Department of Occupational Therapy Program Faculty Articles
Title
Effect of assistive technology in a public health school setting
ISBN or ISSN
0272-9490
Publication Title
American Journal of Occupational Therapy
Volume
64
Date of original Performance / Presentation
1-1-2010
Publication Date / Copyright Date
1-2010
First Page
18
Last Page
29
Abstract
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) requires assistive technology (AT) be considered at the yearly individualized education program (IEP) meeting of every student in special education. IDEA also directs that AT be implemented on the basis of peer-reviewed literature despite a paucity of research on AT's effectiveness in the public schools. This repeated-measures quasi-experimental study explored AT's effect in a public school special education setting. Participants (N=13) were a heterogeneous group of students in 1 school system who had newly provided AT to address academic and communication goals in one school year. Results suggest that relative to other interventions, AT provided by a multidisciplinary team may have a significant effect on IEP goal improvement (t[12] = 5.54, p= .00) for students in special education (F[2] = 9.35, p= .00), which may support AT's use in special education by occupational therapists as directed by IDEA.
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
NSUWorks Citation
Watson, A. H.; Ito, Max; Smith, R. O.; and Andersen, L. T., "Effect of assistive technology in a public health school setting" (2010). Department of Occupational Therapy Program Faculty Articles. 96.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hpd_ot_faculty_articles/96
