Essential Number Four

… in the long term, assessment and introduction of AT (not to mention intervention in general) turn out to be two parts of an ongoing cycle. The consumer’s use of AT has outcomes which can be observed and may lead to changing selection AT ... and so on. (And of course, all other changes in an individual’s living circumstances, responses to interventions, developmental changes, and ongoing disease process may create the need for repeated assessment, the results of which may suggest AT changes.) “Assessment and intervention form a continuous, dynamic process.”¹

Essential Number Five

For a consumer to become a successful user of AT, explicit attention to training – of the consumer and people who regularly interact with her/him – is essential. Nothing hastens device abandonment as fast as an unnecessarily long learning curve. Training will not be accomplished in one or two short sessions in clinical setting; it requires follow-up where the consumer uses the device. Where resources or programmatic limitations prevent follow-up, disillusionment and disuse become highly likely.

Essential Number Six

An AT device does not function in isolation. A perfectly acceptable product may be ruled out by the need to use it in the context of some other AT – not to mention all the other constraints in a user’s life. An AAC control interface needs to be compatible with a mobility interface, seating and positioning considerations, visual limitations, and battery power limits. An AAC control interface needs to be compatible with a mobility interface, seating and positioning considerations, visual limitations, and the capacities of the user’s friends. In a primary and secondary education context, for example, “Assistive Technology does not eliminate the need for instruction in social and academic skills.²

Notes

¹ The succinct version from ATAP Guiding Principle 6 via Zabala.
² ATAP Guiding Principle 8 via Zabala.