Assistive technology (AT) has been identified as one of the most effective interventions for rehabilitation purposes of individuals with disabilities. Due to the positive potentials, assistive technology has attracted tremendous attention among the rehabilitation counselors during the past decades. As a result, numerous AT devices have been created and research has been conducted attempting to improve quality of lives of individuals with disabilities. While many successful rehabilitation stories were revealed by AT assisted individuals, the implementation of AT does not always equal to successes. In fact, the high AT abandon rate has been a critical issue for the rehabilitation counselors. One of the identified reasons for the high AT abandon rate is the mismatch between the person and the device. In order to increase successful rate and decrease the possibility of mismatch, training specifically designed for building rehabilitation counselors' AT skills is needed. However, despite the recognition of AT training needs, very few master level rehabilitation counseling programs offer stand-alone AT classes to their students. Reasons for the missing of designated AT training include the lack of time, financial resource and manpower among these programs. Therefore, in order to design the AT training with the constraints these programs have, it is crucial to learn what the most important AT knowledge and skills are for the rehabilitation counselors. As a response to the current issue, this study focused on exploring current certified rehabilitation counselors' (CRC) perception of importance and competence in relation to their AT knowledge and skills. A sample of 242 CRCs was randomly drawn from the database of Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC). An Internet-based instrument was utilized as means for data collection. The quantitative design of this study yielded several statistical analyses. Results showed that AT was consistently considered one of the most important skills that rehabilitation counselors should have. However, although AT was considered to be important, rehabilitation counselors in general did not perceive competent to provide such services. The finding was alarming and demonstrated that more AT trainings were needed. In addition, for both perceived importance and perceived competence scales, significant differences were found between AT skill areas (understanding AT, using AT, and making AT decision), which provided insights of what AT skills should be prioritized when designing curriculum. Specific AT skills, which the participants rated important and less competent, were also identified for future training references. Data generated from this study can be used to inform current practitioners, rehabilitation counselor training programs, and future research directions. Limitations and implications were also discussed.
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