The Family Center on Technology and Disability

The Family Center on Technology and Disability (FCTD) is a resource designed to support organizations and programs that work with families of children and youth with disabilities. We offer a range of information and services on the subject of assistive and instructional technologies. Whether you're an organization, a parent, an educator, or an interested friend, we hope you'll find information that supports you in your efforts to bring the highest quality education to children with disabilities.

The FCTD web site (www.fctd.info) is a source full of assitive/instructional technology resources of interest to families of children with disabilities. The website offers access to monthly newsletters, online discussions moderated by nationally recognized experts, a database of FCTD members which is comprised of more than 3,000 disability organizations, a resource review database with hundreds of reviews of AT resources and more. Through the site users can also access the FCTD AT Family Guides as well as resources in Spanish. We invite you to contact us at fctd@aed.org. We welcome feedback, new members and all who contribute to our growing knowledge base.

How is the Family Center supported and operated?

The Family Center on Technology and Disability operates entirely through program support from the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The Family Center is managed by a partnership of organizations, including the Alliance for Technology Access (ATA), Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) and InfoUse, Inc. The partnership is led by the Academy for Educational Development (AED).

AT Fact Sheets - The FCTD’s 2-3 page Fact Sheets are succinct resources that can be distributed easily to families and professionals. They include: AT 101 (an introduction), Assistive Technology and the IEP, and Assistive Technology Laws. In this section you can also find un updated version of the FCTD Illustrated AT Glossary.

AT Success Stories - At the Family Center, we understand the impact technology can have on the life of a student with disabilities. Here, you can read inspiring stories about students with a range of disabilities who have experienced great success and achievement because of their use of AT.

En Español - Here, you will find the FCTD resources that have been translated into Spanish. Those resources include the Family Information Guide to Assistive Technology, all of the AT Fact Sheets, and our AT Success Stories.