TRANSCRIPT - AT Assessment for TVIs

Those are not included in this definition. So we're very careful. Oops! Little behind on that one. That's all right. We're good. That's okay. We're good. Nathan. As long as we can piece the 2 together, so we don't miss that beginning part alright. So that's the distinction between educational at and medical at Idea does not support any of those medical devices. And here's the next part that is sometime missed. When it comes to some of our students. And that's the at service, and that's defined as any service that directly assists the child with disability in the selection acquisition. And use of an assistive technology device. So they go on to list in Ida. Ida. The services. Correct Deborah, the the seat dot on a bus could be considered. So they go onto list, what the services include. And this is just a partial list they include evaluation a acquiring the device, repairing and replacing the device, using therapies with the at device. So, if your device is, their device is used during speech during a during during Pt. Any of those therapies there would be training that is included in that training and technical assistance for the child and for the family, and then the third part of that is other professionals. So if you have a student who has a one on one has a a deaf, blind intervener. Their parents, their siblings, all of those folks are included in that at Servers. Now it may look different than what instruction you're giving the kid, and we'll talk about that later. We're gonna get into some specific. However, related services do not include those medical devices that we've talked about before. Those medical devices that are implanted, and then need to be optimized, such as mapping, or when they use the cochlear implants, and they go through and do all the settings to make it work for the replacement of those devices. Those are not included in services. Data collection processing and interpretation are also included in those services. So if you've got a student that you're collecting information on, then that can be considered an at service. So these definitions of a are kind of broad, and therefore almost any type of technical device or service that's related to that device can be used to address the educational needs of the student is considered a T unless it's specifically excluded which would be those medical devices the sophistication of the technology is gonna vary from child to child, from low tech or no-tech and you're like, how can no-tech be at well, that's when you add a pencil grip, or when a student is using a little room those are lower tech or light tech so following this description. Excuse me, how many of our kids think of the kids on your caseload. If we're following these descriptions, how many of our numbers should be listed as using text? I like that? Answer, please. I that answer, and Deborah, yeah. A binder, a slant table. All of those could be used. We just got our numbers for Texas. How many of our students are using tech according to our numbers? From last year we had 8,338 students on the bi registration in deaf blind of those students, 7,494 were reported as using tech. That's 92%. So 8% of our kids are listed as not using any tech whatsoever. And I suspect now I don't have the hard data on this. I suspect that it could be a misunderstanding of what tech is considered. Especially for our kiddos, who are multiply, impaired. So if you're looking at a kiddo who is multiply impaired, and you say they're not using any tech at all, I would question whether or not they are using a switch with a toy. Are they using a little room? Are they using any apps, learning, equipment whatsoever? If so, that would be considered their tech. I agree that it should be nearly to 100%. We will get into that, Alex. We're gonna go over the FBI Lma and and parts that you could use to explain. And it does not need to be acceptable. Report exactly. That's a lot that's coming that says it's a separate report. Well, we'll get into that in a minute, because it is part of our expanded core curriculum. Therefore it can be included in the fee element. Alright. So this is a little soapbox of mine. So I'm gonna ask you to be patient with me. Evaluation, versus assessments. When we're considering assistive technology, it's completed through an assessment, an assessment is defined it as a group of activities conducted to determine a child's specific needs, we would not consider at an evaluation as the evaluation is a group of activities conducted to determine a child's elegibility for special education. These words have been used interchangeably for so long that even our new books say at evaluation instead of at assessments. So you'll see them used interchangeably, but they really are not it's a fine line for some folks, but for me it's pretty clear, and I'll show you why, if we're looking at assessments it is ongoing it is positive it is individualized, and it provides, feedback. Okay? And a assessment is a living, breathing document that goes from day to day with that kiddo. And evaluation provides. Closure is judgmental. It's aied against a standard, and it shows shortfalls. Both of these give us a criteria, or have a criteria. They use measurements and are evidence driven. But you can see why they are very, very different, and to drive that part home. This is my favorite cartoon, so the purpose of an assessment is to increase quality. Where's the purpose of an evaluation? Judges? Quality, in an assessment. We're looking at. What can we provide? What can be done to increase access? What can be done to increase, improve the quality of that student's life? An evaluation is just judging that quality. This is the expectation. This is where the student is, therefore they are eligible for a service that will give them what they need to meet. That standard. Any questions on the assessment and the evaluation little bit off. But that is my viewpoint of where I come from, and it's starting to kinda take root. Okay, so those of you, not in Texas. This is our Texas model. This is the 4 step model for assistive technology. And it is our approach and our guideline to how we approach assistive technology. Within this, we can use the tools that we have available. Such as making evaluations meaningful. Or the evaluate kits. Those are I mentioned, and we're be showing a few of those, but they have sessions all of their own. Thank you, Debra, exactly, since most of you already know about those we're just gonna mention them. I have some links to some information on them, but the making evaluations meaningful, and the avails, Kit, if you don't have those, you can look into those at our Tsbi website in our store, they are handy Dandy, and great to have in your toolkit. We'll be using mostly date. Which is this form here that was developed through Region 4. When we had our T a, T and our assistive technology network and it's a combination of the set framework quiet. Standards, and I believe Waddy was influenced in this as well. So they've basically pared down those big documents in the quiet. The set and the, and made a user friendly. You see, here has the set framework. A kind of user, friendly all in one packet. If you will, for. For assessment for assisted technology. Alright, we will also use sifs, which doesn't seem to be used very often. And this is the student inventory of technology. Supports. So once you have your information, you can put it in here, and we'll go over this in a few minutes. But back to our, of course, step model. So our first step is to review evaluations and have a pleasant level of performance. Once we have those we do, our goals and objectives, and we have a list of difficult tasks, and then we consider 80. So this is done in a yearly cycle. So the at process begins with consideration. The consideration of at whether or not the student requires an 80 device, or service, and or service cause they could get both must be considered at every art. The committee for those of you not in Texas. Art is an annual review dismissal meeting can also be called an Iep meeting. Whatever your location calls it, during the development of every Iep, we need to consider a. During the initial IP development and at every revision. So as a team, there are questions that you consider each year. But this is not limited to one a year. Remember, this is a living, breathing assessment. It goes with you, and with that kiddo throughout the year a student's needs can change at any time during the assessment. For example, if your student has a progressive eye condition and they suddenly lose vision. Or a portion of their vision, their assessments may need to be looked at again, and it's not time for the yearly update. It's okay. Go back. Look at it again. Call another art. If you need to, but it's a living, breathing document for that student. So if the students currently using et, when we consider at our yearly, is it add a queue to address the the new goals and objectives? Was it adequate for the goal, old ones? If it wasn't, something, should have been addressed sooner. Does the student need a T to access the curriculum? Does the student need at to access the technology used by other students? So we're not only looking at what the student is expected to do. We're looking at what their peers are expected to do. Are. There? Are the peers expected to get on online every day and check the learning media or not. The learning media, the Lms, the. Learning management system for that school. Then they have the same expectations. Are are his friends getting on tick, Tock, or on Facebook or or Snapchats, or any of those? Social media platforms. What are they expected to do, and what are their peers doing? Cause we're looking at long term could at help the student work more independently. What are your hurdles as a team? So you're looking at? How do we get the device? How do we trial the device? Who's giving the instruction on the device. It a lot of times. It's not just us as TV eyes. And I've been guilty of this in the past. I have to do all the instruction. Well, no, there are times when we can share out that instructional piece, especially when we're looking at expanded core. Are we the best to teach, say, computers, if we're not a hundred percent sure of everything that the student needs to do on the computer, can we pair with a computer teacher for a computer class that he's required to take anyway, so I can teach the jaws portion but then we can work. Together to teach jaws in word, and we we can fit that together. During her class. So look for those teammates who are in the school in the students' day to pair up. Alright, so when we're considering we're answering one question, well, really, 3 questions is at required. Is it not required, or do we need more information? During the annual meeting? You're going to to determine that you should already have your data from your working with the students or from your assessments to be able to make that decision. But you have to document it within the paperwork. Most of the Iep software that's available. Now you've seen this. Is it required? Is it not required, or do you need more information? You see that within that document? So what do we do when it's required? Not required of more information, while consideration of the students, possible needs and services for device and services. This can't be done in the week before the meeting. Okay. It's a year-long process, because you're looking at devices. You're trailing devices. It may have started at the previous hour meeting, or if you have a student that is transferred in, and you've reviewed their paperwork, you can say I don't have enough information to make this determination, so I need more. So there are times when you just don't have the time to gather all this information. So that's when your additional assessment comes in, especially with those transfer kiddos, or they have come in from another state who maybe you don't have all of the information you need. So as part of an art committee, and you're doing the 4 step process of the Texas 4 step, we need to discuss. Is at required, is it not? And why is it not required? And why and more information is needed, and why the important part of not just checking that checkbox? We're explaining why and supporting. Because you have to have documentation saying Why, you've made that choice. Are there any questions on that or any questions so far? I know we're going kind of fast. Okay. So at is not required. After completing the 4 steps in the consideration process, remember those 4 steps. We're reviewing. We're looking at goals. We're listing difficult tasks. We're now considering it. So what do we do if we've considered it? And the Art Committee anticipates that that student will will be able to make reasonable educational progress without a devices or services? The team has the basis of determining that at is not required at this time. Remember, the decision is not. Set in stone. It can be reconsidered in the future. Whether that's a month from now or a year from now. Yeah, minimum. It needs to be considered yearly. At most I'm looking at what they're doing every time I work with them. Is it still working? Are we making good progress? Do we need to make any changes when the when the decision is made that at is not required? Best Practice Requires, documentation for the basis of that determination. So documenting the process by which you made that decision not only provides the evidence of compliance with the legal requirements. But it gives you the ability to explain to all the parties involved, whether it be administration. Other service providers. This the parent or the student. It gives you the basis to explain and have them understand why that decision was made. Does anybody have a question about at is not required? We don't have many of these. Because most of our kids need something, whether it's a line guide or a handheld magnifier using their phone as as an assistive technology device. All those things can be counted. Alright. So many districts have included the documentation for 80 consideration in their Iep forms. Yes. Deborah, calculator that one gets a little sticky. We've had that back and forth as a as a discussion. So I would love to discuss that one. If the calculator is absolutely needed for them to make progress. You can consider it as an at. It is a specialized calculator. If it is provided to everyone in the class that is considered instructional technology. And that's where things get a little bit uncar. Because if all of the students are providing it, provided it is an instructional technology, if there is something special about that device. That we have adjusted. Agreed that it's required for everybody in high school. So it's no longer an at unless we're adding accessibility features to it. Then it would be considered a that's when it moves from the instructional technology to the assistive technology is, if it was specialized and customized for the use of that student. Great great comment. Thank you. Yes, like the talking calculator. So where were we? Okay? If you have at our Iep forms that don't include considering at then the district where or whoever is handling your iep paperwork needs designated consistent place where that should be selected, and stated whether in the notes or in the deliberations and wording should make it clear that at has been thoroughly considered by the A by the art committee, and be sure that it's includes the evidence to support that decision. Now I'm gonna give some examples of documenting not required at this time. I don't want this copy pasted on to Iep documentation. These are just examples of how you can word these specific. Items. So documentation in the Iep that the Iep Committee is decided and has the evidence that no tech is needed at this time. The Iep team anticipates that the student will be able to participate in the educational program. A accomplish their expected goals and make reasonable progress toward mastery of Iep goals and objectives with Tip typically available supports and services. So you can see why we don't see this one as often because of that typically available supports and services, because even if an instructional technology is used, more than likely something is going to have to be added for our students to access it so whether it's voice to text text voice like jaws chrome box, voice over, etc. A typing assistant. All of those things can be added to typically available supports. But then they become assistive technology, because we've added those features and those features are what's important when it comes to our assessment, because we are looking at what features of the device supports the student. So onto the next choice. The next choice is at is required. So after we've done our consideration, our second conclusion is that this kid own needs some A T. So once this decision is reached, the Art committee anticipates the student is not able to make reasonable progress, and that they need those supports or devices. So! Let's look at some examples in the first instance. A review indicated that the students present levels of academic achievement and functional performance. Were reached with the use of at already following the development of new goals. The Art Committee finds that the same technology will provide the needed and adequate support for working toward mastery of those goals. So a T has been successful, it continues to be successful to meet these goals we don't have to make any adjustments or changes. In the second instance, review of the data and the functional performance says that they are using tech tech. But. It's not 6, not a hundred percent effective. Or it's not as consistently effective as another device or an additional feature that could assist in meeting their goals. Those of you that have been around me for a bit know that I that I say not. We're not a one stop shop. One technology will not meet their needs for ever. We do not use just our computer or just our phone, or just our tablets to meet our needs throughout the day. We use a combination of devices, so as that students goals change their tech can change with them. So that's our second level there. Our third level on this slide is that we've tried the technology. It isn't working. They haven't met made good progress. We need to look at something different, so it is required. But we need something different. It's not adequate to meet their new goals. And our students can fall into any of those 3 categories. Any questions, so far. Alright. So some basic right up. If the Art Committee anticipates, the student will not be able to participate in their educational program. And make reasonable progress without the device and services. This is where we start to lay out what they need and be. We were specifically, we're specific with feature and type. Not name brands. That is very, very important. You would not want to say in an art. That this student. Needs. A 12.9 ipad pro, with apple pencil, and the good notes. App version 3.2. Okay, I'm just throwing numbers out there because I don't know what versions there are right now. What that would do in that in that r with bind the students and the school to that specific device, and that specific app forever and eternity, until you change it in the paperwork. And if they move, it would bind the student, and that next district to providing that exact device and that exact app to provide. Does that make sense for everyone? Is everyone asleep? Okay, I'm gonna continue. We name features. Okay. For example, if your student is using a tablet device, whether it's Ios or Android. We would say they're using a tablet device of this size, 12.9 or larger, 10 point or 10 inch or larger. With a note ticking app that way. If the notebook disappears and goes away as apps do. Another note app can that is similar in feature can be replaced. So you would. You would list out what features, handwriting, recognition, voice to text, features, all those things you'd list out that would allow a device or an app to be replaced. And this is where we're critical. As Tsvis. So during our lma, and that's where I was. You're welcome, Taylor, and that it that is definitely why we don't put brands and we're gonna get into features here in a minute. Feature, matching if you've heard that explanation before feature matching is what it's important. What feature of that device, or of that app? Does the student need to complete their progress or complete their assignment? Or make adequate progress. It's the feature that meets their needs. Not necessarily the device. We've had. Some folks come in and demand. I want you to buy an ipad 12.9 for my student, for my child. Well? I asked the question, then what feature of that ipad? 12.9. Are you looking for? That will meet those needs? Let's test those features and make sure that they that is the best device to meet the needs of that student. It may be, but we're going to lay it out in features. Okay, wonderful. Comment. Thank you. I'm glad you glad we could explain that for you. Okay, so in our lma. And I know this came up earlier. So here's where we're gonna address it. And if you have a question, please jump in during our lma, we're gonna establish not only the students learning media, but how they access their academics from now and potentially into the future okay, cause technology is part of our ecc that is this is where we address, how they use that technology. It does not need to be a separate reports. It can be a separate section in R. L. M. A. So it's easily jumped to, and I usually make it a header in my Lms. But it doesn't have to be a full separate report. In your art paperwork, depending on how your district documents I have made. Notes of documentation for assistive technology is included. And I put where it's included it's included in my Lma. It's included in the Ot report where we've worked together. It might be in my report and her report. It could be in part of the Comms report, because we work together. And what tech are they using while they're out on O. And M. Lessons, so it could be notated in those places, and we can say in the technology section of my FBI Lsma, we've addressed the features needed for the student. We've also addressed it in this attached checklist, and you can then put your checklist with your fe. Lemma as part of your documentation. So it does not need to be that separate report. It doesn't need to be done by an It specialist. Now, if you can get somebody who's certified in at and wants to help you out, and you have one of those in your district. Hold them into the team. They may have resources that you don't know about. One of those. We don't know what we don't know to be able to ask. So the more people on your team you can sit with during your at portion of your lma, the more robust it will be. There's parts for tech that we need to consider that we've not traditionally considered in our Lma. We've done a lot of. This is how they read when their paper is on the desk or when their paper is on a tilt. Or slant board. They need this lighting or that lighting, and we're talking about print paperwork. Okay, when it comes to digital interaction. An 18 point font on a piece of paper is going to look different at a 16 inch reading distance then it does when it's on a Microsoft word or a Google or any of those at a screen, an intermediate distance. Then it will, on a distance view, which is that 10 feet plus. So we really need to consider. And I I believe it was Michael Monroe, Dr. Monroe, who wrote wrote up some things on doing intermediate distance, evaluation in the Lma. I don't have that here, but I will post it on my website. For reference. So we need to consider that when we're assessing our students we're not only giving, they need 18 to 20 point or 20 to 24 point, whatever point we're giving them on the paper, we're looking at their lighting their Zoom and i'm not talking about Zoom software. I'm talking about what they have on their screen all ready. So is Google set at a certain zoom with a certain font on a certain size. So the student could be using 18 point fonts. But they've got Google set to a hundred 50 zoom. And they're using a 24 inch monitor. That will look different then, if they're using a 17 inch or a 14 inch computer or inch computer laptop. And are using it. 18 point fonts with a hundred 50 zoom. They're going to have to do more to that than a wider monitor they're going to have to do scrolling they're going to have to go up and down their efficiency is going to supper. So noting what size, monitor they're using what? What zoom in they're using that's native to the to the product. And what font and font sizes they're using makes the difference to have that noted in our Lms. So any question on that? Awesome penny. Thank you. Okay, so. If you have not used the Evals, Kit, it has some great checklists that reminds you of those things if the kiddos, using a molecular, a magnifier, a scanner, a keyboarding, any it tools, some computer use checklist a note, taker, visual efficiency there's some amazing checklists with guidance within this kit. That's a great place to go. Wadi has some great checklists for assistive technology that gives you some general guidelines. These are strictly checklists, but they do have some support to them. The Hawaii also has a nice little checklist. It's just a couple of pages, has good a good place to start for you. So those are some good resources. If you're beginning to look at a student or reviewing what a student is using to keep your documentation. Oh! Next! So if we're looking at 80 is required, we're looking at we're obtaining those levels. We've already talked about that. So our third. Our third is more information is needed, and so those are those kids that are transferring in. Maybe. Or we're just getting them new. And we haven't had the time to really test out and trial those new, those new devices. So we would want to say, more information is needed that we know a T is required, but we're not quite got the documentation there to prove it, and we don't have enough to make the decision that it is needed fully. We don't get these very often again. It's like, are that are transferring in. They just they. We've just got them. We don't know them yet. We need to really dig in there. This could also be a student who it has rapid changes, and we need to dig deeper. They. Maybe they've gone over the summer they had, and an accident, or they've just lost vision. Then we could come back, beginning of art and behavior, art and say, we need more information. We need to get. We need to get some things in there, and that's when your action plan would come in. And I'm gonna show you a few action plans here in a bit. So, if more information is needed, then. You're going to go to your tools for gathering data. Consideration and tool selection, and the best ones of those are set so if you've, if you've not been to choice website, she's got it here, and then here are her set documents. She does upload some of her items, so explaining, getting ready set, go! All of these are the supporting documents to her scaffold. So if we're gathering data, this is my favorite tool, because it's simple for folks to fill in. You can digitize this into a Google form and send it out to your classroom teacher, to your aid, to your Ot. To your Pt. And ask them specific questions related to these 3 areas. Your student, your environment and your task. So you're building that shared knowledge of not only the student, but the environments which they are in. You want to know what their expected to do throughout their day, and not just when they're with you are not just when they're with the math teacher or the English teacher, you wanna know what they're doing in what they're doing in Pt, what they're doing in speech in music in art in all of those classes. You can even have the parents fill this out. The. My favorite way to do this is to have it done ahead of time and meet together, and. Have everyone go through what they, what they have in their class. Because then you can brainstorm based on what everyone is finding. What I stress to my phone when we're filling this out is that it's positive we wanna keep what are writing is on these data gap on the data gathering to be positive. So it's one they can do, and we frame it in what they have difficulty doing or what they're expected to do. We want it to stay in that positive frame. Here's an example. I sent this out 2 weeks ahead of time and asked everyone on the team to fill it out, that we were going to meet in 2 weeks with the parents and the students for 1 h. I know that's hard to carve out. We did meet. For 1 h we talked about what was expected of the student. We talked about what we have tried at school, but no one had asked the parents what they were trying at home. We were struggling at school, and we were using partner guided communication. So that student was dependent on a person asking them a binary question. They weren't independently able to express themselves unless someone ask them something first. What we found out in talking to the parent, in collecting this information, and really digging into what what we wanted for him, and what tasks we wanted for him. Was that at home they had had a PC. Tablet. So it was a windows tablet that they were using a thumb switch with. And he was able to do communication using. I believe it was gum drop at the top. And he was not doing that at school. So he was interacting with family using that thumb switch and a PC. Where we were a steps behind, and doing binary questions. So, having this positive perspective of gathering information from teachers, parents, therapists, etc., we were able to move quickly forward in implementing new tech at school, that was already trialed and pro proven at at home, and went and saw that being used at home before implemented. So parents are huge benefit to this process. Set also offers you a tool selection. So if you're trying items, you're able to document that. And why you're trying those items. So what feature? Okay, before we get to this, we're gonna look at Sifs because we're running low on time, very low on time. We're not gonna be able to finish this today. Unfortunately. But I will have all of these handouts with my my talking points posted on the website. So, if you've never seen it is a feature matching website. It is secure because you have to log in, but I still name my profiles with numbers or profile. One profile to, and I attach that to my students. Paperwork you're able to look at different students like here is Math, and it will ask you questions that you that would come from the things you've gathered. So if this student has, let's say, no functional vision, we're gonna save and continue that. They have no problems organizing, so they have no vision, but they can organize their own manipulatives and manipulate those items. But they have attention with difficulty. And sustaining effort across multiple step problems. In language they, oh, is this not sharing? Are you able to see this? Okay. Good. They have difficulty, understanding, mathematical text graphs and illustrations. So there are. Kids, has no usable vision, most likely a brow user. They're having trouble with tactile graphics. They have some difficulty decoding the text. And their environment is home in the classroom. And so you go through and fill this out. And it's a very, very comprehensive question usually, and it gives you a a review of your responses. And then what I love about this is it, then gives you what you can do, what features would possibly be helpful for this student. So in the vision domain, they have no functional vision. At features not a whole lot going on there, because we know they're gonna be braille students. So understanding math concepts, adaptive seating may help because we put that they didn't. They had a hard time staying on task so adaptive. Seating could help chunking material. So here's an example of chunking instructional strategies for sustaining effort, and it gives you extructional strategies. This is just a very nice tool that can help you if you are absolutely stuck, you could input your information from your assessments and pull out a full report. So when you are finished, it gives you this nice report, including suggestions of what you can use for that student. So very helpful tool, this last thing before we go. And then we're gonna jump ahead to the closing. It's important to stress that assessment, for at is ongoing in your annual. It's just gonna be a snapshot of what is happening. Then. Decisions and considerations are not permanent. They will change over time based on the needs of that student. So we're gonna jump quite ahead. If you haven't explored the quiet indicators. I was hoping to get to that today. There are some indicators for implementation that are. Considered good practice best practice, so their quality quality indicators, as the title says. And basically at we're here to help them succeed. It's just that simple. So we have some references outside of what's been linked. All of these resources and the Lma resources for intermediate vision that I talked about earlier will be on my website. Which I'm going to link in the chat. And remember, if you can't find it, it's archived. In my live binder! Alright, so upcoming. Sorry! We're running over for a few minutes. Just stay with me upcoming next week is going to be document accessibility for math. So we're looking at producing accessible documents for jaws and braille note takers. So that's gonna be next week. And our final tea time is going to be technology for students with multiply impairments. So join us during that one that the last 2 sessions of this school year.