Emily Woodward (00:02.359)

Today, our guests will be Sarah Valli and Lauren Martone.

Sarah Valli is the Director of the New Hampshire Statewide Assistive Technology Program with the Institute on Disability. She is focused on improving access to assistive technology to maximize independence in all life functions at home, in the community, at school, and within work settings. Sarah was a public-school speech language pathologist and assistive technology specialist for over 20 years in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  She has delivered assistive technology professional development across the country, taught graduate level AT courses at Fitchburg State University, and served as a tenured faculty member in the Disability Resources Department at Santa Rosa Junior College. Her work has included teaching assistive technology, supporting accessible online course development, shaping AT policy, and collaborating on the New Hampshire Assistive Technology Handbook for the Department of Education.

Lauren Martone is a family school partnership facilitator right here at the Parent Information Center and mother of two children, one with disabilities. Lauren’s son uses assistive technology during his days both at school and at home. Sarah and Lauren will be discussing the use of assistive technology in the school setting to support students with language disorders. Welcome, Sarah and Lauren.

Sara Valli (01:23.137)

Thank you. It’s nice to be here and have the opportunity to represent AT and NH and talk about assistive technology with you.

Lauren Martone (01:32.454)

Thank you for having me as well. I’m always happy to join.

Emily Woodward (01:37.719)

For listeners who may be kind of new to this topic, how would you define assistive technology and what does that actually include?

Sara Valli (01:46.775)

I would say there’s an official definition of assistive technology, which is that it is any item, piece of equipment, software program, product or system that’s used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of people living with disabilities. it can include very low-tech things, small items like pencil grips or sit and move cushions.  It can include things like wheelchairs and walkers, durable medical equipment, all the way up to more complex software, like AAC devices and AI note takers. they’re really just all the tools that help people living with a disability to complete a task. and yeah, all of those tools, the tools to help people reach their goals.

Emily Woodward (02:41.431)

That’s great. Thank you so much for explaining that because for me, when I think AT, I really don’t think about pencil grips and smaller tools rather than I kind of go directly to thinking about actual technology. Can you speak a little bit more on the various tools available through AT?

Sara Valli (03:00.609)

So I think there’s if we’re talking about students with language-based learning disabilities or disabilities, there’s a variety of different tools that are computer-based, right? So we’ve got tools like note-takers, AI note-takers, like Genio is one that is often used by students at the college level and moving down into the K-12 system, and it’s an AI note-taker.  So it records and takes notes that can then be read back to you. so that’s one really effective assistive technology tool for to be used in education. And then I I think there’s also things like text-to-speech, which read out loud digital text. So students may get their books in Bookshare in a digital format, and then they can use that software to listen, and they can use it also to slow the rate down or speed it up so that it works for their comprehension, and then I there’s also things like digital graphic organizers and the ability to produce written language through things like word prediction and dictation software. One of my favorite new tools is a tool called Voice It and it’s an app that picks up non-standard speech with really amazing accuracy. So, it was created for people with oromotor difficulties with dispraxia or apraxia and works amazingly well. for I just finished doing some work with someone who’s got CP and it is completely accurate picking up and typing out her speech, which is pretty amazing. If you think about that, you know, twenty-five years ago we were working with things like chin pointers that strapped onto a chin and a student would need to bend down and type each key. and so being able to dictate really is amazing.

Emily Woodward (05:22.721)

What would you say some of the most common language reading disorders or communication challenges that you see with students experiencing today who are who would surely benefit from the various tools offered through AT?

Sara Valli (05:37.398)

I think we’ve got a a lot of students who have different types of reading disabilities. people can get attached to a label like dyslexia, but the reality is it’s important to look at and understand: does a student have difficulty decoding or sounding out the words? Do they have difficulty with vocabulary comprehension or syntax or sentence structure comprehension? Or do they have difficulty with written language expression and or organizing their thoughts? All of those kinds of things can really impact people’s ability to engage in and with the content and the curriculum and to express their understanding. so I and I think sometimes we will see testing that’s done on a student and it’ll say, this child has a has difficulty with working memory. And we may not necessarily equate that with needing to use assistive technology, but working memory difficulties difficult, working memory difficulties can really impact so many parts of written language. So if you’re if you’re trying to write something and you’ve got to hang on to what’s my bigger concept.  What’s the sentence I want to use to express that? How do I spell the words? How do I find the letters on the keyboard? And then what was the next word after I figured out how to spell that? That can really derail your ability to get your thoughts out clearly. And so providing a student with the technology to either use word prediction or to dictate their thoughts can be really powerful, and to take away those barriers that working memory may cause.

Emily Woodward (07:40.193)

Thank you for explaining the various ways with working memory. It’s interesting to hear that perspective. why has assistive technology been such an important student for support rather for students with dyslexia and language disorders and other reading related challenges? I know you kind of hit on it just a little bit.

Sara Valli (08:00.33)

Well, I think that as a country, we talk a lot about we have a really high rate of students who are not reading at grade level. And sometimes that can lead us to mistakenly place children in classes that are lower than their cognitive or their comprehension levels. And so, when I think about what’s really important is giving students access to the content in a way that they can perceive it or understand it. And so, if we have a child who is in tenth grade and they’re decoding at a fourth grade level, and we give them fourth grade books, but their comprehension, if they’re listening, and their listening comprehension is at a 10th grade level, they’re gonna be bored out of their mind at with only being given a fourth-grade level material. And so I think about that assistive technology that lets us support students in accessing their content at their comprehension level is really the big key because then they are hooked into their learning, they’re challenged, they’re engaged, they’re able to have a conversation with their peers about what they’re learning that’s grade level, and not be missing out on the science, the social studies, those kinds of classes and content. And then I also think that you know.  One of the really big pieces that can be life-changing for students is to make sure that they have the appropriate training, the services, the assistive technology services in school. Because it’s one thing to hand a child a computer that has all the software and show it to them once. It’s another thing to sit down and walk them through and let help them personalize it. What’s the rate of speech you want this to be at?

Do you want the text highlighted as it’s read out loud to you? What is the tool that you can use that may level the text a little bit and make the vocabulary easier if you struggle with that? and how can you really take ownership of this tool so that it is a support for your learning? I think that that providing students with that kind of service in the school district and the training is important and I also think that making sure that your staff understand how to use the tool so that if a child is in a classroom and something goes wrong, there’s someone there who understands how to support them in problem solving that. I mean, also I think learning to dictate your written language is another s tool or it’s another learning to dictate your written language is a skill that takes some practice. We don’t speak how we write. And so telling a child to just dictate their paper without doing the prep, like what is it we want to say? It almost requires more planning ahead to dictate a paper than it does to type it.

Emily Woodward (11:40.577)

Thank you for all that information, especially regarding the training for AT in schools and how that is a very vital point too for students to have somebody show them how to use those tools. Can you talk to us about AT and the legal requirement for schools to document how they are providing these supports?

Sara Valli (11:59.031)

Sure. So IDEA includes assistive technology in the same vein and the same section as other related services. So speech and language, occupational therapy, special education pullout services, physical therapy, assistive technologies in that same category. And so it requires, you know, some sort of assessment of need.  Progress reviews and service time to support being able to use it effectively. In some cases, it’s appropriate to include assistive technology within IAP goals. And it’s certainly appropriate to include it in the present levels as well as in accommodations. Sometimes schools are concerned that they shouldn’t be listing a specific name of assistive technology. So for example, co-writer is a fantastic word prediction piece of software because it allows a student to spell phonetically and it will make corrections. If a child is proficient in that, it’s absolutely appropriate to put that in the present levels of part of the IEP.  So it may say, you know, Johnny is a child who, because of his difficulty with spelling and working memory, requires the use of word prediction software. Currently, Johnny is proficient in using the co-writer word prediction software. and that can be really important if a child moves somewhere or if they go in between classes for each educator to understand, this is the tool that they use. They may not use the Google Word prediction or some other version. That’s the one that they use and are proficient with. So, I think that that’s really important. I also think that, you know, the new Department of Justice ruling related to Title II and schools needing to document how they’re providing accessible educational materials plays a role in this because you while us accessible educational materials are not assistive technology, you need assistive technology to access them. So they’re sort of married in this way. And so being able to document well what grade level a child is decoding at, what grade level a child has silent listening comprehension, and what grade level they should have accessible educational materials at so that they can access the content is important. I think it’s also really important to make sure that schools know the process related to making recommendations and consideration. You know, on the New Hampshire IEP, there’s a place where it says, did you consider assistive technology for this child? And very often a team will say, Yeah, we considered it. They don’t really need it. But there are definitely things that should be included in that conversation that are much more in depth for each area of need. What did you consider? Why did you consider it? If you considered it and it’s something you decided as a team not to try or utilize with this child, why? it shouldn’t just be a checkbox of yeah, we considered it. It should be what and why and for each area of need, what options did you look at? So in the New Hampshire ham assistive technology handbook.  The New Hampshire Assistive Technology Handbook has explanations of the consideration process and a form related to it. It has an explanation about the assessment process and a form connected to that, about an evaluation of effectiveness. There’s a, you know, a way for documenting it, how assistive technology is transitioned with the little transitions and the big transition.

Lauren Martone (16:50.066)

Sarah, you mentioned the assistive technology handbook. Can you tell listeners where that might be available?

Sara Valli (16:59.874)

That the Department of Education worked with Cast to produce that. and so you can reach out directly to the Department of Education. currently it also lives as a document you can download on the Next Steps website. I believe that the Department of Ed is moving that to their Canvas site as the Next Steps website is sunsetting.

Lauren Martone (17:31.474)

Thank you, I ask because as a parent whose child has accessed assistive technology since kindergarten and before that’s great information for us to have.

Sara Valli (17:48.949)

Yeah. It’s it is based off of the quality indicators for assistive technology. And there’s a website that also has all of those forms. It’s the QIAT website. And on under their planning documents are actually editable word formats of all of those forms.

Lauren Martone (18:17.234)

Excellent. And I appreciate you talking about where is located and where it should be documented because I think that a lot of times families aren’t equipped with this type of knowledge and having that background knowledge is so helpful and so important for our families. So I just want to thank you for bringing that up and bringing awareness to that.

Sara Valli (18:41.012)

Yeah. I should mention that it is worth looking on the QIAT website in their resources. There is a very specific form that is about documenting assistive technology in the IEP. And it’s a wonderful kind of one pager that a family can bring with them to a meeting and say, these are the places that I’m curious if we ought to include the types of assistive technology my child is using.

Lauren Martone (19:14.34)

Absolutely. I’m thinking of our own circumstances. My son is entering middle school and he requires, you know, the use of a larger screen Chromebook and different Chromebook extensions. And I’m sure that AI note taking is in our near future. So I am just thankful that this information is coming to light for everybody. So he also needs to utilize, you were talking about Bookshare, and that’s been a big one for him. he requires large print textbooks as well. and we have been on a journey with receiving those. It can take a long time for them to be produced. So we are finally I want to say.  He’s gonna be in seventh grade, so maybe three years into ordering them, and they finally have been received before the beginning of the school year. So that’s nice to have. he also needs to use enlarged graph paper with bigger boxes to help keep himself organized. bookshare, he likes the he has the ability to control the voice and the speed, and he can invert colors and really. You know, play around with it and customize it. And I think having the freedom to do different customization has also helped encourage his self-advocacy to say, nope, that speed doesn’t work for me. I need to slow it down. so I I just I yeah, I think this is such an important conversation. And so many of us don’t realize that these resources are even available to us.

Sara Valli (21:07.7)

I think you hit on a really interesting point for me. I’ve often had conversations with students when I was working directly with students on how to use assistive technology and specifically the readers. And we talk about things like you own the rate. If you are listening to something on Bookshare that is about dirt biking, and you are an avid dirt biker, you know all of that vocabulary inside and out, you understand, you know, just all of that background, you can jump in there and speed that up and listen a little faster. But if you’re listening to your chemistry book and you’re like, Wait, I have no idea what that those words mean, or you’re listening to a social studies book that has complex sentence structure, you may need to do self-check-ins on ooh, I just completely zoned out and didn’t process any of that. I have to go in, slow down my rate, and make sure I’m listening to understand. and that’s a piece of that service time that that students really need to be able to learn. And I think conversely, we can have students who have auditory processing difficulties who need to slow things way down. and I one time worked with a young lady who is blind and she could listen at around four hundred words a minute. The average person speaks at about a hundred and ten. And I doubted her. I was like, there’s no way you understand that. And then she was able to answer all the questions at the end of the book. I was like, we’re gonna have to move faster, you know? Yeah.

Lauren Martone (22:46.002)

It’s amazing. I mean, yeah, I mean people should just think of like a Kindle and how you can customize the speed that you listen to your Kindle on. And you know, my kids will be like, how do you listen to it that fast? And I’m like, it’s just what I do. That’s how my brain works.

Emily Woodward (23:03.425)

That’s amazing. Thank you for explaining all that about the speed too and the examples, but the things that you’re really comfortable with are dirt bikes was your example and things that are a little bit more challenging, maybe slow it down just a little bit. who should families connect with when they want to learn more about assistive technology and available support for students? What would you say would be the first steps?

Sara Valli (23:27.996)

So I think honestly, the very first steps, if you have a child and you are starting that process of having them tested for whether or not they qualify as a student with a disability in a school, I think it’s always good to start with asking your school team. Ask the school psychologist who is going to be doing that psychoeducational testing, ask the special education teacher.

Ask the speech and language pathologist, ask the occupational therapist. When you’re doing your evaluations, can you make sure that you recommend assistive technology tools that you think might help with any areas that you find a need in? I think that that can really help to make sure that you’re not jumping to the highest tech first because oftentimes the people who are on the ground in the school know what tools are there and what’s already integrated and can kind of weave those in in a really natural way. So that’s always where I think we should start. and then if you’re feeling like that team needs a little bit more support or your kiddo needs a little bit more support, there are so many resources out there.  So ATIA has a fantastic website. They are the assistive technology industry association. They have a fantastic conference every year. they have on their website tons of resources. one of the really amazing resources that we have here in New Hampshire is the Disability Rights Center. Just worked with one of the LEND students and they revamped their whole website to have a lot of examples and information around assistive technology for folks. And then your state AT Act program, which ATNH is, we have a whole wealth of information. And we also are gifted with having access to all of the other state AT Act programs in the country.

So if someone sends us an email and says, I have a child or I have a parent or I have, you know, someone who needs this or who has this barrier, do you have any recommendations? If for some reason we are stumped, we have a network of other directors that we can reach out to and say, Hey, does anyone have any ideas around this? and then we can pull that information and share it as well. so I think really starting with your school and then looking out there. and I the internet is an amazing place. You know, I think that getting curious and asking questions, if you jump online and you say, I have a child who is struggling with these things, can you make suggestions around assistive technology? It will give you some tools. and so getting curious, doing some research and reaching out to other parents, you know, reaching out to PIC reaching out to the disability rights center or your AT Act program are all options.

Emily Woodward (27:03.159)

Excellent. Thank you so much for sharing all those. And we can certainly link some of those in the resources as well with the podcast notes. And once again, thank you for talking about the handbook too. What advice would you offer for ensuring that a student’s assistive technology needs are consistently supported during their transitions between classes, grade levels, or to different schools?

Sara Valli (27:29.888)

Transition is such a complex thing with assistive technology. And I think it’s important to make sure that when we think about assistive technology, we talk about the little transitions as well as that big transition out of post-secondary school, right? So children who use assistive technology need

Everyone on their team to understand and know that they’re a person who uses that technology. Because as any of us who’ve ever sat in an IEP meeting know, there’s typically one regular education teacher representative there. and there’s your related services team and your special educator. but there is not

Always a consistent way that the discussions that happen in those meetings get shared with everyone on the team. And so that is something that is universally true, and which is why the people who created the quality indicators for assistive technology created a transition document. And it has

guidelines around documenting all those little transitions. So things like this, you know, this child needs to have their Chromebook. They struggle with working memory and they may not always have a charger with them. So every classroom should have a charger there for them. Things like what happens if they go to use their assistive technology and it doesn’t work? What’s the plan? What are the steps? Is it that they shut down and restart first? Is it that they need to leave class to go get a you know a tech person that’s probably not the best plan? Is it who’s the IT person that’s gonna get called that understands how to do a reset? It’s those little details that make a big difference and can change things from being highly effective to having abandonment issues, right? Because if you bump into frustrations you’re more likely to abandon a tool. So I think those pieces, oftentimes people can make the error of thinking that a child only needs the assist of technology in English language arts class. That’s where they’re doing most of their reading and writing. But really science and social studies are your biggest language content areas that, you know, have complex language involved in them.

And so making sure that those teachers understand science worksheets, math worksheets, you know, how are those made accessible so that a child can dictate into them or type into them? What’s the plan for that process? and how do we make sure that they have them in a timely manner, which means at the same time that all their peers do? Not everyone else gets the worksheet and then we’re scrambling to figure out how to convert it into an accessible format, but how is it accessible at the same moment that the other classmates get it is really important. And so that transition document can really be helpful to make sure all those little pieces happen. And making sure that that transition document doesn’t just exist, but that everyone gets a copy. And that there’s opportunity for the paraprofessionals, the classroom teachers to ask some questions and get some of that training. And again, that’s where documenting things in that service grid can be really helpful. Because if you can document that there’s in the service grids, there’s a section that has supports for personnel. You can document in there that your staff have AT training. It may look like they all have to complete an online module on how to use that piece of assistive technology, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean a district has to spend a whole bunch of money to hire someone to come and run a training. It may mean that on a professional development day, all of the paraprofessionals and you know have time to do the online module that every AT software program has now for people. They want people to know how to use it. So I think that that’s that is important for those little transitions. I think that the places where things can happen that cause big setbacks are grade transitions. when new systems or computers are set up, that used to be more of an issue now.  Much of the software is connected to your login, your username. So you save your settings, it will travel with you from computer to computer when you log in. but I also think the big transition, the transition out of high school into the next step is where things can get lost because if things are not documented well, because it’s just what is in the school, right?  We all should be thinking about universal design for learning. However, there’s a place where sometimes things that are implemented because they’re part of universal design, but really ought to be documented as a need for this child based on their disability may not be documented. And then it can get lost. So I think having clear documentation in all those places in the IEP and as part of that exit paperwork if whether it’s that you use the QIAT transition document or however your district decides to do it, being able to hand to that Voc Rehab counselor, the pre employment counselor, a document that says these are the type these are the exact pieces of software that I use well. I access things here. My comprehension level is at this grade level for silent reading.  My comprehension level is at this grade level for listening comprehension. I use these tools for writing. I have an account with, you know, Bookshare or whatever it is that will allow if a child is connected with say vocal rehab to know what it is that they need to help that child get for their next steps. That will allow them to help advocate for themselves when they go to a job or they go to a technical training program. Because if things have been built in as universal design and this child always uses them, but they’re not aware that it’s an accommodation they had, they can’t advocate for themselves. So I think those pieces are are really important.

Emily Woodward (34:52.567)

Excellent. Lauren, I wasn’t sure if you had anything you wanted to add since we met talked about your son is transitioning over to a new school, if you had any experience in that area.

Lauren Martone (35:04.312)

I will be very honest, this is a little eye-opening to me with an upcoming transition and yeah, I’m going to be going through our IEP later.  So I know that his Chromebook, they have done very well in making sure that his Chromebook travels with him. we had an audio jack issue this year and they were able to replace the Chromebook within a reasonable period of time and give him a, you know, separate accommodation while the audio wasn’t working. So I just yeah, I think that this is just a very eye opening conversation.

Sara Valli (35:52.215)

I think one of the interesting things that I’m hearing sometimes from from Voc rehab counselors and from college counselors is that we also need to be aware that sometimes when children have been in schools that are Chromebook only schools, they transition to a setting that does not use Chrome and does not use Google Docs, and all of the accessibility features are different in Microsoft Word. They’re just different. and oftentimes schools use Google Classroom, and a child may know how to use all the tools in there. But then if they get to a college that uses Canvas, there are very similar tools. They are different, they work differently. You need to learn how to use them differently, and so that can also be something that’s included in a transition plan. Who what might this child need to know for their next setting and what is the service and the training that’s going to happen to get them comfortable with wherever that next setting is and whatever that software is.

Lauren Martone (37:05.948)

That’s a really good point too about different platforms and needing to be equipped as part of that expanded core curriculum, right? And yeah.

Sara Valli (37:14.382)

Yeah. So I will share AT and NH is in process of having two laptops set up with a whole bunch of assistive technology that can be borrowed to support some of that training, that transition training.

Emily Woodward (37:30.347)

While we’re on the topic of this, I had a question, what should parents and caregivers look for in an IEP to make sure the assistive technology devices and services and supports are appropriately included in that?

Sara Valli (37:44.543)

So I think that making sure that if there’s areas of need in that present level, that there is a consideration around what type of assistive technology may be appropriate to use around each of those areas of need is one place. I think making sure that in the accommodations that things are listed and it may be that a district does not list a name brand of a type of assistive technology in the accommodations, but that they list word prediction or dictation software. And in those present levels is where they list the specific software that the child is proficient in or is learning to use. I think making sure that when we’re talking about a child having accessible educational materials, there is clear information related to their silent reading comprehension level and their listening comprehension level. Because if you give a child a tenth grade textbook at digitally, but they’re silent or sorry, but so if you give a child a tenth grade textbook, digitally for them to listen to, but their listening comprehension is at fifth grade, they are going to not get much out of that textbook because they are listening to something that’s at too high of a level for their comprehension. So making sure that that is clear, making sure that the little things are included, you know, the sensory things that a child may need, the ability to wear headphones if they have to go to an assembly, the ability to have a fidget if they need it. and it’s okay to say that a child can have a fidget and that they need to appropriately use it in a way that doesn’t distract their peers. And you know, that maybe there’s a plan around that. I think it also very well may find its way into a goal. If there is a goal that is related to written expression. It may have in that goal, you know, given the use of dictation software, this person will write X amount of paragraphs or, you know, something like that. So it would be under the circumstances that they’re able to produce work and then I think, you know, making sure that if a child needs services to make sure that they understand and know how to use that assistive technology, it’s in that service grid. and that if staff, which I would argue every year, if you have new staff, they need a little bit of that time, that that there is some time in there in that supports for staff service grid related to assistive technology.

Emily Woodward (41:06.016)

Sarah, do students need an IEP or 504 plan to access assistive technology or can AT be available to all students regardless of eligibility?

Sara Valli (41:17.236)

That’s the million-dollar question. I think that with the movements towards universal design for learning, many students who don’t have documented disabilities access things that are considered assistive technology. I think that every single one of us accesses word prediction when we type a text. Every one of us accesses assistive technology when we dictate a text.  Right. the difference being is it something that’s available in some settings, or is it something that you have a documented disability that requires you have access to as an accommodation? And so that that piece of documentation provides the legal framework and the capacity to say, I use this software in my classes and I have a legal right to use it on tests, on standardized assessments when I transition to a next setting. That’s the difference. Someone who maybe uses a screen reader or a text-to-speech reader to listen to their text because they prefer it does not have a legal right to access that that on a standardized assessment or tests in general. And so that’s where that place of is there a documented disability that creates this as an accommodation differs from I just have access to it because the district has it. Does that make sense?

Sara Valli (43:06.142)

That gets more and more important as you get older, right? So when you walk into a job, if you need some assistive technology and that employer is required to purchase it for you as part of a reasonable accommodation, you need to be able to provide documentation that you have a disability.

Emily Woodward (43:25.483)

That’s great, thank you. And I think we kind of were indicating that AT services can also benefit all students, even regardless of a disability or learning communication challenge, whatnot.

Sara Valli (43:34.827)

Yeah.  So I will share that in my previous world working in a school district, one of the things that that district had me do was go into all the fifth grade classes and teach everybody how to use the software, the assistive technology that they had purchased for the entire district. it was pretty powerful because it normalized the option to use it.  So our students who really needed it felt less stigmatized by using it. It also helped those students who were struggling but not quite identified to be like, wait, what? That’s really cool. I can use that. And so I would just go in at the beginning of the year and do a 40 minute, here’s all these cool tools that are built into your computer. If you ever have trouble with spelling, here’s something you can use. If you, you know.  Wanna listen to your books, here’s something you can use, you know, and just kind of normalizing the availability. not every district has it, all the tools of universally available. I will say there is a lot built in now to, you know, Chromebooks, and that districts maybe don’t need to spend as much money on purchasing outside software, except for for specific kids who maybe have above and beyond needs.

Emily Woodward (45:08.417)

Could you tell me some of the biggest misconceptions people often have about assistive technology?

Sara Valli (45:14.888)

Yeah, in fact the Federal Department of Education released a whole myths thing about assistive technology a few years ago. That’s pretty cool. But I think some of the biggest ones are we can afford that. AT is too expensive. And I think sometimes schools get afraid to talk about it because they’re afraid that it’s expensive when the reality is

That many of the tools, especially for reading and writing, are built into systems. I mean, Google has a whole section of their website now that’s dedicated to all their accessibility tools. You know, Microsoft, Apple, they all have entire sections now where you can go through and say, I have a vision disability. Here’s what’s built in. I have a here, you know, all those tools are built in, so they do not cost extra. of course, there’s always going to be some you know, above that level of support needs that may cost a little bit of money. But I also think that the concept that it’s an initiative or it’s some extra thing that’s gonna stress staff out or make it harder for teachers is a huge misconception. I think when students are more independent districts need less paraprofessionals to support students because kids wanna got it. They don’t want it They don’t want an adult hanging over their head. They really don’t. and so if we can teach students how to use these tools earlier, they have a longer amount of time or they are independent. and I also think that there’s the misconception that if we give them these tools, they won’t improve their reading or their writing skills. And there’s actually significant research that is the opposite of that, that shows that word prediction actually builds spelling capacity and using text to speech readers actually builds reading fluency. So I think that continuing to work on reading and writing as specialized instruction is different than giving tools to access, so I think that I think that another misconception is that a team can quickly check off that they considered AT in an IEP meeting without actually considering it. and that, you know, the consideration process is really important. and I think I already talked a little bit about that people are afraid to put the specific name brand of an unassistive technology tool into an IEP, and that that can absolutely go into the present levels, framed in the way of you know, this student is proficient in or is learning to use this software. That’s information that’s important. and then I think that the biggest misconception is that people don’t understand how broad of a range of things are included as assistive technology tools, right? Sometimes someone in a district might say, you know, we don’t have any children who’d use AAC devices. Everybody is a speaking person. or they may think that assistive technology is only for more significant needs.

Sara Valli (49:08.594)

And they may miss that assistive technology is your sensory things, it’s your visual schedules, it’s a wheelchair, it’s an adapted PE equipment, it’s adapted cooking equipment, it’s the FM systems that your, you know, kids with auditory processing disorders use, it’s magnification tools, for kids who have visual impairments. It’s switch adapted toys. It’s all of those different pieces. And so I think that the broadness of it is often missed. and that and that people have a right to access it not just for classroom curriculum, but also for the extracurricular activities. You know, how do we adapt the sports? How do we make sure that this kiddo can access the dance? all of those kinds of things.

Lauren Martone (50:12.378)

I think sometimes too that there’s a misconception that using assistive technology is taking the easy way out. Or it’s you know, it’s cheating in a sense to have assistive technology and it’s hard to get around sometimes that idea and thought with different people who think those ways. So I think that it’s important for everyone to understand that these really are tools that these children need to access and receive FAPE and that it’s important that they’re considered. So

Sara Valli (50:51.166)

Yeah. I think that’s especially true. Sometimes when you have a family who has been in the special education system and they have maybe not had a great experience and they are afraid that by using assistive technology that the child their child isn’t going to be pushed to learn to read or learn to, you know, the math. And and the reality is that

Sara Valli (51:26.442)

There are some learning disabilities that will impact capacity to learn to read at grade level, to learn all of the math at grade level. And if we can find the tools that help them access the content. If using a calculator lets them do algebra because their learning disability is, I am never going to remember my math facts, then let them use the calculator because the concept and the understanding the how is more important.  If they’re struggling to decode and sound out words, but they can listen to 10th grade psychology textbooks, then they need to be listening to them so that they can get that content.

Emily Woodward (52:12.383)

Yeah, it’s true. With technology there’s so many different ways that they can help people right now that that’s a really good thing. what emerging assistive technologies are you really most excited about and how do you see them impacting students?

Sara Valli (52:29.97)

Ooh I would say the most exciting thing to me, which is I know controversial, but is some of the things that AI can do. I think the capacity to use AI to differentiate text and to take a 10th grade concept and passage and bring it down to a fifth grade comprehension level in terms of the language structure.

Sara Valli (53:06.058)

But keep the same content and knowledge is really huge. because it it’s just a game changer, you know? and I think so, for example, there’s AI that’s specifically made for teachers. So Magic School is one of them. And it has some pretty cool tools in it, in that you can

Sara Valli (53:33.963)

You can ask it for questions related to a topic that are based on depth of knowledge and Bloom’s taxonomy. So you can have a classroom that has children that are all at all different levels of comprehension. And you can use that to formulate questions that give that get at that child the level and capacity to understand and express the understanding. so I think the AI piece is really amazing. I think that using the AI to take notes and then to simplify those notes can be a really powerful tool as well. you know like Genio is what a lot of the college students use to it’s an AI note taker. And then you can use AI to say just pull out the main points or make me a study guide from this. I mean, you know, you can you can guide your learning in really amazing ways.  So I think that the other component around utilizing AI is things like the Voice It app, where it uses AI and dictation to be able to pick up different types of speech. So if you have a child who has an articulation disorder and they’ve never been able to dictate into a computer and have it type what they’re saying.  And then you give them access to this Voice It and they can produce a paper. That’s pretty amazing. so I mean I think there’s There’s some really cool uses of AI. that, you know, I know the ethics around it are iffy, but so that I think is pretty cool. I also think that, and again, it’s an AI tool, but the meta glasses and some of those kind of smart glasses are pretty amazing. And if you think about utilizing meta glasses in a way that supports you if you are a person who is not a functional reader and you can walk into a store and pick up a can and have it read out loud what that says, or you have the ability to decide which flavor Cheez Its you want, even if you can’t read those different words.  You know, that’s the difference between getting to get the spicy jalapeno flavor versus sour cream and onion. You know, I mean, like there’s those little things make a big difference in quality of life. I think the meta glasses are pretty neat in terms of things like being able to have a recipe that you may not be able to read and say, Hey Meta, read me the steps of this recipe and give me a minute pause in between each direction. That’s significant for someone who maybe was not ever able to read the directions for making their favorite food. so those kinds of things excite me because they’re about quality of life. and I think the other things that really excite me are connected to recreation are connected to physical access to joyful activities. You know, some of the things that are out there now for adapted biking and hiking and whatnot and letting people just get out there and do the fun things are pretty amazing.

Emily Woodward (58:00.695)

I love that too with the recipe and helping somebody be able to cook a meal that they wanna cook. What’s not to love about that?

Lauren Martone (58:11.538)

My son is in band and there’s assistive technology for kiddos who want to play band. I mean, there’s foot pedals that will advance the music on the iPad for him and you can enlarge them the music notes and things. So it’s just unbelievable what is out there.

Emily Woodward (58:32.033)

Lauren, I just wanna go back to what you said earlier, how some people might feel that it’s not or that it’s taking an easy way out. And I think you had a quote that you found that kind of resonated with you if you wanted to share that.

Lauren Martone (58:45.068)

Sure, yeah. It’s one of my favorites. And a teacher for the visually impaired had shared it with me. And it says, it’s for people without disabilities, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes things possible.

Sara Valli (59:07.092)

I think that’s so real and so poignant. I mean, one of the things that we do at AT and NH is we have a lending library and so people can borrow things. And one of our most borrowed things has nothing to do with learning disabilities. It has to do with cooking. And it is our adapted cooking kit. And it has four ways to peel a potato. And it has eight different knives that and it has a cutting board that you can spike the food onto. So if you only have one arm, you can cut things up. It has adapted handles for pans that take the weight off of your wrist and put it further up your arm. It’s I and that ability.  To do something that you thought you lost the ability to do if you had a stroke or something changed. And the ability to have what you want to eat when you want to eat it and not wait for a care provider or someone else to make it for you or open it for you is powerful. And none of those things, yeah, none of those things are high tech fancy things. They’re, you know, low to no battery powered, you know, technology.

Lauren Martone (01:00:30.576)

And I think it’s important when you say people can use this lending library, it’s anybody in the general public. These don’t need to be professionals or teachers, right? Like a parent can go on and say, Hey, I think my kids should try this and they can borrow it. And I think that’s really neat.

Sara Valli (01:00:46.026)

Yeah. Yeah, we have an adapted writing kit. It has about fifty different types of pencil and pen grips, you know, and we have an adapted art kit, an adapted guitar kit, you know, that has all different tools for if you want to play the guitar, but you can’t hold it, or you need a different way to hold a pick, or you need a different way to use the frets. Like it’s got all these tools in it. So you could borrow that for a music class. yeah.

Emily Woodward (01:01:15.361)

That’s awesome. Thank you so much. I can link that also, if that’s all right, in the resources as well. And just as we wrap up, what’s the most important thing to you both that you want people to remember about assistive technology in education?

Sara Valli (01:01:19.178)

Yeah. I think for me the most important thing about assistive technology related to education is that if there is something that a child feels like they cannot do because their disability has created a barrier to being able to do that thing. That it is worth asking the questions and doing the research to see if there is a piece of assistive technology that can change that reality, that can allow them to do anything that they want to do. I think that that ability to provide someone the capacity to do anything that their friends can do is really important. And that providing that opportunity is our job as educators. You know, our goal is to help children become the most well-rounded humans that they can be and to be able to go out into the world and do what they want to do with joy.  And if we can help them find the tools to make that possible, then I think we’ve done our job well.

Lauren Martone (01:03:07.984)

I love all of that. And I think that it’s important for both our families and the professionals.  These opportunities are out there and things are possible. So together we can all work to explore and make inclusion possible. And I think that that’s great.

Emily Woodward (01:03:31.765)

I love that. Thank you both so much, Lauren and Sarah, for being on the podcast today and sharing all this valuable information with us.

Lauren Martone (01:03:39.506)

Thank you, Emily and Sarah.

Sara Valli (01:03:40.31)

Thank you. Thanks for having us. This was fun.