For students with disabilities, Assistive Technology (AT) can have impacts that are far-reaching and have the potential to yield enormous benefits. Having access to AT allows students with disabilities to hear, to see, to read, to access and to participate in the environments they learn and live in. Having timely access to textbooks in formats that students with disabilities can access is called "Accessible Instructional Materials" (AIM), is essential to students with disabilities, and is a right protected in the IDEIA law.
Research in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) proves that ALL students benefit from multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression.
Use of UDL, AIM, and AT can create levels of independence that allow students to expand their worlds, unleash and enhance their abilities. Both low tech and high tech AT applications have been successfully used in classrooms throughout Vermont to ensure students’ success in the general education curriculum. Making informed AT decisions is one of the hardest things that IEP teams are charged with doing.