Shane Underwood Yes, Microsoft Word it is an assistive technology for this student.

Regardless of how many other students are using the technology, it would be considered an assistive technology for her/him because as IDEA states, any assistive technology which helps to maximize a child with disabilities access to and participation in the general education curriculum is deemed an assistive technology. If the student does have a writing impairment which qualifies him under IDEAs, than he would have an IEP, which would more than likely (because of the writing impairment) stipulate the need for some type of assistive technology to allow for FAPE for this student. As far as who would have the ultimate say in what assistive technologies are needed and should be provided that is a complicated process. In the actual IEP meeting no one has more power than anyone else in the meeting to have the ultimate say; for example, if the parent of the child insisted that their child required some type of assistive technology which the school did not completely agree was necessary for a FAPE than there would be two courses of action. One they could move towards mediation, in which an arbitrator would attempt to help both sides come to a mutual agreement, if this fails or if the parent wishes to skip this step all together, than the due process would begin and it would move to the courts. This brings us to who has the ultimate say, which would be the judge or court system. The courts are the only entity which actually has the final and ultimate say in what assistive technologies are required to provide a FAPE for a student. With SETT it was really quite detailed and we found it difficult to add to or further explain the points that they had. A few small adjustments we decided we would make though had to do with the overall well-being of the student. The idea for one addition came directly from the wiki page assignment which went along with this module. We noticed that the SETT had

nothing which brought up the issue of possible health complications which may result from the use of an assistive technology, so we felt that under the topic of Tools the subtopic: could the tool have any adverse effects on the students health, should also be added; for example if a child requires a computer for a writing/vision impairment the child would be sitting in front of the computer for extended periods of time which has been proven to cause multiple health issues. Another issue along the same lines which we thought should be addressed was how the assistive technology may unintentionally result in the student being added beyond the needs of what is necessary resulting in them essentially losing some of their education. Again we believe under the topic Tools the subtopic: how could this assistive technology adversely affect the students learning process, should be added. Using a writing or vision impairment as an example again, a student needing a computer for such a disability may have programs such as spell check which, at an early stage of the learning process, may hinder or prevent them from acquiring normal grammatical and spelling skills.

References
(2014, March 20). Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004. Retrieved from Ed.Gov: http://idea.ed.gov/explore/home
Murdick, N. L., Gartin, B., & Crabtree, T. (2007). Special Education Law. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.