Do you have enough books?  Would you like some more?  How about links out to over a thousand books?  Here is a books launcher that was presented as part of the ISAAC 2008 pre-conference presentation I collaborated on with Caroline Ramsey Musselwhite titled, Writing Books for Beginning Readers . . . and Using Them to Support Real Reading.

Download the accessible-books-launcher in PDF Format

Link to a Two Switch Step Scan Capable Online Version

If you enjoy this resource and have other book websites, please email them to me at samuel.sennott@gmail.com.

Also, it is good to consider Dr. David Koppenhaver’s feedback on this resource that it links out to a wide variety of levels and types of books from enrichment, to transitional, to conventional.  So use it appropriately.  Enjoy.

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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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Literacy Instruction
for Individuals with Autism,
Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome
and Other Disabilities

Janice Light & David McNaughton
The Pennsylvania State University

Run, don’t walk to checking out this awesome website full of exemplars of students with complex communication needs learning to read and write.  The website comes out of the longitudinal research of Dr. Janice Light and Dr. David McNaughton.  Additionally, through Dynavox, they have published a curriculum called the ALL Curriculum – Accessible Literacy Learning.

I feel very fortunate to be weekly attending the research meetings for this project at the Pennsylvania State University.  It is a terrific experience to learn from such fantastic researchers.  From my special education background, I feel so thankful to think about new and old teachers being able to easily acquire high quality accessible literacy learning materials to support their instruction.

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FluidTunes is a free Apple OS X software that uses gesture recognition to control your iTunes library. In other words, by harnessing the power of the iSight camera, the user swipes their hands at the buttons to play the music, stop the music, flip to the next song or flip to the previous song. I first heard about FluidTunes on the fantastic gtd blog Lifehacker. Check out the video I made demonstrating the interface and explaining a few thoughts about how people with the label of special needs could use technology like this.

Okay, so we are not yet in a full on Minority Report experience where Tom Cruise uses complex gestures to  control his computer screen that is projected into the air.  Nor are we going to see this instantly become a popular access method for individuals with the label of special  needs.  Yet, it sets our minds ablaze.  We have all watched the progression of the eye tracking work move into eye gaze control systems that are really starting to work for individuals with physical disabilities.  For nearly four years now, I have been doing a test of the eye gaze systems where I emulate the frequent movements many of my students often display.  The systems are now starting to pass that informal test, as of this summer.  It seems eye gaze computer control has moved from a potential and a cool thing in the conference exhibit hall to something that works.   TobiiAti, PRC, and Dynavox are all  committed to its implementation.  So what will happen with the concept of gesture recognition? Well, in a way, it already is happening.  Just see ASL’s excellent selection of various types of proximity switches.   Karen Kangas has championed the concepts behind the benefits of using switches of this type. For these switches, you simply need to move within the right range to activate the electronic switch, which can control your wheelchair, computer, etc…

How terrific is it that the developer, David Frampton, made this application available for free?  I am personally having a blast with FluidTunes.  Much respect and thanks goes out to him for sharing it and for setting our minds ablaze thinking of the possiblities for individuals with the label of special needs.  As we approach the release of Mgestyk, the comercial gesture based control system, we can certainly consider ourselves warned that this is coming to the mainstream.   With an estimated cost of roughly the price of a high end webcam, it looks like this technology will be applicable in the assistive technology field.  See the following Mgestyk videos.

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I for one am going to have fun playing music with this tool and let my mind wander as I do.  Yet, I am not going to go gorilla arm with this concept.  Although, even at the moment I can imagine practical implementations of gesture based switches that could be created with a usb hub and a couple different web cams.  What do you imagine?

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Were you hoping for the Apple PDA/Tablet with a 1.5 times form factor as the iPhone? I sure was and my hopes were dashed. I was also dreaming a bit, hoping for the Macbook tablet. Yet, based on the evidence described today, I think it is on the way. The new Macbook Air, the last of the big keynote announcements today, incorporates multi-touch technology in the trackpad. Touch technologies of this kind are not only hardware based, but software as well. The fact that Apple has the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and now increasing touch capabilities in the laptops gives hope for this.

Nonetheless, it was exciting hearing the Macworld updates today.

Watch the Keynote

I like the Time Capsule the best! It is a 500GB or 1 TB wireless hard drive/ airport extreme device that both backs up your Mac, as well as provides an innovative storage solution. No more slepping SDPro Boards or Audacity tweaked language banked samples around on flash memory every few minutes! Just kidding.

Yet, did you see the MacBook Air?

Can you really believe how thin it is? Check out the Macrumors article with some great enlargable images. Anyway, the solid state hard drive is the feature of the biggest interest to me. That means it is flash memory and not the spinning drives, we are used to. Much more durable for AAC devices and laptops for children.

The Apple movie rental system could be cool for many individuals with special needs. The integration between the OS and the many portable options is very nice.

Yet, the big one for assistive technology is the February release date of the developers kit. On your mark get set… Seriously, the newest Apple technologies give us hope, because of the literacy connections and the AAC connections similar to those described in the recent study: Children’s ideas for the design of AAC assistive technologies for young children with complex communication needs.

What do you think of the updates?

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I am so excited about the Macworld Expo keynote tomorrow. Out of all the possible new products, I am really hoping for the release of an Apple tablet. It seems unlikely at this time, yet I think it would be so terrific for special education. The research and practice I am doing considering Visual Scene Displays for AAC and literacy applications really is pointing to having touch displays as an option for a wide variety of learners in early childhood. I am excited to share my recent work on the subject at ATIA 2008.

Other bets for tomorrow are the ultra slim laptop release and a wireless hard drive system. Also, there should be some iPhone news too. Looking forward to the developers kit too. ; ) Anyway, it should be interesting to see if they announce any new educational programs. I can hardly wait to tomorrow to read the updates at www.macrumors.com and see the keynote at www.apple.com.

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Good news! TextEdit does allow you to color the cells in a Table.

I provided directions in a section of the updated guide to using the Talking Word Walls. Here is the text from the mixed(visual and text) directions:

Part Two: Working with the Colored Template

1. The colored TextEdit template is a bit different from the standard template because you must use a Table to be able to color the background of each word.
2. Check out the file WW Color Doltch 15 Example. You can see what a finished product looks like. Notice how we now have a Table and that each work has a cell inside the table. The unfortunate thing is that you cannot easily add cells. So our template allows for five words per letter. If you plan on having more, please make the adjustments ahead of time!

3. To create your own, use the template: Word Wall Color Blank Template. Add your words. Note that the template is set up for 22 Point Comic Sans MS Font. Adjust according to your needs and monitor.

4. To change the color in each cell go to: Format: Text: Table.

5. Go to the Cell Background and Select Color Fill. Choose the color bar right next to it and select the color you would like.


Download the Updated Guide: Word Wall Updated Guide Parts 1,2

The Color Template and Example: @ the OTOT site.

To make this better in the future, it would be terrific to find a way to add cells or rows into a Table in TextEdit. Also, future directions are to create guides for creating walls like this into SD Pro powered AAC systems, as well as for use in ICS 3/4, on Series 4 and 5 Devices from Dynavox, PRC Devices, and more importantly, easy use in a Windows Environment.

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You can utilize the OSX Voice over feature to create a personalized word wall system that has simple text to speech by clicking or arrowing into the letters or words on the word wall.

Doing a daily word wall practice as part of a systematic phonics instructional program is a terrific way to provide the exposure, anchoring, and visual memory connections to the high frequency words of the language your learners read and write in.

Download the guide at the OTOT wikispace. Here.

Enclosed is the Dolch list in alphabetic and frequency orders, the template, the guide, and sample word wall with the first fifteen words in Karen Erickson and Gretchen Hanser’s Literacy Through Unity 45 Location systematic phonics instruction program for learners who use augmentative communication.

On the QIAT Listserv, Ruth Fuller brought up the excellent idea of how cool this concept is on an interactive whiteboard. Gosh, Word Wall goes high tech! I bet if we change those voices around to the hysterical or robot, you could have quite the Friday Word Wall Sessions! Anyway, here is a mockup:

I think it would be cool if you could have the color coding aspects.  To color the text is not hard, but to do the color blocks behind the words presents a formidable challenge.  It would be terrific if you could color the background of each cell in a table.  Oh, wait.  you can, as I just figured it out.  Look for an update soon.

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The NY Times reported on January 5th, 2008 that Intel and One Laptop per Child will opt to end their partnership. Intel will no longer have a presence on the board of the innovative non-profit. The Classmate PC, the rival to OLPC’s XO Laptop has been the source of much controversy as the “100 dollar laptop” concept has continued to build steam.

An interesting note from the article is that OLPC has announced results of the Give One Get One Program that had run from November 12th to December 31st. They said they generated, “$35 million and sold a total of 167,000 computers, half of them to be distributed in the developing world.”

I received my XO laptop and have been having fun learning the hardware and software integrations for access for people with special needs, the Sugar graphic user interface, and Python, the computer language of the linux based computer. I look forward to sharing the unpacking videos, an overview of the hardware and software, and a number of posts on accessibility over the next few weeks.

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This session foreshadows the influence that digital natives will have on the AAC systems and software systems we use in special education. Additionally, the research focus on clearing the unnecessary access challenges with traditional AAC systems is terrific. Seeing the presenter, Lacy Donofrio, speak about authoring her lessons in Flash was a moment I will mark in time. Our method of presentation will certainly change, as we are on the cusp of having very inexpensive displays and computing systems entering into our classrooms. The work of this team seemed to be one part brainstorm and one part research. It was terrific to see. What do you think will happen in special education over the next five years, as many more digital natives are at the helm of classrooms across the country? Here is the abstract from the presentation:

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC):
Display Characteristics That Support Aided Symbol Use: Color & Animation

Download the Handout Here

Presenters:
* Krista Wilkinson
Emerson Coll, Boston, MA
* John McCarthy
Ohio U, Athens, OH
* Lacey Donofrio
Ohio U, Athens, OH
* Janice C. Light
Pennsylvania St U, University Park, PA
* Michael Carlin
U of Massachusetts Med Sch, Waltham, MA
* Vinoth Jagaroo Ph.D.
Emerson Coll, Boston, MA
* Jennifer Thistle
Emerson Coll, Boston, MA

The speakers in this symposium will discuss how various physical characteristics of aided AAC displays might influence responding by children with or without disabilities. The first presentation examines whether PCS symbols that share a color are best arranged together (providing a subset within which to search) or distributed throughout a display (enhancing the salience of each symbol individually). The second presentation describes how animation can be exploited to facilitate scanning as an access method in visual scenes. The final presentation illustrates the utility of FLASH methodology for display construction. Clinical implications will be identified by the presenters and the discussant.
——

To me the most important component in this type of work is the connection to good teaching. Making good teaching and good learning more easy and prevalent is the goal. You could have a gold iPod that changed size to whatever you needed, but unless it has the good instructional concepts and tools, it is worthless. I liked the thought process of this group and definitely will look to see the work that comes from them in the future. : )

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