Executive Summary

Assistive technologies (AT) are specialised products designed for people with special educational needs and disabilities. This report summarises the available evidence concerning AT use and outcomes in education for policy makers, administrators, educators, researchers, and industry in order to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the evidence informing when, where, and for whom AT works.

Realising the potential of technology in education involves maximizing the application of assistive technologies to enhance academic, behavioral, social, and economic benefits of pupils and students with special educational needs and difficulties. When a person finds the appropriate AT, they are able to complete tasks that they previously could not complete, did slowly, or did poorly. The right AT augments, bypasses, or compensates for a disability. The design, marketing, and use of assistive technology must be understood in the context of technology used in schools (i.e., educational technology) as well as technology used in society (i.e., mainstream technology).

The focus of this rapid literature review was on gathering evidence from the academic databases, doctoral dissertations, and grey literature (i.e., non-indexed journals, conference papers, and technical reports) from the years 2005 to 2019. The goal was to understand both the state of the art (as reflected in literature for practitioners), and the state of the science (as reflected in peer-reviewed research literature), concerning AT use and the outcomes and benefits experienced by pupils and students with SEND. The review focused on evidence in four English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States

The findings of this rapid review of the AT literature revealed a knowledge base of over 950 documents of which 96 were literature reviews. 30 evidence reviews provide moderate – strong evidence concerning the efficacy of specific applications of AT.

Disabilities manifest themselves in many different forms and severities. To discern where, when, how, and for whom AT works we need to understand both the depth of research within specific disability categories as well as the breadth of technologies that support core functioning. This rapid review provides evidence regarding AT applications for all special needs and disabilities at all levels of the educational system.The most research validated AT intervention focuses on speech, language, and communication disabilities and the use of communication systems known as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. This body of research evidence is strong and exceedingly clear: providing individuals with a method of communicating, the earlier the better, improves a variety of outcomes relative to independence, learning, and quality of life.

One of three models are commonly used in schools to organize AT services: (1) Historical: AT is a component of special education services; (2) Inclusive: AT has been elevated by school leadership who set priorities for inclusive education or multi-tier support systems (MTSS) where the general education classroom is viewed as the home unit for all students with a goal of making differences ordinary; and (3) Universal Usability: All school personnel work intimately together to procure universally accessible technologies (that is, accessible out of the box: accessibility features are built-into products that just need to be turned on as needed). In this model, there is no longer a single accessible computer station in the classroom or library, but rather, all computer workstations are fully accessible and a student can use any computer.

Advocacy for accessible educational materials (AEM) is a necessary component of AT devices and service systems. The importance of AEM cannot be underestimated during the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online instruction where pupils and students with special needs and disabilities have experienced (1) barriers in online learning management sytems, (2) multimedia, web pages, and/or documents that are not accessible, and (3) barriers within learning activities because they do not have the appropriate AT devices and services to access the curriculum.

At this time, AT is an under-utilized intervention to provide pupils and students with special needs and disabilities a means for accessing and engaging in the curriculum in ways that are representative of the ubiquitous nature of technology in society. As a first course of action, let us be mindful that advances in universal usability have provided access tools on every smartphone, computer tablet, laptop, and desktop computer. Parents and educators are encouraged to explore the accessibility features on their devices as a critical first step in locating appropriate AT to help a struggling student. Realising the potential of assistive technology will required the coordinate efforts of students, parents, educators, administrators, policymakers, developers, service providers, and researchers to scale the number of pupils and students benefitting from AT interventions that have been shown to be effective.