What are the Roles and Responsibilities of an AT Team?

"In thinking about teams, it is critical to remember that there is no one model for an AT team that is better than the other. The model of AT service delivery that will work the best depends upon the district’s personnel and financial resources, size, geography and the availability of assistance from state or regional services. There are many ways to do it well!"

The size of a school division's AT team can vary and there are many ways to do it well. Smaller school divisions with only a few schools may only have 3-4 AT team members, whereas larger divisions may have a 6-8 person "core" team with many more informal liaisons forming a network for information dissemination to schools in the field. However, some small school divisions have large teams and some large school divisions have found ways to make a small AT team work. Some divisions have had success in collaborating to create a regional AT team. The most critical, common feature of all of these teams is administrative support.

Numeric size is not as important a consideration in forming your team as diversity of roles. Having an AT team made up of entirely speech-language pathologists or only special education teachers (for example) would limit the team's ability to provide professional learning from different perspectives. To the greatest extent possible, school divisions should try to include individuals from different educational roles and disciplines on their AT Team (general and special educators, early childhood specialists, transition specialists, administrators, instructional technology specialists, related services, family members, and other stakeholders).

AT Team members collaborate with many others to support the identification and implementation of AT for students. The roles of these team members vary based on the size of the division, skills and knowledge of team members, and other initiatives within the division. Some of these roles include:

• Engages in capacity building activities to help others understand how to integrate AT into inclusive activities and environments,
• Coaches others to build AT knowledge and skills and provide professional development,
• Coordinates AT activities with other division initiatives,
• Participates in establishing AT policies and procedures, including AT Consideration and Assessment processes,
• Assists with establishing and maintaining an AT inventory system and acquiring new AT devices as needed,
• Supports the identification and implementation of augmentative and alternative communication systems, and
• Provides AT consultation, assessment services, and implementation activities.