Discussion: Qualified to do AT Assessments or not?

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akmrail

Qualified to do AT Assessments or not?

Sep 27 2009, 10:00 AM EDT

I have been trying to find out for a few years now what qualifies someone to do an "AT Assessment/Eval" and keep getting mixed messages. I have a strong background in technology and accessibility but I am not an OT, PT, SLP, etc.. I have received my ATACP through CSUN and am currently working on my ATP through RESNA. I am certified through several of the major AT manufacturers and have been working for my state's AT program (funded by the Tech Act Grant) for the past 5 years. Recently an SLP spoke to a group of state leaders and announced that if someone wasn't a certified OT, PT, or SLP they are not qualified to do an AT Assessment nor make recommendations on appropriate AT. I rarely work with students, usually just as awareness or training for the district therapists. The majority of people that I work with are adults that are needing to get back to work or living independently. Our office does not deal with insurance, not even Medicaid or Medicare.

Now that I've given some background, I'm curious what other professionals backgrounds are and how qualifications are being addressed.

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invisiblebloke

1. RE: Qualified to do AT Assessments or not?

Sep 28 2009, 5:50 AM EDT | Post edited: Sep 28 2009, 8:32 AM EDT

My own route into AT assessment was via a University degree in IT and Communication. At some point in the future I would like some kind of official accreditation in AT work. A colleague with many years experience in AT assessment offered the following view:

There are limited avenues to qualifications that are purely for assessing – that’s why we developed the Accreditation Scheme internally.

There are also many ways that people come into assessing - Some people go through the degree route, some through other hands-on qualifications, but these aren’t always “assessor’s qualifications”. In the United Kingdom, OT’s, SALTS or other professionals can and sometimes do assess, but in my experience they admit to lacking in assistive technical knowledge and also they are assessing client/physical responses and posture etc and not how technology interacts with the client.

One place that might be of interest is to look on the FAST website – This gives information about all kinds of qualifications ranging from Masters/degree to level 1/2..

http://www.fastuk.org/services/trainingcourses.php This also mentions courses for the US.

The difficulty is that there is such a broad range of areas of AT that it would be difficult to have such an umbrella award...eg to get a PGC/PGD in Education with deaf children would not automatically give you an assessment qualification, but that may be part of your job..A SALT would have a degree qualification in Language Therapy and Communication Aids including some technology but will not go into the physical access side of accessing technology nor in many cases computer based AAC.....and so forth.

Many Assessors would probably say that they have varieties of qualifications and experience/skillset to show their knowledge of AT/ICT and also ‘Assessing’ or “training” .....

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