Chapter 1
Rapid Literature Review on AT in Education
Assistive technologies (AT) are specialised products designed for people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This report summarizes the available evidence concerning AT use and outcomes in order to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the evidence informing when, where, and for whom AT works in educational settings.
The Department for Education’s Educational Technology Strategy, Realising the Potential for Technology in Education, defined 10 EdTech Challenges designed to catalyse activity in specific areas of the Educational Technology sector. One challenge focused on the need to identify the best technologies to help level the playing field for pupils and students with Special Educational Needs and Difficulties:
Challenge 6: Challenge the research community to “identify the best technology that is proven to help level the playing field for learners with special educational needs and disabilities” (Department for Education, 2019, p. 33).
Why Support Technologies to Level the Playing Field?
The right AT augments, bypasses, or compensates for a disability. Whereas all people use technologies to interact with the world, Layton and colleages contend that AT is essential for fostering people’s right to be treated fairly, enabled to participate in inclusive communities, and supported to reach desired outcomes. Berry observes, “…fairness, with respect to inclusion, means that all students receive the supports or instruction they need to achieve academically, not that all students receive the same supports or instruction” (p. 1150). The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) has afforded AT the status of a human right. For this reason, ratifying countries commit to facilitating access to AT solutions for those who need them in order to foster participation in democratic society on an equal basis with others and improve independence in daily life. Therefore, AT should be viewed as a strategic investment in pupils and students with special educational needs and difficulties to ensure that they have the opportunities necessary to access, engage, and benefit from their educational experience and move beyond historical barriers that limit their potential.
In England, in January 2019, the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) has increased for a third consecutive year to 1,318,300, representing 14.9% of the total pupil population. Realising the potential of technology in education involves maximising the application of assistive technologies to enhance academic, behavioral, social, and economic benefits of pupils and students with special educational needs and difficulties.
Historically, pupils and students with special educational needs and disabilities have had difficulty accessing the general education curriculum. This means they have been unable to achieve the same benefits from instruction as their peers. Furthermore, difficulties in accessing and engaging with educational materials and instruction approaches often resulted in educational achievement that was below their potential. Cumulatively, poor Stage 1-4 educational outcomes subsequently limit post-secondary employment and further education. Policy initiatives and investments in assistive technology have the potential to reverse the historical disadvantages experienced by pupils and students with special educational needs and disabilities in ways that improve opportunities.
The World Health Organization describes AT as follows:
Assistive technology is an umbrella term covering the systems and services related to the delivery of assistive products and services.
Assistive products maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence, thereby promoting their well-being.
Assistive technology enables people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives, and to participate in education, the labour market and civic life. Assistive technology reduces the need for formal health and support services, long-term care and the work of caregivers. Without assistive technology, people are often excluded, isolated, and locked into poverty, thereby increasing the impact of disease and disability on a person, their family, and society.
de Witte and colleagues elucidate the definition and purpose of AT by foreshadowing the complexities between the intentional advocacy of AT policy and the localised practices associated with identifying the “right” AT for an individual:
Assistive technology (AT) is an umbrella term for products and related services used by persons with disability to enable and enhance their inclusion in all domains of participation. AT can be used by people of all ages and with all types of impairment (loco-motor, visual, hearing, speech or cognition) and all sorts of limitations in activities, and for short or long periods of time. The combination of products and strategies to meet an individual’s needs is called an “AT solution,” and is developed via processes of assessment, trial and adaptation. Some AT solutions are simple and require low-tech devices, others are very expensive and complex. This variety of user groups and the wide range of assistive products and related services make the provision of AT a complex issue. This complexity is further increased by the fact that the impact of a particular AT solution depends largely on the aspirations and individual characteristics of the user. There is not one AT solution that fits all; what works for one user might not work at all for another (p. 467).
Over a lifetime, each of us will experience situations in which we personally, or, someone we know, will encounter limitations due to aging, disease, accident, or disability, that will impact the ability to perform basic life functions such as hearing, seeing, self-care, mobility, working, and participating in education. Whereas some of us may be born with a disability or disease that will require us to overcome limitations throughout our life, others will need to learn how to respond to challenges that arise from an accident or limitations that arise from simply growing older. As a result, AT has the potential to impact everyone, either directly as a personal user of AT, or indirectly, as a means of helping someone we know.
The value and significance of AT can be understood in relation to performance problems. That is, a person with a disability encounters a task they are unable to successfully complete. Following the identification of an appropriate assistive technology device, acquisition of the product, training and support in its use, a person is subsequently able to use their AT to complete the same task that was previously difficult or impossible. When appropriate assistive technology devices and services are provided, an individual is able to complete tasks more effectively, efficiently, and independently than otherwise possible without the tools.
The Need for Technology
For most of us, technology makes things easier. For a person with a disability, it makes things possible. – Judy Heumann, Educational Policymaker
Questions or comments about the project may be directed to the Project Manager Robert Rodney or the Project Principal Investigator Dave Edyburn.
Berry, R. A. W. (2008). Novice teachers’ conceptions of fairness in inclusion classrooms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(5), 1149-1159.
Chatzitheochari, S., & Platt, L. (2019). Disability differentials in educational attainment in England: Primary and secondary effects. The British Journal of Sociology, 70(2), 502-525.
de Witte, L., Steel, E., Gupta, S., Ramos, V. D., & Roentgen, U. (2018). Assistive technology provision: Towards an international framework for assuring availability and accessibility of affordable high-quality assistive technology. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 13(5), 467-472.
Layton, N., Hubbard, W., Burton, J., & Kuna, A. (2016). Quality, choice and outcomes in assistive technology (AT) equipment funding schemes: A procurement case study. Health Systems and Policy Research, 3(1), 1-8.
Special Educational Needs in England: January 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2019World Health Organization. (2018, May 18). Assistive technology. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/assistive-technology
United Nations. (2006). Convention on the rights of people with disabilities. NY: Author. Available at:
https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html