APS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
ASSISTIVE WRITING EVALUATION AND DEVICE CRITERIA
Revised January 15, 2003
I.Criteria to receive an individual Assistive Writing evaluation.
To be eligible to receive an assistive writing evaluation, the student must demonstrate at least ONE of the following:
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The student has a medical diagnosis with a significant motor disability, paired with the educational need and potential for further writing development.
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If no significant motor disability, the student has language/literacy competency at an emerging literacy level or higher. Emerging literacy level for this purpose is defined as demonstrating knowledge of the alphabet, spatial orientation, and/or spelling at a phonetic level (e.g., bak for back).
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Criteria to receive an individual Assistive Writing device.
The level of AT support and amount of individualized equipment provided through AT will vary on a case by case basis depending upon a variety of factors, including level of student independence and self-generated writing, frequency of equipment use, and student literacy level.
Given the initial evaluation, a student may be a candidate for an individual, specialized or customized assistive writing device if the following conditions apply.
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Standard technology tools (such as, classroom computer with standard or word processing software) have been tried and deemed not sufficient to meet the student’s educational needs. Or, in the case of students’ with significant motor handicaps, the standard technology may serve as the student’s only means of writing, and in this case, AT may elect to provide the desktop or laptop.
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Given that standard technology tools options have been tried, ANY ONE (a,b, or c) of the following criteria must be met prior to procurement and assignment of individual, specialized technology:
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Writing is illegible due to a motor disability, and/or;
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Due to a motor disability, rate of writing is slow for student to complete functional writing tasks, and/or;
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Writing is physically laborious or medically contraindicated.
Or, if a student does not qualify by any of the above criteria (a, b or c) then ALL THREE of the following criteria (d, e and f) must be met:
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Writing is illegible for age and/or grade level (due to significant spelling errors, problems in letter formation, and/or problems with written organization);
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Other options, including task modifications and handwriting instruction have been sufficiently tried, and;
f. Use of and assistive writing device significantly improves writing performance.
