October / November 2001

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Bill talks about finger styluses, the new IntelliKeys Keyboard, and Macworld. Richard shares his experience installing and using a wireless network.Bill: Making the point - TrueTip finger stylus In a past issue of Closing The Gap I reviewed ELO TouchSystems' iMac with iTouch technology. One of the problems I mentioned was the fact that it was difficult to manipulate elements of the Finder with your fingertip because it (your fingertip that is) isn't very precise.

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This issue is devoted exclusively to companies that produce software and hardware for children and adults with special needs. Many of the names will be familiar and some will be new. If you are attending the Closing The Gap conference, be sure to visit the Commercial Exhibit areas and the booths of many of these companies to see the products first hand.

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Red, yellow, blue and green, part of a rainbow? Yes, and just a few of the many colors that might help that student who does not see correctly what's on the page. The student may see letters that are blurry or moving or reversed, or have difficulty looking at the page because it's too bright.A simple piece of transparent colored plastic, placed over the page, may allow the student to see the print clearly, correctly and with comfort. It sounds simple.

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Communicating with Krista was hard. Taking the PCS (Picture Communication Symbols) symbol cards out of the box, guessing what it was Krista had to say, hanging 12 symbols on the Plexiglas board and hoping she would look at one of the symbols indicating that was a word she wanted to say, asking her if there was more to say, and repeating the process all over again until she "said" everything she had to say. This time-consuming way of communication can be frustrating.

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Exchange Info.

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Tara turned on her computer and pulled out her textbook for the day. Before the bell rang for math class, she joked with her friend Wanda. Tara is a typical eighth grade math student - except for one fact - she is a classroom participant today from her bedroom at home.The Zechariah Project was created to develop a cost-effective videoconferencing model for progressive school districts that want to use current technologies to bring the classroom into the homes of home-based students with severe disabilities or illnesses.

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The Closing The Gap Essential Bookmark Collection for Assistive Technology (AT) Coordinators has recently been expanded and updated. It was designed to identify Web links specifically organized to support the work of AT Coordinators. The bookmark collection is available in three formats: in print, as a Web page, and as downloadable files to be installed within a Web browser.

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Assistive technology: AT. It's everywhere. We all use gadgets to help us do things: Think of that pencil you use to write.

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The simple and intuitive touchscreen interface of Elo's iMac with iTouch "touch-on-tube" technology provides new possibilities to aid in assistive learning, such as for students with physical or cognitive disabilities. Students who are not able to access education or leisure applications using the mouse, keyboard or trackball may be able to access that same application using Elo's iMac with iTouch simply by touching the screen. If a student can point and touch, they can use Elo's iMac with iTouch.Elo's iMac with iTouch provides 100 percent light transmission for clearer, brighter images and purer colors.

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Fonix Corporation, announces the version 2.0 of Fonix iSpeak, the easy-to-use personal text reader that reads aloud any text file in a natural, human-sounding voice."iSpeak 2.0 offers all users, be it students, learning disabled, productivity-minded business people, or even English as a Second Language (ESL) students, an efficient, highly-effective way to access and hear any text, anywhere," said Kirk Feller, Vice President of Marketing at Fonix. "The addition of e-mail reading for optimal efficiency, MP3 file support for maximum portability, and the option of a female or a male voice are highlights of this text-to-speech solution."iSpeak 2.0 has been enhanced to allow users more flexibility in accessing and listening to their text. Support for MP3 file format enables text files to be synthesized and saved as an MP3 file and listened to from any standard MP3 player.

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Learning Advantage, the direct to educators marketing and development arm of Educational Insights, announces two new quiz games that provide learning fun. Eggspert and GeoSafari Quiz Pad are interactive educational aids that provide fast-paced learning competition for the classroom.According to Kevin Casey, the vice president of sales and marketing for Educational Insights, "Both games contain speech technology that deepens involvement in the action and provides verbal feedback to players. Eggspert's game show format encourages participation in classroom tests, group activities and memorization games, while Quiz Pad provides trivia questions on a variety of subjects."Designed for pre-kindergarten and up, Eggspert allows teachers to quiz pupils on any subject in their curriculum.

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Mindmaker, Inc., a developer of intelligent personal assistants, advanced speech and gesture recognition tools, and other artificial intelligence technology has released its latest Advanced I/O Utility, MouseAssistMouseAssist enhances the functionality of any mouse and increases a user's productivity on the PC by adding gesture recognition and other quick access command-and-control techniques. MouseAssist can be trained easily to recognize gestures made with a mouse, then used to start and control applications, run complex macros, jump to a favorite Web site, and perform many other useful tasks when a user makes the corresponding mouse gestures. For example, users can make a "C" gesture with the mouse to start Microsoft Calculator, make an "S" gesture to insert a signature line in a letter, or make a check mark gesture to go straight to a finance Web site to check on a stock portfolio.

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The Prentke Romich Company has developed a new portable device for people who use augmentative and alternative communication that includes the same language software as their other products and has a larger display area than similar devices in the marketplace.The new product, called Vantage, has a compact and lightweight design (weighing approximately three pounds) that makes it suitable for ambulatory users. It includes a high-quality dynamic display that is 70 percent larger than those found in other portable devices.Vantage comes loaded with the Unity Enhanced vocabulary software based on the Minspeak language system. The device includes three coordinated versions of Unity and vocabularies ranging from 150 to 2,000 words, plus common phrases, games, and songs.

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Riverdeep Interactive Learning has released an updated version of its Destination MATH series. Destination MATH version 4.0 encompasses the complete selection of the series for CD-ROM and LAN platforms and now includes Mastering Skills & Concepts, Course III, Intermediate Mathematics for grades 4-6. "We understand that not all schools have the technology available for our on-line products which is exactly why we continue to make our products available on CD-ROM and LAN versions," stated Gail Elizabeth Pierson, Riverdeep president and chief operating officer.

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WordSmith, is an integrated tool bar for Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP. The most exciting feature of this product is its ability to scan any text document into Word 97/2000/XP, enabling on screen editing and text reading of the scanned material. Once edited, the Word document can be made readily available to other Microsoft Word Users.Students with dyslexia tend to spell phonetically.

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The Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc. (IDRT) has completed development of myTTY, software that makes a personal computer (PC) communicate over telephone bandwidth the Baudot TTY's used by deaf people. The myTTY system is a breakthrough because it is totally in software and does not require any special Baudot hardware.

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Ultratec, Inc. introduces its new Simplicity Phone/Doorbell Signaler LTW. This new Simplicity unit combines two signalers into one, alerting you when the telephone is ringing and or when someone is at the door.

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Quillsoft Ltd. announces the availability of WordQ Writing Aid Software. This Windows application is a reading and writing tool for people of all ages and levels of writing ability, including those who have learning difficulties, such as Dyslexia, or who are learning English as a second language.

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Educational Insights, Inc. has released three new teaching aids for pre-kindergarten to first grade from their Teaching Tiles line of products: Reading Readiness Center, Math Readiness Center and Early Learning Tiles Classroom Set. All three consist of colorful photo-illustrated tiles and self-checking activity cards that introduce and reinforce math, reading and language skills.

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The Dialogue JV-35 is an amplified telephone that has a keyboard with oversized buttons and Braille characters for easy dialing. An electronic voice calls out each number as it is dialed, ensuring that the user gets connected easily. The voice can also be recorded in the user's own voice and language.

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ADAS offers the Equity series, a line of accessible computer workstation with hand crank height-adjustment. The Equity series adjusts with an easy to turn hand crank that raises and lowers the work surface from 24-34 inches in height to accommodate students of all ages and abilities in K-12 and college settings. At its lower heights, the workstation is ideal for younger children, raised to 34 inches high it accommodates wheelchair users and provides ample knee space and clearance for arm rests.

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