Emotiv is a much fabled consumer brain computer interface that seems to finally have a shipping date. I ordered today and am eager to see if they can meet their promise of arrival by Christmas.

From the www.emotiv.com website. Based on the latest developments in neuro-technology, Emotiv has developed a revolutionary new personal interface for human computer interaction. The Emotiv EPOC uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expressions and connects wirelessly to most PCs.

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Proloquo2Go is available on the iPhone App Store.

Late last night, we recieved the acceptance email.  We all have been waiting patiently.  The emails have been pouring in from families and practitioners of all kinds.  The time has finally arrived.

To find out about obtaining Proloquo2Go and about how our partners are making Proloquo2go available  for schools and centers to use purchase orders you can visit our webpage.

Proloquo2go:  AAC on the iPhone and iPod touch

We are so thankful to present Proloquo2Go version 1.0 to the world.  The dream of being able to offer an extremely powerful communication solution that is both available commercially and affordable has been moved forward.

As we launch, there is an image that keeps sticking in my head and makes me smile.  It is of a 15 year old walking into high school and using Proloquo2Go an iPod touch to talk.  True, it is super cool for kids as well.  Yes, we know how adults are wild about the iPhone and iPod touch too.   Proloquo2Go will be “cool” for many people, whether it is as an addition to their tabletop device or myabe it is their first dynamic system.  Yet, there really seems to be something to it for the teenagers!

Plus at an introductory price of $149 and our partners generously offering bundles at resonable prices, we feel that Proloquo2Go is a terrific value.

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Proloquo2Go: AAC in Your Pocket

Proloquo2Go is the new augmentative and alternative communication solution for the iPhone and iPod touch.   www.proloquo2go.com has just been updated in anticipation of the release of version 1.0 of Proloquo2Go.  There is new and extensive information about who Proloquo2Go is for, what it does, and how it works.  There are some terrific stories and quotes about some of the children, teenagers, and adults who are currently using Proloquo2Go.  Additionally, a couple news updates are:

The Making of Proloquo2go is featured in the April/May issue of the Closing the Gap Magazine

Samuel Sennott interviewed about Proloquo2Go as a part of the Assistive Technology Oral History Project on the Connsense Bulletin

Sennott Interview from AT Oral History Project

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Eye Gaze Technology

Mid Tech Eye Gaze Communication (ya, you heard it right)

Mega Bee Eye Gaze Frame

You have to check out this eye gaze frame.  It is so simple and so powerful.  http://www.megabee.net

and here is an online simulation, http://www.e2l.uk.com/megabee/megabee_simulation.html

and a picture of me doing the demo at ATIA

High Tech Eye Gaze Technology

PRC announced the ECOPoint, which utilizes Tobii’s eye gaze technology.

TobiiAti

I loved seeing all the new C-Series devices at ATIA, wow, now a month back.  These are the replacements for the popular Mercury Series.  They have a nice slick new design. Check them out here.

Don’t Forget All the Classic Lowtech Eye Gaze Frames!

While I totally missed seeing the The knfbReader Mobile at ATIA, I am so excited about it.  Basically, using the Nokia Cell phone it runs off, you take pictures of text and it will speak that text.

Last but not least, please check out Adam Bowker’s coverage of the Kindle Controversy.  If you have not heard, there has been questions of whether text to speech on the Kindle is breaking copyright.

Text-to-speech under attack and

Amazon caves to buggy whip manufacturers

So, I hope to do some more indepth reviews of the tools described in this post.  Right after I finish my homework!

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Getting Things Done by David Allen

So this week someone asked me if I somehow have figured out 40 hour days. Ironically, in the same day, I had a hard time getting a certain set of tasks done and I felt frustrated about it.  My life in special education has gone from volunteer where I hold babies with cerebral pasly, read books, and sing with the children,  to student teaching and having my own class of students, to becoming an AT specialist, to teaching teachers, to now working towards a Ph.D. in special education and AAC.  A huge 15 foot swell feels upon me.   With p2g about to be set fully loose into the world, doc level seminars, stats class, and keeping the flames of one to one thousand lit, it is time to get back to basics.

In my initial encounter with GTD, the most influential element I found was Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero video from a talk he gave at Google in July of 2007.  Very simply, I understood what he was talking about.  I barely had to watch the video.  I listened and knew.  It felt like a new chapter in my life.  I remember struggling academically at one point in seventh grade and feeling like why am I so disorganized.  What’s wrong?  Now I realize that strategies of this kind are not necessarily intrinsic to everyone.  Truly many people are meticulous in many aspects of their lives, yet for many others getting things done and getting them done efficiently takes strategy building.  In this past year, I have read and listened to Anthony DeMello.  In excellent book, Awareness and only surviving audio recording of one of his retreats, he speaks about listening.  He advocates not just agreeing or listening for what you think you will hear, but simply listening with an aware and open mind.  When I heard Merlin Mann describe inbox zero, I knew that it was something I should try.  Try I did and just like those green eggs and ham, I like it!  Organization and productivity was for me, really I felt it!  Inbox Zero made a simple, yet profound difference in my life.

So I was all amped up at the beginning of last summer and ready to post all about GTD.  Man was I working my system.  We were all set for the big camp I felt so strongly about.  I felt organized, sharp, and alive.  Then slam.. 60 to 80 hour weeks of the most intense teaching, planning, and workin it that I have ever done.  I tried to keep my system working and luckily it had some good bend in it and did not break.  I laugh at how I had planned all these gtd related blog posts.  I laugh because I was planning them when things were humming smoothly.  Today, I write this post to express that our systems are for both when things are clipping along and for when they seem to be stalling out.  So nearly a year later I am posting to share about something that has worked for me, GTD and specifically, the concept of inbox Zero.

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AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting are working on a groundbreaking Augmentative & Alternative Communication solution for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch called Proloquo2Go™

www.proloquo2go.com

Proloquo2Go Icon

Proloquo2Go

It is very exciting to be able to share this news with you.  We will be at ATIA this week and would love to see you and tell you more about this remarkable new system.  We will be presenting on Saturday morning.  Here are the details.

Beyond Mac or PC: iPhone, iPod and Modbook as AAC Solutions 8-9 AM on Saturday—-Bonaire 7/8   www.atia.org

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Gayle Porter reported to me today that she has sent the US Letter of the PODD (Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display ) Templates to the publisher!  They are taking advanced orders at the Spectronics website.  http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/product.asp?product=27918

To learn more about PODD, see Linda Burkhart and Gayle Porter’s terrific handouts on www.lindaburkhart.com

*NEW – Instructional Course – Presented at ISAAC in Germany – July 2006*

Partner-Assisted Communication Strategies for
Children Who Face Multiple Challenges

PODD Communication Books – Gayle Porter

Linda J. Burkhart and Gayle Porter

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Saturday…November 15, 2008….North Pomfret, Vermont….thinking….working…communicating

Vermont Mist

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Check out this video made by my uncle, Richard Sennott, for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Closing the Gap 2008 Video Link

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It is exciting to report the arrival of the Vantage Lite, the newest AAC device from Prentke Romich Company.  In my early childhood classroom program we have been greatly appreciating the Springboard Lite.  The most important advantages of the Lite series in general is that they are physically lighter, have brighter backlit displays, are far more rugged, and have very useful handles.  The bluetooth features of the Vantage Lite is very exciting connecting to computers and other devices.  Here is the press release with a more full review to come when I am scheduled to get a chance to trial one next week.

Vantage Lite in Green

PRC Introduces Vantage^™ Lite,

a Portable AAC Powerhouse

Compact, Rugged, Take-It-Anywhere AAC Device Enables Robust Communication on the Go

Wooster, OH, September 8, 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 Vantage™ Lite, a dedicated device designed for AAC beginners and those ready to advance toward fully independent augmented communication.

The second in PRC’s popular new line of “Lite” devices, Vantage Lite offers the same powerful language and communication features of PRC’s classic Vantage™ Plus  but adds an array of hardware and software innovations, including:

Like all AAC devices from PRC, Vantage Lite enables rich, independent communication through PRC’s proven Unity^® language system, which allows users to progress from simple words and phrases to novel and spontaneous communication.  The device’s expanded Unity Toolset features make it easy to build vocabulary, while 4-, 8-, 15-, 45-, 60- and 84-location display options allow communication capacity to grow along with the user’s abilities.

“Vantage Lite is a breakthrough in dedicated devices because it combines our critical focus on language development with exciting technological and design innovations,” stated PRC President David L. Moffatt. “The new design is a direct result of requests from SLPs and PRC device users for a durable, powerful, and portable speech device.”

As part of the Vantage Lite launch, PRC is donating a free device to a school or center.  Those registering online at www.prentrom.com/VantageLiteGiveaway/ by October 31, 2008 will be entered in a drawing for a free Vantage Lite in their choice of five bold colors.  The winner will be announced at the ASHA Convention in November.

PRC will be demonstrating Vantage Lite at the Closing the Gap conference October 16-18 in Minneapolis.  Onsite demonstrations can be arranged by calling a PRC Regional Consultant at (800) 848-8008.  Details about the new device and PRC’s other AAC aids are also available online at www.prentrom.com.

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.

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