February / March 2002

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As an Assistive Technology Specialist for Easter Seals Massachusetts, consulting primarily to schools, I am often asked to recommend off-the-shelf, subject-specific software. While there are many good programs available in the form of talking books, games, etc., they are often fast-paced and visually intense, making them inaccessible to a student with learning or motor difficulties. While I use, recommend and provide training on many of the traditional multimedia authoring programs - I have found PowerPoint 97 for Windows to offer many of the features associated with the more specialized programs.

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Short on time? Need some quick ideas? You've come to the right place! My name is Mo Buti. This is my 12th year teaching in the special education field. I taught young children with severe disabilities for eight years in Arizona.

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The expense of some assistive software may limit the selection of products that teachers can provide on restrictive annual budgets. Advanced software can range from $200 to $1000 or more. As many of the companies producing Assistive Technology (AT) software are located in the US, the extra burden of currency exchange can put these products out of reach in some education systems.Companies are working on new methods to make their products more widely available.

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SMART TOYSFisher Price Smart Toys (800-432-5437)Little People Read-With-Me Storybooks: In these electronic storybooks, children 2 and up, can open the sturdy, plastic books and hear stories read aloud in clear speech. There are four buttons on the side: one for sound effects, one for music, another gives additional information about the page, and the fourth provides reinforcement of story concepts. Two different books are available, Shapes in Our House and Counting on the Farm.

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The times, they are a changing.

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Current research in the area of literacy suggests that phonemic awareness is an essential step in the road to reading fluency. Before children can make any sense of the alphabetic principle, they must understand that the sounds that are paired with letters are one and the same as the sounds of speech. For those of us who already know how to read, this realization seems very basic.

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Experiences with Cerebral Palsy is written by Colleen Rose, a mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy. Inthe book, Colleen offers a perspective using a combined method of therapy to teach the brain through repetition and various techniques that parents can utilize to accomplish unbelievable goals for their children.The book also provides a listing of the most renowned rehabilitation institutes in North America and the author's personal view on how to handle societal barriers.Colleen was able to teach her daughter how to live independently through the use of some very effective rehabilitation techniques and common sense approaches.Her daughter knows how to sit up, feed herself, walk around the furniture, climb on and off the furniture, crawl, bathe herself, wash her own hair, tie her shoes, brush her teeth, climb up and down the stairs, dress herself, make her bed, clean her room, do the dishes, do the laundry, walk with a walker, is completely toilet trained, takes approximately 30 steps with canes, rides a bike, ice skates and she has now gone on to greater achievements.Pricing for the book is $16.99.For more information, contact Rose Publishing, P.O. Box 2932,Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, L4E 1A8; Fax 905-773-4126; E-mail rosecp@aci.on.ca.

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The Super CD (published by Vanilla Press specifically for National Braille Press) contains the complete text in ASCII format of over 600 books. All The books from our American Literature and Children's Book CDs, plus the 2000 CIA World Fact Book, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, and The King James Bible are contained on this CD.The books fall into five basic categories: American Literature, Children's Books, Religion, British Literature, and Reference books. A sampling of titles includes works by Louisa Mae Alcott, Willa Cather, James Fenimore Cooper, Stephen Crane, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Zane Grey, Nathaniel Hawthorne, O.

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Assistive Technology: Matching Device and Consumer for Successful Rehabilitation. Contributing authors explore ways psychologists and other helping professionals can collaborate with users of assistive technology to help them get the most out of these devices. Thanks in large part to the past century's advances in technology, people with disabilities can live independent lives, contribute to their communities, attend regular schools, and work in professional careers as a result of assistive technology.

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The Adapt-A-Lap is a hands-free reading easel and portable desk which is small and light enough to take anywhere. It is designed to hold a book, magazine, reading or writing materials, or a notebook computer at the best and most comfortable height, angle, and position for the user. Its patented design conforms to the user's body instead of the user's body needing to conform to it.

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The Braillex EL Braille Assistant is a universal communications tool and a Braille display for other computers. Send and receive e-mail or surf the Web, make notes or organize your day, share information with other devices or access your Windows based PC. Braillex EL Braille Assistant offers this with quality refreshable Braille and easily understood speech, in many different languages.Braillex EL Braille Assistant features a CPU designed for portable use with plenty of computing power and advanced power management.

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The growing emphasis on Braille in schools and workplaces means more books, menus, textbooks, and lessons to publish. That's great for Braille readers, but Braille publishers often find themselves flooded with larger orders than their present equipment can comfortably handle. So for the last few years, customers have been clamoring for an embosser with greater speed and capacity for the growing Braille publishing industry.We're proud to introduce BraillePlace, with its serious productivity for serious Braille publishing.

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The DT Trainer is for students that are developmentally between 2 and 8 years old primarily in their receptive language. The target student is a slow learner and may have Autism or other learning disabilities. The DT Trainer teaches object labels and functional information with currently 60 content programs and hundreds of reinforcers.

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This switch is a new variation of the popular Jelly Bean switch, also manufactured by AbleNet, Inc. The Jelly Bean Booster Switch is best suited for students who can benefit from the easier access provided by an angled activation area, or who have trouble accessing a switch with a horizontal activation surface. Angling the switch toward the user results in a more visible target area and easier access; this is particularly useful for those with visual impairments.

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KeyWi Plus is a software program that includes all of the popular features of the KeyWi2 Software PLUS ICONS! Now, persons with low literacy levels can use the speed as well as the phone features that have been available for the past ten years for persons who were literate. KeyWi Plus enables a laptop computer to become a complete communication device with DECtalk, high quality voices already built into the software. Create entire conversations; call a friend on the telephone, order take-out pizza.A "Main Menu" appears on the screen when the computer turns on.

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Outcomes Express is a series of computer-based activities and teacher input used to evaluate a child's development, knowledge and progress in the following: alphabet letters, patterns language and literacy, letter sounds, rhyming words, shapes and colors, environmental sounds, number concepts, spatial relations and numeral recognition.Outcomes Express incorporates eight domains of child development that are important for school success. These include:Language development – listening and understanding; speaking and communicatingLiteracy – phonological awareness, book knowledge and appreciation of print, print awareness and concepts, early writing and alphabet knowledgeMathematics – number and operations; geometry, patterns and spacial relations; data collection and measurement.

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Adaptivation, Inc. introduces the Pneumatic Switch Kit. Use this switch to activate with only a puff of air.

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The ScanBuddy program from Applied Human Factors, Inc., lets the user perform most mouse operations while scanning (single, dual, or inverse single switch scanning). You can use a mouse switch, joystick switch, key on your keyboard, or any switch that emulates a mouse click as your scanning switch(es).Select from several scanning strategies. For example, you can use standard line scanning or start first with section scanning to identify the general area of the display where the target is located and then move to line scanning to precisely position the mouse.Once you have selected the location, choose from several button options including click, double click, drag, left or right mouse button, scroll down or up, pulse click, cancel, launch a favorite application, Shift+, Control+, or show ScanBuddy settings.

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CataLaw Inc. introduces the Skeleton Key on-screen keyboard. Skeleton Key is a complete software solution for anyone who has physical difficulty using a standard keyboard and/or mouse.Skeleton Key was developed by Dov Wisebrod to serve his own needs.

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This program is not only for those who want voice activated software, but, an easier way to navigate and operate a desktop or laptop computer. Companion the Talking Desktop is an informational command center that sits on top of your Windows screen with all those little icons. You receive constantly updated Internet content such as developing headline news stories, weather reports, sports news, Web navigation, incoming e-mail, Web cams, MP3 music and a stock ticker.

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TuffTalker Plus is designed for individuals who don't use a keyboard and who prefer touch screen or switch access to other types of access modes. Its large, easily accessible screen makes it convenient for most users, even those who experience disabling conditions such as ALS, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and closed-head injury. TuffTalker Plus is especially convenient for wheelchair users because there's no bulky keyboard to get in the way.TuffTalker Plus large, moisture-resistant touch screen is one of its most compelling features, making it ideal for direct selection.

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Students with autism or language delays often need help in learning how to make phrases and sentences. Picture Sentence Match is a new software tool for Windows designed to help students improve their receptive understanding of three-part sentences.Recognition of sentence meaning is the first step in learning to create a sentence. Picture Sentence Match helps the student recognize the association between an animated picture and a sentence describing it.

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Gus Communications, Inc. a leading developer of PC-based AAC/speech and computer access software, has released a line of tablet/touch screen personal computers, called the Communicator Series, which operate under Microsoft Windows 98, XP or 2000. These new computers also qualify for funding under new Medicare guidelines as SGDs (Speech Generating Devices - K0544).Each Communicator tablet/PC offers a choice of speech software including the Gus! Multimedia Speech System for Windows (Gus Communications, Inc.), Dynavox for Windows (Sunrise Medical, Inc.) or Speaking Dynamically for Windows (Mayer- Johnson, Inc.).

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