Administrative Support

What constitutes administrative support? We all know when we feel supported, but exactly what is it that creates that support. Certainly one of the most significant aspects of support is an administrator who expresses an interest in the area of concern. In this case that would be assistive technology.

Efforts to become knowledgeable about the laws related to assistive technology. So, one aspect of administrative support is having an administrator who has put forth the effort to become knowledgeable about the laws related to assistive technology and to require the special education staff to become knowledgeable also. While we wouldn't expect the administrator to know how to prescribe or operate specific devices, a supportive administrator will know the general range of assistive technology that exists for students served in the district.

Establishing clear expectations that all children with disabilities in the district are considered for AT. By stating this new policy, the administrator identifies a district-wide goal for all district staff. This statement of course, must then be supported with defined procedures, forms, training and ongoing assistance.

Allocating staff time to address assistive technology needs. A supportive administrator has designated or recruited someone to be responsible for assistive technology and gone to bat with the school board to justify designating staff time for assistive technology. In a small district that may mean shifting some caseload to another service provider. In a larger district it means developing a job description and hiring one or more full time staff to focus on acquiring assistive technology devices and training others to use them.

The funding of the assistive technology itself. There needs to be some money set aside within the special education budget to allow for the acquisition of a variety of assistive technology. Some of this may be hardware or software needed for individual students, but some of it needs to be purchased to be available throughout the district for trial use.

Hiring AT knowledgeable staff and staff training. Making it a priority to hire staff who are knowledgeable about assistive technology and to send staff to training when opportunities arise is an important component of administrative support.