December 2000 / January 2001

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Bill: The new iBook - more of what you're looking for When Apple's iBook laptop was unveiled at MacWorld Expo in July of 1999, it caused quite a stir. It was very unique in its clamshell design, had as much horsepower as the iMac and was within reach of Mac users on a budget. In the past year, however, the first generation iBooks have become more unique for what they don't offer when compared to PC laptops in the same price range.

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Recognizing the potential of its workforce, the Department of Defense (DoD) continues to implement the latest technological applications to improve overall efficiency and productivity. For some individuals, however, technology is creating new pathways to accessing information. "For Americans without disabilities, technology makes things easier.

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The Beekman Center in Lansing, Michigan has used dance for three years to help power wheelchair users learn language concepts, social skills, and incorporate Augmentative Assistive Communication (AAC) devices into mobility activities. Like most center-based programs, our student population has become predominantly made up of students who are severely impaired, as the higher functioning students have been integrated into neighborhood schools. As a result, planning for the Christmas program has became more challenging.

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Play and Learn is a motor-based preschool curriculum for children of all abilities. Our work site, Normandy Park Education Center, has been using the curriculum for four years and serves approximately 1000 preschoolers and their families; about 95 of these children have special needs. Last year Ablenet, Inc.

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Whereas inclusion has provided physical access to the general education classroom for students with disabilities, in many cases the general education curriculum remains inaccessible. As a result, special education teachers have witnessed a skyrocketing demand for their time and expertise in designing and developing curriculum accommodations and modifications.The emphasis on helping all students achieve high academic standards will only sustain the demand for teachers knowledgeable about curriculum accommodations and modifications. Readers interested in locating useful resources are encouraged to consult the following materials (Design for differentiation, 2000; Educational Leadership, 2000; Guskey, 1996; Marzano, Pickering,& McTighe, 1993; Tomlinson, 1999; Wiggins, McTighe, 1998).It is difficult to imagine how teachers can support students without using technology to locate instructional materials, make modifications, and document student performance.

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Special needsThese programs contain special features for individuals with special needs, including scanning, switch access, IntelliKeys overlays, voice recognition and closed captioning.Early Math with Spider and Friends (IntelliTools: 800-899-6687) For those who use a mouse, Touch Window, IntelliKeys or switches, this program presents a broad range of early math skills. In the Snap game, two cards are shown. The one on the left stays the same, the one on the right changes.

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Quick and easy ideas and materials to take picture communication beyond choice making. Teaching functional language and literacy with picturesBy Carolyn RousePicture exchange systems have been gaining prominence across the country, fueled by success, especially with our population with autism, and led by Lori Frost and Andrew Bondy with their book, PECS, The Picture Exchange System, Training Manual (1994). With this system, nonverbal children, with various disabilities, have learned to make requests and to construct simple sentences on sentence strips using pictures.

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Web administrators and developers can make a giant leap toward achieving the open medium the Web creators envisioned with Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities. This resource comes at a time when the debate over universal access to the Web is approaching critical mass. Pending lawsuits threaten to compel Web sites to provide universal access.

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The revised and expanded third edition of "Disability Information at Your Fingertips," a guide to toll-free telephone and on-line resources for and about people with disabilities, is now available. This inexpensive and easy-to-use guide has quadrupled in size since it was first published in 1994. The new edition lists the toll-free phone numbers and world wide web addresses of over 500 national nonprofit organizations and government agencies.

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From the company that designed the low-cost tactile drawing kit, the Woolly Pen, comes a new tactile graphic resource - the PIAF Workbook. Relating graphical information to a person who has a vision impairment can be quite a challenge. In response to these challenges, Quantum Technology has developed a workbook devoted to making better tactile graphics.Written with the PIAF (Pictures in a Flash) in mind, but applicable to any tactile image maker, the workbook offers a step-by-step guide covering techniques, image selection, labels, special effects, and application ideas as well as practical hints and tips, for making better tactile graphics.Tactile image makers help people with a vision impairment to overcome the barrier of graphics.

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Has the information highway passed you by? If you're an educator, a person with a disability or a parent of a child with a disability Computer and Web Resources for People with Disabilities, A Guide to Exploring Today's Assistive Technology, 3rd edition is your guide to maneuvering the information highway and assistive technology.The Alliance for Technology Access has come out with their third, fully revised, edition of Computer and Web Resources for People with Disabilities. The book is divided into three parts - Search for Solutions, Technology Toolbox and Helpful Resources and References.The Search for Solutions is introduced in Chapter 1, A Millennium Vision, which presents one of June Isaacson Kailes', a disability policy consultant in Los Angeles, millennium visions for technology. It is a fanciful sci-fi vision of robo personal assistances, on-demand TV and hovercrafts.

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An assistive technology can be defined as any item, piece of equipment or system that helps people bypass, work around or compensate for learning difficulties. The purpose of assistive technology is to work around specific deficits, rather than fixing them. It helps people with learning differences (LD) reach their full potential and live satisfying, rewarding lives.Examples of assistive technology include "hi-tech" items, such as reading machines that read books out loud through a computerized voice to help persons with reading difficulties.

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Opus Technologies announces OpusDots Lite, a new software system for transcribing printed sheet music into music Braille. The product is intended to be used by sighted individuals, such as parents, teachers, aides and transcribers, who know basic print music notation but may not know Braille. The software uses new proprietary Scan and Click technology, which lets the user scan the printed sheet music with a scanner, then enter the musical elements by clicking over them in the scanned image.

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Vision World Wide, Inc. and M G Harrington Co announce a new, inexpensive, service to make reading easier for people with vision impairments - publications printed in very large type, up to 48 points.Patricia Price, President of Vision World Wide, announced the new service and why it is needed. "Many people will now be able to access material formerly inaccessible because the type was too small to read.

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The Denali Project announces the release of Summit Math and Summit Reading Version 1.7. This new version of Summit offers enhanced management system features, support for Solaris and Linux servers, user customization, additional activities, groundbreaking technical support options, and much more.Summit is an educational software system designed to improve performance on standardized tests and help students succeed in meeting educational goals. The curriculum portion of the program contains comprehensive reading and mathematics instruction for grades 3-8 and now includes over 900 learning activities.

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Clarity Solutions, manufacturer of "Flex" arm Auto-focus video magnifiers, announces their new and Improved ClarityAF Classmate ($2,345) and Travelmate ($2445) video magnifiers. These systems allow for distance as well as desktop viewing. In addition, their Flex design gives you the added room under the camera to do crafts and hobbies that you cannot do with a traditional Inline video magnifier design.

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Window-Eyes 4.0 introduces the most flexible, configurable, and responsive software for persons who are blind allowing them to both listen to and feel all the wonders available through personal computers.GW Micro believes that there is no need to pay someone to write complicated scripts to get an application to work. Programs for persons who are blind do not have to be complicated, expensive or clumsy to use. Window-Eyes 4.0 is living proof."Unfortunately, many people think that there is only one high-priced, complicated and difficult program that they can use; we want to change that.

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A Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR) is available on the Internet to employers seeking to make workplace accommodations for employees with disabilities. SOAR is a Web-based service of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities' Job Accommodation Network (JAN). The program is designed to allow users to explore various accommodation options for persons with disabilities in the work setting.The program takes the user through a step-by-step process, beginning with the identification of the impairment and the functional limitations of the particular individual needing an accommodation.

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"Lifting& Transferring People with Disabilities Using the MOVE Approach" is the latest addition to MOVE's video library. With in-depth discussion and instruction on how to lift and transfer people with disabilities in their everyday activities in everyday settings (using the MOVE approach), this is an ideal training video for new and current staff and parents. Very practical instructions are shown for transferring to the toilet, in and out of a bath, bed, etc.The video was produced in collaboration with Linda Bidabe, founder and author of the MOVE Program and Curriculum, and the staff at the John Leach School in New Castle, Delaware, which is one of MOVE's seven model sites in the United States.

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SkillsTutor.com, a web publisher with a long educational history of assisting children with handicaps, announced it is offering its new Internet-based test preparation and instructional program free for any home or hospital-bound special needs student in America. SkillsTutor.com said its offer is being made in partnership with the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE). SkillsTutor.com's new Internet program, based on the content of the popular and award-winning SkillsBank CD-ROM software, began service on August 15, 2000.

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Eyestrain is the bane of most serious computer users. Many repetitive stress injuries are now known to be caused by the unusual stress placed on the body by computer use. The computer industry has responded to these with a wealth of strain relief products, including ergonomically designed keyboards, gel-filled wrist supports and more.

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Providing the basic building blocks for art and reading mixed in with plenty of fun, Blue's Art Time Activities and Blue's Reading Time Activities are the latest titles in the Blue's Clues CD-ROM series from Humongous Entertainment, an Infogrames, Inc. company and Nickelodeon, the worldwide entertainment brand that puts kids first. With these two new activity-based programs, preschoolers can learn fundamental skills in art and reading, and then build on that knowledge through creativity and exploration.

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Knowledge Adventure has released HyperStudio 4, a new hybrid version of the original HyperStudio, with more new features and content, specifically designed for classroom use. For more than 10 years, HyperStudio has been a teacher's favorite for encouraging students to express themselves and present their ideas as they bring their written projects to life by integrating all multimedia elements and animation. The new HyperStudio 4 is packed with dozens of new features that make it easy to use for beginners at all grade levels, yet even more powerful and dynamic for advanced users.

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Users with disabilities who have had difficulty accessing the Web or using the Internet now have a new option - MSN Explorer is a combination of integrated services and software with a new accessible interface that offers all users an easy and personal doorway to the Web. A portal and browser in one, the new Microsoft Internet software provides consumers with a simple, integrated home on the Web that helps them get the most out of their time on-line and be more productive in life.Built from the ground up with accessibility in mind, MSN Explorer has several features designed specifically to help people with disabilities easily use and grow with the product. Unlike the software of several current Internet services, MSN Explorer is compatible with technology aids such as screen readers and screen enlargers.MSN Explorer offers simplicity, integration and a rich feature set, making MSN Explorer both a perfect choice for Web novices and the clear alternative for Internet fans whose current on-line experience isn't living up to their expectations.The ability to access the Web is of particular concern to users with disabilities.

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The Flipchart is a unique communication tool designed to help individuals who are unable to speak. Its primary function is to aid hospital patients undergoing treatments or who have conditions that temporarily limit the ability to speak. It is however useful to anyone unable to speak.The Flipchart was conceived out of necessity during the care of a patient who suffered from AIDS for nine years and had complete respiratory failure.

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textHELP! Type& Talk, which has been on the market for two years, is a flexible educational word processor specifically designed to assist and motivate learning disabled students in their reading and writing process. It has proved itself to be an invaluable tool for people in the fields of both education and special needs. Based on the award winning textHELP! Read& Write, features of textHELP! Type& Talk include speech, an advanced phonetic spell checker, word prediction, homonym support, thesaurus and word wizard.

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