Programs and services
Most people hear technology and picture laptops, tablets and robots. The word that matters is assistive: any item that helps a specific person do something they couldn't do as easily before. Sometimes it's a communication device. Just as often, it's a whiteboard or a vibrating alarm clock.
Community Autism Resources (CAR) offers three kinds of assistive technology (AT) help across the 81 cities and towns of southeastern Massachusetts. You can start two of them today: borrowing equipment and having a custom visual made. An evaluation, the third, starts with a referral.
An item is only assistive if it helps you meet your goals. A toothbrush that signals when you're brushing too hard is assistive technology for someone learning to brush independently, and it's just a toothbrush for everybody else.
There's no typical person here. Someone living on their own for the first time. A college student who can't keep up with notes. Someone using eye gaze to say what they think. A family where an aging parent is handing over care and needs the handover to work.
What they share is one part of the day that's harder than it needs to be. That can be staying safe, communicating, managing medication, starting a task and remembering it, or daily living like cooking, washing and getting dressed.
Anyone, at any age
The Lending Library and Visual Support Workshops are open to you if you're connected with CAR, whether you're eight or fifty-eight.
Adults, for evaluations
Evaluations are for adults with support from the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services (DDS). You don't have to be autistic to have one, which surprises people.
The people around them
If you're family, support staff or part of someone's team, this is for you too. We work with you alongside the person the equipment is for.
To borrow something or have a visual made, you need to be connected with CAR: you live in our service area and you've filled out our short intake form, which tells us which team to put you in touch with. Neither costs anything, and neither needs a referral. You can check your town on our service area map.
Borrowing comes with a short agreement. Items come back in the condition they went out in, and if something is broken or lost, replacing it is the borrower's cost. That's the only condition.
An evaluation is funded only when all three of these are true.
22 or over
The person the evaluation is for is 22 or older.
DDS support
They have DDS support and a DDS service coordinator, the person at DDS who arranges their services.
A referral
The referral comes from that coordinator. You can't refer yourself.
If an evaluation isn't open to you, borrowing and Visual Support Workshops still are, and they're where most people start anyway.
For a child. We have funding for adult evaluations and none on the children's side, even though we have the skill to work with children and families. So we can lend equipment to try and build custom visuals, and we can't run a funded evaluation and equipment purchase. A child's evaluation usually goes through your public school district: put the request in writing, sign the consent to evaluate, and the district does the assessment and meets with you about the results. Some specialized hospital programs do them too.
If your child has an Autism Waiver Program budget, assistive technology is one of the things it can pay for. Borrow first anyway. The Lending Library and Visual Support Workshops cost you nothing, so the budget stays free for the things only money can solve.
Three kinds of help, each built around your day
Each one starts with a conversation about what your day actually looks like. Borrowing can be quick; an evaluation runs a few months, because a good fit can't be rushed.
Borrow something and try it
Our Lending Library holds dozens of items you can borrow before deciding whether to buy, so you find out whether something works in your own life before you spend anything on it.
Some items go home with you for an agreed period. Some are tried at the office with our team, because they need supervision or because that's simply more practical. The Alexa stays here on purpose, and it's what most visitors want to see. We decide case by case and tell you which it is.
The library is grant-funded, by the Flutie Foundation and the Allison Keller Educational Technology Grant.
If we don't have what you need, ask anyway. We can sometimes borrow from partner organizations, so call us before you give up on something that isn't on a list.
Have something made for you
In our Visual Support Workshops, our team designs a visual with you for one routine that keeps going wrong: a visual schedule, a social story for a doctor's appointment or a first day somewhere, a coping-skills toolbox, a support for moving from one thing to the next.
You bring us the situation, and we build something for it and for you, then mail it or have it ready to collect. For adults, that means something that looks like it belongs to an adult, because a visual that reads as a children's product doesn't get used.
Have an evaluation done
An AT evaluation is a working session with an Assistive Technology Professional, or ATP. The credential has training behind it, and not everyone using the title has earned it, so it's worth checking wherever you go. The person the equipment is for sits down with the ATP and whoever supports them, and they work through what that person is actually trying to do.
The ATP writes a recommendation and we submit it to DDS. That takes roughly a month, longer if we're coordinating with insurance, visiting a program or working alongside other professionals. DDS approves and the items are purchased, anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months later. None of it comes out of your account.
Then delivery, setup and training for you, your family and your staff. A month or two later we check back to find out whether the equipment is being used, because equipment nobody was taught to use ends up in a drawer.
Plan for a few months end to end, and know it can stretch. We stay in touch throughout. Once you have equipment from us, come straight to the AT team if something goes wrong. Anything new goes back through your service coordinator.
How to borrow or have something made
Visual Support Workshops
Every one of these was made for one person and one situation. Prom night. A doctor's appointment. Using the microwave. You tell us where the day comes apart and we build something for that.
Questions people actually ask
Assistive technology (AT) is any item that helps a specific person do something they couldn't do as easily before. It can be high-tech, low-tech or in between: a communication device, a vibrating alarm clock, a whiteboard schedule, a modified spoon, or an app that reads out reminders. AT covers safety, communication, medication management, executive functioning, and daily-living tasks like cooking, hygiene and self-care. Also known as "supportive tech."
No. Low-tech is often the better fit. For daily reminders, a smart speaker suits one person and a paper whiteboard suits another. What matters is that the item does what that person needs. Some of the most borrowed items in our Lending Library are among the simplest.
Dozens of items, each chosen to help someone practice a specific skill or do something they couldn't do as easily before. The most borrowed are vibrating alarm clocks and timers. Some items, like the Alexa, stay at the office so you can try them there. Borrowing costs nothing.
Get connected with CAR through our short intake form. Tell us what you're trying to do. Work out with our AT team what might fit. Sign the borrower's agreement, then take the item home for the time we agree on or try it at the office. Bring it back in the condition it went out in.
Yes. In our Visual Support Workshops, our AT team designs a custom visual with you for one routine: a visual schedule, a social story for a specific situation, a coping-skills toolbox, or a support for moving from one thing to the next. Visuals can be for a person of any age. We mail it to you or have it ready to collect at the office, at no cost.
Yes. The Lending Library and Visual Support Workshops are open to anyone connected with CAR, at any age. Funded AT evaluations are for adults 22 and over with DDS support and a referral from their service coordinator. For a child's evaluation, go through your public school district: put the request in writing and sign the consent to evaluate, and the district does the assessment and meets with you about the results. Some specialized hospital programs also do them.
An AT evaluation is a working session with an Assistive Technology Professional (ATP), the person the equipment is for, and whoever supports them, to work out what that person needs. The ATP writes a recommendation, CAR submits it to DDS, and approved items are purchased at no cost to you. To qualify, you need to be 22 or over, with DDS support, and be referred by your DDS service coordinator, the person at DDS who arranges your services. You can't refer yourself.
About two weeks to schedule the first meeting after a referral. Writing the recommendation takes about a month, longer if we're coordinating with insurance, a program or other professionals. Approval and purchase take a couple of weeks to a couple of months. Plan for a few months end to end.
Tell us. Accidents happen, and we'll work it out with you. Under the borrower's agreement, items come back in the condition they went out in, and replacing something broken or lost is the borrower's cost. Telling us early keeps items circulating for the next person.
Ask anyway. The Lending Library doesn't hold every item: some stay at the office, some we don't own, and some we haven't bought yet. We can sometimes borrow from partner organizations like Easter Seals.
Want help using it in everyday life?
Individualized Support. A lot of assistive technology ends up being put to use there.
Thinking about college?
The Gottschall Access Program. GAP staff often spot a student who would benefit from assistive technology, and we send people their way too.
Looking for help with a child, or for your family?
Family Support.
Wondering about an Autism Waiver budget for your child?
The Autism Waiver Program.
