Summary
Lane ESD offers Assistive Technology (AT) services beyond those associated with districts hosting Life Skills classrooms. While some of those extended services are of benefit only to small districts, some are available to Regional or Life Skills consortia participants, and others are available to all districts.
Contact Information
Trace Mansfield
tmansfield@lesd.k12.or.us
Introduction
Any small Lane County district can access mobile computational equipment for their classrooms or individual students. Small Oregon districts are considered to have an enrollment of 8500 or fewer students, and typical small schools “have fewer than 100 students per grade and are characterized by a high level of autonomy” (The Big Picture on Oregon’s Small Schools).
Long-term loans of AT Kits and AT Library materials are available to districts participating in Regional or Life Skills consortia.
Any Lane County district can access AT Evaluations.
Available to Consortium Participants
The following services are available to participants in Regional and Life Skills consortia.
Very Basic AT Kit
District Cost: Nothing additional for the loan
Lane ESD provides very basic AT kits for long-term loans to special education classrooms, generally containing the following materials (or their functional equivalent): Small Talk Sequencer; Time Timer 8″; Comm Builder (not leveled); headphones (×2); and earphones (i.e., noise-reduction earmuffs).
These are inventoried annually, and the district would pay Lane ESD for missing or destroyed materials (but not for devices that expire through regular wear and tear).
AT Library
District Cost: Nothing additional for the loan
Lane ESD maintains an AT library of switch-accessible toys and the like; at this time, there is no additional fee for specialists from any participating district if they want to use some of this equipment. If any equipment is dedicated to one student for more than one school term, then the district is ultimately responsible for evaluating and providing that material. If the equipment is not returned, then the district will be charged a replacement fee (and then own the loaned equipment).
Available to Any Lane County District
AT Evaluation
District Cost: Determined on a case-by-case basis
A student’s communication needs can exceed an SLP’s resources (leading to AAC); likewise, a student’s AT needs can outstrip the capacity of other specialists available to a district. AT evaluation intensity can vary, sometimes leading to one project (e.g., custom equipment), and sometimes to ongoing therapy (e.g., significant curriculum design, programming, switch-access training, and so on).