Learning & Leading Through Technology

crutch instead of a learning support. If AT were part of a comprehensive districtwide system of learning supports, teachers and parents might see it as an enabling support rather than a reason to avoid learning a particular skill.

Resource-oriented instead of case-oriented. Adelman and Taylor believe that a comprehensive system of learning supports will not be possible if schools focus only on providing services to students on a case-by-case basis. This approach results in fragmentation and marginalization.

Instead, they suggest that individual student supports need to be reframed as resources that are part of a comprehensive system of learning supports. This is a bit tricky when it comes to assistive technology. AT is both legally and conceptually an individualized service that requires case-by-case decisions, because each student with a disability interacts differently with his/ her learning environment. But if AT were part of a comprehensive system of learning supports, schools might view it as part of a systematic effort to support student learning through technology rather than as something that is disconnected from instructional technology initiatives.

For example, Adelman and Taylor
advocate restructuring the work of
student support professionals so that
their expertise is used to develop inte-
grated learning support systems. Per-
haps AT specialists would be included
in a district’s technology leadership
team instead of remaining a margin-
alized support service for individual
students. Perhaps regular education
teachers, not just special educators,
would be empowered to try assistive
technology with their students.

Strive for an IT–AT Partnership Although they are distinct fields of practice, assistive technology and instructional technology could both be considered part of a comprehensive system of student learning supports. From my point of view, the assistive aspect of technology needs to be more systematically implemented. Perhaps in partnership, both AT and IT would enable more students to be creative and collaborative communicators, researchers, and problem solvers.

Daniel Cochrane, ATP, is a RESNA-certified assistive technology specialist for Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton and Warrenville, Illinois, and an adjunct AT instructor at the University of Gayl Bowser serves as the volunteer column editor for As I See AT. Her work focuses on the integration of technology into the educational programs of students with disabilities.

Bowser provides AT consult-
ation, training, and technical assistance in the
United States and abroad.

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