A Lonely Planet Guide

to SETT

Alison Prskawetz

2007

Why SETT?• Because we have to!• Easier/ more accessible to fill

out• It is a collaborative and

consultative.• Gives opportunity for student

and family voice to be heard.• Gets everyone on board• Shared decision making=

shared responsibility• Shared workload.• More transparent• Equal status in sharing no one

is the expert.• Ease of use

SETT was designed by Joy Zabala ...

• This process is also being used in Canada for the same purpose

• Dr. Joy Zabala has recently been to New Zealand and has critiqued the new application process and is really pleased with the way we are heading

S.E.T.T.•Student Characteristics

•Environmental influencers

•Tasks the student is to complete every day

and possible

•Tools

The Application Process

Don’t think ‘stuff’ before you think student.Before you meet with the team it is a good idea to have

done the following:• Pre-send copy of format that they are required to feed

into.• School to do assessment data BEFORE the meeting.• At the start of the meeting, lay out expectations that this

is a team effort and the whole team needs to be on board.

• How are you going to share this information i.e.: Post it notes everyone writing down ideas, or one person writing notes onto the form electronically to be email round later.

• Pages 1-5 to be completed before you

even think about equipment!• Keep your information simple and to the

point

More is not better!

The SETT format

Information about the student

Which of these two case studies paints the clearest picture of what she is like and how her disability affects her?

Case Study 1

Gemma has a condition called cataracts. Cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. The lens works much like a camera lens, focusing light onto the retina at the back of the eye. The lens also adjusts the eye's focus, letting us see things clearly both up close and far away. The lens is mostly made of water and protein. The protein is arranged in a precise way that keeps the lens clear and lets light passes through it. But as we age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens.

Gemma continued

This is a cataract, and over time, it may grow larger and cloud more of the lens, making it harder to see. This has happened to Gemma and she is finding it tricky to see as both of her lenses has been removed and she has to wear very thick glasses to compensate for this. Gemma’s vision is 6/36 corrected which means what a person with normal vision sees at 36m away Gemma has to be 6 metres away from.

More of Gemma

Gemma gets very fatigued and but the end of the day is unable to cope with normal sized text Gemma takes much longer to read text than her peers and often spends a lot of her homework time catching up with reading the set texts. These impact on her levels of fatigue. Gemma is unable to access the whiteboard and relies heavily on her friends to do this and will supply them with black pens to make it easier for her to read their writing.Gemma’s preferred print size is N20. (N20 looks like this). Gemma is unable to read more than 2-4 pages of text at a time due to visual fatigue.

Gemma

This seriously limits how much work Gemma can get through at school and adds pressure on her at home to catch up with her peers.

Case Study 2• Gemma has congenital cataracts; she has had both lenses removed and

has to wear very thick glasses to compensate for this.• Gemma’s vision is 6/36 corrected. Over the last 2 years her vision has

deteriorated due to the onset of puberty, however now her vision seems to have stabilised.

• She gets very fatigued and by the end of the day is unable to cope with normal-sized text.

• Gemma takes much longer to read text than her peers and often spends a lot of homework time catching up with reading set texts. This impacts on her levels of fatigue.

• Gemma is unable to access the whiteboard and relies heavily on her friends to do this; she supplies them with black pens to make it easier for her to read their writing.

• Gemma’s preferred print size is N20. N20 looks like this

• Gemma is unable to read more than 2-4 pages of text at a time due to visual fatigue. This seriously limits how much work Gemma can get through at school and adds pressure on her at home to catch up with her peers

Too much information! Some of the information we have is not needed - all the

moderation team wants to know is:

- how it effects the student in everyday life

- what are the unable to do because of it

If they need more information they can ask or Google it themselves.

Sustained Silent Reading

Look through the first 4 pages of the application on Gemma.

If you have any questions jot them down on the post-it notes provided.

Now you need to

make your biggest shift in learning!

It took me two years to finally get it!

Tasks need to be curriculum-based

On the sheet in front of you are a list of task goals that have been used in applications - mark on the paper which ones you think would be appropriate for curriculum-based tasks.

You need to be thinking the following when setting out the

tasks:

How can we make this student more:

- independent

- included

- able to reach her full learning potential

- able to access the New Zealand curriculum

Look at the student learning and where she is functioning

• What is her next learning goal or activity?• Where is she struggling the most?• Where is the big discrepancy between

herself and her peers?

If you are still uncertain talk to your peer reviewer or DTC

Still not thinking tools

yet!

Tools

• Again before looking at equipment what are the features of the equipment that you remove barriers for students.

• Think of anything and everything. • The things you want the student to be able to do

should already be covered in the previous information- there should be no surprise pop ups

• All suggestions should be included with equal share and collaboration.

The Equipment (Finally)

• Make the decision of what you will trial

• Must trial 2 options

• Write down all options considered

• Table should be logical

for the novice reader

• Low tech to high tech.

The Trial and results

Consider:• How the trial will be evaluated• Who will keep trial results and data• Data must be qualitative and quantitative• Not just the three trial tasks but also - inclusion- independence- level of participation- motivation- editing- accuracy

Trial/results

• Always transfer task wording to trial results page.

• Start with baseline data before starting with trial equipment

• The length of trial has to be at minimum of 2 weeks. If you only have 2 weeks you will need major school buy-in of data collection.

Trial Results

• I always like to have specific student and teachers/ family summary comments at the end of the trial.

• Recommendations:• Nothing should be in the recommendations box

that has not already been mentioned

i.e. no add-ons –no quote packages i.e. memory sticks etc. unless mentioned as part of the trial

A Peer Review -

• is a friendly critique.• has to be completed by someone outside of your

centre, to get objective reading of information

DO NOT shout at peer reviewers if they disagree or question the student information and what has been recommended

Send it to your peer reviewer in a timely manner. It is not fair to send it with a day’s notice.

Defer/ Decline

There will always be an explanation as to why.

STOP! TAKE A BREATH!It’s not personal - it’s about what’s on the page.

When the moderation team starts reading an application, they start noting down questions - if these questions are not answered within the application, the defer and decline happens.

Defer:

• There are gaps in information and there are questions that need answering

• Work closely with DTC collaboratively to answer the questions.

• If you answer the questions clearly the defer becomes an approve

Decline:

• Too many questions to be answered therefore not good evidence not a good match for student need or desirable rather than essential.

• OR it could be a second piece of equipment when one is already doing the job e.g. upgrading. There was a case when a piece of equipment was applied for and approved and the following year a new one was applied for as a better model came out.

Remember

We are all professionals!

The technology team are not out to get you!

Applications

• are swapped between regions for National consistency

• can be re-submitted but must have new information included

• declined can be reviewed at request by a specialist in that field, but outside your region.