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CREC's assistive technology team provides a variety of assistive technology (AT) services for students with disabilities. Our team includes seasoned experts in the field of AT including speech-language pathologists, assistive technology practitioners and literacy specialists with expertise in AT.

CREC's AT services to districts include, but are not limited to: 

  • AT technical assistance and training to build capacity within districts 
  • Assistive technology evaluations and consultations to assist with access to the curriculum for students with disabilities 
  • Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) evaluations and consultations for students with complex communication needs 
  • On-going technical assistance for specific students, classrooms, or AT teams with a focus on building capacity 
  • District-wide workshops on a variety of AT topics tailored to district needs. Topics can range from free AT for struggling readers and writers to AT for students with autism 
  • Working with districts to establish AT procedures and services including AT consideration processes as well as building AT teams within districts 
  • Assistive technology district-wide reviews to determine AT needs 

In addition, CREC offers workshops on a variety of topics in assistive technology, including apps for iPads and Google accessibility. 

CREC also offers a series of consortium packages, including any of the above services, a variety of workshops, and an AT lending library.

Assistive Technology Consortium 

CREC's Assistive Technology (AT) Consortium provides districts and programs with customized and flexible support for AT to meet each district's unique AT needs. The focus of the AT consortium is to build capacity within districts to further AT services and supports. Membership to CREC's AT consortium includes a package of days of services based upon district needs: four half-day workshops held at CREC, a quarterly AT newsletter written in partnership with the RESC Alliance, and access to CREC's AT lending library. 

Consortium Packages 

Flexible packages allow districts to purchase contracts from 4 to 18 days of service throughout the year. The flexibility of CREC's AT consortium will enable to receive the AT services they need. CREC's AT services could include, but are not limited to: 

  • AT technical assistance and training to build capacity within the district 
  • AT and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) evaluations and consultations 
  • District-wide workshops on a variety of AT topics from free AT for struggling readers and writers to AT for students with autism and beyond 
  • Working with districts to establish AT procedures and services, including AT consideration processes as well as building AT teams within districts 
  • Assistive technology district-wide reviews to determine AT needs 

AT Workshops for Consortium Members 

Throughout each school year, 4 half-day workshops are held at CREC for AT consortium members only. Members of the consortium typically determine the topics of these workshops. Each district can bring up to three participants per workshop. Often, these workshops are hands-on and allow consortium members access to our AT experts with many resources provided. Some are livestreamed as well to allow for easier access to districts.  

CREC's AT Lending Library 

AT consortium members have exclusive access to CREC's AT lending library. The lending library includes such equipment as: 

  • iPads, iPad Minis, and iPod Touches loaded with a variety of apps for AT, including augmentative and alternative communication apps (AAC) 
  • Personal devices such as laptops and touchscreen Chromebooks, and Microsoft tablets with various AT programs including word prediction, screen reading, text to speech, and speech to text 
  • A variety of high interest, low complexity books 
  • Chromebooks 
  • Windows-based tablet devices 
  • Portable word processors with text to speech 
  • Reading pens (portable scanners) 
  • Smart Pens 
  • Some switch accessible toys and switches 
  • Mid-tech communication devices 
  • Joysticks/mouse access for iOS devices 

Assistive Technology Online PD 

Digital Tools for Adapting the Readability of Text 

A comprehensive examination of many tools used for adapting readability of text for students, also known as cognitive rescaling. Participants will learn about the reasons for rescaling, as well as view demonstrations of more than fifteen commonly available online tools and software programs to make reading more accessible to all students. 

Dynamic Assistive Technology Tools for Students with Dyslexia

An introduction to several assistive technology tools that can be useful to students with Dyslexia for reading and writing tasks. Participants will look at the features of those tools and compare them to one another and examine some other resources that can be helpful for a variety of academic and everyday living tasks. 

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