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How IEP Teams Can Build Sustaining Assistive Technology Systems

• Episode 202

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Welcome to this episode of Special Education for Beginners, where we are continuing the discussion on assistive technology in special education. As we continue this series, today's episode focuses on how to build sustainable systems that endure and evolve with our educational needs and changes. Joining us is Paige Buckingham, the Assistive Technology Lead Facilitator for Kansas Infinitec, who has been instrumental in training districts, including mine, to integrate and sustain assistive technology effectively.

Talking Points:

  1. What sustainability means in the context of assistive technology and why it's crucial not just to introduce tools but to integrate them as long-lasting components of educational plans
  2. Discuss the centralized and distributed models of assistive technology implementation. Learn how these models affect the roles of IEP teams and the overall effectiveness of technology integration
  3. Importance of training educators and staff to ensure that assistive technology tools are not only implemented but are also effectively used to enhance student learning experiences
  4. Address common challenges that districts face in maintaining assistive technology systems and the innovative solutions that can help overcome these obstacles
  5. Insights into the resources available for districts to enhance their assistive technology practices, including state guides, action checklists, and professional development opportunities

Conclusion: Remember, building a sustainable assistive technology environment is not a one-time task but an ongoing commitment to student success. Be sure to tune in for our next episode, where we will put everything discussed this month into action, from AT evaluations to integrating AT into IEPs based on individual student needs. Thank you for joining us, and continue to advocate for the impactful integration of technology in special education.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Paige through Kansas Infinitec 

Learn more from Paige  
pbuckingham.com
Instagram @BESTskills4life
YouTube channel- BESTskills4life


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Speaker 1:

Well, hello, welcome back to another episode of Special Education for Beginners. We are now in the third week of March, continuing our focused discussion on the essential role of assistive technology in supporting our students. This entire month is dedicated to understanding and utilizing assistive technology effectively within our educational systems. In our first episode, we introduced the basics of assistive tech. Last week, we had the pleasure of speaking with a CEO from an education technology company who specializes in integrating assistive technology with engaging and meaningful curriculum solutions, and today I have a guest with me to explore the theme of sustainability and the use of assistive technology. Specifically, we will discuss how IEP teams can implement AT not just as a brief mention in an IEP, but as a fundamental, enduring component of a student's individual educational strategy. My guest today is Paige Buckingham, the assistive technology lead facilitator for Kansas Infinitech and someone who is helping train my district as we continue to build stronger systems and enhance our own AT practices.

Speaker 1:

I can't wait for you to hear it. Let's get to it. Hey, special educator, are you overwhelmed by the absurd amount of paperwork on your to-do list? Do you wish you had the skills to build a rock-solid team with your staff? Do you find yourself scouring the internet for how to meet the needs of each student on your caseload. Well, hey there, I'm Jennifer Hopperberg, an award-winning veteran special education teacher and current instructional coach, who has walked in your shoes through each of these challenges and, yes, I have the metaphorical blisters to prove it. I have cried your tears and felt your pain, and now I'm here to support you in the way I wish someone would have been there to support me.

Speaker 1:

Listen in each week as my guests and I dish out practical wisdom to help you handle all the classroom curveballs that are thrown at you and learn how to laugh in spite of the chaos, to celebrate those small yet significant victories that only a special educator can understand. So are you ready? Wipe your tears and put on your superhero cape, because together we are going to learn how to survive and thrive in the ever crazy, completely overwhelming laugh. So you don't cry. Profession of being a special education teacher.

Speaker 1:

Well, hello, paige, it's great to have you as a guest on Special Education for Beginners. Thank you, I appreciate you having me. Well, I'm really happy that you agreed to be a guest today. I am thrilled that we could connect here beyond our usual interactions within my district, and I know that you have that. I've learned a lot from you, and I know that the listeners are going to benefit greatly from your insights as well, especially given your extensive experience with assistive technology.

Speaker 1:

So just a little bit of background. This whole month of March is being dedicated to assistive technology, so on the first episode I did an overview of the basics, and then last week I was joined by a CEO of an education technology company that combines assistive technology with meaningful curriculum, and so today I want to talk to you about sustainability, specifically how IEP teams can implement assistive technology in a way that ensures it's not just a temporary touch point on an IEP, but it's more of a lasting part of the individual plan for a student. So would you start by sharing your journey and experiences with assistive technology in education and how it has shaped your perspectives on its importance?

Speaker 2:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

So I am a speech pathologist by training and so as I entered kind of like the assistive technology realm, I really entered it more from an AAC kind of view and was brought on board an AAC kind of view and was brought on board.

Speaker 2:

I had one of the schools that I worked in when I was working as a speech path in Lawrence was a school that had some students in classrooms with students with more complex communication needs and had AAC devices. So I started learning about those and then started going to conferences to learn more about AAC and in turn learned more about assistive technology. And then I got involved with Kansas Infinitech and was a cadre member for probably 12 plus years when I was working in Lawrence and in that time I also stepped into the role of assistive technology facilitator for Lawrence. And so through the job that I had in Lawrence and my connection with Kansas Infinitech and being a cadre member and learning about assistive technology through them and through different conferences and those kinds of things, I just continue on the assistive technology journey and have found that for students with disabilities it is critical for them to be able to gain independence. And that's really what is my, the thing that is most important to me is how can we increase independence for students?

Speaker 1:

Well, you mentioned the AAC and I think that whenever I was going through my IEP meetings for 27 years and now as an instructional coach, I think that when we get to that section on the IEP that says assistive technology, that's where most of our brains are going oh no, this kid doesn't have an AAC device, so we don't need any assistive technology. Or they hit on maybe just the read aloud accommodation where they're providing that assistive technology piece. But there's so much more to this and I've learned this through you, through our workings together and just my own research that there's a lot, lot, lot more to this. So what are the different assistive technology systems that a district or an agency could use to build their AT services and really just train their teachers better?

Speaker 2:

So there's really two different models that are talked about in the research and within the assistive technology world. Models that are talked about in the research and within the assistive technology world and one is what we call a centralized model or the expert model, where you might have an assistive technology specialist or an assistive technology team that that individual or that team goes out, does an evaluation, trains people and they exit and they're kind of done with it. Trains people and they exit and they're kind of done with it. And so one of the things about that model is it becomes a situation at an IEP meeting where people might say, oh, I can't talk about AT because the AT specialist or page isn't here, so we can't talk about AT, when the reality is the law says it is the IEP team's responsibility for assistive technology. So the other kind of system is a distributed model or a capacity-building model where the IEP team or, I'm sorry, the assistive technology team or the assistive technology specialist works to train staff members, to coach them to. How can they, as the people who really know the student best and are working with the student on a daily basis, how can they consider assistive technology? What tools are out there? What things are naturally in the environment.

Speaker 2:

With so much technology that we have in the schools a lot of times what students need is in the environment already. But we want to make sure that we collect data and information so that we can show how it's used, why it's used, you know the frequency, duration and location, so that it can be documented on the IEP and shown as necessary for that student. Because by definition assistive technology is anything you know, any device, piece of equipment, whether purchased, you know, off the shelf or customized to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability, so that can be spell check. That could be just being able to keyboard instead of physically handwrite, and those are things that are in kids' environments already. But if it is necessary for the student, then for that student it becomes AT. So if you can train a team, an IEP team, to know that information, then there's no reason they need to bring in an assistive technology specialist or consultant for most of the things that students are going to need.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's the work that you've been doing with my district is we did have a specialist.

Speaker 1:

It was our physical therapist and she was over all the assistive technology, like I don't know, kind of the gatekeeper, so she would make sure and she had all the equipment, she would check out things and it's expanded our understanding to where she's helping us learn more about how to kind of trickle that down, like you said, to move from the expert model to the team model, and I think it's the training that you've done with us has been very beneficial.

Speaker 1:

And Dane, our director, has trained the admin and now we are going to train the special education teacher so that everybody can have a better understanding of what assistive technology is. And I think it's funny that you said that it could be anything, because Dane had an in-service with the admin and he had this activity where he listed a whole bunch of different things and had them circle what was considered AT and you know they're all sitting there working really hard trying to figure it out and a couple of the teachers were like he's trying to trick you Any of these things would be considered assistive technology. So I thought that was interesting that you said that. So what about resources when we're trying to train these teams and build this capacity? What resources are available to districts to use to have an assistive technology guide that came out in.

Speaker 2:

March of 24. And we'll make sure that that link is shared so that you can have that. But if you go to the ksdetazenorg site and just do a search for assistive technology guide, it will pull up and in that guide it is broken up into four sections. The first one is like legal mandates, the you know what is assistive technology. The second one has a checklist that has. It's an action checklist and I know we've used it in our training and we talk about what do you need to do before an IEP meeting, during the IEP meeting when you don't have enough information and after the IEP meeting, and so it really breaks it down. So if you have a group or a team or an IEP team that is, you know, kind of stuck, I don't know what to do. That's a great document that can be shared with them.

Speaker 2:

And one of the things about the guide is we created it so that it would be a template for districts that they could take it and make it their own, so they could take that sheet and go oh, we want to add this, we want to add this and we want to add maybe some specific things instead of just what should you do before an IEP meeting. What should you do three months before an IEP meeting, two months before an IEP meeting? Because ultimately, prior to the IEP meeting, you want to collect data and information based on the present levels of the student. So, just like you would create or you would get information to inform your present levels, you want to do the same thing in the area of assistive technology by looking at what is the student using, what works for them, how does it work, so that you can then specify that. And also then, within that document, there's a number of other forms.

Speaker 2:

There's an AT consideration form to help an IEP team, once they have that information, put that down and then say okay, so does the student need AT? Do they not need AT? Do we know what they need? Do we need to bring in a specialist? Because even if you use a distributed model where your IEP teams are really doing the load of the work, you're going to have those cases and situations where you do need somebody who has more knowledge in that area and pull them in. So there is still a need for a component of that like expert to be able to be pulled in and say, oh wow, you've tried everything you guys know about. Here's some other resources, so I would point people to the State of Kansas Guide. Also, the Quality Indicators of Assistive Technology, which is QIATorg, has a lot of great resources on it, and so those would be the ones that I would really point. And then Infinitech for districts that are members of Kansas Infinitech or coalition members. There is a online classroom that has hundreds of videos from presenters all over the country talking about assistive technology, augmentative communication and how to utilize those resources.

Speaker 1:

Now, is that resource available to people in other states?

Speaker 2:

Other states. I do not believe that is available. If you're in Illinois, Kansas, I believe there's a couple other states that might have access to that. But if you go to the website myinfinitechorg and there are some things that are still free on those websites, on that site and that QIAT.

Speaker 1:

That was kind of an eye-opener. I loved all of those resources whenever you gave that book to us. So we address assistive technology on the IEP. We're doing a better job of figuring out what a student needs and how to better assist them in the classroom settings, but it's not a one-and-done kind of thing. So talk to me a little bit about that sustainability. How could you, can you, just elaborate on the importance of creating sustainable assistive technology services and then what impact do they have on long-term student success?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So you're right, it's not a one and done. Assistive technology in general is an ongoing process, so we need to be looking at it at every IEP. So you can't just say, oh, we looked at AT last year, we need to be looking at it at every IEP. So you can't just say, oh, we looked at AT last year, we're done, we never have to look at it again. That's why it's on the IEPs every single year.

Speaker 2:

And the question is usually has assistive technology been considered? And a lot of IEP systems just say yes or no. But really, what does that mean? Well, it means you're going to, you know, gather that information and data and as you do that, that's going to inform your decisions and to have sustainable services. You want to have in place some procedures or some practices of. Once it's put in place, well, what do we need to keep it working? You know, do we need to train the student? Do we need to train the staff? Do we need to train parents on this? Do we need to? Does the student need to have the assistive technology at home? What does all of that look like? And then keep looking at it, keep re-looking at it and seeing does it need to be tweaked, because maybe if you're using something to help and support a student in the classroom with reading, and as their reading progresses and increases, that may look a little bit different. Or when they go from one grade level to another grade level, or they're in a subject that maybe is a new subject form, they may need some more assistive technology.

Speaker 2:

And then, when we look systematically at a district or an agency, I always tell people assistive technology, when it comes to a district or agency, is an elephant and you have to just take it one bite at a time. And so if you think, hey, we're going to put a system in place and next year we're going to have assistive technology services just like we want them, you're going to fail. I mean, you're going to fail because it is a process and I always tell people expect it to take at least five years for you to get things going, for you to make some missteps, for you to say, ooh, this is what we thought would work. This didn't really work for our staff, or we need to do this training every single year, or we need to do this training for new staff. You know, that's one of the things I find is, sometimes districts will train staff and then when new staff come in the next year, they don't take time during the teacher onboarding or anything like that to train them about for assistive technology processes. So it's looking at all those things having a system that, if one person leaves, the system doesn't fall apart and that is, I think, one of the most important things.

Speaker 2:

And, again, using that Kansas guide, it is a great template that you can use that talks about what is your assessment process look like? What does your consideration process look like? What is your implementation process? Are you doubling back and checking is this assistive technology working for the student? Because you may try it and it may work great, but then the longer it goes on, it's, you know, kind of like exercising. I can do great for six weeks, but in weeks 12 and 20, maybe I'm not using it quite as much. So what does that look like? What is that ongoing process? So, using those kinds of things and realizing you're going to have to double back, you're going to have to check with people and create processes so that what you're doing is sustainable for people, because nobody has extra time. So how can you embed it into what people are already doing?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I totally hear you on that for getting to train the new staff, because we have quite a bit of turnover in our district and you do a really good job of training them during that school year and then you know it's on your radar, but you you get started in the school year and then it just starts snowballing and you never seem to have time to fit that in. But go back to something you said about checking on IEP and making sure that it is applicable every year. I had an IEP I was reviewing the other day and a student who I'm assuming in preschool or early childhood they had put on those scissors where you squeeze the scissors instead of using scissors. They had that on there and this kid was in high school and I was like this kid does. And this kid was in high school and I was like this kid does not need this piece of assistive technology and so they just left it on there all those years when they didn't need it and so definitely you have to check that every single year and make sure that it is applicable.

Speaker 1:

So, paige, I've enjoyed this conversation and I can tell that you have a passion for this and you're very. You have a lot of expertise in this area and I'm sure that this information will help my listeners. But do you have, like, one piece of advice for a new special education teacher, because a lot of my listeners are coming in, you know, fresh, and they don't really have a team or know where to go to be on an AT team or even have anyone from above telling them that they need to be doing this. So do you have a piece of advice that you would give to a new special education teacher who's just out there writing IEPs, trying to do the best that they can?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great question. I think my advice would be take a breath and pause and look at what is the student currently using that. If you took that item away from them, it would kind of halt what they were doing as far as learning. So an example might be a student who's using an iPad or something for writing, or they're using something for keyboarding, or they're using speech to text or text to speech that are already built in as accessibility features and then go huh, how are they using that? When are they using that? What does it look like? Because one of the things we need to do in assistive technology is consider frequency, duration and location, which I have people panic about, and I just tell them tell me what it looks like when they're using it, because we can't say you know as determined, okay, what does that mean? Who does that? Or, as needed, you know.

Speaker 2:

So I tell people tell me what it looks like when they're writing. Does it look like? Do they need this? Every single time they have to write something and they say no, well, when do they need to use it? Do they need to use it when they're writing? One sentence, no. Two sentences, oh, they're usually okay. Three sentences. Yeah, if they're writing more than three sentences, then they might need to use, you know, speech-to-text voice recognition. Okay, then that's what it is. And so taking a pause looking at what students are doing, it isn't. I always tell people it's not rocket science, it's not something different, it's just looking at what you're doing and what the student's using with a different lens, and I also say ask questions.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, find somebody who can answer those questions. Find somebody who's been in that district and knows their procedures and their you know their guidelines and let them help you. I think that's really great advice.

Speaker 2:

Well and along those lines. So with Infinitech we are part of the TASN projects in Kansas. So if people are in Kansas they can email me at my UCPnet email and if there's an issue or something they can ask me and I can do what are called technical assistance calls through our TASN project and reach out to people and just kind of help them problem solve. I don't go physically out to districts but I can do some of that coaching and interaction with people.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's great. So do you have any other resources or any ways that we can reach out to you to learn more or to get a hold of you? Know, I want to provide the listeners with all of those links, but how can we learn more from you directly?

Speaker 2:

If people want to learn more from me directly. So I work for Kansas and Finitech part-time and the rest of the time I have my own company where I do professional development and consulting in the area of assistive technology, augmentative communication and executive functioning skills. So people can contact me directly or go to my website, which is pbuckinghamcom, and I also have an Instagram page called at best, b-e-s-t the number four skills or, I'm sorry, b-e-s-t skills the number four life, and I post different things there, and I also have some videos on a YouTube channel on supporting executive functioning skills.

Speaker 1:

That's fantastic. I'll make sure to link those websites in the show notes. So if you're listening and want to learn more from Paige, be sure to check those out. And remember we have one more episode on assistive technology where I will be putting everything that we've discussed this month into action. We'll talk about AT evaluations, integrating AT into the IEPs based on student needs and navigating an AT resource bank to clarify some common misconceptions, and I can't wait to provide you with that information and the confidence you need to effectively implement assistive technology in your classrooms. So thank you, Paige, for joining me. I'm so excited we got to chat and I'll be seeing you in our other jobs as well, In our other roles. Yes, Great, Thank you for having me. I'm so excited we got to chat and I'll be seeing you in our other jobs as well.

Speaker 2:

In our other roles. Yes, great Thank you for having me. You're welcome, thanks again.