and Orthotics – Artificial limbs, braces or other devices to augment, replace, or substitute for missing or non-functioning body parts.
- Sensory Aids - Devices to help people with visual or hearing disabilities such as hearing aids, low-vision aids, and telecommunication devices for the deaf.
Types of AT Services:[3]
- Evaluation of the needs of an individual with a disability, including a functional evaluation of the individual in their customary environment;
- Purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by individuals with disabilities;
- Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing of assistive technology devices;
- Coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing education and rehabilitation plans and programs;
- Training or technical assistance for an individual with disabilities, or where appropriate, the family of an individual with disabilities;
- Training or technical assistance for professionals (including individuals providing education and rehabilitation services), employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of individuals with disabilities.
Application in classrooms
Classrooms equipped with AT (assistive technology) allow students with disabilities equal opportunities to education. AT can be as simple as a teacher wearing a microphone that transmits his/her voice into a hearing device for a student who is Hard of Hearing. It can be as advanced as an "Electronic Pointing" device that is used to control the curser on a computer screen without the use of hands.
In the Preschool Education Program from Educating Exceptional Children the children are using the following types of AT in their classroom:
- Picture Communication Symbols (key vocabulary related to the book or theme of the week).
- Adapted books, used a circle time and placed in a reading corner.
- A BIGmack - a single-message communication device, programed to repeat a story's line.
- A computer with Intelikeys, Intellipics, and Overlay Maker, which is an alternative keyboard and software. [4]
For students with vision impairment, there are talking calculators available for them to perform math exercises.
Dr. Marshall Rashkind's article discussed 5 AT tools to help students with disabilities succeed in school:
AT for Listening
Certain assistive technology tools can help people who have difficulty processing and remembering spoken language. Such devices can be used in various settings (e.g., a class lecture, or a meeting with multiple speakers). Tools include tape recorders and assistive listening devices.
AT for Math
Assistive technology tools for math are designed to help people who struggle with computing, organizing, aligning, and copying math problems down on paper. With the help of visual and/or audio support, users can better set up and calculate basic math problems. Tools include talking calculators and electronic worksheets.
AT for Memory and Organization
Assistive technology tools can help a person plan, organize, and keep track of his calendar, schedule, task list, contact information, and miscellaneous notes. These tools allow him to manage, store, and retrieve such information with the help of special software and hand-held devices. Tools include personal data managers and free-form databases.
AT for Reading
There is a wide range of assistive technology tools available to help individuals who struggle with reading. While each type of tool works a little differently, all of these tools help by presenting text as speech. These tools help facilitate decoding, reading fluency, and comprehension. Tools include optical character recognition, speech synthesis, and alternative format books.
AT for Writing
There is a wide range of assistive technology tools available to help students who struggle with writing. Some of these tools help students circumvent the actual physical task of writing, while others facilitate proper spelling, punctuation, grammar, word usage, and organization. Tools include word processing programs, word prediction, speech synthesis, speech recognition, graphic organizers, spell checkers, abbreviation expansion, and alternative keyboards. [5]
Evidence of effectiveness
There are several studies that examine the effectiveness of Assistive Technology (AT). Studies examine different aspects of AT's effectiveness. The following expcerts focus on learning retention using AT, individual's perceptions about AT, AT in relation to early interventions for children birth-three.
Stinson, Elliot, Kelly, & Yufang (2009) examined learning/memory retention using Assistive Technology compared to traditional adaptive methods for students with disabilities. The study population was Hard of Hearing/Deaf High School and College students (Stinson, Elliot, Kelly, & Yufang, 2009). The study sample of 48 high school students and 48 college students viewed the same lecture; half of the sample had a sign language interpreter and half the sample had C-Print speech-to-text support service (Stinson, Elliot, Kelly, & Yufang, 2009). It was found that High School students who were Hard of Hearing/Deaf retained more information when the lecture was translated from the speech-to-text service (Stinson, Elliot, Kelly, & Yufang, 2009). However, there was no found difference in learning retention for the College student population (Stinson, Elliot, Kelly, & Yufang, 2009).
The effectiveness of AT has received attention from the federal government. Governmental mandates state that professionals should consider Assistive Technology when working with an at-risk child aged Birth-Three (Keramidas & Collins, 2009). More specifically, "the Federal Government mandates that AT be considered when a team creates an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)"(Keramidas & Collins, 2009, p.1). However, it was found that not many professionals use Assistive Technology when working with Birth-Three population(Keramidas & Collins, 2009).
It was found that AT should not be approached with a "one size fits all" mentality (Muellet, Wood, Hunt, & Specht, 2009). When working with individuals and AT, it is best to personalize AT for a person's specific needs and appropriate accommodations (Muellet, Wood, Hunt, & Specht, 2009).
There have been many studies on the effectiveness of the PECS (Picture exchange communication System)with young students who are on the ADS (Autism Disorder Spectrum). These studies have found that the PECS is able to be learned by these students and they are able to communicate much more using the system. However, some studies have shown that the PECS does not help with verbal language growth with these students. (Tien, 2008) & (Lancioni, 2007).
Critics and their rationale
There are some potential limitations of studying effectiveness of Assisstive Technology.
Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations
A significant and sometimes overlooked component to measuring AT is individual perception's to AT. This however, is harder to capture as individual perceptions cannot be systematically analyzed and a qualitative study would be best to determine if individual perceptions of AT increases or decreases effectiveness of AT. This is a potential explaination of the limitations of measruing the effectiveness of AT. The limitations of Assistive Technology could be explained when examining more in depth the psychological component of a student who use Assistive Technology. It is critical to know someone's history and their prior usage of technology. For example, it is important to know if an adult student has been introduced to computers or if they are hesitant to use new technology. This could inhibit the effectiveness of Assistive Technology.
Signed “life experiences”, testimonies and stories
A non-verbal student uses a Vangaurd Vantage Talker in the classroom and as a greeter at his job. This Talker helps him communicate and helps prevent negative attention-seeking behaviors (i.e. frustration groans and self-injurious behavior). The Talker prevents negative behaviors from taking place because this student was able to effectively communicate his needs and wants without resorting to negative attention seeking behavior. The Talker has helped this student significantly when navigating academic and work programs.
I work with a client who is Deaf and Blind. He can communicate through sign language, but also has a braille Translating machine that can be used with a seeing/hearing person. The Braille Translating machine looks like a type writer with all a keyboard but on the top has a place where this client can type and read braille. This machine is able to have my client communicate effectively with virtually anybody as a very select few know sign-language well enough to communicate this client.
A simple switch can be considered AT. Without this switch a student of mine with profound developmental delays would not be able to operate shredding paper, turning on and off lights, etc. This switch allows my student to be able to work on job tasks that would be impossible for him to do without this switch.
My wife is a special education pre-k teacher at a public school. She has had many students that have required assistive technology in some capacity. These students seem to fall into two main categories, students with severe and profound disabilities and students who fall within the spectrum of autism. She has helped to teach these students to use the assistive technology with great success and most of these students are able to drastically increase their communication ability not only with her, but with the other students as well. The assistive technology that she uses most often is the PECS (Picture exchange communication system) and a Dynavox (picture to speech communicator). J. Linnenburger
Our district seems to be quite keen on utilizing and purchasing Assistive Tech as it becomes available. A number of the schools within the district have specialized programs where students ranging from Cognitive Disabilities, Mentally Retarded, ASD students, and visually and hearing impaired students can utilize various Assistive Tech Tools. There are many of the aforementioned tools available, as well as software that reads text to students, types out what is spoken, places pictures in place of words and so on. It is always interesting to see what will come from the Assistive Tech department next. E. Bostrom
References and other links of interest
"Assistive Technology-Related Act of 1998" posted on Section 508website: www.section508.gov/
Beck, J. (2002). Emerging Literacy through Assistive Technology. Teaching Exceptional Children, 35(2), 44-48.
Collins, B. (2009, Winter2009). Riding Fences. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 28(1), 2-2. Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Early intervention products for speech, language, and swallowing. (2009, March 24). ASHA Leader, Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Lancioni, Giulio E.; O'Reilly, Mark F.; Cuvo, Anthony J.; Singh, Nirbhay N.; Sigafoos, Jeff; Didden, Robert. (2007). PECS and VOCAs to Enable Students with Developmental Disabilities to Make Requests: An Overview of the Literature. Research in Developmental Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal v28 n5 p468-488 Oct-Nov 2007.
LaPlante, M., Hendershot, G., Moss, A. (1992). Assistive Technology Devices and Home Accessibility Features: Prevalence, Payment, Need, and Trends. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1-13.
Mueller, J., Wood, E., Hunt, J., & Specht, J. (2009, Spring2009). Assessing Adult Student Reactions to Assistive Technology in Writing Instruction. Adult Basic Education & Literacy Journal, 3(1), 13-23. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
"State Assistive Technology Programs". Exceptional Parent, The. FindArticles.com. 04 May, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2827/is_1_39/ai_n31298563/
Rashkind, M., Stanberry, k. (2006, February 17). Matching Assistive Technology Tools to Individual Needs. Retrieved May 5, 2009 from, Great Schools Inc. Web site: http://www.greatschools.net/pdfs/e_guide_at.pdf?date=3-13-06&status=new
Stinson, M., Elliot, L., Kelly, R., & Liu, Y. (2009, May). Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students' Memory of Lectures With Speech-to-Text and Interpreting/Note Taking Services. Journal of Special Education, 43(1), 52-64. Retrieved May 11, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Tien, Kai-Chien. (2008). Effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System as a Functional Communication Intervention for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Practice-Based Research Synthesis. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities. v43 n1 p61-76 Mar 2008.
United Way of Connecticut: Assistive Technology. http://www.211ct.org/InformationLibrary/Documents/Assistive%20Technology%20pt.asp
