Research Topics, Questions, and Methodologies
View a description of each of the topics being addressed in the NATRI research agenda. The status of specific studies that are planned, in progress, and completed is available from the NATRI Information Main Menu.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Status of assistive technology in schools
- Assistive technology policies, procedures, and resources
- Assistive technology decision-making when developing IEPs
- Assistive technology training and technical assistance
- Planning and implementing assistive technology services
- Effectiveness of assistive technology devices and services
- Status of assistive technology instruction in personnel preparation programs
- References
Introduction
NATRI staff are conducting research in seven different areas. This page provides a rationale for the research studies that are planned or are in progress, followed by a list of the research questions and a summary of the methodologies employed for answering the research questions. The information that is presented was taken from an article that provided an overview of NATRI and its activities (Lahm, Bausch, Hasselbring, & Blackhurst, 2001).
It should be noted that the information provided here represents the "big picture" of NATRI's research agenda. A variety of different studies are envisioned for each area that will address a number of the research questions that are presented in greater detail.
Access information about each of the seven research areas from the Table of Contents.
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Status of Assistive Technology in Schools
The goal for this area of research is to determine the status of AT use in schools and the role that AT provides in the education of students with disabilities.
Rationale
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defined an assistive technology device as "any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities." (Federal Register, August 19, 1991, p. 41272).
According to the National Council on Disability (NCD), almost six million individuals with disabilities receive educational interventions under Part B of IDEA. NCD further stated that these individuals have a right to appropriate support services and assistive technology devices are needed to promote their learning in inclusive settings with their nondisabled peers. Since the inception of IDEA, the availability and use of assistive technology devices have increased. However, NCD reports that people with disabilities "still confront major barriers of discrimination" (p. 5). The extent to which AT devices and services are implemented in the schools is relatively unknown.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed:
- What percentage of children requires AT devices and services?
- What groups of children are using AT?
- Does AT use vary according to grade level?
- What human functions are aided by AT?
- What types of AT devices are being used?
- What AT services do schools provide?
- What types of AT services are contracted to others?
- To what extent do schools provide the services of AT specialists?
Research Methodologies
To determine the status of AT use, survey and case study research methodologies will be employed at schools located in baseline school districts. Initially, survey research will be used to collect information about individuals who use AT including age, gender, ethnicity, and types of AT. Case study methodology will be used to describe procedures implemented in school districts to provide access to AT devices and services and to identify the impact the procedures have had on student use of AT.
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<Wednesday, August 16, 2006
The goals for this area of research are to (1) determine the AT practices
of state Departments of Education, (2) identify the AT policies and procedures
that school district should follow, and (3) examine the validity of a
set of quality indicators for the delivery of assistive technology services.
Rationale
In January 2000, after analyzing 23 years of the Department of Education’s
state-monitoring reports, NCD released the evaluation results entitled,
Back to School on Civil Rights (2000). The report revealed
that all states and the District of Columbia were, to some degree, out
of compliance with IDEA requirements. Issues of noncompliance were rooted
in the policies of the state and in the implementation of those policies.
Broadly stated, IDEA requires that educational agencies are obligated
to provide or pay for services related to AT devices and services to ensure
a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities.
State Education Agencies(SEA)
have some latitude as how to interpret and implement the AT mandates of
IDEA. There is a need, however, to determine the nature of AT practices
of SEAs concerning
the development and promulgation of AT policies, guideline, and technical
assistance documents to local education agencies (LEAs).
Many SEAs and LEAs
have AT policies in place to guide their AT services. It is important
to identify promising practices that are currently in existence and disseminate
those to agencies that are involved in developing or revising their AT
practices.
Members of NATRI staff have been working with a group of people known
as the QIAT (pronounced "quiet") Coalition. This group consists
of AT practitioners representing local schools, state and regional education
agencies, vendors, researchers, consumers, and families. Originally, this
group was organized to develop a set of Quality Indicators for Assistive
Technology - hence the acronym, QIAT. [Members of the group interact with
each other via the QIAT Listserv, which is maintained by NATRI staff.
The leadership team of the Coalition also serves as the AT Support Team
for NATRI.]
These AT quality indicators have been reviewed over approximately 3 years
by more than 1,000 people at professional conferences. Revisions have
been made in the indicators as a result of feedback from these reviewers.
There is a need to formally evaluate these indicators so that people in
LEAs and SEAs that
use them can determine their usefulness as a resource for guiding the
delivery of AT services. Additional information about the quality indicators
can be obtained from http://www.qiat.org.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining the
status of AT policies and procedures of SEAs
and LEAs:
- What effect has IDEA had on the promulgation of AT policies and guidelines
by State Departments of Education?
- What are the perceptions of state leaders regarding the need for AT
policies at the state and local levels?
- What policies and guidelines are in place in LEAs
to help IEP teams make decisions about AT
devices and services?
- What are the requirements for documenting consideration of AT in IEP
meetings?
- How do states monitor AT practices in local school districts?
When evaluating the assistive technology quality indicators of the QIAT
Coalition, the following research questions will be addressed:
- What is the need for AT quality indicators?
- How important is each of the indicators in the QIAT?
- How clear is the intent statement for each indicator?
- What is the usefulness of the QIAT?
Research Methodologies
Three different studies will be performed to answer the questions in
this area of research. The first will be a telephone survey of State Directors
of Special Education, the District of Columbia, and U. S. Trust Territories.
In addition to responding to the the survey questions, all Directors will
be asked to send a copy of their state policies, guidelines & technical
assistance documents. One purpose of the study will be to identify policies
that can serve as models for other states or agencies that are developing
or revising their own policies. Policy analyses will be conducted to determine
the specific nature of the documents that have been produced by SEAs.
Directors and state AT specialists (i.e., the person who oversees the
implementation of AT statewide) will be interviewed by telephone. This
study follows up a previous studies conducted in 1996. Many of the questions
used in the previous study will be asked again to compare attitudes and
policy changes over time. Several additional questions will be added relative
to new policy issues present today.
The second investigation will be an analysis of AT policies and guidelines
that are being used in LEAs. These documents
will be obtained from individual school districts that were identified
as having promising practices by state directors interviewed in the telephone
survey. Visitors to the NATRI Web site also are encouraged to share promising
practices, as are those who attend conferences at which information about
NATRI is presented.
The third investigation focuses on an evaluation of the QIAT indicators.
It involves a survey of a purposive sample of 20 individuals, with knowledge
and skills in assistive technology, from five different groups: (a) assistive
technology leaders who coordinate and/or provide assistive technology
services within local education agencies; (b) assistive technology leaders
who influence, develop, coordinate, and conduct services at state and
national levels, (c) assistive technology leaders who develop and conduct
programs at colleges and universities to prepare personnel for K-12 education
agencies; (d) consumers of assistive technology services and their families;
and (e) leaders in the development of regulations and policies related
to the use of assistive technology in education.
This last research study will be extremely important to future NATRI
activities. If the AT quality indicators are favorably reviewed, they
will be used as standards against which to evaluate AT programs in benchmark
institutions. Additional information about the quality indicators can
be obtained from http://qiat.org.
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Assistive Technology Decision-making
when Developing IEPs
The goal for this area of research is to determine the ways that AT decisions
are made by teams of people who develop Individualized Education Programs
(IEPs) for students enrolled in special education
programs.
Rationale
IDEA mandates that AT is considered for every student for whom there
is an IEP. Members of the IEP
team are those who are responsible for assuring that consideration of
AT has occurred and for making decisions about AT practices that are written
into the IEP. Little is known about the qualifications
of the IEP team members making the decisions
and how such processes actually occur. However, the National Center for
Education Statistics (2000) reported barriers to the use of technology
for students with disabilities include insufficient training of special
education teachers to use technology, lack of computer equipment and adaptive
devices for students with special needs, insufficient evaluation services,
and lack of administrative support. Potentially, those factors could impact
IEP team decision-making when considering assistive
technology. Research in this area will explore the status of these factors.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining the
nature of AT decision-making when developing IEPs:
- How are the functional needs of students for AT identified and considered
during IEP meetings?
- How does the IEP team make decisions about
(a) when to refer a student for AT screening or assessment, (b) when
to include AT in a student’s IEP, (c)
whether additional information is needed in order to make AT decisions,
and (d) when to conclude that existing AT practices are meeting the
student’s needs?
- How are appropriate AT devices selected, designed, or adapted to
individual children?
- How are parents involved in AT decision making?
- What is the nature of the interactions among parents and professionals
on IEP teams where AT is being considered?
Research Methodologies
A combination of structured interviews, direct observation, causal-comparative
research, and interaction analysis will be used to determine how parents
and professionals interact when AT is being considered. Persons at benchmark
school districts will be interviewed about the processes followed when
considering AT in IEP meetings. Trained observers
will visit IEP meetings to document ways that
AT is being considered. An interaction analyses of IEP
meetings will be conducted in order to determine how parents and professionals
interact when AT is being considered.
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Assistive Technology Training and
Technical Assistance
The goal for this area of research is to determine the training and
technical support needed by individuals who are involved with planning
and implementing the use of AT devices and services with students.
Rationale
The AT mandates of IDEA cannot be implemented successfully unless professionals
have the necessary knowledge and skills. Likewise, implementation is impaired
if appropriate technical assistance and support if not available. IDEA
strongly supports "activities to promote the development, demonstration,
and utilization of technology" (Federal Register, August 19, 1991,Sec.
687) including teacher and parent training and technical assistance. Research
is needed, however, to identify the necessary knowledge and skills, the
training and technical assistance needs of teachers and other personnel,
and the resources that are available to provide training and technical
assistance.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining the
needs for AT training and technical assistance:
- What are the knowledge and skills needed by teachers and other personnel
who are providing AT services?
- What AT training is needed by those individuals?
- What training and technical assistance is available to support personnel
who are involved in the provision of AT services?
- What practices and structures have been successful in providing AT
collaboration among special education and general education teachers?
- How are interdisciplinary AT services provided?
- What procedures are used to coordinate AT services with other agencies
or service providers?
Research Methodologies
Survey research will be used to determine the specific status of special
education teachers and related services personnel and their needs for
training. Results of this study will be used by those who are responsible
for designing both pre-service and in-service training related to AT.
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Planning and Implementing Assistive
Technology Services
The goal for this area of research is to examine how AT is integrated
into the learning environment and the ways that AT devices and services
are used to facilitate instruction and access to the curriculum.
Rationale
Beyond training and technical assistance, service providers need to specifically
plan for implementation of AT with their students. To support implementation,
assistive technology was added to the list of special education services
that can be included in a student's Individualized Education Program (IEP).
IDEA defines assistive technology services as, "any service that
directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition,
or use of an assistive technology device" (Federal Register, August
19, 1991, p. 41272). Assistive technology that is not properly selected
and implemented can give the impression that the technology is not effective.
The apparent failure of AT can lead to under-use of the device, device
abandonment, and the perception of stakeholders that AT is a costly risk.
The goal of this study will be to identify effective and systematic AT
implementation plans.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining the
ways that AT services are planned and implemented:
- How do school districts plan and implement AT programs?
- What is the relationship between AT plans and general technology plans?
- What policies and practices support the use of AT in the learning
environment?
- How is AT integrated into the learning environment and in what ways
are AT devices and services used to facilitate instruction and access
to the curriculum?
- What evaluation measures are in place to ensure that individual student
access and academic needs are being appropriately met by assistive technology?
Research Methodologies
Data collected in some of the other topic areas will contribute to the
answers of these research questions. However, the primary research methodology
for this research area will be a series of case studies that will be conducted
to explore AT planning, implementation, and evaluation at the school district,
classroom, and student levels. The benchmark districts will be the focus
of the case studies.
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Effectiveness of Assistive
Technology Devices and Services
The goal for this area of research is to determine the effects that
AT devices and services have on the academic, social, and functional performance
of students who use them.
Rationale
Although intervention studies that evaluate the use of specific devices
or services would be an ideal approach to answering research questions
about the effectiveness of AT devices and services, resources and logistics
prohibit them. Instead, a study will be performed to identify critical
incidents in the use of AT devices and services that have been observed
in past and current AT applications.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining the
effectiveness of AT devices and services:
- What effect does the use of AT devices and services have on the academic,
social, and functional performance of students who use them?
- What approaches are effective?
- What approaches are ineffective?
- What are the factors that contribute to AT device abandonment?
- What do professionals need to be able to do to effectively implement
AT applications?
Research Methodologies
The Critical Incident Technique and case study research will be used
to answer the research questions in this area. The Critical Incident Technique
(Flanagan, 1964) is a qualitative research methodology that has been used
successfully to identify job requirements, recommendations for effective
practice, and competencies required by a wide variety of professionals
in many disciplines. With this technique, researchers obtain descriptions
of the effective and ineffective behaviors of people who are performing
a given job. Persons in a position to observe student performance are
asked to report on specific observable incidents that have had either
a positive or negative influence. Reporters describe the ANTECEDENTS that
lead up to the incident, the BEHAVIOR or ACTION that occurred, and the
CONSEQUENCES of that behavior which led the observer to conclude that
it was either effective or ineffective.
Participation in the Critical Incident study is open to anyone who knows
of a positive or negative event that influenced the use of assistive technology
or services through the NATRI website. Through a large number of incidents
from a wide variety of settings, the validity of the positive and negative
antecedents will be established. A range of effective and ineffective
AT practices across functional areas and across the technology continuum
will be identified.
Case study research will be conducted to defined the factors related
to AT device abandonment. Solicitation of reports of device abandonment
are made from the Web site, the critical incident report forms, personal
contacts at conferences, and announcements posted on the QIAT listserv.
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Status of Assistive Technology Instruction
in Personnel Preparation Programs
The goal for this area of research is to identify how institutions of
higher education (IHEs) are developing AT knowledge and skills in those
who are preparing for professional positions in schools.
Rationale
In order to implement the AT mandates in IDEA, it is clearly imperative
that school district personnel have the knowledge and skills necessary
for implementing those mandates. Schools are addressing this issue through
the provision of in-service training and related professional development
efforts. It is equally important, however, that instruction about AT is
included in the curricula of those who are preparing for careers in schools
– particularly teachers and administrators. Graduates of personnel
preparation programs need to know about AT, the AT mandates, and how to
implement them. In fact, Section 673 of IDEA 1997 authorized activities
that prepare personnel in the "innovative uses and application of
technology to enhance learning by children with disabilities through early
intervention, educational, and transitional services." There is a
need to know how IHEs are approaching this subject in order to determine
whether additional efforts need to be made to improve their practices.
Research Questions
The following research questions will be addressed when examining AT
practices as IHEs:
- To what extent are Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) providing
instruction to develop AT knowledge and skills among students who are
preparing for careers in schools?
- How is AT instruction being provided in IHE curricula?
- Are IHEs preparing AT specialists who can assume leadership for the
delivery of AT services in schools?
- What are the barriers to implementation of instruction about AT in
IHEs?
- How can instruction about AT be incorporated into pre-service personnel
preparation programs?
Research Methodologies
Survey research will be conducted to determine the status of AT instruction
at IHEs. Questionnaires will be sent to a sample of IHEs in order to obtain
descriptive data about AT activities and perceptions about a number of
variables, such as readiness to provide AT instruction and barriers that
may exist in the implementation of AT instruction. Respondents also will
be asked to identify promising practices that may have implications for
IHE personnel who are interested in developing or improving efforts to
integrate instruction about AT into their curricula. Based upon responses
to this latter inquiry, follow-up explorations in the form of telephone
and e-mail interviews will be conducted to obtain additional information
about the AT applications that are identified.
In an effort to locate promising practices about AT applications that
may not have been tapped by the random sampling for the survey, notices
will be placed in the Teacher Education Division (TED) and Technology
and Media (TAM) division of the Council for Exceptional Children newsletters
soliciting nominations for other in-depth interviews that will be conducted
to obtain detailed information about AT practices at IHEs. Case studies
will be performed to determine ways that faculty in IHEs have integrated
AT instruction into the curricula.
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References
Flanagan,
J. C. (1964). Measuring human performance. Pittsburgh,
PA: American Institutes for Research.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Amendments of 1997, PL 105-17,
§602, U.S.C. 1401[On-line]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA/the_law.html.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Amendments of 1997, PL 105-17,
§687, U.S.C. 1401[On-line]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/IDEA/the_law.html.
Lahm, E. A., Bausch, M. E., Hasselbring, T. S., & Blackhurst, A.
E. (2001). National assistive technology research institute. Journal
of Special Education Technology, 16(3), 19 -
26.
National Center for Education Statistics (2000. Teachers' tools for the
21st century: A report on teachers' use of technology. [On-line]. Available:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000102.
National Council on Disability (2000a) Federal policy barriers
to assistive technology.[On-line]. Available: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/assisttechnology.html#4.
National Council on Disability (2000b) Back to school on civil
rights. [On-line]. Available: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/backtoschool_1.html.
National Council on Disability (2001). National disability policy:
A progress report: November 1999-November 2000 [On-line], Internet.
Available: http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progressreport2000.html.
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Equal Opportunity University
Last Updated:
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
© 2001-2006 - National Assistive Technology Research Institute - All
rights reserved
NATRI documents may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes provided their
source is identified.
An
Equal Opportunity University
Last Updated:
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
© 2001-2006 - National Assistive Technology Research Institute - All
rights reserved
NATRI documents may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes provided their
source is identified.