AAC Funding Assistance

There is a proven process for funding a dedicated device through insurance. It is called the SETT process and was created by Joy Zabala, Ed.D. Many school districts/ISD have developed an official SETT form based on Joy Zabala’s work.

The team includes the parents, all school staff involved with the child, and an SLP as the lead person (either school personnel or myself).

This process is completed to ensure that the best possible device, access method, and robust vocabulary are selected for funding. Insurance companies fund devices once every five years. It is necessary to think ahead of those five years to best predict where the child could be then and plan accordingly!

What does SETT mean?

Student: The team gathers all relevant information about the child. This includes developmental, medical, and educational history; all therapies received; communication approaches tried and results; and the child’s current communication skills.

Environment: The environments in which the child communicates are observed to determine what features of each are helpful or not to communication, how the child interacts in those environments, and any current AAC equipment available. Typical environments are the classroom, therapy offices, hallways, specials, etc. It is necessary to look at the environments in terms of volume capacity and durability of the device

Tasks: The team comes together to discuss the communication tasks the child needs to do throughout the day. What are the things the child needs to communicate? If he/she is in pain? Why he/she is upset? Is he/she able to make choices presented? And so on…

Tools: The team pulls together all the above information (student, environment, tasks) and uses it to determine appropriate AAC devices, access methods, and robust vocabulary that could fit the child. Those devices are researched, and the companies contacted for trialing. Data needs to be collected for a month to meet most insurance policies.

Often, the first device, access method, and robust vocabulary work very well. Other times, the experience with the first device leads to a different avenue. Once a device, access method, and robust vocabulary are selected, the lead person writes the funding report encompassing all information. This is forwarded to the device company to submit the request for funding to the insurance company.

The process can take some time as a “one time” visit never covers all the bases.