1. SpEd 410
Universal Design & Assistive
Technology
Mike Marotta, ATP
sped410@gmail.com
@mmatp

2. Course Calendar
UDL Guidelines
AIM
AT Devices & Services

5. Universal Design for Learning
(UDL)

8. Activity
• Jaime – supported employment activity
Group Activity # 1

10. Activity
• Jaime – supported employment activity
Group Activity # 2

12. Accessible Instructional
Materials (AIM)

13. Federal
Eligibility
1. Blind persons: visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the
better eye with correction or visual field no
greater than 20°
2. Persons certified by competent authority: even
with correction, visual disability is preventing
the reading of standard printed materials

14. Federal
Eligibility
3. Persons certified by competent authority:
unable to read or use standard printed
materials due to physical limitations
4. Persons certified by competent authority:
have reading disability resulting from organic
dysfunction and of sufficient severity to
prevent their reading of printed materials in a
normal manner

15. Print Disability
• Student /child is not able to use
standard print materials
• Frequently the result of a visual
impairment, physical disability or
reading disability
• Meets copyright criteria for
specialized formats
• Federal definition of “Print Disability”

16. Accessible Instructional
Materials
• Included in IDEA 2004
• Requires that core instructional materials be
provided in a timely manner in specialized
formats when needed by students with
disabilities
• 4 specialized formats: Braille, large print, audio
and digital text

17. Braille
• Tactile literacy medium used by
learners who are blind
• Uses six dots, presented in various combinations,
to represent text, numbers, punctuation, and
special signs and symbols
• Can be accessed using technology such as a
PDA (e.g. note-taker) or braille display

18. Large Print
• Enlarged copy of regular-print-sized materials
• Facilitates ease of reading for learners with low
vision
• At least 18 point and larger
• Readability depends on font type, use of white
space and other features
(e.g. bold or underline vs. italicized text)
• APH Print Guidelines for Document Design
www.aph.org/edresearch/lpguide.htm
Sans-serif

19. Audio
• Sound files
• Does not include text
• Includes recorded files, usually saved as Wave
or MP3 files
• Files can be accessed using the computer
(e.g. Windows Media Player) or portable media
players (e.g. iPod, Book Port Plus, VictorReader
Stratus)

20. Digital Text
• May be referred to as electronic text or
e-text
• Provides visual and auditory supports
• Available in various formats such as online HTML
or EPub
• Can be accessed using specialized software
(e.g. Read Hear™) or hardware (e.g.
Apex, VictorReader Stratus, VictorReader
Stream)

21. Activity
• Jaime – supported employment activity
Group Activity # 3

23. • Readily Available Content (e.g.,
public domain e-text and audio
e-text equivalents, Public
Library Audio Books)
• Commercially Available
Content (e.g., Audible.com,
Recorded Books, ITunes Music
Store, Amazon, etc.)

24. • Learning Ally (Formerly
Recordings for the Blind
and Dyslexic)
o Collection Holdings:
Textbooks, Periodicals, Trade
books
o File Formats Available:
.wma, DAISY
o Cost to Access: Yes, but
depends

25. • Bookshare.org
o Collection Holdings: Textbooks,
Periodicals, Tradebooks
o File Formats Available: .brf,
DAISY
o Cost to Access: No (for
qualifying K-12 Students), Yes
(for others)

26. • NIMAC (http://nimac.us)
o Collection Holdings: Textbooks, Core
Instructional Materials
o File Formats Available: NIMAS
o Cost to Access: No

27. • Does the student require
accessible, alternate format
versions of printed textbooks and
printed core materials? Has this
need been documented in the
student’s 504 plan or IEP?
• Is the material copyrighted?
• Does the student certified by a
competent authority as having a
print disability?
• Does the student have either a
504 plan or an IEP?

29. Assistive
Technology

30. The Case Against AT

31. AT Cycle
Monitoring
Implementation
Provision
Consideration

32. AT Cycle Consideration

33. AT Consideration
Section 300.324(a)(2)(v) of the IDEA 2004 regulations
states that IEP teams must “consider whether the child
needs AT devices and services” when developing a
student’s IEP

34. AT Consideration
• The AT consideration is a purposeful process that
involves
o collaborative decision making,
o reviewing existing information about a student,
o potentially collecting additional information
about a student,
o deciding whether or not a student needs AT,
and,
o ultimately, if a student does need AT, identifying
the AT needed for a student to receive a FAPE.

35. AT Consideration
The onus for AT consideration falls upon the entire IEP
team and is not relegated to an individual or an
outside evaluator

36. Device or Service
• Defined by Public Law 100-407 of IDEA
o AT Device is any item, piece of equipment, or product
system whether acquired commercially off the
shelf, modified or customized, that is used to
increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities
of individuals with disabilities

37. Device or Service
• Defined by Public Law 100-407 of IDEA
o AT Service means any service that directly assists an
individual with a disability in the
selection, acquisition, or use of an AT device.

39. • Student (Person) – Information specifically related to the
student
• Environment – Information related to anything or anyone
around the student in places where the technology is
expected to be used
• Task – Information about what exactly happens in the
environment – educational tasks the student needs to
complete
• Tool – Information about what types of tools could be used
to address the students’ needs, in the environment for a
specific task 39

40. • Promotes team building for consensus
• Provides for the collection of data
• As environments and tasks are explored, links
between assessment and intervention become
strong and clear
• Identify roles and responsibilities of team
members
• Implementation of technology
• An array of technology options (no, low & high)
• QIAT (Quality indicators in Assistive Technology)
40

41. 41Reference: http://joyzabala.com

42. AT Consideration
AT Evaluation
AT Consideration AT Evaluation
• Brief discussion that
determines need for AT
• Should consider
existing data about the
individual and
determine if more data
is needed
• Process for collecting
additional data about
an individual
• May involve:
o Task Demand Analysis
o Feature Match Analysis
o Tool Demand Analysis
o AT Trials and Data Collection

44. Questions?
Comments?
Assistive Technology Services
(888) 322-1918
www.cpofnj.org
See you on ?????
For Part 2 of this training!