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Assistive Technology

PAWN supports a variety of Assistive Technology (AT) initiatives designed to help ensure that students with disabilities have access to devices and tools that are appropriate to their needs. First and foremost, PAWN educators consider assistive technology for all children with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). This can be a simple as a pencil grip, as complex as a voice-activated computer, or any number of additional things. Professional development and technical assistance is ongoing to ensure that each student's needs are being met in the best way possible.

What is assistive technology?

Assistive technology consists of devices and services. An assistive technology device is an item or piece of equipment that helps a person with a disability increase, maintain, or improve a student’s functional capabilities. Assistive technology devices can be high-tech or low-tech.

Examples of assistive technology devices are:

  • Wheelchair or wheelchair ramp;
  • Voice-activated computer;
  • Telecommunication device;
  • Electronic note takers and cassette recorders;
  • An auditory FM trainer and closed circuit TV;
  • Large-print books;
  • Word prediction, voice recognition and synthesis, and word processing software;
  • Switches and controls for access to equipment;
  • Tactile materials for visually impaired students, such as Braille flashcards, pegboards for teaching shapes or spatial relations, manual and electronic Braillewriters, and adaptive paper that provides extra visual or tactile feedback such as raised-line paper;
  • Pencil grips;
  • Hearing aids.

Medical devices that are surgically implanted are not considered assistive technology devices.

An assistive technology service is any direct assistance to the student with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of the assistive technology device. Assistive technology services include, but are not limited to:

  • an evaluation of a student’s need, including a functional evaluation in the student’s customary environment;
  • the purchasing, leasing, or acquiring of an assistive technology device;
  • the selection, design, fitting, adapting, repairing, and replacing of an assistive technology device; and
  • the training or technical assistance for a student, the student’s family, or other professionals who provide services to, or are otherwise substantially involved in, the student’s major life functions.