The Assistive Technology Blog

If you're creating wikis for education, a few great and free tools are at your finger tips. Several of us have been using pbwiki.com -- liked by many for its very minimalistic style. wikispaces.com is another tool that is fairly simple in design but adds a bit of functionality with discussion threads. My recent new favorite is wetpaint.com -- a more robust tool that provides several pre-designed templates for user and customization. This tool also includes discussion threads as an option and, if you choose the tool for an educational purpose you can request that all advertisements be removed! A new tool on the scene, Google Groups, seems to offer a similar look and feel as many evolving wiki tools. All great for designing web spaces, developing collaborative sharing spaces, or using in lieu of a Powerpoint!

Posted by Fran Smith at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Several weeks ago we were hosting a workshop for teachers of students with intellectual disabilities. Our workshop was focusing on literacy instruction and finding or creating good literacy resources for our students. We spent a lot of time on the Tar Heel Reader website and even created several books. But we also found several other websites which offered on-line books for students with intellectual disabilities. Our teachers particularly enjoyed the Browser Books website. The books featured great photographs and the reader could click on specific words if they needed help reading the text; otherwise the speech was silent. These books are leveled and geared more to the elementary population. Check it out if you are looking for some material for your students to read. Browser Books

Posted by Mona at 6:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cast Clothing, Co. launched back in February to help meet the needs of individuals who have different challenges due to various physical conditions, whether permanent or temporary. Their goal is to create clothing that is stylish, seamless and comfortable. And the company is always looking for new ideas and suggestions.
Check them out!
http://castclothingco.com/

Posted by Kelly Ligon at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"As brightly colored fish dart in and out of the rocks scattered in a small aquarium, a bewildering melody follows each of their movements. The eerie symphony comes from an "audio aquarium," a contraption dreamed up by Georgia Tech scientists in Atlanta as a way to let blind people experience sea life. The researchers say they wanted to help people with disabilities do something more fun than functional."

To read the rest of this article, click on http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=227794.

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Take a look at this new resource from Nimbletools.com. I had the opportunity to see this vendor at the recent NCTI Annual Conference and was impressed with the multiple accommodation options available to a test taker.

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Are you home on winter break and looking for something to do? Spend some time exploring this great wiki from Karen Janowski,an Assistive & Educational Technology Consultant. The Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in all Classrooms offers great ideas for ALL students. You might find some new resources to take back to your students. And best of all, it will be free!

Posted by Mona at 6:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Telephone calls can be challenging for individuals with speech and language difficulties. There is a new device available that can make phone calls by individuals more independent and private.
The Speech Assistant is a small device that is easy to set up:
(1) Connect the Speech Assistant to your PC or speech generating device; and

(2) Connect the telephone or cell phone to the Speech Assistant. (setup illustration is included)

(3) Plug in the included headset.

And you are off and talking!!

More information is on the web:
http://www.the-speech-assistant.com/index.html

Posted by Kelly Ligon at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Axistive (http://www.axistive.com) is a "news portal for assistive technology, providing a wide range of free services including product reviews, industry news, market trends, workshops, downloads, and product and organization information." They aim to provide "free, accessible and objective information on assistive technology products, organizations and services; stimulate global innovation of easy access technologies; and create market transparency and awareness of assistive technology products and services."

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 4:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click on http://www.atechnews.com/holidaytoys2008.html for John Williams' "Buying Holiday Toys for Children with Disabilities," in which he takes questions from families and offers recommendations based on individual need areas!

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 4:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just finished reading a wonderful book entitled, Stroke on Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. The book details the amazing journey of this brain scientist as she experienced a stroke to her left hemisphere and the impact this had on her varied functions. It underscored for me as well the importance of understanding how brain injuries impact functioning for many individuals across their education, personal and work lives. A resource that may be of use in this regard is Brainline at http://www.brainline.org.

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Apple iTouch has some interesting Apps for download. We shared some of these cool tools at the recent VDOE Technology Leadership Conference yesterday in Roanoke, VA. To see more, check out http://itouchtools.wetpaint.com

Today however I heard about another cool app from Google -- 1-800-GOOG411. Let's the user find out information that is locally available such as the best pizza restaurant, the best place for coffee, etc. So, to try this out on my cell phone I called that number, 1800goog411. The computer receptionist asked, "business, city and state". I offered my information as "pizza, roanoke, va". The list was then provided for 8 pizza restaurants I might consider by name and location, the choice to select a number for automatic connection, or the ability to voice direct another selection. Innovative uses of combined technologies!

Posted by Fran Smith at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you seen the newest toys from Enabling Devices? Great ideas for the children for the holidays! They are running a special now too! Fun, colorful, adapted and many of them would be great for the younger set to participate with siblings and family a family game night! http://enablingdevices.com/search-results.aspx?q=toys

Posted by Kelly Ligon at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At this year's VDOE Technology Leadership Conference in Roanoke, VA, Mr. John Hendron shared some exciting information on the G21 project out of Goochland County Schools. His message reinforced the importance of framing instruction that focuses on these 21st century goals that underscore important skills for the future. Audience participants also had the chance to see how this was embraced within their school system -- one noted for supporting the use of technology to support learning. His presentation can be viewed at: http://www.johnhendron.net/ and an excellent example of using a Web 2.0 platform (blog) to deliver information and share media (through a Google slide sharing app).

Posted by Fran Smith at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw a cool press release for something new:

This unique alarm clock uses advanced speech recognition technology that lets you easily set the time and alarm via voice commands and responds to queries such as What time is it with vocalized answers. The unit recognizes 10 spoken commands, including Set alarm, Set time, Check alarm, What is the date, Alarm sound (buzzer, chime, or bell), Stop (snooze for 5 minutes), and Temperature (current room temperature).

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Recently while attending the National Center on Technology Innovation annual conference I was struck by the continued discussion around reaching global markets, the universal appeal of technology, and the use of open source technologies by many of the innovators sharing their ideas at this phenomenal conference. Some of the innovators shared new web portals or emerging ideas, such as Curriki.org -- a new instructional resource for K-12 educators, Digital Promise -- a new federal resource and initiative/ and, Ck12.com - a revolutionary discussion of offering more "flexible textbooks". Google founders and developers discuss the potential ck12 offers in the future thinking of this revolutionary design at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGB0KhoZTgU As these offers contend, this "Web 2.0" approach to textbook design infuses multiple digital opportunities and applications. Thought provoking!

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This summer the Virginia Department of Education along with the AIM-VA at George Mason University entered into a 2 year contract with Don Johnston, Inc. to provide Read:OutLoud software to all students with an IEP in Virginia. Ongoing trainings are being offered through AIM-VA. The first trainings were held in September and October. Last week AIM-VA announced another training for next week December 18 at Weyer's Cave, Virginia (near Staunton). Training is free and registration is available at the AIM-VA website. Register today if you are interested in attending.

Posted by Mona at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many people with physical disabilities have difficulty regulating their body temperatures. Black Ice LLC has developed a cooling collar that individuals can use to help keep body temperatures at a more consistent level. Once charged the collar can maintain 55-60 degree Fahrenheit temperature for up to 1.5 hours with out wires or batteries.
If you would like more information contact them at
901-937-8129
Tennessee, USA
info@blackicecooling.com

Posted by Kelly Ligon at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

..and there's a good blog posting at http://www.pcworld.com/article/138262/from_speech_to_text.html about it.

Posted by Susanne Croasdaile at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This year's VDOE Technology Leadership Conference will convene in Roanoke, VA, December 10-12, 2008. One of the keynotes is nationally known author, Dr. James Gee, of the book "What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy". Dr. Gee will be speaking on Thursday...something not to miss!

Posted by Fran Smith at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This resource was recently shared at a statewide assistive technology meeting I was attending. Users record individual test questions and export these (using the free program Audacity) onto a 1gb Sandisk and a Sanclip mp3 player. As shared, "this program was developed in consideration of students perceptions of being read aloud to in a regular classroom during testing and with the feeling that students didn't perform to their full potential on tests due to their fear of "holding up" other students while testing". A neat idea!

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. Barbara Kurshan recently shared her web portal, Curriki.org, at the National Technology Innovation Conference. As she described, Curriki is defined as "a disruptive idea" and her intention to offer a tool that helps to eliminate the education divide. The tool is built in open source software code so users can take what they find, create and improve - "not just consume". Curriki.org is worth reviewing and using!

Posted by Fran Smith at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This was recently shared at a statewide meeting on assistive technology. I was impressed with this tool as I look at programs that can be used with an Apple iTouch or similar device. Portableapps offers another great open source tool that allows users to carry many of their files with them. Worth a try!

Posted by Fran Smith at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)