Assistive Technology in a Pennsylvania IEP: How to Request an AT Evaluation and What Schools Must Provide

Your child's school district is legally required to consider whether assistive technology is needed for every student with an IEP—not just students with severe physical disabilities. This consideration requirement applies to students with dyslexia who struggle to produce written work, students with autism who use alternative communication, students with motor impairments who cannot access a standard keyboard, and students with any disability that creates a functional barrier to learning. The question at every IEP meeting should be: is there a tool that removes this barrier?

What Counts as Assistive Technology

Under IDEA and Pennsylvania's Chapter 14, assistive technology (AT) is defined broadly. An AT device is any item, piece of equipment, or product system—whether commercially available, modified, or customized—used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

This includes low-tech solutions as much as high-tech ones:

• Low-tech: pencil grips, slant boards, raised-line paper, color overlays for tracking, fidgets, visual schedules
• Mid-tech: text-to-speech software, screen magnification tools, amplified listening devices, calculators with speech output, audio recorders for note-taking
• High-tech: augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, eye-gaze technology, speech-generating devices, dynamic display tablets, specialized keyboards and switch access systems

The school cannot limit AT consideration to high-tech devices or assume that because a student can produce some output without a device, AT is not needed. The legal standard is whether the student's functional capability is meaningfully improved with the support.

The SETT Framework: How Pennsylvania Evaluates AT Needs

Pennsylvania AT evaluations are guided by the SETT Framework, developed by Joy Zabala and adopted widely across PaTTAN's AT guidance. SETT stands for:

• Student: What are the student's current functional abilities and the barriers created by the disability?
• Environments: In what settings does the student need to function (classroom, hallway, cafeteria, home)?
• Tasks: What specific tasks is the student expected to perform in those environments?
• Tools: What tools—low-tech through high-tech—would enable the student to complete the tasks in those environments?

This framework is important because it grounds the AT evaluation in function, not diagnosis. A student with autism may need an AAC device not because they have autism, but because their current functional communication cannot meet the demands of the classroom environment. A student with dysgraphia may need text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools because handwriting and typing production impair their ability to demonstrate content knowledge in writing tasks.

How to Request an Assistive Technology Evaluation

AT consideration is supposed to happen at every IEP meeting. In practice, many IEP teams move through this agenda item quickly, checking a box without genuine discussion. If you believe your child requires AT support that the team has not substantively addressed, you can:

Request a formal AT evaluation in writing. Address the request to the Director of Special Education. Specify the functional tasks your child struggles to complete and the specific barriers you have observed. For example: "My child cannot produce legible written work despite occupational therapy and cannot complete timed classroom assignments. I am requesting a formal assistive technology evaluation to determine whether AT devices or services would improve functional access to written output tasks."

Invoke the IDEA requirement. The IEP team's responsibility to consider AT is mandatory under 34 CFR § 300.324(a)(2)(v). If the team has not conducted a genuine consideration—documented in the IEP—you can request that this gap be addressed and that the team formally document why AT was or was not warranted.

Request independent AT evaluation. If you disagree with the team's conclusion that AT is not needed, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. Upon receiving your IEE request, the district must either fund the independent evaluation or immediately file for due process to defend its position.

Who Pays for AT Devices

If the IEP team determines that an AT device is required for the student to receive FAPE, the school district must provide it at no cost to the family. The district cannot require the family to use their private insurance or personal funds to purchase a mandated AT device.

Devices purchased by the district for IEP implementation are owned by the school district. However, Pennsylvania regulations require that if the IEP team determines the child needs to use the device at home to receive FAPE—for homework completion, communication practice, or independent functioning—the district must allow the device to go home with the student.

AAC devices in particular are frequently the subject of "school only" restrictions that families push back on. If your child uses an AAC device as their primary communication method and the IEP team restricts it to school use only, that restriction likely creates a barrier to communication at home that impacts the student's overall development. Document this concern and request an IEP team meeting to address the home-use policy.

Assistive Technology and Pennsylvania's Online Testing Transition

Pennsylvania is transitioning all PSSA and Keystone Exams to a fully online platform starting in the 2025-2026 school year. Standard accommodations like extended time and magnification are embedded in the digital testing interface. However, if a student's IEP includes AT devices—particularly specialized keyboard access, switch scanning, or eye-gaze navigation—the district must ensure that the testing platform is compatible with the student's specific AT tools.

If a student's AT needs are not compatible with the online system, the IEP must explicitly mandate a "Print-on-Demand" or paper/pencil testing accommodation. This is a unique accommodation assurance the LEA must submit to PDE confirming that the paper format is a documented necessity related to the student's disability—not simply a preference. If your child uses specialized AT for academic access, verify that this testing accommodation is written into the IEP before the testing window opens.

Getting AT Support Through PaTTAN

Pennsylvania's training and technical assistance network includes regional AT specialists available through PaTTAN's offices. Schools can request AT consultation through PaTTAN at no cost. Parents can also access AT resources and training materials through PaTTAN's AT initiative, including information about specific devices, AT lending libraries, and the SETT process.

If the school has conducted an AT evaluation that you believe is inadequate—for instance, if the evaluator only considered one category of tools or did not observe the student in the actual environments where functional barriers occur—an IEE with an independent AT specialist can provide a more comprehensive assessment of what tools would genuinely improve your child's access.

The Pennsylvania IEP & 504 Blueprint covers how to write an AT evaluation request letter, what an adequate AT evaluation should include, and how to respond to a NOREP that fails to include AT devices your child's team has identified as necessary. Getting AT in the IEP is half the battle—getting the specific device, hours of training, and home-use rights documented is where the real work happens.

When AT Is Relevant to a 504 Plan

Students with 504 plans under Pennsylvania's Chapter 15 can also receive assistive technology as a related aid or service. The evaluation process is less formalized than an IDEA-governed IEP AT evaluation, but the functional analysis should be similar: what is the barrier, and what tool addresses it?

The distinction is that a 504 plan cannot provide specialized instruction—only accommodations and related aids. If a student needs AT training (learning to use an AAC device or mastering text-to-speech software with explicit instruction) rather than simply access to a tool, that training constitutes a service that may require an IEP rather than a 504 plan. This is one of the many areas where the Chapter 14 versus Chapter 15 distinction has real practical consequences for the support a student receives.

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