Rehabilitation Research Design and Disability Center

Project OATS Final Report

V.   Implications For Future Work

1) Obtain further funding for investigation of AT outcomes based on the data collected during the course of the project.

2) Further develop the database model.

3) Investigate ways to improve the AT Supplement to the SFA

4) Further investigate the potential of SchoolFact for measuring AT outcomes.

5) Further study needs to clarify why AT has not seemed to impact Cognitive/Behavioral performance. Theories include: a) Participants came from CESA #1 where there are a higher number of children with low incidence disabilities focusing on physical impairment; b) Cognitive / Behavioral interventions tend to focus more on adaptations to program or environment then devices; c) Therapists and special education teams are not well trained to apply AT for cognitive problems; d) AT devices for cognitive and behavioral interventions are in development and are not yet available for use.

6) Related to Project OATS, this team was energized and is running a Federal Grant (ATOMS-Assistive Technology Outcomes Measurement Systems Project) which is in the process of systematically exploring, piloting, and testing AT outcome measurement ideas in order to recommend the next generation outcome system for AT. To find out more about this project please visit the ATOMS Project website (http://www.atoms.uwm.edu/).