About WATI
More than thirty years of helping schools say yes to assistive technology.
The Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative helped school districts and Birth to 3 programs give every child who may need AT equal and timely access to assessment, devices and services.
A short history
From a statewide initiative to a volunteer library.
- 1993 WATI begins in the fall, responding to school districts asking for statewide help meeting the AT requirements of IDEA.
- 1994 Funding from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction begins.
- 12 CESAs An assistive technology consultant in each regional Cooperative Educational Service Agency, plus a statewide lending library.
- 2009 State funding ends with the 2008–09 school year.
- Today Former WATI consultants volunteer to keep the materials available, free.
How the initiative worked
The goal was to increase the capacity of early intervention agencies, school districts and their partners to provide assistive technology, by making training and technical assistance available throughout Wisconsin at no cost. That meant model forms, suggested procedures, resource materials and access to AT for trial use.
The work was organized into four components:
- Regional and local training
- Local technical assistance
- Increased access to resources
- A collegial support network across the state
At the state level, WATI ran a lending library open to every district and Birth to 3 program, supported the twelve regional consultants, and developed resource guides like the ones in this library. Many CESAs kept smaller lending libraries of their own.