What affects assistive technology use with children birth to three in West Virginia? A survey of practitioners of different occupations

Assistive Technology (AT) is "any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired..., modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities," (IDEA, 1990). Many can benefit from using AT, including infants and toddlers. Few studies have investigated why practitioners do or do not choose to use AT with infants and toddlers with disabilities.;This investigation determines what affects AT use by practitioners who work with West Virginia Birth to Three. Phase One of this investigation included a survey of 119 practitioners in different Birth to Three occupations, and Phase Two consisted of interviews of 8 practitioners. The investigator analyzed the data through quantitative and qualitative analysis.;The survey in the investigation included a question with different categories of AT. Respondents chose the AT from that list they used. Different variables affected the number of AT categories chosen by the respondents to use with infants and toddlers. Years of experience in Birth to Three services, age of the practitioner, AT inservice, higher education coursework, and occupation affected the number of AT categories chosen. Additional findings showed that the greatest predictor of the numbers of categories of AT chosen were the respondent's perception of their own knowledge of AT and experience with AT.;Some of the variables did not affect the respondents number of categories of AT chosen to use with infants and toddlers. These variables were the institution of higher education from which the respondent graduated and the proximity to West Virginia Assistive Technology (WVATS) Resource Centers.;Interviews showed that Birth to Three policies in employment, the practitioners' opinion of family acceptance of AT, lack of knowledge of West Virginia Birth to Three AT policies, lack of loaner AT, knowledge of where to obtain loaner AT, barriers to collaboration, issues with quality and scheduling of AT training, length of time to obtain AT, paperwork to obtain AT, and rural issues also affected AT use with infants and toddlers. The results of this investigation and directions for future research are given in this dissertation.;Keywords. Assistive Technology, Birth to Three, practitioner's range of AT use, barriers to AT use, infants and toddlers.