There are many teams involved in the delivery of assistive technology services, especially in schools. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that a team of people make decisions about a student's individualized education program (IEP). This is commonly referred to as the IEP team and is made up of the student (when he or she is able and willing to participate), the parents, and the teachers and therapists who provide services to the student. The IEP team is also charged with considering the student's need for assistive technology (AT) during the IEP meeting.

In addition, many school districts have stipulated Assistive Technology Teams which are charged with conducting AT evaluations, recommending AT devices, and providing training to other educators who then provide daily services. In spite of being called teams, many of these groups of people do not, in fact, function as teams.

A team is a group of people who work together toward a common goal. In education, many groups are called teams, but all teams do not function the same. Some may be very efficient while others seem to get bogged down. One team may typically stay focused on the task at hand, while another strays easily to related or even unrelated tasks. Some team members may collaborate easily and effectively while others repeatedly end up in power struggles.

What accounts for the performance differences among these groups that we call teams? There are many factors that impact on team functioning including, but not limited to: the nature of their tasks, the norms of the agency, the specific instructions received, various time limitations and also different personalities and interaction styles of team members. It may also be that some of these entities we call teams may be groups of people who are required to come together to work on a task, but have not truly formed an effective team.