Assistive Technology Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Transcription

1 Assistive Technology Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose of Report: To inform the School Board of the implementation of the assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District. Implementing and updating assistive technology for students with disabilities helps ensure access throughout the school environment. The Sioux Falls School District has an assistive technology team which assists in meeting the needs of individual students by maintaining equipment, compiling software and equipment inventories, providing technical assistance to individual cases and professional development to all staff. The team began work in January 2012 to study and upgrade assistive technology tools to meet the needs of students and update operating systems in District computers. New devices, including ipads, were purchased, and software designed to assist with reading and writing was added, as well. Specialized devices, which help meet the needs of individual students, were ordered, catalogued and evaluated. Extensive professional development opportunities were provided to enable staff to best use the software and equipment upgrades. Training sessions began in August 2012 and have continued through February The replacement and upgrade of technology tools and training costs were approved in the FY13 Budget. Administrative Recommendation to School Board: Acknowledge the informational report regarding the implementation of the assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District. Report Prepared by: Special Services February 25, 2013 Presented by: Val Peters and Deb Muilenburg-Wilson

2 Assistive Technology Report Purpose of Report: To inform the Sioux Falls School Board of the implementation of the assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District. District Priority Area(s): Fiscal Accountability and Systems Management, Student Achievement and Student Personal Growth Skills Goal/Strategy: FASM 3.5 Identify and implement assistive technology software to accommodate access for students with disabilities. Explanation: The Sioux Falls School District is committed to providing assistive technology tools, equipment and services to students with disabilities, assuring them access across the school environment, including curriculum and instruction. In conjunction with the District s technology upgrade to the Windows 7 platform, a study committee evaluated previous tools as to their ability to operate with the upgraded platform, and investigated necessary updates to these technology tools for continued support to youth with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA ) and Administrative Rules of South Dakota (ARSD 24:05:27:20) direct that each school district shall ensure that assistive technology devices or assistive technology services, or both, are made available to a child with a disability if they are required as a part of the child's special education, related services or as a supplementary aids and services. An assistive technology device is defined as any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of children with disabilities. Services regarding assistive technology include consultation, evaluation, selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, training and technical assistance relate to supporting the student with a disability. To support the specialized knowledge and skills required in the implementation of assistive technology, the District has an assistive technology team which includes a team leader (speech language therapist), an occupational therapist and special education teachers who have had additional training in this specialized area and provide leadership in this area in addition to their other duties. The team s services may include evaluating or consulting to assist in meeting the individual needs of a student; selecting and personalizing equipment to support the student; maintaining equipment, compiling software and equipment inventories, providing technical assistance to individual cases and professional development to all staff. Beginning in January 2012 and continuing through the school year, a committee of special education teachers, speech therapists, occupational therapists, Special Services Department 1 February 25, 2013

3 SFSD technology staff, principals and district administrators met to guide the process of studying and upgrading the assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District. This team reviewed the district technology infrastructure and district technology plan in an effort to assess their impact on the current assistive technology tools and software. At the start of the process, a survey was sent to all district special services professional staff to obtain their input on what they believed were the assistive technology tools that were a priority to support students with disabilities; tools that were a priority to create materials and accommodations to support students with disabilities; gaps in assistive technology tools to support student needs; and tools they would recommend for future study. The survey information (49% return rate) assisted the committee to focus their work in the following areas: Replacement of software that would not operate on the new platform to support students with reading and writing disabilities Replacement of software that would not operate on the new platform to support making adaptations related to student s communication and cognitive disabilities Availability of hardware for student access to assistive technology software Specialized assistive technology devices to support disability specific needs Software: The following software options were purchased and implemented in August 2012: Write:Outloud 6 all elementary resource rooms. Write:Outloud 6 is a talking word processor that can assist struggling writers. Write:Outloud reads words as they are written, providing immediate auditory feedback, spell check options, and a talking dictionary. Co:Writer 6 and Read:Outloud 6 all middle schools. Co:Writer 6 is a word prediction software that assists students with writing disabilities. Co:Writer 6 interprets spelling and offers word suggestions. Spell check options, topic dictionaries, and personal dictionaries are additional options that support students to complete schoolwork and accommodate for the writing disablity. Read:Outloud 6 is a text reader that assists with comprehension of written text as it reads aloud to the student with a reading disablity. Read:Outloud 6 can read any text or book available to the student on the computer allowing access to the general curriculum. High quality voices and study tools such as highlighting and reading templates support student use of this software. SOLO 6 Literacy Suite - all high schools. SOLO 6 is a suite of software that includes the following: CoWriter 6; Read Outloud 6; Write Outloud 6; and Draft:Builder 6 to support the high school student with reading and writing disabilities. Bookstream all high schools. Bookstream is a web-based option that allows student access to published books and other written documents on any webbased device, standard or mobile, in which accommodations are necessary related to their reading disability. Special Services Department 2 February 25, 2013

4 Boardmaker Plus through 21 for each self-contained classroom and speech clinicians. Boardmaker Plus provides tools for developing, communication supports, visual schedules, social stories and accommodations. Hardware: With consideration for the platform change, meeting the technology standards of the district, and supporting the software upgrades to allow maximum access for students, the committee moved forward on purchasing the following hardware: Upgrade student use computers Pre-K thru post-high in all resource and selfcontained classrooms to meet the district standards A laptop lab of 10 laptops for each middle and high school to meet the district standards and provide mobile access to the assistive technology software tools throughout the school environment ipads for instructional use and access in each self-contained classroom To address the need for further study at the elementary special education level, a grant process provided special services teachers the opportunity to write a proposal for hardware options to support instructional strategies for students with disabilities in their classrooms. This process allowed for teachers to analyze their individual classroom needs, identify and implement new technology, and establish goals the technology would support for students with disabilities. Through this process a total of 5 grants were submitted. In March 2013, these grant recipients will be presenting to the Assistive Technology committee to summarize their grant and the results they have obtained with the use of equipment with their students. The Assistive Technology committee will utilize this information in planning for future hardware purchases for the elementary resource rooms. Specialized Devices: Schools have assistive technology specialized devices for Individual Education Program (IEP) teams to try to support individual students with disabilities. If an IEP team needs additional support they can request assistance from the assistive technology team who will provide consultation, evaluation or exploration of specialized devices individualized for the student. A checklist of assistive technology tools available at each level and in specialized sites, such as cluster programs, was reviewed by staff subgroups and updated based on student needs and current technology resources. These tools range from simple switches for access to computers, adapted toys, environmental control units and communication devices to more complex augmentative communication devices. In addition, the assistive technology office tools were inventoried and a study of tools necessary to complete comprehensive evaluations was conducted. Specialized devices were ordered to update equipment and expand alternatives to increase, maintain, or improve student s functional capabilities. Professional Development To enable staff to best use the software and equipment upgrades in supporting instruction of their students with disabilities, extensive training opportunities were Special Services Department 3 February 25, 2013

5 provided. Training sessions began in August 2012 and have continued through February Professional staff has the opportunity to attend training sessions on: software purchases for their level of instruction; using the ipad; and, using specialized tools on the Assistive Technology Standard Tools checklist. In addition, sessions have been held at each middle and high school during their collaboration/team times to train special education staff regarding the updated tools. Training needs will continue to be explored and provided. These areas will include: indepth training on instructional uses of software; in-depth training with assistive technology and instructional uses of hardware; and, support in selecting and using apps for the ipad. In December 2012 another K-12 Insight survey with professional special education staff was completed to gather feedback on the implementation of the replacement hardware and software tools, ask for feedback on trainings that have been offered and to elicit future needs. Staff provided positive feedback on the changes, 73% indicated that the training offerings met their needs. In some cases the need for ongoing professional development to support implementation was identified. In addition, consideration of additional ipads for classroom instruction; access to Smartboards, and the need for an increased number of switches were identified as future directions. Since December 2012, a Red Apple professional development session has been held to train how to use the i-pad with student s with severe disabilities; the speech therapists participated in an in-service session sharing ipad applications to support receptive and expressive language development; and self-contained (cluster) teachers participated in training regarding the Standard Tools Checklist and specialized devices. Additional support for staff is available through a quarterly newsletter, Tech Tips, published by the Assistive Technology Team. This newsletter provides helpful hints and tips for implementing assistive technology software and tools in the classroom or with individual students. Links in the newsletter are provided to access online resources. Finally, online instructions for operating the specialized devices are available to staff. Ongoing staff development opportunities will be necessary to continue to build staff capacity in implementing the tools to support youth with disabilities. Costs: The replacement and upgrade of technology tools approved in the FY13 Budget included the following costs: Software: $74, Hardware: $138, Specialized devices: $161,400 Committee Participation: A committee comprised of 20 professional staff (special education teachers, therapists, technology staff, and administrators) met 7 times with additional small workgroups including additional teachers and therapists meeting 5 additional times. Special Services Department 4 February 25, 2013

6 Summary: Through a comprehensive committee process and opportunity for input from Special Services professional staff, a plan and process for replacement and upgrading assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District has been implemented. Continued support for staff development is provided through group professional development opportunities, case specific technical assistance and the quarterly Tech Tips newsletter with website resources and links regarding specific tools. Administrative Recommendation to School Board: To acknowledge the informational report regarding the implementation of the assistive technology tools to support students with disabilities in the Sioux Falls School District. Special Services Department 5 February 25, 2013