Assistive Technology Research

Assistive Technology Journals

The journals included in this section are dedicated to assistive technology research and scholarly articles.

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology, published by the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), is an applied, scientific publication in the interdisciplinary field of technology for people with disabilities. The journal's purpose is to foster communication among individuals working in all aspects of the assistive technology arena including researchers, developers, clinicians, educators and consumers.

Key Areas of Focus: Rehabilitation, assistive technology throughout the lifespan.

Subscription: RESNA Membership required, nonmembers have limited online access and may purchase an article or subscription.

Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits (ATOB)

The Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA), in partnership with the Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center at Illinois State University, produces the journal, ATOB, to promote the outcomes and benefits of assistive technology for persons with disabilities across the lifespan. ATOB is a peer-reviewed annual publication.

Key Areas of Focus: Assistive technology throughout the lifespan.

Subscription: Free online subscription and available in multiple accessible formats.

Journal of Special Education Technology (JSET)

JSET is a publication of the Technology and Media (TAM) Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. JSET is a refereed professional journal that presents up-to-date information and opinions about Issues, research, policy, and practice related to the use of technology in the field of special education. JSET supports the publication of research and development activities, provides technological information and resources, and presents important information and discussion concerning important Issues in the field of special education technology to scholars, teacher educators, and practitioners.

Key Areas of Focus: Special education technology.

Subscription: TAM membership or various paid subscription options available.

Related Disability and Professional Journals

Assistive technology devices and services are provided to students with disabilities when needed regardless of the category of disability, and services are provided in a transdisciplinary team approach which includes educators, parents and support service providers from a variety of professional fields. Therefore, professional and disability specific journals often include research and scholarly articles related to assistive technology.

American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT)

AJOT is an official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (AOTA) and is published 6 times per year. This peer reviewed journal focuses on research, practice, and health care issues in the field of occupational therapy.

Key Areas of Focus: Occupational therapy practice, fine motor issues and applications.

Subscription: AOTA members receive AJOT and have online access to archived abstracts and full-text articles. Nonmembers may view abstracts online but must purchase full-text articles.

American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)

APTA is a national organization for the profession of physical therapy. Its goal is to foster advancements in physical therapy practice, research, and education. APTA has a Research section at http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Research&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm& amp;TPLID=54&ContentID=12664. Hooked on Evidence – provides search capabilities for article extractions or clinical scenarios for evidence related to physical therapy interventions. Open Door – is a portal to evidence-based practice that provides access to several databases and health care literature.

Key Areas of Focus: Physical therapy practice, gross motor issues and applications.

Subscription: Membership required and various levels of membership available.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

ASHA is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Research information and resources are maintained at http://www.asha.org/research/.

Key Areas of Focus: Assistive listening devices, augmentative and alternative communication.

Subscription: Open access.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

AAC is the official journal of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) http://isaac-online.org. AAC publishes original articles with direct application to the communication needs of persons with severe speech and/or communication impairments for whom augmentative and alternative communication techniques and systems may be of assistance. AAC is peer reviewed.

Key Areas of Focus: Augmentative and alternative communication.

Subscription: Membership required and various levels of membership available.

Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

Focus offers original research reports, position papers reflecting diverse philosophical and theoretical positions, effective intervention procedures, descriptions of successful programs, and media reviews.

Key Areas of Focus: Autism, developmental disabilities.

Subscription: Subscription required and various levels of subscriptions available; open access to sample journal.

National Organizations Providing Assistive Technology Research Resources

Various national organizations provide information and resources about assistive technology research. Many of these are supported by grants and cooperative agreements with the US Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs.

AAC-RERC on Communication Enhancement

The AAC-RERC is a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center that functions as a collaborative research group dedicated to the development of effective augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology. Bibliographies of journal articles are available In the Publications section of the website (http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/index.php/publications/list). The AAC-RERC is sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the US Department of Education.

Key Areas of Focus: Augmentative and alternative communication.

Subscription: Open access.

Abledata

Assistive Technology Literature in the Library section of the website contains references to a wide variety of books, articles, papers and other paper and electronic publications that deal with topics relating to assistive technology. These include reviews of products; research to develop products and improve existing ones; guidance for selecting assistive products or finding information about funding; or general information on a class of products. Abledata is supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the US Department of Education.

Key Areas of Focus: All functional categories of AT across the lifespan.

Subscription: Open access.

Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd)

CITEd's Research Center at http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=13 offers evidence-based, promising, and emerging practices based on the latest research. Explore how technology can be used to enhance instruction with an emphasis on students with special needs. CITEd is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: Educational technology for students with special needs.

Subscription: Open access.

Education Resources Information Center: ERIC

ERIC is an online digital library of education research and information. ERIC provides ready access to education literature to support the use of educational research and information to improve practice in learning, teaching, educational decision-making, and research. On the website, click on the Search tab and enter assistive technology. ERIC is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Key Areas of Focus: Educational research and information.

Subscription: Open access.

Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD)

The FCTD’s Resource Reviews at http://www.fctd.info/resources contains hundreds of assistive and instructional technology resources that have been identified, reviewed, and annotated for reference. Direct links to each resource have been provided in most cases. Searches can be targeted by entering a key word or phrase in the search. The filters beneath the search box allow one to further customize the search by topic, disability, and material type. Enter assistive technology in the Search box and Filter by Material Type: Research Paper to retrieve assistive technology articles. FCTD is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: Assistive technology, instructional technology.

Subscription: Open access.

IDEA Partnership

Many Voices is a collection of citations and links to selected articles from a large number of professional journals and other substantive publications that are available online. It provides easy access to the voices of a broad range of organizations, centers, and institutions concerned with general education, special education, related disciplines, education of culturally and linguistically diverse students, and other arenas. The IDEA Partnership is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: General education, special education.

Subscription: Open access.

National Center of Supported Electronic Text (NCSeT)

The center's mission is to research the ways in which supportive resources embedded in or linked to electronic text can be used to enhance the reading comprehension and content-area learning of students with disabilities. The core of the NCSeT Reference Literature Database (http://cate2.uoregon.edu:8101/) is a collection of research studies of the uses and impacts of supported text on the reading competence of students with disabilities. To support the core collection of supported text research, the database also contains materials that establish the conceptual and foundational knowledge upon which supported text is based. NCSeT is a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: Supported electronic text.

Subscription: Open access.

National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI)

The NCTI Research section (http://www.nationaltechcenter.org/index.php/category/research/) is dedicated to keeping stakeholders up-to-date with the latest research developments in the field of assistive and learning technologies. NCTI is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: Assistive technology, learning technology.

Subscription: Open access.

TechMatrix

The TechMatrix is a tool to find educational and assistive technology products and resources including research for students with special needs. Searches can be made using a number of different categories or the InfoPages that offer customized resources and information may be used. A custom search for assistive technology research can be accessed at http://techmatrix.org/Search?bk=1&o19=2135. The TechMatrix is sponsored by NCTI and CITEd which are funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

Key Areas of Focus: Assistive technology, learning technology.

Subscription: Open access.