Dufferin-Peel Special Education and Support Services is committed to improve accessibility for students with disabilities and to provide opportunities for their involvement in the identification, removal and prevention of barriers to their full participation in the life of the school.
The board strives to provide support through the continual improvement of access to board facilities and/or programs and services. Personal Equipment and Computer-based Assistive Technology provide students with diverse learning needs with support for literacy learning and equipment to access the curriculum and/or alternative programs.
Personal Equipment
Guidelines for accessing Ministry of Education funding for individualized equipment is described in http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/funding/0910/SEAguide09.pdf. Types of equipment may include: computer hardware, assistive technology software, customized woodwork, mobility supports, FM systems, augmentative communication devices and CCTVs.
Funds can be used to purchase personal equipment for any student with a special need;
- where the equipment is required to support the student’s access to the Ontario Curriculum and/or alternative program.
Students need not be formally identified as exceptional students, but;
- the equipment must be recommended by a qualified professional and
- evidence of the use of equipment must be documented in the student’s IEP or in other program documentation.
A central review committee of the Dufferin-Peel Special Education & Support Services Department meets regularly to review SEA claims for equipment. As part of the SEA eligibility process, the committee may recommend an observation period involving the use of equipment or software before approval.
Parents are informed about the processes involved in acquiring individualized equipment:
· through board staff such as special education itinerant teachers, consultants, speech-language pathologists, psychologists or school administrators or
· through Community Care Access Centre service providers such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists or other staff.
Computer-based Assistive Technology
Students may be provided access to assistive technology (AT) through the SEA process. In Dufferin-Peel, elementary and secondary schools also have a specialized suite of computer programs to support the literacy learning needs of students. This suite is comprised of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and text-to-speech software, speech-recognition software, word prediction software and software to support planning and organization.
Computers with AT software are deployed in all Planning for Independence Program classes. This initiative will be extended to elementary Needs Moderate/Needs Severe classes. This technology enhances and extends previously deployed alternative access and augmentative communication supports.
The board also recognizes the potential for these technologies to support the needs of all students. Consequently, Ministry-licensed assistive technology programs have been added to the standard suite of software on all computers in the board’s elementary schools.
As new technologies emerge the Special Education and ICT Departments will continue to collaborate around the means to extend assistive technology access.
