Assessing Individual Needs for Assistive Technology

• 1). Invite the proper people to a meeting.This meeting should include anyone who has an interest or ability to provide input on the student's educational goals. Most importantly, the student should be involved. For some students, this will be at her annual Individualized Education Plan, and for others it will be the first time for a meeting.
  
  
• 2). Define the student's long-term goals. These are the dreams that the student has for when he grows up. Things like where he will live, whether he wants to go to college and what activities he wants to participate in, should all be discussed. If the student is too young, his parents should describe what their dreams for their child are based on his interests.
  
  
• 3). Figure out what steps or short-term goals are needed. This will provide the group with what the student should currently be working on while in school. The steps should be broken down so that they can be achieved within a reasonable amount of time. For example, if the student has a long-term goal of being able to write a paper, then the first step would be writing the letters of the alphabet.
  
  
• 4). Define barriers to reaching short- and long-term goals. These can be physical problems that the student will have in various environments or it can be issues such as communication or problems that are related to the student. An example, based on writing the alphabet could be an inability to grip a pencil.
  
  
• 5). Find technology solutions to meet the needs of the student. These can be as simple as a picture schedule or a visual timer to help with time management, or as complicated as a high-tech augmentative communication device with voice output. Start by working on issues that affect the overall success of the student, such as communication. Then move on to specific problems for individual tasks, such as operating a computer.
  
  
• 6). Wrap up the meeting with defined tasks for each person. Also, decide when to meet again and what should be accomplished by then. That will be a good time to review what is and isn't working and to make modifications as necessary.