My son is 10 with APD and a receptive/expressive language difficulty. He also has problems with working memory, word retrieval and possibly RAN (further private testing will be done in March). He has an IEP and is receiving speech and language services. The speech therapist made a mistake and sent home another child’s workbook. I’m pretty ticked when I see the kind of stuff she is doing with this child vs. the total bull that my son gets. That’s a story for another time. My question now is what do I need to do to get my son evaluated for assistive technology. This other child is using an Alphasmart. I don’t know whether or not something like this would be appropriate but I would certainly like it evaluated.
Can an AT Assessment be part of the IEP process? Who does it? I certainly don’t want the current S/L therapist doing it because she is so lazy that she would probably deny the service so that she did not have to do any extra work.
Also does anyone have any experience with Alphasmart or similar devices? I did read the technology bulletin board here, but it is not as active as this board.
Thank you for any input. Sincerely, Eileen
Send a letter in writing to the school requesting an assistive technology evaluation. This SHOULD be brought up at every IEP meeting, but it seems many times the powers that be “forget”.
My daughter began using an Alphasmart in 2nd grade. She now uses the Dana. She uses a laptop in her gifted classroom with cowriter, draftbuilder. We have Kidspiration at home (wish I had purchased Inspiration). We are currently fighting for training on these software programs through the district. (I’ve spent a fortune in postage stamps)
www.alphasmart.com
www.donjohnston.com
www.inspiration.com.
Go to google and look up Judith Sweeney’s website www.onion mountain technology.com.
There’s a whole world out there.
Please remember, however, that AT is NOT to be used in lieu of remediation but can be a great tool.