Resources for Student Success
To ensure all learners have the tools and supports they need to thrive, the Eaton RESA Related Services staff provides comprehensive resources for families, local district teams, and the educators who support them.
Whether you are a family member looking to better understand communication tools, or a school team seeking collaborative resources for mobility, sensory support, or social-emotional health, our dedicated team is here to partner with you. Explore the focus areas below to connect with the information, tools, and resources needed to empower every student.
We offer targeted guidance and resources across a variety of specialized areas, including:
- Autism & Neurodiversity
- Communication (including Augmentative & Alternative Communication - AAC)
- Inclusive Technologies (Assistive Technology, Accessible Educational Materials, & Accessible Technology)
- Sensory Needs & Motor Skills
- Social-Emotional
- Vision & Hearing
Autism & Neurodiversity Resources
Eaton RESA has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) teacher consultants who work with families, students, and staff within the local districts. The Autism Consultants are available to provide support and services, including collaboration, observation, and assistance based on student needs.
Statewide Autism Research and Training (START)
National Clearinghouse for Autism Research
Free On-line Training for families and professionals:
Communication Resources (including Augmentative & Alternative Communication - AAC)
Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) includes all forms of communication (other than spoken word) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. When looking at AAC to augment spoken word, we are looking at supporting language growth, communication breakdown repair, and increasing communication modalities. At Eaton RESA, our AAC consultant supports teams working with students who need support with communication. This can include training, coaching, selecting, implementing devices and other support specific to communication.
Parent Resources:
Inclusive Technologies (Assistive Technology, Accessible Educational Materials, & Accessible Technology)
Inclusive Technologies
Assistive Technology
Assistive technologies are designed to address specific barriers learners with disabilities may face when they interact with their materials. Examples of assistive technology include text-to-speech, screen readers and speech recognition. Assistive technology services assist learners with disabilities in selecting, acquiring and using the assistive technologies that are the best match for them (aem.cast.org).
Assistive Technology is one of several items on a “special factors” checklist in IDEA which requires that Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams consider the need for AT at least annually for every student with an IEP. AT devices and services determined necessary by the IEP team are to be provided for student use/benefit at no cost to the family, to support a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE).
Laws Supporting the Consideration and Provision of Assistive Technology
IDEA Sec. 300/105 Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology Consideration Resources
Assistive Technology Consideration Flowchart (MI AT Leaders)
AT Consideration Flowchart Talking Points 2025
SETT (Student, Environment, Tasks, & Tools) Framework Information
Accessible Educational Materials (AEM)
Accessible educational materials (AEM) are print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of learner variability, regardless of format (e.g., print, digital, graphic, audio, video) (aem.cast.org).
National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM Center)
Accessible Technologies
Accessible technologies are the hardware devices and software that provide learners with access to the content in accessible digital materials. These technologies are designed to be flexible and provide supports that benefit everyone - they are universally designed (aem.cast.org).
Vision & Hearing Resources
Hearing Resources
Deaf/Hard of Hearing refers to students with a hearing loss of any degree. Students with an educationally significant hearing loss (which is determined by an IEP team) may qualify for Special Education services from a Teacher Consultant/Specialist for the D/HH. A TC-D/HH provides many services, which may include: collaboration with IEP team members, Audiology clinics, and ENT's, consultation with professional staff, students, and families of students with hearing loss; direct service therapy to address Self Advocacy needs, educational support, and hearing aid technology/FM support. At ERESA, our Teacher Specialists for the D/HH are here to serve you and your students!
Vision Resources
The Teacher Consultant for the Visually Impaired (TCVI) provides services to students who are blind or visually impaired. Visual impairment, including blindness, means an impairment in vision that even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes partial sight, blindness, and a progressively deteriorating eye condition. An evaluation for a visual impairment includes a review of an eye report from an optometrist or ophthalmologist, a Functional Vision Learning Media Assessment, and possibly an Orientation and Mobility Evaluation.
The TCVI supports classroom teachers to make appropriate classroom accommodations in order to allow the student to access the core curriculum. Some of these accommodations might include seat position in the classroom, font size for near and distance tasks, specifications for lighting, enlarging materials, use of special paper/markers, use of a slant board, use of a line guide, use of a magnification device, and use of specific technology. The TCVI may also provide direct instruction in any area of the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC). The curriculum includes skills that are needed by students with visual impairments due to their unique disability-specific needs. The Expanded Core Curriculum covers nine areas including: compensatory skills, orientation and mobility, social interaction, independent living skills, recreation and leisure, sensory efficiency, assistive technology, career education, and self determination. The TCVI works to make sure the student, staff, and family understand the impact of the visual impairment on both school and life activities.
A student who is blind or visually impaired might also need services from an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Specialist. Orientation refers to understanding where you are in space and mobility is the ability to move through that space to get from one point to another. With structured and sequential instruction in O&M, even a student who is totally blind can learn how to safely and independently travel in both familiar and unfamiliar settings. O&M instruction includes teaching basic concepts of different indoor and outdoor environments, residential travel, street crossings, travel in semi-business and business environments, and the use of all forms of public transportation. All of this is paired with instruction in the proper technique and use of the long cane when necessary.
The TCVI and O&M specialist work closely together, in collaboration with the school team and family, to provide a comprehensive education for the student who is blind or visually impaired. The goal is for students to have full access to the core curriculum, be well rounded in areas of the expanded core curriculum, and have the skills to be safe and independent travelers.
