Wisconsin is a beautiful state. Not just the scenery, they've got some beautiful ideas as well! Ever been? Well, if not, here is a bit of Wisconsin available to anyone. Turns out they have a very progressive Department of Public Instruction (WIDPI) that early on recognized how important Assistive Technology is.
The WIDPI provided leadership and funding for a statewide systems change grant project known as the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) through an IDEA discretionary grant. The primary goal of the initiative has been to assist Wisconsin school districts with building their capacity to provide assistive technology devices and services to children and youth with disabilities. Numerous resources were developed under this project. One outshoot of the project is a tremendous resource of materials which available free of charge.
WATI's web-page can be found here. So many interesting resources. Be sure to spend some time visiting the page.
What I want to focus on today is WATI’s compilation of Recipes for AT Success. The manual, in digital format, is organized into activity areas that are vital for creating change in the educational environment. These categories include; administrative/district level activities, teacher/adult level activities, student level activities, and other activities. Their goal for this resource is that it will assist educators, therapist, and teachers in providing appropriate AT tools and services to support instruction for students in need.
So, all hail WATI!
The WIDPI provided leadership and funding for a statewide systems change grant project known as the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI) through an IDEA discretionary grant. The primary goal of the initiative has been to assist Wisconsin school districts with building their capacity to provide assistive technology devices and services to children and youth with disabilities. Numerous resources were developed under this project. One outshoot of the project is a tremendous resource of materials which available free of charge.
WATI's web-page can be found here. So many interesting resources. Be sure to spend some time visiting the page.
What I want to focus on today is WATI’s compilation of Recipes for AT Success. The manual, in digital format, is organized into activity areas that are vital for creating change in the educational environment. These categories include; administrative/district level activities, teacher/adult level activities, student level activities, and other activities. Their goal for this resource is that it will assist educators, therapist, and teachers in providing appropriate AT tools and services to support instruction for students in need.
So, all hail WATI!
WATI UPDATE
WATI has had a number of changes since I wrote this article originally. I believe they were shut down for a bit, but they now have a new website which you can find here. The new site imo is better than before, and any school district in the process of developing or improving their Assistive Technology team would do well to spend some time exploring the offerings.
Again, all hail WATI!
Again, all hail WATI!
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