TRANSCRIPT
AT Assessment to Implementation
8-25-25

>>Donna: Today we're going to talk about AT and from the assessment to the IEP. And how the assessment needs to connect to the IEP process. So often often AT is considered separately when really it should be embedded into the planning for the students' success. So my goal is to give you some practical tools and strategies So that you can move from the assessment results to clear IEP goals and services. So the QIAT, Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology consider the cycle of AT needs, documenting AT in the IEP, implementation, evaluation of effectiveness of the AT. Transition, administrative support, and professional development. Think of these as the benchmarks. This would be where we would want to be as a system so our students have AT needs met consistently and effectively. What's great about these indicators is they give you examples of what to do and what not to do, our common mistakes and errors. Our Texas 4 step fits right into the indicators around indicator 7. So the first thing we do is we do our assessment. We have our functional vision and Learning Media Assessment. And we occasionally have an AT assessment on the side. But what do we do with that once we get the data? So after the assessment, the challenge is interpreting the data And then picking the tools or devices based on what the data tells us, and not just what's the shiny new tech, which a lot of times we do here. This is the new thing. This is what the vendors are talking about and this is what we want and does it really fit. So it's looking at those items. Every recommendation needs to be tied back to the student's needs, their abilities, and their environment. And the data helps us to justify our choices. It gives us that roadmap for teaching the students and evaluating their progress. Some oldies but goodies, the SETT framework is one of our most reliable tools. We're going to look at that here. There it is. It's still available, even though her site is under construction, our SETT framework is still available on her site, on the Zabala site. It stands for -- SETT stands for student environment tasks and then tools. We start with the student, their strengths, needs, preferences. And then we look at their environment. That's their classroom, their home, and their communities. Then the tasks that the student and their peers that are surrounding them need to accomplish. Only then do we consider the tool. We have another tool, if we're looking at our items here, called SIFT by Ocali. It is a wonderful little tool that you will set up. It's password protected but I still use initials and such for my students. But it is password protected so you can save your reports. That prompts you using questions and you answer those and then it helps you aggregate the information from your FIE LMA. Once those prompts are finished it generates a report for you. Let's take a look at that. I've already answered one for time purposes. So we're going to pull up my archive. Of course it doesn't work today. I just practiced this with Kaycee. I had it up so we could get it to work. And, of course... it's not working. There we go. Once you answer all of the questions, you will get a digital report that gives you an idea of what is available and, in some cases, pictures of what those devices are. So like on this it said a mouse cursor could assist the student. It tells you what those are, what that means, and gives you pictures. And in some cases movies of what a mouse cursor pointer looks like. So that you can help to adjust. So this is a video on the cursor location of Windows OS. We are not going to play that. But it's a nice report for you to look at. What they do in the next step is they have a downloadable PDF version of that same report. So then you're able to download and print that. Now, this is a tool to assist you in picking. It is not a recommendation or an ARD paperwork or anything like that. This is just to help you if you get stuck and say, okay, we're having a hard time with this. What tools are out there that we can get suggestions on? So SIFTS. Great tool. Again, free, easy to set up, wonderful to use. The next is our Michigan AT guidelines. A great documentation and checklist to help you focus keeping your students' tech skills appropriate for their age. You might have guessed it we start AT much younger than we used to but it's difficult to tell what's appropriate and what's the appropriate use requirements for that age level. These guidelines can help you with that. So let's pull up the Michigan assistive technology guideline. This one is for preschool and kindergarten. These documents you can download for free. They have an editable, so you can save them, and they will grow with your student. So if you have a student that is in pre-K now, you can document what that student has done. Have they achieved this item, this skill. And any notes on equipment or adaptations they used for gaining that skill. I love this column right here. Activities for the teacher to aid the student in getting that skill or acquiring that skill. So you don't have to start from scratch. You'll notice that some of the language is a little bit older. We don't typically call our digital assistants PDAs anymore. Personal digital assistants. But the items are still good. So this is a wonderful way to document where your student is and being able to identify. Now if we look at the actual guidelines, they break them down by grade level. So you have pre-K, kinder, first, second, third, fourth, six through eight and nine through 12. And they're in the same format so you're able to check through and see where your students are. Just a very good tool. And I refer to it quite often. Yeah, Kaycee, I love a good chart too. Especially an editable chart that I'm able to keep living with my student. That is the best for me, anyway. So our decision guides and more. Once we have all the information and we start aggregating, then we have to make a decision. When we're deciding on AT, it's not just a one-step process. Decisions follow a sequence. We gather the data, identify the needs, match those needs with possible tools, trial those tools, and then decide what goes into the IEP. We don't want to skip a bunch of steps because then we risk tech abandonment. That device sitting on a shelf or not being used efficiently or effectively. So things like a decision guide, which this is a lovely -- another checklist that I adore. This one came from the Forsythe County schools. I was just telling Kaycee I can't find these online anymore, so if you would like a copy of this to adapt for yourself, let me know and we can get them to you. I guard my downloads very, very carefully because this is the last copy that I can find. So when it comes to magnifiers and magnification systems, there's so many options. We have our low-tech, our hand-held or our dome magnifier. And we go from there. We have hand-held digital magnifiers, desktop magnifiers, portables, lugables, from pocket size to full page to really large desktop size. Some have extra features like color contrast, lighting, text to speech. Data collection here is critical. We need to know what features matter for this student and in which settings. So decision guides can really help you narrow down the options so you don't overwhelm the family or the team or the student. This is linked in your handouts. If it doesn't share, since it's in my Google Drive, it should be set to "link." I just checked it. Anyone with a link should get it, so if you have the digital handouts, you should be able to get this, this decision tree. Oh, good. Kaycee said it's opening from the handout. Yay! All right. So let's move on from magnification to environmental. Here's another environmental guide -- and I believe it's, again, from the Forsythe, but I may be wrong. No. This is my other favorite site. Teaching students with visual impairments. Another one of my really favorite sites. So environmental elements can make a huge difference in whether AT works for the student. Lighting, we know is a big one we assess in our FVEs/LMA. Distance viewing and physical layout can change across the day, even in the same classroom. So we need to consider how the environment helps or hinders a student using their technology. Guides like this one can help structure those observations and remind us of some of the key factors like lighting, seating, posture, which is sometimes forgotten. And if you've been in sessions with me you know I really stress posture because our students -- I know some of you have probably seen your students do this (indicating) where they've got their nose on their device. That posture, whether down on the table or having it up here can affect how they're accessing and their efficiency but it can also affect their health in how they feel by the end of the day. Neck strain, shoulder strain, back. And just absolute fatigue. Students that are using these bad postural decisions while using their tech can have the physical symptoms of a headache, neck strain, muscle pain, as well as the mental drain and fatigue. Reducing the strain on their bodies can allow for more efficient use of their technology as well as their physical toll of an already demanding day. With as much as our kids have going on, removing that one more physical barrier is important for them. So consider those lighting issues and postural issues. When we're looking at distances, near, intermediate, and far. Our near acuities, the near font sizes are going to be different. The font they are using on their book, that is close to them, is going to be different than the font and the font size that they're using at their intermediate distance of their computer screen. Then they have a different size that they will need at that next distance, which may be the display on the smartboard. So there's several distances we need to take to make sure we're positioning the student properly in their class, as well as in front of their computer. Do they have a riser under their laptop to bring that shoulder back? And bring the head up so that they're not hunched over at their computer? All of those are considerations that we need to take in during our recommendations and during our assessments. Which leads us to our decision guide on computer access. So computer access is another area where the environment matters. Like I said, the posture, when their shoulders are up, when their body is open, when their back is straight, it is less of a toll than if they're hunched and pulling themselves near to their device. The distance from the screen, the ergonomics of where that screen is positioned will affect accuracy and efficiency. So we need to match the tool, the device they're using, and possibly a riser or a stand. There are collapsible risers now that fit in your back pocket. I've got one that's about this big that opens up to a full size and slants completely to raise the computer up to where it needs to be, to reduce that neck and shoulder strain. So there are tools out there that can change posture and help with ergonomics. Whether that's a new positional tool or a keyboard shortcut, if they're having trouble using the mouse, an alternative input would be great. A lot of times we find that our students that are doing key entry are, once they learn the keys, are faster than our students using a mouse. So it could be that a student using key entry instead of a mouse. 

>>Kaycee: Hey, Donna, this is Kaycee. We have a question. 

>>Donna: I will look that up. It came from Amazon, of all places. My favorite place. I will write down your name and we will get that to you. It's a little tiny thing. I don't even think I have mine -- I'm at a new desk so I don't have mine set up yet to show you. Yes, we will get that out to you. I apologize for not having it on hand. All right. So where were we? Okay. So let's look at this computer access guide. This is another great one from the Forsythe County, looking at computer access. So it has what size point and at what distance. It only does 10 and 12 point on this one but you can change this and adapt it for yourself if you need to. But it's good to have that 10 and 12 point, at least for a benchmark so you know that standard point is usually between 10 and 12. Google does a weird 11-point default, which is just strange and I change it immediately. But between 10 and 12 is what's coming across most of our defaults And it does really a great little checklist. So what happens once we have done all of our assessment and we now need a device? We need a plan. That's the big one. Don't wait until that ARD meeting to figure out how to get a device. Questions like who's sourcing the device? How will it be funded? Is there a quota fund option? Is there a local foundation grant? I know some of my folks that I saw in here are amazing at writing grants and getting grant-funded devices. And is there a vendor discount available? It doesn't hurt to ask. The worst they can say is no and you'll be in the same place as you were before. My vendors know I am going to ask for a discount, especially if I'm buying volume. If you have a tech purchasing department in your district, which I believe most of us do in our I.T. department, check with them because when they're making their orders, they're ordering in bulk, so they sometimes get a better price and can have a specialty item added on at a less price. So sometimes we can wrap our more expensive devices, like our larger laptops with more features that our students need into their larger purchase and get a better price. So getting our administrators and I.T. people on board early is amazing to do. So our next item is to have that action plan. Now, this is an action plan I adapted from an AAC from hands on tool strategies and enhanced collaborative strategy support teams and is an actual OT tool. But I was able to adapt it to my use as an AT person. And it just gives me a great outline of, you know, this is our desired outcome. We need a laptop that has a larger screen, a touchscreen, JAWS, and a better processor. Who would be in charge of doing that? What is the process and the strategies? And even has, what I added to, is this to-do list. I love this to-do list because, yes, you have an action plan. And you have decided who is to do it but when are they to do it and by when? Which sometimes gets lost. So if you have an action plan that says we need this computer and John Smith is going to be in charge of getting the bid and he's going to get the bid by September 1st. And then Jane Smith is going to order it after it's been approved through bid, or however the process works for your district, and they're going to order it by then. So you're not dangling out there wondering when your student is going to get their device. It's a nice way to track how that is going to happen and who. Sandra has a question here. Sandra asked: Do you find vendors will loan out a demo version for trial with a student before purchase? That's a great question, Sandra. Yes. Again, the worst thing they can say is "no." But a lot of our vendors will either loan for a small time or come to you and demo with a device. Now, these are salespeople so they want you to buy their device. You have to take that with a grain of salt. They may recommend a device but you have to make sure you have your data to support whether or not that device really is going to work for your student or not. We also offer a short-term loan program through TSBVI that has a variety of high-tech devices that you can trial for a six to eight week time period when you're testing a device so see if it's going to be effective for your student or if your device has to be repaired, then you can borrow one for us and while that is happening. Great question. What do we do yearly? We've got our device, our device is in place, and now what do we do? Well, we have the Texas 4 Step. And the Texas 4 Step is lined out that every year the ARD committee has to go through a process. We have to review our assessment data, set our goals and objectives, identify difficult or impossible tasks, and decide if an AT device or service is required. It's a cycle and every year it is required. Just because AT was maybe not needed last year doesn't mean it won't be needed this year. Now, does this have to be done only once a year? No. If there is a change within the year, say a student has had some catastrophic loss where their vision has changed, we can change their AT, preemptively, of this yearly review. If the student has a device that's no longer functioning for them, we can change it then. We don't have to wait for that yearly review. Okay? This is a minimum that we have to review it every year. So the outcome of the 4 step process is one of two things. AT is not required, AT is required, or we still need more information. So even if you're unsure, we should document those steps, like trials, additional assessments. Why do you need more information. Has something been tried and it's just not working? We're still massaging to find the best way. Your documentation will help that to make sure no one falls through the cracks. Now, I want to take a little second to talk about AT is not required. The choice of AT is not required. Sorry, I forgot to change my slide. That choice would probably need more documentation than AT is required. Because you've got to justify why you're saying this student needs nothing. Because our tech covers so much and that's kind of something I wanted to cover a little bit today in that we have students who are doing Active Learning. We have quite a few students who are doing Active Learning. They are using Little Rooms or boards or things that are in that Little Room space, or that Active Learning space. Those items would be considered low tech or light tech. And Sandra asked: Are you including low tech in that statement? Dark pencils, bold-lined paper. Yes. If your student is using Little Rooms, Active Learning items like the -- oh, the name just went out of my head. The bracing that they wear. 

>>Kaycee: The HOPSA dress. 

>>Donna: I had it half right there. The HOPSA dress. That is technology. It's not something we plug into the wall, obviously, but it is still an assistive device, so we would include those students in that is their listed AT. So if a student is using bold-lined paper, adaptive paper, adaptive pencils, adaptive pens, that is considered light tech or the old verbiage, low tech. Sandra, you know me. I'm like you. I still say "low tech" but the new verbiage coming around is that it is light tech. So our light tech items do count in this AT is required step. Ben says that he finds it hard to believe when he reads a report saying that any of our students are not using some sort of AT. Yes. I totally agree, Ben, and I think that's why some of our numbers are a bit off on our yearly census. For those of you that are outside of the U.S., we have a census that counts all of our kiddos and it states whether or not they use AT. And I have a feeling that some of our students are being missed because of that low tech or light tech option. Sorry. My screen just went black there. Do I have everybody still? Okay. So our next thing is we have decided what AT we need. We have stated the student needs AT and now we need to write an IEP. Those of you that are outside of the states, Individualized Education Plan, if I use ARD, Admission, Review, and Dismissal, just because I saw we had some folks that are in different locations, so I wanted to make sure I wasn't using too many acronyms without explaining it there. So when we write AT into our IEPs, it should be grounded in our data. The goals must align with functional or academic outcomes and empower the team to support the student. Goals need to be meaningful, not generic. Think about how the AT is being used to help the student access their curriculum or develop independence. That's what makes it powerful and fundable. And I'm just going to leave that fundable right there. All right. So goals should justify the use of the AT by showing how it supports access or achievement. Objectives can focus on learning. To use the feature of the device, for example, the goal might be access to tech but the objective is going to be learning to use the zoom function. The key is to connect the device and use it directly in the learning task. And Alex had a question. Kaycee, I'm going to let you sort through that for a minute while I keep going and then if you'll interrupt me with the question. 

>>Kaycee: You got it. 

>>Donna: Awesome. All right. So linking directly to the task. So we start off with our present levels of function. That's what's going to drive our goals. And drive our IEPs. According to IDEA, our PLAAFP statement must explain how the disability affects access to the curriculum and, in Texas, an impact statement must be very specific. We can no longer use visual impairment affects access. We need to be clear, a database statement that describes the actual impacts. Keep that clear. 

>>Kaycee: Donna, this is Kaycee. Alex is asking for the VI registry, whenever she's checking "yes," is she needing to make sure that the AT assessment piece is checked in their IEP. Because she's mainly doing her AT assessment within her FVE/LMA. So the assessment that's being requested, is the FVE/LMA and she's doing an AT piece within that, are her bases covered there since the AT is falling between the FVE/LMA that's requested. 

>>Donna: That's a great question. If you're covering AT in your FVE/LMA, and that's robust enough, as long as your FVE/LMA AT section is robust enough to support your decisions and your goals and objectives, then, yes, that is adequate. There are some folks that have a completely separate AT, if the student is very, very involved, has lots of tech, and they need to bring in additional people to help, then they may have an AT assessment. But it is not necessary to have that external report. If your report is robust enough to cover all of those items. And I -- honestly the WADI, all of those are so very large, in depth, that your students may not need a whole one to be done. They only need a portion. So you pull out those portions that you need. Hopefully that clarifies. Mainly, it's the robustness of your FVE/LMA and ensuring that it covers all of your items. Yep. I've been there. I was VI and AT specialist in a district and I had my reports over here and my reports over here and I was able to combine them both very effectively. So, absolutely. Let's talk PLAAFP. Uh-oh. Is my page not going to load? I think this is the only one I did not practice today. It is still there. This breakdown is from Vanderbilt and they do a wonderful job of breaking down a PLAAFP and giving you guiding questions on how to write a PLAAFP in general and not just for -- not just for the tech or the general access. 

>>Kaycee: Donna, this is Kaycee. Would you like me to share it on my screen? 

>>Donna: Let me see if it loaded. There it is! 

>>Kaycee: Perfect. 

>>Donna: So these modules that you can work through -- I don't know if anybody has done the training through the IRIS center, but they have wonderful, wonderful workshops and guiding documents. So if you lose my PowerPoint that has the charts pulled up on them, you can jump over here to IRIS and get that from the Peabody Center. So that's great. So academic achievements relates to our curriculum, right? Reading, math, writing. Functional performance relates to our daily living and our non-academic skills. But for our students, these are intertwined. Think about our ECC. They directly affect both academic and functional performance. So data has to come from multiple sources to bring those all together and include our families. If you've heard me speak before about this process, I not only include families but I've been known to include lunchroom staff and custodians. And those folks around the school that have made a connection with our student. Because they see them throughout the day in other environments and are valuable in our -- really understanding of our students. And if we have any paras in the room, you are my favorite people. Support your paras. They can see so much when our back is turned. They are valuable to our success with our kiddos. So this breakdown from the center gives us guiding questions such as what are our student's strengths, parents' concerns, preference. If our kids say they're not going to use it, they're not going to use it. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them use that if they're not going to use it. So if they have a preference, we need to try to honor that as much as possible. Now, with our changes in being able to have phones in schools -- I know this is a big one. There is a provision that if our student needs that device, it can be written in. But there are alternatives that are non-phone based. Because we get the flip side of I can use my phone. We've been doing that for years. I can use my phone to do it then I don't look different so I don't need this magnifier. I know we've heard that happen a lot. I don't need this extra magnifier. I can use my phone. I can use my iPad. You know, I don't need it. Well, now that phones are not allowed for most students, if we write it into the IEP, is that going to make my student look different and they aren't going to want to use now their phone, because the other kids aren't allowed to use it. So it's kind of the flip side of that situation. Student preference results from the evaluation. If we have our evaluations, our FVE, LMA, academics, they help us identify the needs and structure in a way that ensures we're meeting the student's needs and honoring the student's and family's voice. We also need to describe how the disability affects the progress in the general education. Again, Texas requires specific statements here. This isn't just compliance. It ensures that the IEP team really understands how the disability affects the classroom performance. Yes. Thanks for clarifying that, Kaycee. Those outside of Texas may not have the no phones rule. Lucky. Because it has caused other issues. So you'll notice the statements of the visual impairment affects their ability to access curriculum. That is such a general statement that that is no longer an acceptable phrase. So check with your administrator for specific training on that and how they are addressing that. So our baseline data that we have collected so far shows how our student is right now so that we can measure the growth. Specific objective and measurable. Oh, Judy, New York has gotten it too. I'm sorry. Let me make sure -- I'm kind of running low on time here so we're going to jump ahead a little bit. So our connection. So finally the PLAAFP must connect directly to our goals and services. And for those of you that may hear me saying goals and services, AT is not just a device. There needs to be goals and services attached to that past the acquisition. So services include the acquisition, repair and maintenance of that device. So even though the student may know how to use that device fully, we still support them with AT services in the area of maintenance and repair. Sandra: Do you still prioritize keyboard by touch if a student is efficient using thumbs or alternate fingers to enter data? Sandra, I always love your questions. This may be a controversial answer. But the vocabulary you had there is the important one. Efficient. How efficient is the student. We have some students who have really -- what we in the old school would consider bad keyboarding habits. They are not five finger touch typers. They may touch with these two fingers or these two fingers on each hand, but they are just as fast as someone with five fingers. You pick that battle. Are you going to die on that hill? If they are efficient and are able to do their work, then I might not be so pushy about learning the five-finger touch type or ten-finger touch type. If they are not efficient, if they are not able to hit commands, if they're using JAWS that allow multiple fingers and haven't learned sticky keys -- because there is the alternative of being able to use sticky keys -- then I would encourage them to use ten fingers. And, yes, they could use speech to text also. I play devil's advocate with that. Do you want to use speech to text when you're entering sensitive information? When they're writing a text to their girlfriend or boyfriend, do they really want to do text to speech out loud? That could be the carrot to get them to learn how to type. So, good question, Paula. Oh, we're coming down. Kaycee, how much do you need me to zoom here? 

>>Kaycee: You got about six minutes. 

>>Donna: Oh, goodness! Okay. So I did put in -- these were written by Yue-Ting Siu. She is amazing. I hope I'm not embarrassing myself. I don't know if she's in the room or not. I love her. But she's written some great guidance on writing PLAAFPs, goals, and objectives, so I did use some of those to write some PLAAFPs are in this. Oh, there she is! Oh, she's in the room. I'm embarrassed now. I love you. I'm totally fan girling but she's in the room. So I did borrow some of her items and use some of her examples on using goals as components and featuring the technology, not the branding, and writing out goals and objectives. Again, y'all have heard me talk about featuring the technology and not the branding. If we need a device that is tablet form, that is touch-based tablet form -- sorry. My dog is pushing me across the room. Then we say the feature, not iPad. This locks us into a device. So what happens when that device is broken or out for repair? We have to replace it with the same brand. If a new one comes up and is better, it locks us in. Featuring the technology and the features and not the brand. So here's a bunch -- there you are, Ting. Thank you. I put you on my slide. Thank you. These are some examples from one of her trainings. So we'll skip those. You can read about them. Talk to your I.T. department. Our devices and software have features that have to be approved by your I.T. department to be fully functional. We've had districts that have cut off the use of certain key commands. Well, some of those key commands are necessary for our students to efficiently use their devices. So we definitely want to talk to them about why we want to safe list those devices for key commands. JAWS testing platform is one of those examples as well as the BNT or Monarch. Adding those to our students. Those are just examples. The next section. I think I have one minute left. Are links to videos of how to practice magnification that are fun and not just academic. More resources on screen readers and computers. If you haven't, checked it out, great resources, great classes. If you are allowed to use AI in your district, then FS Companion. That's F as in freedom, S as in scientific companion is their new AI embedded in JAWS that can also be opened in a web browser or on your phone. And you type in what key command do I use to close a document? And it will come back and tell you what key commands to use. So that's a really nice tool to guide you along. Some Braille devices and resources and our references.