Comparison of two school-based assistive technology outcome instruments

Abstract

Background:

Little research exists on the effectiveness of assistive technology (AT) for children and almost no outcome instruments exist. The Student Performance Profile (SPP) and the School Function Assessment-Assistive Technology (SFA-AT) are instruments %are specifically designed to measure AT outcomes in special education.

Purpose:

The present study reports on the measurement properties and compares the time needed to use the SFA-AT and the SPP.

Materials and methods:

The SFA-AT and the SPP were used to measure the effect of AT for 13 children with intellectual, behavioural, or learning disabilities in a public school, and were compared regarding time acceded for their administration, rating and scoring, and measurement properties.

Findings:

The SPP required less time to administer, score, and analyse than the SFA-AT. Both were sensitive to change in student performance over a four-month period when the conditions of pretest without AT was compared to posttest with AT. The SFA-AT scores did not correlate with the SPP scores at pretest without AT or at posttest with AT.

Conclusions:

Both the SFA-AT and the SPP have advantages, but the SPP appeared most efficient and sensitive for this population of students in special education. Further studies with larger and alternate participant samples are required.