Imagine Symbols

by Samuel Sennott

imagine symbols icon

Do you know about the 4000 Imagine Symbol set that is free for personal use.  You can go to www.imaginesymbols.com and download the entire brightly colored set of picture symbols.  There are also low cost options to liscense the symbols. Don’t forget that you can load them into your iPhoto library for easy use with various applications.

Wireless Switch from Prentke Romich

by Samuel Sennott

Prentke Romich Company announces a wireless switch that should be nice to see in action next week at Closing the Gap.  How many times have you wished for this?  The Jelly Beamer is cool, but common, they definitely got it right going with the pervasive Bluetooth technology.  It will be interesting to get user feedback on this innovation.  Here is the press release.

Contact: Bob Nemens, Director of Marketing Phone: (800) 262-1984 X243 rjn@prentrom.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 6, 2008 Introducing The PRC Bluetooth® Wireless Switch, Allows Wireless Access to PRC Products Advanced Wireless Computer Access and More for AAC Communicators Wooster, OH, October 6, 2008 – Prentke Romich Company (PRC), the leading manufacturer of alternative and augmented communication (AAC) devices for individuals with speech disabilities, today announced the release of the PRC Bluetooth Wireless Switch (BTWS), an innovative wireless switch that is comparable to PRC devices with built-in Bluetooth capabilities. The BTWS is compatible with PRC’s ECO™-14, Springboard™ Lite, and another newly released innovation, Vantage™ Lite. With comparable size to other switches, The Bluetooth Wireless Switch has a rechargeable li-ion battery with over 100 hours of run time on a single charge. Additional features include: External switch jack allows dual switch input; ·         Non-skid bottom case means the BTWS stays where you want it; ·         LED indicator lights show “pairing” and power status; ·         Bluetooth® connectivity for computer access and wireless access; ·         Battery level can be viewed in the paired PRC device. “Wireless switching eliminates traditional problems with tangling or disconnection of cords that can happen with everyday use of a communication device,” says Bob Nemens, PRC Director of Marketing. “PRC designed and developed this innovation with both freedom of access and reliability in mind.” Adding the PRC Bluetooth Adapter also delivers wireless computer access features in three versatile product modes: ·     Mouse Mode inputs mouse moves and “click” and “double click” into USB-equipped computers; ·      Keyboard 1,2,3 Mode allows the switch to be used to scan in PRC PASS software; ·      Keyboard F-Keys Mode allows the switch to be used to scan WiVik® software. For more information on the new PRC Bluetooth Wireless Switch and other PRC innovations, visit PRC online at www.prentrom.com, contact PRC Sales at (800) 262-1933, or contact your PRC Regional Consultant. About PRC PRC is a global leader in the development and manufacture of augmentative communication devices, computer access products, and other assistive technology for people with severe disabilities. An employee-owned company founded in 1966 and headquartered in Wooster, OH, PRC has enabled thousands of children and adults worldwide with severe speech disorders to achieve spontaneous, independent, and interactive communication regardless of their disability, literacy level, or motor skills.  In addition to its powerful communication devices –ECO™-14, Vanguard™ Plus, Vantage™ Plus, Vantage™ Lite, and SpringBoard™ Lite – PRC also provides a wide array of high-quality teaching and implementation ideas, therapy materials, curriculum sequences, funding assistance, and training to speech-language pathologists, special educators, and the families of AAC communicators. For more information, go to www.prentrom.com or call (800) 262-1984. ### NOTE: For electronic images of PRC’s Bluetooth Wireless Switch, please contact Cherie Weaver at (800) 262-1984, ext. 240, or e-mail caw@prentrom.com. If you require further information on this or other PRC products or services, please contact Bob Nemens, Director of Marketing, at (800) 262-1984, ext. 243, or email rjn@prentrom.com.

Some Favorite Posts on Alltogether

by Samuel Sennott

1. Including Samuel

2. ASHA 2007 ALLTOGETHER LAUNCHER

3. PRC Pictures (3,385 of them) Wow!

4. Hannah Montana Book,
   

   Skateboarders Ride Transitional Book,
   

   Dogs by Samuel Sennott

5. You Can Golf

6. AAC-RERC Webcasts

7. Video Writing Setups

8. The Tango Tutorial: An Exercise in Not Reduplicating Training

9. Connecting Video to Reading and Writing

10. Tar Heel Reader: An Open Source Library of Talking Books

11. Padded Head Switches and Loc-Line Mounting Arms

12. AAC Considerations and the Stages Framework

13. AAC Consideration Materials and Checklists

14. Goossens, Crain, Elder Communication Overlay Color Reminder

15. Art Website Launcher

16. Math Websites Core Tools

Connecting Video to Reading and Writing

by Samuel Sennott

Connecting video to reading and writing is powerful. Last summer, I saw that power so clearly in the camp program I led. The camp was your basic extended year program revamped into a fun literacy based camp. One of the classrooms had mainly children with autism spectrum disorders. When we completed the pre-assessments, the students nearly threw the books back into our faces. There was at least a few tears during the developmental spelling test administered. Based on this initial assessment, I knew it was key to focus on the appreciation/enjoyment of literacy, so I turned to the self selected reading block. I brought in Apple laptops to each student and fired up the now classic Otis Goes to the Beach story. We showed it as a whole group to kick off the lesson. As you read, Otis comes to life with real videos of him getting ready for his walk, crying because he is so excited, swimming, and chewing. The children were transfixed. Every day, one particular student asked me why Otis is crying. Then he would say, “because he’s happy?” Within a few weeks, the students were reading PowerPoint based books on a daily basis and greatly enjoying it. One student who did not want to have anything to do with writing, started using PowerPoint to author because we could import pictures relevant to him. The rationale behind transitional texts is to draw the reader to attend to the text. I believe that connecting video can do this as well.

Yet, videos are not just for getting attention. They can be powerful for building background knowledge in both the reading and writing process. See a previous post that was regarding a guided reading lesson for Leo the Late Bloomer. Using YouTube can bring concepts to life. What a great way to do the activation of knowledge section of your guided reading lesson. Also the extensive Discovery Education/United Streaming site is rich with content.

Videos can motivate writing. The students in the AAC writers camp I am leading this summer are going wild for journaling about the videos they connect to. I believe that for my students, this is a perfect lead in to the SRSD strategy POW and TREE. Writing a persuasive essay about the video including a topic sentence, reasons, and an ending is potentially a way to tip the motivational scale during this process.

Check out the set of videos we are using this summer to motivate and fuel our journaling process:

http://otot.wikispaces.com/Writing+Setups

In summary, video can be powerful to draw attention, build background knowledge, and build motivation in reading and writing. There is so much more to be studied, researched, implemented, and written about regarding this topic. I look forward to engaging in the process.

Super Switch Hitter by Switch-in-Time

by Samuel Sennott

Do your students want to play a fun, interactive, and engaging switch accessible baseball game? Mine do too! Check out, Super Switch Hitter, the latest terrific release from Switch in Time. The amazing Jon Adams has done it again, adding to the famed accessible music softwares Switch Ensemble and Switch Jam. I believe that your students will greatly enjoy this summer pastime. Also, consider having the students go to their journals just after they play.

Features

• Absolutely fun: Suitable for all ages!
• Students can play on opposing teams or on the same team.
• 5 play modes: From very simple single switch access to multiple switches, auto-scanning and two switch step-scanning.
• Fully customizable: Ball size, ball speed, optional auto-fielding and a special “hover ball” feature (for errorless batting) guarantee a successful experience for all players!

Seating and Positioning for Individuals Who Use AT by Aileen Costigan

by Samuel Sennott

Back in the series of posts about ASHA 2008 in Boston last November, The Practical Principles of Seating and Positioning in AAC for SLPs conference session by Aileen Costigan and Janice Light was reviewed here on this blog. Recently the project has been added to the rich and expanding list of AAC-RERC Breeze powered webcast presentations. In this webcast, you get a terrific concise review of the topic, followed by a focus on the team process, ending in a series of case study questions. There are great visual supports in this presentation that get the message across in an engaging and memorable way.

The four goals of the presentation are:

• Why is seating and positioning
  important?
• What does appropriate
  seating and positioning look like?
• What are the roles of Assistive
  Technology (AT) Team Members?
• What resources are available, when
  should a referral be made, and to
  whom?

Definitely check this out and share it with the OTs, teachers, SLPs, other therapists, and families you know who would benefit.

Here is the link to the site, with how it looks below:

Seating and Positioning for Individuals who Use AT

Presenter: Aileen Costigan, MSc-OT, Penn State University

Webcast Description:

Appropriate seating and positioning is critical for use of assistive technology (AT) and participation in a variety of environments. Aileen Costigan, a certified Occupational Therapist, provides an introduction to important issues in seating and positioning for individuals who use AT.

Video Link: Click here to view the webcast as Breeze Presentation (Recommended for PCs and Macs)
Technical requirement for Webcasts: Click here for technical information and trouble shooting

Slides and Handouts

Link: Click here to view the slides for this webcast as a PDF file.

Transcripts

Link: Click here to view a transcript of this webcast as a PDF file.
Link: Click here to download a transcript of this webcast as a TXT file.

Tar Heel Reader: An Open Source Library of Talking Books

by Samuel Sennott

Children, teenagers, and adults need books to be able to learn to read and getting accessible books to them is the goal of the Tar Heel Reader. This open source library of books that are switch accessible, talking, internet accessible, and downloadable will grow exponentially due to the terrific job Gary Bishop, a computer scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, has done designing the Worpress powered interface. This combination of efforts between computer science and education is phenomenal. He presently teaches a course in Computer Science focused on accessible software and hardware. Karen Erickson, Gretchen Hanser and Gary Bishop have been meeting and collaborating for quite some time. It is inspiring to me to see as an example as I emerge into the research phase of my teaching practice. From earlier efforts from this team of computer scientists, The Tar Heel Typer and Dance Dance Revolution mods, to the present and into the future, they surely serve as a powerful example of what we can do as educators to team up with computer science programs. Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver have worked tirelessly on the concept of creating accessible texts that are age appropriate, rich in quality, and powerful in the literacy instructional process. See the Beginning Literacy Framework by Karen Erickson, Caroline Ramsey Musselwhite, and Ruth Ziolkowski to understand types of texts helpful to early readers. This project has the potential to make texts available to people in a way only possible with the advent of the internet and the concepts behind the Read/Write web and Web 2.0.

I believe in this project and concept with all my heart and am more than happy to be now seeing it come into the world. As I step forward from teacher to both teacher and researcher, I have seen a very powerful lesson: combine your dreams, visions, gifts and technical skills with others who have other dreams, visions, gifts, and technical skills and you can create and help more than ever imagined.

So start getting these books to your students and start authoring. Remember if one thousand people each work for one hour on a project with agreed upon standards you can create…

Go to the Tar Heel Reader

Let’s See the Books and How it Works!

Here is how you choose a book.

Here is a page from a book:

You have multiple options for accessing the books:

• on the web
• download the PowerPoint File
• Open Office Impress File
• Flash File

Speech can be enabled or disabled.

Switch Scanning

Switch Scanners can access the books with various keystrokes, including most of they keys on the keyboard. (soon to be optimized to go forward and back)

The power of this project is in the exponential amount of material to be available for all types of individuals learning to read. I have been working on this concept quite a bit and I believe that this is a One to One Thousand scenario. One key concept is the availability of age appropriate texts on an unprecedented level.

Here is how the book building process works:

• You use images from the Creative Commons section of Yahoo’s Flickr.

• The images are automatically cited. See how it works here.
  
• You add your text to each page you create.

• Add some keyword tags, such as words about the content, if it is an enrichment, transitional, or conventional text, or anything else you would like.
• Click to post your book. A talking book that is switch accessible and and able to be downloaded offline is created.
  
• It is that simple. No more PP notes citations, large file problems, conversion nightmares! Hallelujah.
  

Let us rally behind this amazing project in a way never before seen! Let’s go! We can do it all together!

Go to the Tar Heel Reader