Policy Statement
The East Tennessee Technology Access Center has the following policy about
provision of assistive technology evaluation services to adults or
children with disabilities and their families or caregivers:
We use a collaborative approach to the provision of assistive technology services. This is defined as an interactive process that enables teams of people with diverse expertise to generate creative solutions to mutually defined problems. The outcome is enhanced and altered from the original solutions that any single team member would produce independently. This mutual interaction exists for the purpose of preventing or solving problems (Idol, L. Paolucci - Whitcomb. P., & Nevin, A. Collaborative Consultation. Rockville, MD: Aspen, 1996.)
The practical application of the collaborative approach is that we expect the adult or child with a disability, his or her family or caregivers, and the therapists, teachers, aides, or other personnel who provide services to be part of the assistive technology evaluation. The reason, as listed above, is that collective knowledge and expertise is going to yield results that are more reliable and suitable than those that any single person could reach independently. The school system or agency responsible for providing services is responsible for contacting all relevant persons listed above and assuring us that these persons will be in attendance at the assistive technology evaluation at the time and place scheduled.
Evaluations, unless requested otherwise, will take place in the person's functional environment: school, home, or work. Because of the size and weight of vision equipment, vision evaluations may take place at ETTAC.
For adults with disabilities, the adult is in charge of the assistive technology evaluation, and may have any person he or she would like to have present during the evaluation. For children with disabilities, their preferences will be asked at every stage of the evaluation process.
Since successful use of assistive technology by persons with disabilities is dependent on the knowledge, expertise, and attitudes of persons in their environments, we believe that these other persons are a critical and valuable part of the process.
All assistive technology evaluation services that will be paid for by state funds will be based on existing legal documents: transition plans, IFSP's, IEP's, or IWRP's. These must be provided to ETTAC staff prior to an assistive technology evaluation.
ETTAC does not represent any one vendor or supplier of equipment, nor does ETTAC sell any assistive technology products.