Students with disabilities may be missing out on valuable assistive technology, a new report finds, due to limited awareness among school staff and other issues.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that students with disabilities have access to assistive technology, which can include everything from pencil grips and modified scissors to swivel chairs, large mobile touch screens and eye-controlled communication devices.
However, in a report out this week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that educators face many barriers to following through on this mandate.
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School staff reported to government investigators that they know little about assistive technology. Teachers often think of high-tech devices, but not simple tools and, with technology continually evolving, school officials said they have trouble staying on top of the latest options, according to the report.
Other challenges cited include staffing issues, inadequate opportunities for training and funding constraints, GAO said.
For the report, government investigators visited eight school districts across four states, interviewed state and regional education agencies, conducted a survey of federally funded centers that provide technical assistance to parents and interviewed federal education and health officials.
In the survey of parent centers, 67% reported to GAO that families often or always face challenges accessing information to understand what assistive technology might be best for their child.
“The findings confirm what we have long heard anecdotally: too many families are unaware of their child’s right to AT in school, and school teams lack the resources to provide AT and train all stakeholders in its use,” said David Dikter, executive director of the Assistive Technology Industry Association.
Schools that GAO visited reported relying on federal, state or regional resources to train staff or to provide assistive technology.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who is the ranking member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and who requested the GAO report, said that changes at the federal level risk putting assistive technology even more out of reach.
“This report demonstrates that school districts are struggling to implement assistive technology to comprehensively address student needs,” Scott said. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s actions to dismantle the Department of Education will exacerbate challenges students with disabilities, parents and schools are already experiencing.”
