June / July 2007

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The Teacher Education Department of the University of Nebraska at Kearney has four core classes that all candidates for a Masters degree must take that are not dependent upon the major being studied. These classes cover the themes of research, democracy, diversity, and technology. Since students have various degrees of knowledge in the area of technology, it was decided that the course that dealt with technology would be an introduction to assistive technology, an area to which the majority of students had little or no previous exposure.

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This article focuses on a few freeware applications that are available for Macintosh computers. It will not cover shareware applications or software programs that are available for purchase. There are numerous freeware programs available; this article will highlight a few that are utilized by teachers I have worked with.

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How much extra time do you have in your day to make new materials? Do you have lots of spare energy to master that fancy new program, curriculum, or device? And, what kind of budget do you have to purchase what your students need?

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Editors note: In this issue, our featured columnists are Elizabeth (Libby) Rush, MA, CCC-SLP, CPM, AAC/AT Consultant, Durham, NC and Mary Joan McClure, MS, CCC-SLP, Director of Speech, Language & Hearing Services,Murdoch Center, Butner, NC. Join us, as the authors introduce readers to a large range of lite tech AAC devices from major manufacturers. Armed with this summary of current offerings, interventionists have some basic tools for making decisions about this technology.

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Meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities in the least restrictive environment can be very challenging for instructional teams. Grade level curriculum and the corresponding vocabulary place heavy academic demands on these students. A key component to overcoming these challenges is the use of effective visual strategies.

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The value of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device is, at once, universal and personal, rooted in a thoughtful web of practicalities and aesthetics. An AAC device means something different to each consumer who owns one - and his or her communication partners - often depending on the timing and their history with technology. While the individuals featured in this article are at different places in their lives, all have a new appreciation for the power of human interaction - and their own voices - since adopting the new V or Vmax by DynaVox Technologies as a primary communication tool.

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PRC (Prentke Romich Company) a leader in the development and manufacture of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, computer access products, and other assistive technology for people with severe disabilities, recently announced the new Literacy Through Unity curriculum.

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Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. <www.kurzweiledu.com>,a member of Cambium Learning Technologies, announces the exciting release of Kurzweil 3000 for Macintosh Version 4, which will begin shipping to customers in April. Version 4 features expand on Kurzweil 3000's extensive student support tools.

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LevelStar, dedicated to creating tools that level the playing field for the visually impaired, announces the feature rich Icon mobile manager, version 1.0, the small, easy-to-use, ultra-powerful mobile manager that helps the visually impaired stay organized and mobile. Early customer response has been overwhelmingly positive.

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The launch of Smart Hal offers visually impaired people everywhere unprecedented access to the wide range of Smartphones running Windows Mobile 5 or the recently unveiled Windows Mobile 6.

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AMDi has achieved another milestone in its ten year history by manufacturing a new product line of AAC devices and activities, AMDi presents... the SmartSeries and Smart/Starts.

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HumanWare, a leader in assistive technologies for vision, has announced the launch of the Nemeth tutorial, from Dr. Gaylen Kapperman and Jodi Sticken of Northern Illinois University, for the BrailleNote mPower family of notetakers for the blind."I'm very happy to collaborate with HumanWare to develop the Nemeth tutorial on the BrailleNote mPower," said Dr. Kapperman.

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HumanWare is pleased to announce the launch of myReader2, the next generation of the low vision auto-reader originally launched in 2004. myReader was a breakthrough reading machine when it was first introduced. myReader2 improves upon that technology with multi-page storage capability, improved page processing and low contrast improvements, together with user interface upgrades, allowing even greater freedom and comfort for sustained reading.myReader2 new features Multi-page storage, the breakthrough feature in myReader2 is multi-page storage.

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Freedom Scientific has announced the availability of a significant upgrade to its MAGic Screen Magnification software. The newly-released MAGic Pro Scripting Edition is the world's first screen magnification software that allows users to write their own scripts to modify its operation in any application, providing greater usability.

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The Paralysis Resource Center (PRC),a program of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, has announced the creation of The Paralysis Community, a first-of-its-kind, international on-line health and wellness community for people living with all forms of paralysis and their caregivers. The Community, located at <www.paralysis.org>, will allow registered members to take part in moderated discussion groups and post personal blogs,enabling them to support one another through their individual journeys and experiences.The PRC, a leading resource on spinal cord injury, paralysis and other mobility related disabilities, is partnering with ClinicaHealth, a leading provider of on-line health and wellness social networks, to create The Paralysis Community. The ad-free social networking site will help fulfill the PRC's mission of providing vital information services to those living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, MS, stroke, ALS, transverse myelitis, traumatic brain injury or other diseases or conditions.

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CoolInfo 1.10 Voice Recognition software is a free download that enables users to get information from the Internet, browse Web pages and do Web searches entirely by speech recognition.

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Altimate Medical's new 2007 EasyStand product catalog features the complete line of EasyStand sit-to-stand standing frames for kids and adults. The catalog includes more options for the EasyStand Evolv line, including a Pow'r Up Lift and a self-propelled Mobile option. The Evolv is now available in a youth size for individuals from 4 feet to 5 feet 6 inches.

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AssistiveWare and Acapela Group have announced a number of new educational offers for their Mac OS X speech solutions.

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Jason Maitland is the Education Technology Specialist for Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District (CSSD) No.1 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jason's district uses Desire 2 Learn as an on-line content provider. One of the features of the D2L on-line platform is to allow the client to build a learning repository, a place to effectively manage and share content across institutions, programs, and courses.

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