What is Assistive Technology?
Assistive Technology (AT) is any strategy or device that helps persons with disabilities improve functional capacity, including:
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Accommodations, techniques and tools that make educational tasks accessible to all students and job related tasks accessible in the workplace. |
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Ways to help persons with motor, sensory, communication or cognitive impairments learn more effectively, communicate and achieve greater independence at home and in the community |
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A range of supports from simple strategies to complex hardware and software. |
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AT creates a pathway for new skills and higher levels of independence, involvement and inclusion. |
Special Education Acronyms
Here's a quick guide to some of the most common special education abbreviations and what they stand for.
| ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis |
| APE: Adapted Physical Education |
| ASL: American Sign Language |
| BIP: Behavior Intervention Plan |
| ESL: English as a Second Language |
| ESY: Extended School Year |
| FAPE: Free and Appropriate Public Education |
| FBA: Functional Behavioral Assessment |
| IDEA: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act |
| IEP: Individualized Education Plan |
| LRE: Least Restrictive Environment |
| OT: Occupational Therapy (Fine motor skills) |
| PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System |
| PLP: Present Level of Performance |
| PT: Physical Therapy (Gross motor skills) |
| PWN: Prior Written Notice |
| SLP: Speech-Language Pathologist |
| 504: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act |
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The information above information was borrowed from the Third Quarter PSC Newsletter 2006.
For more information or for a subscription please contact: Parents of Special Children, Inc. 2-C Tower Drive Fulton, NY 13069