"The size of our special education program and unique skill sets of our faculty and students position Illinois State University to be a leader in assistive technology."— Phil Parette, Illinois State University Kara A. Peters Endowed Chair in Assistive Technology, director of SEAT Center, and professor of Special Education
(April 15, 2007) Through teaching a special education art class during his senior year in high school, Phil Parette received his first exposure to students with severe learning disabilities. After graduation, he enrolled in college to study business. However, the call to teach was stronger and he graduated from the University of Arkansas with dual certification in elementary and special education.
After college, he taught fourth grade briefly and then accepted a position as an educational diagnostician for the State of Arkansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. From there, he worked in the State of Arkansas Department of Corrections school system in the very lowest level setting primarily with students with mild mental retardation and significant learning disabilities. He also worked in an early intervention program serving infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy and other significant developmental delays.
As he worked in these positions, he realized that there were skill sets that he did not possess. So, with the desire to make a bigger impact, he returned to school to develop those skills and become a college professor. He completed his daster's degree in Learning Disabilities from the University of Arkansas in 1978, and completed his Ed.D. in Special Education (Multidisabilities) from the University of Alabama in 1982.
Since that time, he has served as the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator for the Arkansas Easter Seal Society, and taught special education at several institutions of higher learning, most recently at Southeast Missouri State University (1993–2003).
In 2003, Parette was named Illinois State University Kara A. Peters Endowed Chair in Assistive Technology, and became director of the Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT) Center and professor in the Department of Special Education. Through his roles at Illinois State University, Parette is making an impact on future teachers, current teachers, students who rely on assistive technology (AT) to live independent lives, and the advancement and innovation of assistive technology in the industry.
Assistive technology includes a wide array of devices, ranging from low-tech to high-tech, that helps people compensate for an impairment or disorder. It allows them to do things they would not be able to do otherwise, whether it be to increase mobility, improve communications, do daily tasks, or learn in the classroom or at home.
The SEAT Center, a unit of the College of Education at Illinois State University, trains future and current teachers to use technologies that will give students with special needs the power to learn. The SEAT Center is the place for AT innovation, access, and instruction at ISU. It has built partnerships in business, education and government to advance the knowledge and practice of AT to enhance teaching, learning, and living.
Educating teachers on how to use AT in the classroom gives them the skills to teach every student, including those with special needs, specifically using AT applications. Illinois State University is the only teacher education program in the country that provides preparation for all teacher candidates in AT. Last year, over 1,200 teacher candidates throughout the University utilized the services of the SEAT Center.
Parette, as leader of the SEAT Center, is involved in cutting-edge, outcome-driven research and works with public schools throughout the state and nation to provide professional development opportunities. The SEAT Center was awarded a grant to assess the effectiveness of SOLO™, an integrated software that builds learning skills in reading, writing, organizing, and editing for students in grades three through twelve. Developed by Don Johnston Inc., SOLO™ was field-tested in a six-county area in what has been called the single most important study of AT for enhancing writing skills. The results of these tests have allowed the Center to publish a number of articles to be released in the near future.
Parette is also very involved in a partnership with a local preschool serving at-risk children with cognitive, motor, and language disorders. The project, Making a Difference Using Assistive Technology (MDAT), works to sharpen students' writing skills through the use of an AT toolkit. The toolkit includes a computer, IntelliTools Classroom and Access Suite, Boardmaker® Plus software package, Writing with Symbols software package, a digital camera, a scanner, overhead projector, screen, and other equipment. In collaboration with the project team, Parette works closely with the school's teachers, helping them to develop the necessary skills to use the software effectively and providing professional development opportunities. The team is systematically taking writing samples from the children and conducting standardized assessments with regard to their literacy performance over time. The project is now in the data analyses phase for the first year of the project. Parette is hopeful for positive outcomes.
Several other research projects are embedded in the MDAT project. One project focuses specifically on the effect of using writing symbols and its impact on children's memory, their word productions, their spontaneity of using language, and other aspects of language usage. Another will focus on the impact of digital projection systems on children's literacy development.
Through his cutting-edge work with faculty collaborators at ISU, he has built relationships with several leading AT vendors. The SEAT Center, maintaining over $800,000 in state-of-the-art AT devices, is a training site for products and devices developed by several manufacturers. Partnerships with organizations allow the SEAT Center to deliver important programs and services, such as professional development opportunities, workshops and conferences, and publish an online journal, Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits. Parette has also delivered keynote addresses for a variety of conferences and events worldwide promoting the use of AT to help people reach their potential.
When asked about what excites him most in his work, Parette shares that it is working with the cadre of very bright individuals who have skill sets that are exemplary in the United States. He states, "Because of the sheer size of our program, we are able to work collaboratively with teachers throughout the region, identifying best practices, conducting research in those settings, and then integrating those findings into our curricula for our preservice populations. That alone positions us to be on the cutting edge nationally with regard to our teacher education program."
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