Breadcrumb Trail
Session B: Quality Indicators in Assistive Technology for Adults
- Date and Time
- Tuesday, April 22, 3:45 PM to 5:15 PM
- Presenters
-
- Janet Peters (Project Coordinator; DBTAC Great Lakes ADA Center)
- Description
In the fall of 2007, Great Lakes ADA Center began a project of developing Quality Indicators in Assistive Technology (QIAT) for Adults. This session will be a lecture/discussion on the process, progress, and a call for participation in implementation of QIAT for adults.
It is not an exaggeration to claim assistive technology has greatly improved the lives of individuals with disabilities. Access to schools, services, programs, activities, jobs, and other opportunities for some individuals with disabilities would be difficult if not impossible without the use of assistive technology.
The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) recognized the importance of assistive technology for students with disabilities by requiring, for the first time, that assistive technology devices and services be considered in the development of every child's Individualized Education Program (IEP).
A nationwide grassroots consortium that includes hundreds of individuals developed the Quality Indicators in Assistive Technology to help school districts as they strive to develop and provide quality assistive technology services aligned to federal, state, and local mandates.
QIAT is a set of tools to guide in the improvement of assistive technology services in K-12 environments in order to improve results for students with disabilities. Specifically, QIAT is designed to assure quality of services, increase consistency of services, and to support implementation Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other legal mandates. QIAT includes quality indicators, intent statements, and common errors for eight areas important to the development and delivery of assistive technology services.
The QIAT has provided research-based descriptors of quality assistive technology services in school settings, but there are no such descriptors for others, such as infants, preschoolers, post school adults and elders. The Great Lakes ADA Center, in collaboration with the Southwest ADA Center, is adapting the QIAT to be useful across the life spectrum, including vocational rehabilitation and other employment services for adults.
The DBTAC: Great Lakes ADA Center is one of ten national Centers established in 1991 after the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As of 2001, the Center created an Accessible Technology Initiative to provide assistance, education, training, referrals, and materials to business, government, and schools. As a result of these efforts the Center's expertise is sought by public and private entities including some of the federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ).