Brian W. Wojcik, Ed.D., ATP SEAT Center Illinois State University

Defining Intervention Types What are different kinds of interventions?

Types of Interventions Instructional Interventions Compensatory Interventions

Instructional Interventions Are designed to teach or add new skills to a student’s skill base Large variety Not necessarily academic in focus Measured against previous performance.

Compensatory Interventions Are designed to compensate or ‘bypass’ the area of difficulty. Enhances student’s performance without necessarily increasing student’s skills. Large variety Not necessarily academic in focus (e.g., antecedent control) Measured against performance without the intervention in place (e.g., performance gap)

Understanding the Enigma of AT What is Assistive Technology?

AT is… A Compensatory Intervention

Defining Assistive Technology Legal Definition “any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of children with disabilities” (P.L , 29 U.S.C. 2201, §3(1))

What is assistive technology? Assistive Technology is a tool that allows a person to do a task such that, without the tool, the person could not do the task at the expected performance level.

AT = Performance Enhancement Expected Performance On Tasks Development Over Years Typical Development Atypical Development Performance Gap!

How much AT is out there? Over Different tools are classified as AT!

What is AT? (part two) Tools that are UNIQUELY matched to an individual student.