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Yes
Do you have to write down every classroom tool
used by every student with a disability?
Not necessarily. It depends on whether that student
needs that specific tool in order to accomplish the educationally
relevant tasks. The IEP team must decide this for each student.
That is what consideration is.
I try to think what I would want to know if the student moved and
enrolled in my classroom. The IEP should tell me what tools, if
any, the student needs in order to succesfully complete educational
tasks. If it doesn't do that, then our IEP team would need to "reinvent
the wheel" by starting from scratch to figure out what tools
are really critical for this student. In the mean time, for how
ever long that takes, the student experiences unnecessary frustration
and possibly the tools this student needs in order to be successful,
whether those tools are standard classroom tools in some environments
or less common tools specifically designed to be assistive technology.
What is the difference between a standard classroom
tool that is readily available and assistive technology?
Kim Hartsell, Director of the Georgia Project for Assistive Technology
explains it this way.
A standard tool is a tool that is available to and used by students
in the general education population. This may include tools such
as Alphasmarts, calculators, and computer-based word processing
applications. Special education students may also use and benefit
from these tools that are generally available. Typically the school
system would not have a legal obligation to make these tools available.
Rather they would make them available through curriculum and technology
initiatives within the school system. A standard instructional technology
tool becomes assistive technology when the IEP team determines that
the student can't accomplish the educationally relevant tasks without
it or when it is necessary for the student to accomplish IEP goals
and objectives. So, the Alphasmart that is available to all of the
students in the class becomes assistive technology when the student's
IEP team determines that he can not accomplish his writing and objectives
without it. Once documented in the IEP, the school district then
has the responsibility to provide the device to the student.
What is the difference between “AT Consideration”
and “AT Assessment”?
Consideration is short, takes place during the IEP meeting, and
involves thinking about and discussing what is already known. An
Assistive Technolgy Assessment is a seperate process that takes
place outside of the IEP meeting and involves the gathering of additional
information. Ideally it is conducted by the members of the IEP team
with the addition, if needed, of individuals with specific knowledge
about assistive technology or other identified areas.
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