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1342.12 Companion
July 12, 2017
Page 149
In certain situations, assistive technology tools that may prove beneficial to a student are readily
available in the student’s educational environment. Data collected regarding a student’s performance
while using readily available tools is collected prior to the IEP meeting and shared with the IEP Team to
inform the AT consideration process. Sometimes, during the course of an AT consideration process;
however, an IEP Team identifies that a student may need AT but needs to gather additional information
about the potential AT and AT services that would provide the student with sufficient compensatory
benefit to make reasonable progress. When an IEP team embarks on the process of collecting this
targeted information identified in the IEP meeting, then they have begun an AT evaluation.
The findings of the AT evaluation inform the AT consideration process that takes place during an IEP
meeting. A request for an AT evaluation may be initiated by any member of the IEP Team, including the
student, parents, teachers, therapists or administrators. An AT evaluation is conducted by members of
the IEP Team. An AT evaluation is conducted in the student’s customary environment by an individual
or a team having knowledge about the student and the AT and AT services that could be beneficial to
the student.
Because an AT evaluation is an evaluation process, procedural safeguards and legal timelines apply (e.g.,
the requirement to obtain parental consent for the AT evaluation, and the 45-school-day timeline to
conduct the AT evaluation and make a determination of a student’s need for AT).