ConnSENSE

Most Effective Assistive Technology Devices and Software: Results from a Delphi Study

Lori Marks marks@etsu.edu
& Marci McMurray mcmurray@etsu.edu
Northeast Tennessee AT Cooperative
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, Tennessee

An interesting Delphi study was reported at Closing The Gap. The authors selected a panel of 35 "experts" made up of AT using special educators in Northeast Tennessee. They asked them to "List up to 10 AT software and/or devices that you use frequently and have found to be effective in helping students meet IEP goals and objectives."

Employing the Delphi technique they sent the question to the panel of experts, collected the results and created a list of all of the items that were reported. For the second round this list was sent back to the experts. This time they were asked to rank order, modify, and/or add to their initial responses based on their review of other members' ideas. This process was repeated three times, each time with the responses getting closer to consensus. By the time the authors presented at Closing The Gap they had finalized the top 15 items, but had not actually gotten consensus yet for the top ten. It is their intention to continue mailing out the list to the panel of experts until there really is complete consensus on the top ten items.

However, I'm presenting their top 10 items as of the date they presented at Closing The Gap. The results are based on replies from AT users in one section of Tennessee, but I thought you'd certainly find them interesting.

Below is a listing of the top 10 items. For each device or software the authors gave examples of their use.

Number 10 Living Books

Number 9 IntelliKeys Keyboard

Number 8 BIGmack

The large colorful switch with recorded messages.

Number 7 IntelliTalk II

Number 6 A Calculator (any calculator)

Number 5 - PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System)

Number 4 Write:Outloud

Number 3 AlphaSmart

Number 2 Co:Writer

Number 1 Boardmaker

If I hear anything further on their findings I'll add that to this information.