How to Get Your Child's School to Provide Assistive Technology or Help With Learning Disabilities
By Quintero, Alyssa; Quest, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 36-39Publication Date: March/April 2008
Article offers advice to parents of children with learning disabilities (LD) for convincing their school districts to provide assistive technology (AT) for their children. As schools are required by federal and state laws to provide AT and LD services only if they are explicitly written into a child’s individualized educational plan (IEP), parents are advised to advocate for the inclusion of AT during IEP meetings with educators and administrators, which parents are free to attend. Specific pointers include: (1) Bringing to meetings any research and information on AT to help explain why the child would benefit from it; (2) Being active in the AT evaluation process by locating “trial” equipment at lending libraries, equipment loan programs offered through State AT Act projects, or the a local Alliance for Technology Access Center (http://www.ataccess.org); (3) Requesting an AT consultant for the IEP team; (4) Requesting a school funded evaluation of the child’s need for AT or, if necessary, paying for an independent evaluation which the IEP team is then required to consider; (5) If no action is taken on part of the school district, requesting a mediation session, which is required before resorting to a due-process court hearing. Illustrative examples of parents’ actions that resulted in the provision of AT in their children’s schools are included.
Published by: Muscular Dystrophy Association (Website:http://www.mdausa.org)
Link to text: http://www.mda.org/publications/Quest/q152IEP.html
