AT Considerations in an IEP

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) if a student has a disability, assistive technology (AT) must be considered for that student. The student's IEP strengths, needs, annual goals and short term objectives should be completed prior to considering potential assistive technology needs the student may have. In the IEP, the team is required to check yes or no if the child requires assistive technology devices or services.

In the IEP the team checks "yes" if:

• The team thinks AT may be needed and is not aware of AT devices/services available and requires assistance from an outside agency to provide AT consultation/evaluation 
• The team thinks the student's needs are currently being met with AT devices and services and current goals can be achieved with AT devices and services.

In the IEP the team checks "no" if:

• The team thinks the student's needs are currently being met without AT and current goals can be achieved without AT devices and services.
 

Some AT Consideration questions:

• What educational tasks do we expect the student to complete that he/she isn't able to do because of his/her disability? 
• Are there concerns about the students' ability to complete educational tasks as indicated in the IEP?
• Are there educational tasks that the student is not being asked to attempt because of his/her disability in which assistive technology may be helpful? 
• What strategies, modifications, accommodations, or assistive technologies have been tried in the past or are currently in use to help the student complete educational tasks?
• Are any of them working?
• Are there things that worked in the past that need to be reconsidered?
• Are there things that have not been tried that need to be introduced?

 This video does a wonderful job of explaining the AT considerations in an IEP: