Review of intensive assessment recommendations conducted at the Assistive Technology and Assessment Center (ATAC), University of Wisconsin--Stout

Abstract

The 1990s brought change to the field of rehabilitation via two pieces of legislation. The first, Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, added reasonable accommodation to the forefront of service delivery and employment. Two years later, the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1992 directed the provision of services to individuals with the most severe disability as being first priority. As the provision of services changed, the need for vocational evaluation to consider assistive technology became more important. “With increased emphasis on screening individuals with severe disability, comprehensive assessment such as vocational evaluation functions as a critical entry point into the rehabilitation process where the need for rehabilitation technology should be identified” (Langton & Lown, 1995, p. 24). The Vocational Evaluation and Work Adjustment Association (2000) supported the increased and expanded role of assistive technology in the field of vocational evaluation. In the mid 1990’s, intensive evaluation was added to the Assistive Technology and Assessment Center’s (ATAC) menu of services combining vocational evaluation and assistive technology. “Rehabilitation technology should be an integral part of any vocational evaluation service”(Langton & Lown, 1995, p. 25). Intensive assessments were a relatively new service; therefore, a critique of the case files was of benefit to ATAC for the purpose of determining demographic information and recommendation patterns made from 1996 to June of 2000. This research examined three questions. 1. What were the demographic characteristics of the population being served? 2. What types of assistive technology recommendations were made? 3. What types of vocational recommendations were made? The population examined was individuals with severe disabilities who ranged in age from childhood to adulthood. The subjects in this study received ATAC services from 1996 to June of 2000. Referral sources for ATAC services included the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, school districts, or family-made. Since 1996, 100 intensive assessments were conducted. An inclusive list of all intensive evaluation case files was compiled for the study, and the entire population was reviewed. The checklist used during the fall of 2000 was created for this study by the researcher; therefore, validity and reliability measures weren’t established. All appropriate descriptive statistics like percentages and frequencies were utilized to interpret and report the data. Study results indicated the most frequent age range of participants was 21 to 54 years of age, which is to be expected given the population being served was referred from vocational sources like the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Demographics of the population were determined to be predominantly males and individuals with a physical disability. The “other” category for both assistive technology and vocational recommendations had the largest number of recommendations. Recommendations that fell under the “other” category were for things that did not fit into the predetermined choices like mobility or two-year schooling. The second most frequent recommendation categories were computer access for assistive technology and work experience for vocational evaluation.