PJAHS • Volume 6 Issue 2 2023 • (doi:10.36413/pjahs.0602.010) 60 Special Collection: Short Report SAKLAY: A Guide to an Assistive Technology Service Delivery Process in the Philippines Kristel Yamat 1,2 , Jennifer Anne Bondoc 1,5 , Gemiele Elaine Delasas 1,3 , Margarita Anne Lacson 1,4 , Ralph Vincent Rodriguez 1,5 , Abelardo Apollo David Jr. 1,6,7 1 The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, Espana Blvd. Sampaloc, Manila, 2 Play Matters Therapy Center, Lubao Pampanga, 3 Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Quezon City, 4 COAST Therapy Center, Angeles City, 5 Heart Hospital Hamad Medical Corporation, Cardiac Rehabilitation Department, Doha, Qatar, 6 Independent Living Learning Centre, Inc., Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, 7 Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Adults and Children with Handicap Foundation, Inc., Mandaluyong, Manila 8 Sandbox Multispecialty Clinic, Taguig City Correspondence should be addressed to: Abelardo Apollo David Jr.; aidavid@ust.edu.ph Article Received: December 18, 2022 Article Accepted: January 28, 2023 Article Published: February 15, 2023 Copyright © 2023 David et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Occupational Therapy (OT) can help enhance human performance and well-being through assistive technology (AT). This entails guiding clients through the AT selection and acquisition process down to helping them integrate these tools’ use as supports to their day-to-day living. Unfortunately, the AT prescription and acquisition process can be tedious, costly, complicated, and uncoordinated in some countries such as the Philippines. AT service delivery is an undeveloped area of practice among Filipino occupational therapists due to the lack of local evidence-based research, practice models, and practical knowledge of the process. Moreover, access to AT is affected by economic factors and by some Filipinos’ negative attitudes towards assistive devices as being a validation of one’s incapacitation. The SAKLAY is a service delivery framework that was created to offer a practical and systematic guide to Filipino occupational therapists who render AT services for persons with disabilities (PWD) that takes into account the client’s needs, resources, abilities, and contexts. Key Words: Occupational Therapy, Assistive Technology, Service Delivery Process, Philippines INTRODUCTION Assistive Technology (AT) is a multidisciplinary intervention that helps people engage in activities that are important to them through compensatory methods. 1 These services can help individuals of varying needs restore or enhance their level of function. These can be categorized depending on their application: (1) Mobility, (2) Vision, (3) Hearing, (4) Positioning, (5) Communication, (6) Everyday Life, and (7) Learning. 2 Examples of but not limited to these are canes, wheelchairs, and prosthetics for mobility; magnifiers or text-to-speech software for vision; hearing aids for hearing; cushion or splint for positioning, communication boards or speech-generating devices for communication; dressing aids or simple timers for everyday life; and lastly, braille or adaptive toys for learning. Ranging from no to low-tech interventions to high-tech interventions, these services can allow people with disabilities (PWD) to participate in their chosen occupations 3 allowing them to maintain or improve their level of functioning and independence, thereby promoting their well- being. 4 Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) states that more than a billion people may need one or more AT; however, only one out of ten have access to these. 4 It is estimated that in developing countries, such as the Philippines, only 5–15% of people requiring AT have access to them. 5 For instance, only less than 3% of the demand for hearing aids is supplied. Estimates