How to Include Assistive Technology in IEP
The Challenge: The individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) stresses
that students with disabilities should have the greatest possible access to the
general curriculum in the least restrictive environment. And the 1997
amendments to IDEA place special emphasis on using technology to achieve
that goal: They require you to consider the appropriateness of assistive
technology (AT) devices – like computers and pencil grips – and services – like
keyboarding and training – for all special ed students. So your team must
understand what AT is, know how to evaluate whether a special ed. student
needs AT, and be able to write an IEP that properly includes AT.
What the Law Says
The 1997 amendments to IDEA require that AT devices and services be
considered for all special ed. students. Your IEP team must consider whether AT
would help a student with a disability perform a learning-related task more easily
or efficiently, in the least restrictive environment, or with less help from an aide, in
order to get a free appropriate public education (FAPE). These amendments
mark a significant change in how educators view AT. AT used to be considered
exclusively in a rehabilitative context. Now, in the context of developing IEPs, AT
is considered a useful tool for expanding special ed. students’ access to the
general curriculum.
AT devices and services may be provided as special education services, related
services, or supplementary aids and services. The law defines an AT device as
“any item, piece of equipment, or product system…that is used to increase,
maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.” These
devices include commercially available, modified, or customized equipment.
Note that you’re generally not required to provide personal devices, such as
eyeglasses, hearing aids, or braces that the student would need even if she
didn’t go to school.
AT services are designed to directly assist a student with a disability in selecting,
acquiring, or using an AT device. AT services include functionally evaluating a
student, maintaining an AT device, and training the appropriate people – the
student, aide, teacher, or parent – to use an AT device.
7 Rules to Follow When Including Assistive Technology
in the IEP
Rule #1: Consider AT Evaluation When Developing IEP and Upon Parental
or Professional Request
IDEA requires the IEP team to consider a student’s need for AT when developing
the student’s IEP. You should also consider a student’s need for AT when a
consultant recommends AT or the student’s parents ask you to make an AT
evaluation – but a parental request isn’t necessary to trigger an AT evaluation.
You must conduct the AT evaluation in a timely manner to avoid legal trouble.
Once you’ve conducted an AT evaluation, you must continue to reevaluate the
student’s AT needs in all subsequent IEPs. Although AT may have been
necessary to provide the student a FAPE at one point, it may become necessary.
Rule #2: Get Parents’ Consent Before Conducting AT Evaluation
Before conducting an AT evaluation, your team should notify the student’s
parents of when you’ll be conducting it and get their consent to do so. You
should send the parents a “procedural safeguards notice” that spells out the
parents’ procedural rights under IDEA. After sending the notice, you must get
the parents’ “informed consent”. Informed consent means that your team has
fully informed the parents of all information relevant to the AT evaluation in their
native language or other mode of communication. If the student’s parents
disagree with the conclusion the IEP team reaches after the AT evaluation, they
can request an independent educational evaluation (IEE). But the parents can’t
challenge the methods the IEP team will use to conduct the evaluation before it’s
done.
Rule #3: Evaluate Whether Student Needs AT to Get FAPE
It’s important that your team use the right standard when conducting an AT
evaluation. IDEA requires you to provide AT devices, services, or both when the
student needs the AT in order to get a FAPE; you aren’t required to provide AT if
the student would only benefit from it. This determination is often a source of
conflict between the IEP team, who feels that the student doesn’t need AT
because she’s getting a FAPE without it, and parents who understandably want
their student to have every possible benefit. But remember – IDEA requires you
to provide only a FAPE to a student with a disability – not the best education
possible. If AT is only beneficial to the student but not necessary for her to get a
FAPE, a court won’t force you to provide the AT.
When conducting the AT evaluation, the IEP team should consider the following:
Inability of student to perform certain tasks or achieve certain goals. Your
team should consider whether there are tasks the student is unable to do at a
level that reflects her skills or abilities and if there are goals she hasn’t been able
to achieve.
Availability of appropriate AT. You should consider whether there’s AT
available that would help the student academically.
Results of student’s use of AT. The team should evaluate whether using a
specific type of AT helps the student perform the task more easily or efficiently, in
the least restrictive environment, or with less personal assistance.
If, after conducting a thorough AT evaluation, your IEP team determines that a
student doesn’t need AT to get a FAPE, it’s a good idea to document in the
student’s IEP your consideration and rejection of AT, even though IDEA doesn’t
require an IEP team to do so. The documentation could prove valuable if a
parent challenges the team’s AT decision.
Rule #4: Choose Appropriate AT for Student
If the IEP team decides that the student needs AT to get a FAPE, it still must
decide which AT device and/or service is appropriate. Not every IEP team can
be expected to know everything about all available AT devices and/or services.
If the IEP team doesn’t have a member qualified to determine what AT device
and/or service is appropriate for the student’s needs, the team should consult
someone who’s experienced in these matters. Recognizing the team’s limits and
seeking additional input is the IEP team’s responsibility and is required under
IDEA when considering the student’s AT needs.
You should consider simple, low-tech devices whenever possible and move on to
more complex, high-tech alternatives only if no low-tech AT device is appropriate
for the student. The team must choose AT that gives the student a FAPE, but
you’re not required to choose the newest, most expensive, and most
sophisticated AT just because that’s what the student’s parents want.
Rule #5: Include AT Evaluation in IEP
If the IEP team determines that the student needs AT to get a FAPE, and has
selected the appropriate AT device and/or service, that information must be
included in the student’s IEP.
To address the student’s AT needs, the IEP should say:
Which AT device and/or service the student needs and will use, as well as how
you’ll train the appropriate people to use the AT device.
The goal of using the AT device.
How the AT device will be used.
As long as the student’s IEP includes the above information, it doesn’t have to
specify the exact type of AT to be used.
Rule #6: Implement Use of AT in Timely Manner
Once AT devices and/or services are included in a student’s IEP, the IEP team
must implement their use in a timely manner. In other words, you must get the
AT device and train the appropriate people to use it as soon as reasonably
possible.
Rule #7: Provide Use of AT Outside School if Necessary for FAPE
IDEA says that, on a case-by-case basis, the use of school-purchased AT
devices in a student’s home or other setting is required if such access is
necessary for the student to get a FAPE. If the student’s access to the AT device
at school is sufficient to provide the student a FAPE, you aren’t required to also
provide an AT device for home use – even if that might benefit the student.
Source: IEP Team Trainer