Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

Chapter 5 – Assistive Technology for Reading, Studying, and Math
Error Analysis–The ability to analyze the student’s responses in order to determine the need for
specific instruction is dependent upon a well-constructed distractor array.
A well constructed diagnostic distractor array will target the errors the student has
been found to make. These diagnostic distractor arrays will help determine if the
student is really reading the word. Analysis of the errors will enable the teacher to
determine the student’s specific problems and provide appropriate remediation, Poorly
constructed distractor arrays provide little information and can give the impression that
the student knows the word, when, in fact, the student does not. For example, if the
student is learning the word, ‘ball” and the choices are “cat,” “ball,” “dog,” and “tree,”
the selection of the word “ball” only tells us that the student can accurately select the
correct first letter (b) of the word, but may not know the word “ball” from the word
“big” (Heller, et al., 2000, p. 7).
Assistive technology–A variety of assistive technology may be needed to present the content and to
allow the student to respond. Students with SSPI who already use voice output AAC devices may be
able to utilize these devices to indicate their responses if the vocabulary is appropriate and the student’s
level of competency with the device does not interfere. Some students may be able to respond when the
material is presented on a computer. Others may need to have letters and words displayed on cards so
that they use eye gaze to look at their choice. Some students with SSPI will be able to direct select an
answer either by gazing at it, pointing to it or activating a computer or AAC device. Others will need to
utilize scanning techniques. Scanning may be done with low tech materials by having the teacher point
to each item in the array and wait for the student to indicate his choice. It may also be accomplished
with a single switch to select a choice on a computer or AAC device.
The Study
The study by Heller, et.al., (2000) involved three students with SSPI. One of those students, Mary, was
15 years old and had cerebral palsy. She was placed in a self- contained classroom for students with
orthopedic impairments. She was unable to speak except for an “aahh” sound and had recently begun
using a Dynavox for communication. She activated the Dynavox by directly touching the desired cell.
Before beginning instruction, the authors used the SSPI Literacy Profile
(http://education.gsu.edu/PhysicalDis) to describe the student’s functioning in all areas related to reading
and reading instruction. There are four parts to the Literacy Profile: Communicating Responses,
Physical Efficiency Areas, Literacy Function Areas, and Individual Considerations.
Mary’s SSPI Literacy Profile revealed the following information:
♦ Communication Responses: Mary nods yes/no, finger points with a 3 second delay, can make large
movement gestures, can select from an array of 4-6 choices, and is just learning to use a Dynavox.
♦ Physical Efficiency Areas: Mary is best positioned in a wheelchair, has a fairly good range of
motion, can point to words in sentences if the words are large and there is a double space between
words. She can physically finger point to any word in an array of four words.
♦ Literacy Functioning Areas: Mary knows book orientation. She can visually track across the page.
She identifies consonants and vowels with 85% accuracy. She does not know consonant blends,
digraphs, diphthongs, vowel digraphs, or prefixes or suffixes. Mary identifies some sight words, but
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