February / March 2007

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Introduction Assistive technology is a gateway to play and learning for young children with disabilities and their families who otherwise may face barriers to accessing their natural environments. Although assistive technology has gained some momentumin the field of early intervention during the last 25-year period(Campbell & Wilcox,2005; Langone, Malone, & Kinsley, 1999; Mistrett, 2004; Sullivan & Lewis,1995), only recently has training been targeted as a vehicle for promoting assistive technology practices in early education settings (Campbell, Milbourne, Dugan, & Wilcox,2006).

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All children, regardless of cognitive or physical abilities, CAN participate in the reading process. After reviewing research over the last several years,three things have become evident: the process of learning to read is similar for both students that are verbal and non-verbal; children have to become active participants in the reading process; and learning to read must be expected.

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Observational recording contributes to the understanding of the relationship between classroom instructional processes and learning outcomes (Brophy & Good, 1986) because it measures variables within the context of the instructional environment, the curriculum, and ongoing teaching efforts (Deno, 1984). Before the availability of computer-assisted observational instruments, observers typically collected data via paper and pencil. As recently as the 1970s, the data would be entered into a university mainframe computer for processing.

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Sara Montgomery is an eleventh grader in Davidson, North Carolina, living with cerebral palsy and Asperger's syndrome. Her condition makes it extremely difficult to enjoy a regular school day. Her cerebral palsy and Asperger's made her feel self-conscious.

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This article focuses on applications that ship with Macintosh computers and will provide some resources to free applications. It will not cover software programs that are available for purchase. With classrooms and schools emphasizing Universal Design for Learning, this article will highlight and demonstrate the tools that they already have and require no additional purchase.

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Our whole family was able to attend the 2006 Closing The Gap Conference thanks to a scholarship through the Great American Bike Race. Each of us benefited in so many ways. The pictures express our son John’s experience best.

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Editors Note: Welcome to the second article in our series titled, AT In-Depth. AT In-Depth is a series of articles that introduce readers to some of the leaders and specialists in the field of assistive technology. Their insights, knowledge and first-hand experiences, along with real-world examples and strategies, have changed and continue to influence the education we provide in schools today.

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Assistive technology has been my passion for my son's whole life (nineteen years). In the summer of 2005, I met Deborah Barrows, Eastern Territory Manager for Crick Software Inc., at the ATA Summer Institute in Rhode Island. She was demonstrating Clicker 5, the award-winning writing support and multimedia software.

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How do you implement a long-term program that addresses assessment, accountability, and developmentally appropriate curriculum for learners with significant special needs? Traditional methods of assessment and curriculum design are often inadequate. The Stages framework and tools offer effective ways to assess what your learners know, demonstrate their progress over time, choose appropriate skill-building curriculum software, and describe learners using a common language with Individual Education Plan (IEP) and curriculum planning teams.

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Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. <www.kurzweiledu.com> a member of Cambium Learning Technologies, announces the exciting release of Kurzweil 1000 Version 11, which will ship to customers later this month. Version 11 features expand on Kurzweil 1000's already extensive list of reading, writing, editing, and study support tools.

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Macintosh speech recognition authority MacSpeech, has released a new ScriptPak for iTunes 7. The new ScriptPak adds over 150 commands to iListen that allow the user to do virtually anything in iTunes they would normally do using keyboard shortcuts or menus."Our iTunes ScriptPak has always been one of our most popular," said MacSpeech Chief Evangelist Chuck Rogers. "iTunes version 7 adds many new features and reorganizes other features, so we wanted to get this out as soon as possible.

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Bookshare.org has announced that its network of volunteers has succeeded in scanning 30,000 books creating the world's largest accessible on-line library. Thousands of Bookshare.org volunteers, including educators and librarians, select their favorite books and legally convert these texts to digital formats that can be used by people with print disabilities such as dyslexia and visual impairment.The entire Bookshare.org on-line library can be downloaded to Braille printers, portable Braille devices and software that reads aloud in a synthesized human voice. Among the titles are bestsellers, including Criss Cross, the 2006 Newbery Medal winner for children's literature.

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Tom Snyder Productions, a Scholastic company,has announced that FASTT Math, their math fact fluency software program, closely aligns to Curriculum Focal Points, recently published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). FASTT Math helps students build fluency and quick recall of math facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, which are identified in the NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points as crucial components of early math education."We have long agreed with NCTM on the need for balance between conceptual and procedural content in the math curriculum," said David Dockterman, Editor and Chief Academic Officer at Tom Snyder Productions. "The new focal points guide teachers about what to emphasize and when.

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RFB&D, America's educational library of recorded textbooks for people unable to read print due to a visual or perceptual disability, has strengthened its partnership with HumanWare. The acclaimed Victor Reader player will now be co-branded with the RFB&D logo and clearly labelled for RFB&D members to play books from RFB&D's AudioPlus digital book collection.

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Don Johnston is now shipping the Incite! Learning Series for elementary and middle school students in grades 4-8. The series is a differentiated "whole classroom" learning approach designedto help teachers build background knowledge around significant events in history and encourage every student's deeper understanding of core subject matter througha critical thinking and dialogue process.Don Johnston, company founder said, "We filmed around the world to create a unique and personally engaging experience for every student! The Incite model uses a proven cognitive learning theory based on the anchored instructional approach originating out of Vanderbilt University. Students learn and recall important facts while documenting their thought process for teachers to create a stimulating and interactive whole class or small group discussion environment."

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AssistiveWare has announced the release of a new video podcast series, new videos, and a new edition of the AssistiveWare Newsletter. In these podcasts, videos and articles, Mac users with disabilities share their experiences on the Mac and explain how the Mac makes a real difference for them.The new video podcast series, Exploring the Frontiers of Assistive Technology, shows how people use assistive technology to communicate, express their creativity, play games and make so much more out of life. These podcasts show that there is no reason why people with physical, vision, speech or language impairments cannot use the same creative and educational software as every other Mac OS X user.

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The latest version of JAWS for Windows makes using screen reading technology easier on the ears.The Say All feature in JAWS 8.0 allows users to immediately switch from the current Eloquence synthesized voice to the more natural-sounding RealSpeak Solo voices from Nuance that are included with each JAWS 8.0 license.

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Macintosh speech recognition authority MacSpeech has released a new ScriptPak, Mariner Software's MacJournal 4. The new ScriptPak adds over 200 commands to iListen that allows the user to do virtually anything in MacJournal 4 they would normally do using keyboard shortcuts or menus."If the amount of positive feedback we've gotten in the past with MacJournal 3 is any indication, our customers will be pleasantly surprised with the ScriptPak for MacJournal 4," said Michael Wray, President of Mariner Software. "MacSpeech pushes the technology envelope again with this latest release."

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Thanks to a free Web download from Freedom Scientific, vision teachers can now use everyday word processing software to create custom interactive Braille study lessons. The tutorial is called FSBraille Coach and comprises 51 pre-developed lessons that include basic tests for beginners and more rigorous exercises for more advanced Braille readers.

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Leader in augmentative communication technology awarded 40 speech-output devicesin 2006 valued at over $350,000 to individuals worldwide with speech disabilities.

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AssistiveWare, a leader in accessibility solutions for Mac OS X, has announced "ConvenienceWare", a new family of innovative and affordable products <http://www.convenienceware.com/>. The new product family makes the advanced technologies developed by AssistiveWare available in cool and convenient applications that can make the life of Mac users easier.The first product, is TextParrot 1.0. TextParrot is a universal binary, multilingual speech solution for Mac OS X that allows users to listen to their documents with naturally sounding voices in a language of choice.

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Tom Snyder Productions, a Scholastic company, announces the release of Scholastic Keys in the Classroom, a teacher resource book that provides over 50 curriculum-aligned lessons to accompany the activity files included in the award-winning software programs, Scholastic Keys and MaxData.Scholastic Keys offers elementary students a kid-friendly interface and educational enhancements for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to provide students with an early introduction to using Microsoft Office. MaxData gives students an age-appropriate introduction to databases so students can learn all aspects of data handling from the first steps of simple data representation to learning database concepts such as fields, field types, records, tables, and filters. The book's lessons extend students' experience with each software program and cover topics in language arts, math, social studies, science, and technology for grades K-6.

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By the time this publication reaches your hands, The State Leaders in AT in Education(SLATE) will have met in Orlando, continuing their work to develop, support and maintain collaborative work among state department of education assistive technology specialists. SLATE is comprised of representatives of state departments of education or their designee who have primary responsibilities in assistive technology. While representatives have been identified for most states, not all states have participated in our founding meetings.

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