Assistive technology needs to be considered for all students with disabilities. AT Consideration is a purposeful process that involves:

• Collaborative decision making

• Reviewing existing information about a learner

• Potentially collecting additional information about the learner

• Deciding whether or not the learner needs AT and

• Identifying the AT needed for the learner to be successful (if applicable)

Your team can use the Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology (QIAT) for Consideration to gain insight regarding the consistency and effectiveness of your current AT consideration process.

After determining that a learner could benefit from AT, it is time to identify the appropriate tool - but wait! While you may want to simply dust off an unused tool in the supply closet, more steps need to be taken to ensure the right fit. 

Joy Zabala, an AT professional with a background as both a general education and special education educator, developed the SETT framework, a model that promotes collaborative decision making and consideration surrounding the Student, Environments, Tasks, and Tools.  

Watch this video to learn more about the components of the SETT framework.

Kelly Fonner, an AT professional, modified Joy Zabala’s original SETT framework by adding additional checklists, matrices, and templates. This updated framework also provides guidance for the process of selecting and implementing assistive technology. The templates provided can (and should!) be adapted to fit your team’s needs through this process. 

The video included with this section explains the purpose of and how to use each page.