DEC Recommended Practices and AT

The DEC Recommended Practices in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education (2014) include many references to the importance of promoting each child's access to and full participation in everyday routines, activities and learning experiences. Some of the recommendations relate to creating a safe and accessible learning environment for each child, which might involve:

• modifying and adapting the physical, social, and temporal environments in which the child participates, and;
• working with families and other adults to identify, acquire or create, and use appropriate assistive technology to meet the child's unique needs.

The ECTA Center's Practice Improvement Tools promote the use of the DEC RPs and a number of these products focus directly on the use adaptations and assistive technology. For example, see the products related to environment.

While adaptations and assistive technology are the focus of these specific checklists and activity guides, their appropriate use is integral to the successful implementation of many of the DEC RPs. A specific example is the Assistive Technology Checklist which includes procedures for identifying and using assistive technology (AT) to promote child participation in learning activities to enhance child competence. The suite of products, like the recommended practices themselves, should be viewed holistically.