Assessment: Internet Service for Functional Assessment and Accommodation Matching.AssessNet is an innovative and unique service developed by AbleLink Technologies for professionals who serve persons with disabilities. The service is available via the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the to registered users as a tool to help disability professionals: 1) perform functional assessments for individuals with disabilities, 2) explore job requirements and document job tasks, 3) identify vocational impediments IMPEDIMENTS, contracts. Legal objections to the making of a contract. Impediments which relate to the person are those of minority, want of reason, coverture, and the like; they are sometimes called disabilities. Vide Incapacity. 2. for customers pertaining per·tain intr.v. per·tained, per·tain·ing, per·tains 1. To have reference; relate: evidence that pertains to the accident. 2. to their selected vocational goals, and 4) match individuals' needs with specific accommodation strategies and assistive technology Hardware and software that help people who are physically impaired. Often called "accessibility options" when referring to enhancements for using the computer, the entire field of assistive technology is quite vast and even includes ramp and doorway construction in buildings to support devices. Rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. professionals can use the service to find both procedural accommodations and assistive technology devices that meet the specific needs of their customers without having to maintain an expert knowledge of assistive technology and other accommodations for employment, education, or independent living. AssessNet utilizes the Internet to provide job accommodation and assessment services to disability professionals within an organization across a broad geographical area at nearly any time of day or night. All that is required to use the service is access to the Internet and a web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. . No specialized spe·cial·ize v. spe·cial·ized, spe·cial·iz·ing, spe·cial·iz·es v.intr. 1. To pursue a special activity, occupation, or field of study. 2. software needs to be installed or maintained on the user's workstation. In support of this review, AbleLink Technologies provided the authors, Dr. Randall McDaniel Randall McDaniel (born December 19, 1964) was an offensive guard in the NFL. He began his pro career in 1988 after being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings, and played with them until 1999, when he went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played there for two years until retiring. and Todd Johnson Todd Edward Johnson (born December 18, 1978 in Sarasota, Florida) is an American football safety for the St. Louis Rams of the NFL. He was selected with the third pick of the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of the University of Florida. of Auburn University Auburn University, main campus at Auburn, Ala.; land-grant and state supported; opened 1859 as East Alabama Male College, reorganized 1872 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama; became coeducational 1892; renamed Alabama Polytechnic Institute 1899, , access to the service for the purpose of evaluating its potential benefits to organizations serving individuals with disabilities. ACCESSIBILITY While accessing the service, users enter a password-restricted web site on a secure server that allows them to perform functional assessments online for their specific caseload case·load n. The number of cases handled in a given period, as by an attorney or by a clinic or social services agency. caseload Noun . Features are provided to help disability professionals get a head start on the process of performing a functional assessment for their customers or students (i.e. rehabilitation counselors can create an initial assessment from selectable disability templates based on RSA (1) (Rural Service Area) See MSA. (2) (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) A highly secure cryptography method by RSA Security, Inc., Bedford, MA (www.rsa.com), a division of EMC Corporation since 2006. It uses a two-part key. 911 disability codes for functional limitations). Users have complete control over the assessment and are not restricted to predefined templates. They have the capability to print a variety of reports, including a complete functional assessment, and also are able to download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. the formatted reports as a Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. file. In addition, users can print or download the list of accommodation products and strategies that may be needed by the customer to overcome barriers to employment success. The program utilizes a password-protected login Signing in and gaining access to a network server, Web server or other computer system. The process (the noun) is a "login" or "logon," while the act of doing it (the verb) is to "log in" or to "log on. page to limit access to registered users. Once you enter the program, you are quite pleased with the simplicity of the layout and the speed at which each of the pages download. Because the program is mostly text based Also called "character based," it refers to handling text and not graphics. Simple charts and illustrations may be drawn, but they are limited to a set of special characters that are strung together to make up lines and shades (see OEM font). , it is accessible and user-friendly for persons who are blind utilizing screen reader software. In addition, some of the beta testers that participate[t in development of the system were blind users using JAWS Jaws box office sensation about a killer shark (1975). [Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 380] See : Horror for Internet access See how to access the Internet. . As a result, special accessibility features have been built into the system for visually impaired users. For example, with AssessNet, a user option can be set to indicate that the user does not use frame-based Internet pages. Additional navigational links and reporting formats are also made available to users that are blind. INTAKE After login, users select a customer to work with for the current session from their unique list of customers that they have entered previously. Selecting or developing a new customer takes only a minute since you only need to enter the person's full name and ID number. After the desired customer is selected, the program directs you to the Customer Data page. This page allows the user to select one or more disabilities appropriate for the person being served. The selecting of a disability is made easy for the rehabilitation counselor by having them all organized based on RSA 911 codes. ASSESSMENT Once the customer information has been entered, the next thing to do is to go to the assessment page. This page contains eight functional limitation domains: Mobility, Motor Skills, Self-care self-care n. The care of oneself without medical, professional, or other assistance or oversight. , Self-direction, Interpersonal Skills "Interpersonal skills" refers to mental and communicative algorithms applied during social communications and interactions in order to reach certain effects or results. The term "interpersonal skills" is used often in business contexts to refer to the measure of a person's ability , Communication, Work Tolerance, and Work Skills. The user of the program has a choice to build a functional limitation profile based on the previously selected disability(ies), edit each one of the domains manually, or both. The development of the functional limitations by using the defaults based on the disability codes typically worked out well and can serve as an excellent starting place for customizing the functional assessment to reflect the specific individual. The feature of having a full-report developed in Microsoft Word for viewing, printing, or downloading downloading - download also helped in making sure the appropriate limitations were given. If they were not, then all that was needed was to go in and manually modify them to meet the specific functional limitations of the customer. GOAL After the customer information and assessment information was completed, you then choose a vocational goal for the individual. The vocational goal is selected from the O*NET (the U.S. Dept of Labor's Occupational Information Network) database by using a keyword search to find the occupation or by selecting it from vocational goal categories. Either way, you are then able to view job information for the selected occupation either onscreen on·screen or on-screen adj. & adv. 1. As shown on a movie, television, or display screen. 2. Within public view; in public. or in the form of a printable print·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of being printed or of producing a print: printable negatives. 2. Fit for publication: printable language. job summary. Once the occupation is chosen for the customer, you can then review the job description or edit the task assessment related to this occupation. Modifying these tasks assessments is a very innovative approach to personalizing occupations for Rehabilitation Professionals who are aware of the specific occupational demands in their service area. In the future, a Task Assessment Report will be developed in Microsoft Word for viewing, printing, or downloading to review the vocational tasks for the selected vocation. NEEDS The full power of AssessNet is in its unique Needs Assessment tool. The Needs Assessment methodology and databases have been developed over eight years of research conducted by AbleLink staff in conjunction with the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. The Needs Assessment process allows disability professionals to quickly compare the functional limitations of a particular individual to the specific tasks that can be expected in any one of the 1100 jobs described in O*NET. The result is a comprehensive list of potential vocational impediments, or "needs," that may be encountered by the individual when performing that specific job. Further, each need is represented by a relative "level of need" that helps to define the appropriate types of accommodations that may be useful to help overcome the individual's barriers to employment. ACCOMMODATIONS AssessNet generates an individual's list of needs as a table of underlined links which can be individually clicked on to automatically conduct a needs-based search of nearly 15,000 products, procedures and accommodation strategies to find accommodations appropriate to the identified needs. Each of these needs-based searches results in a unique list of accommodation suggestions that have potential for helping to meet that specific need. The suggested accommodations are selected using an expert-system methodology for matching specific accommodations to the specific needs of the particular individual in question. Further, the person's level of need is used to retrieve accommodations that have been indexed to meet differing degrees of need. As an example, a person who is blind may have a need related to viewing a computer display. This person's level of need is used by AssessNet to identify appropriate accommodations, such as various screen reading programs, specifically selected to address the individual's need of accommodation. Alternatively, an individual who has low vision may also have a need for viewing a computer display. However, this person's level of need is quite different. The AssessNet methodology considers the specific level of need for the individual with low vision and returns accommodation suggestions, such as screen expansion programs or techniques, which are appropriate for the individual. Additionally, needs and need levels can be selected manually in AssessNet. This is helpful for fast needs-based accommodation searching, such as in less involved situations when a counselor already knows the customer's particular need. For this purpose, work related needs in AssessNet are categorized cat·e·go·rize tr.v. cat·e·go·rized, cat·e·go·riz·ing, cat·e·go·riz·es To put into a category or categories; classify. cat into the same eight areas used in the Functional Assessment (e.g., Mobility, Communication, Work Skills, etc.). Rehabilitation counselors can view the needs in each area and add them to a customer's needs list by checking the box next to each appropriate need. The counselor can then quickly search for accommodation devices and procedural strategies to help meet the customer's need in the same way as described above. Like the other sections, the user can choose to have a full-report developed in Microsoft Word for viewing, printing, or downloading which again aids the user in documenting the accommodations that have been identified and what products were chosen to meet the needs of the customer. IN SUMMARY Through AssessNet Internet service, counselors and other rehabilitation professionals will have access to a comprehensive program providing assistance in many important areas related to serving individuals with disabilities. As a result, disability professionals now have access to a very useful and innovative service available to assist them with a variety of key tasks in the rehabilitation process. But more importantly, AssessNet does not introduce new tasks to counselors. Rather, the AssessNet service provides tools to ease many of the tasks counselors are already performing, resulting in improved services and increased choices for rehabilitation customers. With AssessNet, disability professionals will be utilizing state-of-the-art Internet technology to provide improved services and increased choices for their customers. Beta testing (programming) beta testing - Testing a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software by making it available to selected users. This term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the of AssessNet was done. by/he State of Colorado's Division of Rehabilitation Services from February 1998 to September 1998. During this testing, the AssessNet Internet Service was customized to meet the needs of the Rehabilitation Counselors in performing functional assessments of customers, identifying vocational goals, identifying needs and vocational impediments, and identifying procedural and product accommodations for persons being served. Based on these results, the State of Colorado is moving forward to implement the AssessNet service statewide for all of their counselors beginning in the fall of 1999. Dr. Randall McDaniel, Professor Todd E. Johnson, Doctoral Student Auburn University Daniel K. Davies AbleLink Technologies 2850 Serendipity Circle West Suite 202 Colorado Springs, CO 90819 (719) 572-1517 http://www.assess.net/vr/ |
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