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What is AT?

Assistive technology (AT): items, devices, and systems that enhance knowing, working, and daily living for individuals with specials needs.

Get started learning more about assistive innovation and the ATIA:

What is assistive innovation? How do you pick the best assistive technology? Who spends for assistive technology? What is the ATIA, and how can it help you discover assistive innovation? Can you attend an ATIA conference and what will you find out? Can you participate in an online ATIA webinar? What is assistive innovation?

Assistive innovation (AT) is any item, tool, software program, or item system that is utilized to increase, keep, or enhance the functional abilities of persons with impairments.

- AT can be low-tech: interaction boards made of cardboard or fuzzy felt.

AT can be state-of-the-art: special-purpose computers.
AT can be hardware: prosthetics, mounting systems, and placing gadgets.
AT can be hardware: special switches, keyboards, and pointing devices.
AT can be computer system software application: screen readers and communication programs.
AT can be inclusive or customized knowing products and curriculum aids.
AT can be specialized curricular software application.
AT can be much more-electronic devices, wheelchairs, walkers, braces, instructional software, power lifts, pencil holders, eye-gaze and head trackers, and a lot more.

Assistive technology helps people who have difficulty speaking, typing, composing, keeping in mind, pointing, seeing, hearing, discovering, strolling, and lots of other things. Different impairments require various assistive technologies.

Find more about particular assistive innovations at the websites of ATIA members and ATIA Alliance Partners. Professional organizations in the field also have handy websites. For more links, see AT Resources.

How do you select the ideal assistive technology?

Frequently, the option is a choice you make with a team of experts and experts trained to match particular assistive innovations to particular requirements. An AT group may include family physician, routine and special education instructors, speech-language pathologists, rehabilitation engineers, physical therapists, and other specialists consisting of seeking advice from agents from companies that manufacture assistive innovation.

Find out more about how numerous specialists can assist you at the websites of their professional companies:

AOTA, American Occupational Therapy Association ASHA, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association CEC, Council for Exceptional Children LDA, Learning Impairment Association of America RESNA, Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of The United States And Canada

Service organizations and producers offer crucial details also. Start with the list of ATIA Alliance Partners.

Who pays for assistive technology?

The response depends upon the technology, the use, and the user. Many sort of AT might cost you little or nothing, even for some very costly items. Some examples:

School systems pay for basic unique education finding out products along with innovation specified in an IEP. Government programs (Social Security, veteran's benefits, or state Medicaid companies) pay for certain assistive technology if a doctor prescribes it as a necessary medical device. Private health insurance coverage pays for specific assistive technology if a physician recommends it as a necessary medical or corrective device. Rehabilitation and job training programs, whether moneyed by federal government or private firms, might spend for assistive innovation and training to assist people get jobs. Employers might spend for assistive innovation that is an affordable accommodation to make it possible for a staff member to necessary job tasks.

Other sources of funds in states or communities include private foundations, charities, and civic organizations. The ATIA's Funding Resources Guide provides sources and resources to investigate as prospective alternatives.

What is the ATIA, and how can it help you find out about assistive innovation?

The ATIA is a not-for profit subscription company of producers, sellers, and suppliers of technology-based assistive gadgets and services. ATIA members are active in providing assistive technology for the gamut of disabilities:

- Autism spectrum disorders
Blindness and low vision
Deafness and hard of hearing
Computer access issues
Communication conditions
Mobility impairment
Mounting systems
Learning impairment
Cognitive impairments
Web ease of access
Augmentative and alternative interaction gadgets (AAC)

ATIA members are not mainly concentrated on architectural products (specialized elevators, lifts, ramps or grab bars), transportation products (wheelchairs and motor lorry adaptations), prosthetic gadgets (synthetic limbs and eyes), and listening devices.

Find out more about the assistive technology services and products offered by ATIA members by taking a look at their websites, noted in the ATIA Membership Directory.

ATIA members possess a remarkable warehouse of experience and knowledge valuable to satisfying the unique needs of persons requiring assistive technology. They have broad experience adjusting their products to specific scenarios and helping local professionals discover unique services for customers with impairments.

The ATIA Conference, held each year considering that 1999, showcases items and services for the assistive technology community-from users to teachers to industry and government experts. In addition, the ATIA sponsors working groups through which its members work to advance industry requirements as innovation changes, and to discover new ways to share information technology about those advances to professionals and the general public.

The ATIA and its members establish online webinars that offer continuing education about assistive information technology for professionals and interested members of the general public.

Can you go to an ATIA Conference and what will you learn?

Everyone is invited to attend the ATIA Conference, to take advantage of the exact same broad series of learning opportunities that practicing therapists, teachers, and other market experts get.

You can learn how to pick from the best existing innovations and get a very first take a look at brand-new ones in addition to advanced scholastic research. Teachers can discover proven ways to utilize AT in the classroom. Hands-on workshops teach advanced ways to utilize particular products. In community forums, specialists, persons who utilize assistive innovation, and their households can go over problems with makers and experts.

For some, the most amazing part is the Exhibit Hall, where you can try a complete range of items, including brand-new and establishing innovation. For others, the best part is meeting other individuals who are dealing with the same troubles, sharing stories and assisting each other.

Can you go to an Online AT Education webinar?

ATIA members and Alliance Partners provide a wealth of valuable information technology through the Assistive Technology Online Professional Development Program, both live and recorded. In Live Broadcast webinars, the audience can engage with the speaker. Webinars are also taped and archived so people who can not go to a Live Broadcast can access the info.

Webinars are mostly geared toward instructors and professionals, who can utilize them for continuing education credits. But they can also be useful for users, parents, and other members of the general public who have found out the essentials of assistive technology and wish to find out more.
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