Related Services and Supports

The Gwinnett County Assistive Technology (AT) Department has four AT Specialists and one Technology Support Technician serving the county.

Our Mission is to improve student achievement, productivity, independence and inclusion by enhancing access and knowledge of assistive technology and increasing student performance in their curriculum and communication using appropriate assistive technology solutions.

Contact Us:

Assistive Technology
Department of Special Education and Psychological Services
437 Old Peachtree Rd. NW, Suite 200
Suwanee, GA 30024
Phone: (678) 301-7216

Description of Services

Audiological services are provided as a means of assessing degree and type of hearing impairment and its educational significance. This service is provided through a diagnostic audiology clinic which is available for evaluation of hearing sensitivity, hearing aid evaluations, and hearing aid checks.

Types of Services

A complete audiological clinic is located at:
Oakland Meadow School
590 Old Snellville Highway
Lawrenceville, GA 30045

Services at the facility include:

• Pure tone air and bone conduction testing
• Video otoscopy
• Audiometric speech evaluation (word reception and recognition)
• Hearing aid checks
• Electroacoustic analysis of hearing aids
• Otoacoustic emissions testing
• Evaluation and fitting of FM systems

Itinerant screening is performed within the individual school for students in the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program. Follow-up testing for students who do not pass the original screening or special education hearing screening is provided.

This service includes:

• Pure tone air and bone conduction
• Tympanometry
• Hearing aid/FM systems checks
• Otoacoustic emissions screening

Referral Procedure

Referrals are made directly to the Audiology Clinic at Oakland Meadow School by calling 770-513-6824. Referrals are accepted from:

• Physician
• Speech-Language Pathologist
• Audiologist
• Parent
• Psychologist/social worker

Eligibility

Any Gwinnett County resident, from age three through high school graduation, is eligible for these services. A student undergoing testing for GCPS special education placement may be seen at age 2 ½ years.

Description of Services

The overall goal of Direct Care Nursing Services is to assist schools with managing the complex needs of medically fragile students. 

Types of Service

• Conference with teachers
• Conference with parents
• Conference with students
• Observation of student
• Nursing evaluation
• Technical assistance
• Training of staff on health-related procedures
• Referral to other agencies
• Attendance at SSTs, staffings, etc.

As the above primary nursing responsibilities permit, some of the broad roles provided to general and special education students can include:

• Providing technical assistance to schools with special health needs and concerns
• Helping local schools write protocols to meet the needs of students with unusual health needs or where specialized medical procedures are being requested by parents and doctors
• Serving on medical review panels as needed
• Serving as a liaison between the school, Public Health Department, and local hospitals
• Training in-school health teams designated by the principal when specialized health procedures are required
• Working collaboratively with other support staff (teachers, therapists, administrators) to provide a safe environment for students with complex health care needs

Description of Services

Students experiencing difficulty mastering short-term IEP objectives are candidates for Occupational Therapy or Physical Therapy services when support is required in order for the student to benefit from the special education program.

School-based Occupational Therapy/ School-based Physical Therapy

• Under part B of IDEA, OT and PT are related services for eligible students, who, because of their disabilities, need special education and related services. Related services are support services that help the student to benefit from special education.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990- Students who are not eligible for IDEA might be eligible for school-based OT and/ or PT services as a reasonable accommodation to help students access and participate in educational activities.
• School-based OT and PT services address functional skills within the educational setting and are performed with educational staff.

Examples of educational need:

• Maintaining functional body positions
• Moving around school campus within a time constraint
• Completing written assignments
• Tolerating physical contact
• Learning new motor skills within a reasonable time frame
• Transitioning to new activities
• Sensory processing/ sensory awareness
• Psychosocial adaptation
• Manipulating a variety of age appropriate materials
• Managing self care activities
• Utilizing adaptive equipment and assistive technology as compensatory strategies
• Functional mobility

GCPS' school psychologists provide services for students from preschool age through high school. School psychologists use their training in both education and psychology to help teachers and parents develop academic and behavioral interventions for students having difficulty mastering the curriculum. School psychologists maintain regular schedules at each local school, providing a wide array of services including consultation and collaboration, assessment, counseling, crisis intervention, and in-service sessions for school staff.

To contact the Department of Psychological Services, please call 678-301-7100.

Description of Services

Educational Interpreters serve as communication links or bridges between students who are deaf/hard of hearing and persons who utilize hearing and speech as their primary mode of communication. Educational Interpreters enable students to access information provided by the interpreter through manual and/or visual communication modes and language systems understood by the student. The information conveyed to a student may involve one or a combination of the following:

• Actual classroom instruction
• Classroom discussion
• Interaction and conversation among teachers or staff
• Conversation among teachers and peers or other school personnel
• Directions and other appropriate discourse
• Media (educational movies, television programs, etc.)
• Information presented during extra-curricular activities in which a student is involved is determined by the Individualized Educational Program (IEP) 

Based on the student's Individualized Educational Program (IEP), he or she may require specialized transportation as a related service. The Transportation Department offers buses equipped to meet a variety of needs.

Buses transporting students in wheelchairs are equipped with hydraulic lifts and four/six-point tie-down systems which can secure most types of wheelchairs to the bus. Specialized buses are designed to meet students' needs while safely transporting them to and from school.

Other specialized needs such as use of a walker, oxygen tank, crutches, or medical equipment can be accommodated as long as equipment can be properly secured during transportation. If you have any further questions, please contact Special Needs Transportation at 770-513-6881.