December 2004 / January 2005

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Introduction Current educational laws, policies, and initiatives are driving an increased emphasis on research-based educational practices for all students. Teachers in special education fields that are considered “low-incidence,” such as the disability area of visual impairments, are frequently faced with professional and ethical dilemmas because the body of knowledge that is research-based is relatively small in comparison with other teaching fields. In addition, educators who strive to utilize research to improve their teaching practice in the area of Braille literacy and assistive technology face a significantly narrowed body of knowledge.

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When working with children who have special needs (especially communication deficits), one must look at the child’s environment and ask, “Is it accessible?” Look at your own environment and see all the things you do to make it accessible. You may have a calendar or planner. You may have a list of things to do (as teachers, we know it is a never ending list).

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Since its introduction at Closing The Gap in 1994, the SETT Framework (Zabala, 1995) has helped individuals with disabilities, family members, and professionals make appropriate assistive technology decisions. SETT is an acronym for Student, Environment, Tasks and Tools. Using the SETT Framework as a guide, teams gather and organize the thoughts, observations, and experiences of each member in order to build a common understanding of the strengths, skills, and challenges that the student possesses, the environments in which the student is expected to learn and grow, and the tasks that the student needs to do or learn to do so that appropriate tools can be considered, selected, and integrated into the student’s educational program.

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Do you try to incorporate technology into your classroom but feel overwhelmed by lack of time? Do you struggle to find appropriate language exposure and enrichment materials for your students who are cognitively challenged, language disabled or on the autism spectrum? We do, too... and we have found a solution in simple theme-based learning units that can be used time and again. A variety of materials provides repetition and reinforcement of language and learning concepts while supporting students with different learning styles.

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Why music? Music is simply too important a part of life for most children – typical children or children with disabilities – to be overlooked. Singing can provide support for literacy development, as it has a number of advantages. • Language and text can be made highly visual and presented in a left-to-right format. • The use of melody supports memory. • Repetition is highly normative in singing, permitting words to be on display multiple times. • Students can physically manipulate symbols/graphics. • Story retelling can be accomplished through singing. • Story construction can be achieved through using old forms as patterns for new creations. • Sound patterns can be put on display through alliterative or rhyming songs. In addition, the motivational value of using songs to promote learning should not be ignored.

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Accessible voting By the time you read this, we will hopefully know who our next President is. Of course, if recent history is any clue, we may not know for months. I usually try to stay away from talking about politics because it’s a very personal area for most people.

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All students can read independently. This powerful statement was the driving force behind the development of Don Johnston’s Beginning Literacy Framework and subsequently, the ready-to-use Start-to-Finish Literacy Starters book sets – two critical resources to help educators change the way they approach reading instruction for their students with significant disabilities.

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In the last two articles, we discussed many basic writing strategies using weather as the theme. Ideas included using IntelliMathics to graph weather patterns such as the number of sunny days, cloudy days, etc., in a month, creating basic writing templates using digital pictures for students to record and write about changes in the weather and utilizing weather maps that can be found on-line to create a weather map where the student can press a weather symbol on the map, such as a high or low pressure, and get feedback as to what it is.

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GW Micro announces the release of the public beta version of Window-Eyes 5.0, the screen reader software that enables computer users who are blind to work on a computer with maximum ease.

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Independent Concepts is pleased to announce a new Jogger feature. All new Joggers will come with a memory chip that will allow full and easy restoration of the Jogger software should the battery be allowed to fully discharge. All existing Joggers will be upgraded at no additional cost.

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Dancing Dots announces the official release of the latest version of their access solution for SONAR from Cakewalk Music Software, which they call CakeTalking. SONAR converts your PC into a multi-track, audio production studio. CakeTalking has two components: a set of scripts that customizes how the JAWS for Windows screen reader software responds to SONAR’s highly graphical environment and a set of detailed tutorial documents containing hundreds of pages of tutorial instruction tailored to the needs of users who are blind.

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Dolphin Computer Access Limited announces the availability of their latest version 6.03 access software suite.

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BookCrafter, from Colligo, is the solution that converts printed books to accessible digital books (aBooks), complying not only with the many civil rights laws, but retaining visual integrity of the printed book for those who are not print disabled. The complete visual integrity of the book is retained – pictures, color, graphs, reverse type and more. What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG).

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AssistiveWare announces the release of SwitchXS 1.6. SwitchXS provides virtually complete access to Mac OS X and all standard Mac applications for people who can only use one or more switches. It offers full mouse and keyboard emulation by means of a so-called scanning mode.

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DynaVox Technologies announces the availability of MightyMo and MiniMo. Extensions of the company’s current product line, the powerful, simple-to-use digitized communication solutions enable those with significant communication disabilities to speak their minds with ease and speed.

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Don Johnston Incorporated is delighted to introduce SOLO, one completely integrated solution that helps students build skills and utilize strategies as they use guided supports for reading comprehension and structured models for writing. SOLO combines all of Don Johnston’s proven, industry-standard interventions – Co:Writer, Draft:Builder and Write:OutLoud – and introduces Read:OutLoud, to provide educators with everything they need to differentiate instruction and oversee students’ entire reading and writing development.

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Freedom Scientific today announces the SARA, an easy, compact, and very affordable scanning and reading appliance for persons that are blind and those with low vision.

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FrogPad, an innovator in data entry methods for mobile computing, and its partner, Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND,<www.gennum.com>), announces the global launch of iFrog, the first-to-market portable keyboard with Bluetooth technology. The iFrog is compatible with all Macs and PCs supporting the Bluetooth Human Interface Device (HID) profile, which describes how a keyboard will communicate with another Bluetooth device.

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Pulse Data HumanWare announces the introduction of a new low vision auto-reading device called myReader <www.myreader.com>. The first significant breakthrough in adaptive reading technology in over 30 years since the Rand Corporation demonstrated its video magnifier prototype in 1968, myReader is a compact, transportable device that turns the difficult and frustrating task of reading into an easy and enjoyable one for millions of people with impaired vision.

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AssistiveWare announces that is is seeking additional beta testers for Proloquo, its forthcoming speech solution for Mac OS X. Proloquo is in the final beta stages and additional English speaking beta testers are sought to test with both the Mac OS X built-in voices and the high quality Acapela Multimedia US and UK English voices. To qualify, you must be running Mac OS X 10.3.x and not be able to speak (or at least need a communication aid to speak).

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Transitioning an augmented communicator to the next level of communication and the next level of communication aid is one of the most common AAC challenges for clinicians, teachers and parents. A newTransitioning Toolkit is now available from PRC to guide and support the transition process.

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Mini-SwitchPort provides a place to plug switches into a computer. There are two switch inputs in Mini-SwitchPort. When you plug a switch(es) into a the Mini-SwitchPort jack(s), the switch(es) ‘become’ standard mouse clicks (Win: left, right; Mac: click, click), and with installation of the accompanying SwitchHopper software, you can configure each button to ‘be’ any mouse button event or keystroke you’d like.

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QualiLife’s solution enables any user with any physical disability, visual impairments or completely blind, to surf the Web.

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Altimate Medical is proud to announce that their “Life After SCI’ videos are now available on DVD. The “Life After SCI” videos were originally developed to help newly injured spinal cord injury patients, but they have proven to be a useful tool for clinicians, students, and individuals with various disabilities.

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Tom Snyder Productions announces the release of Digital Photography Workshop for Teachers, the latest in a popular series of how-to books for educators. Written by well-known author and teacher Janet Caughlin,Digital Photography is a complete guide to integrating digital camera use into the classroom.

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VisuAide announces that Maestro, the first mainstream pocket computer accessible to the blind and visually impaired, is now available in English. Greatly anticipated since it was first unveiled in June, Maestro is the smallest and least expensive information access tool competing in the market for notetakers and other personal aides for the visually impaired.

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The Reading Assistant Manager helps students in grades 1 to 6 meet national and local reading fluency requirements and provides accountability for educators and administrators.

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All inPlay announces it has begun development of All inPlay Holdem, an on-line version of the popular Texas Holdem poker game. All inPlay will draw on its expertise in creating fun, interactive on-line games to bring this previously inaccessible popular pastime to players that are blind and visually impaired.

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