June 3, 2010
Amsterdam, The Netherlands; State College, PA

Dear Proloquo2Go user, community member, and/or Proloquo2Go partner,

Samuel Sennott, co-creator of Proloquo2Go, is selling his share in Proloquo2Go to AssistiveWare in order to focus his research and development efforts on his PhD at The Pennsylvania State University and on his new company, Sennott Technologies, LLC.

Proloquo2Go has made a large impact on the AAC world over the two years of the collaboration between AssistiveWare and Sennott Consulting. When they came together almost two years ago, they believed they could make a difference by creating a new AAC solution that was powerful, affordable, and cool. From the amazing user community, to a front-page feature in the NY Times, Proloquo2Go has had a profound impact.

While Sennott will not continue to be a part of Proloquo2Go, he will remain fully committed to the AAC community, serving through his research and future endeavors. He has full confidence that AssistiveWare will continue to provide great service as well as many further enhancements to Proloquo2Go that will benefit the Proloquo2Go community.

David and AssistiveWare would like to use this occasion to thank Sam for the important contributions he has made to Proloquo2Go and, not in the least, his success in drawing public attention to the needs of AAC users. With his ongoing research, he will be able to make even more contributions to the field of AAC in the future. Let us all give Sam a big thank you and wish him well in his further pursuits.

Samuel Sennott would like to specially thank David Niemeijer for the amazing work we did together. He would also like to thank his father, mother, family, Deirdre, Joseph Barnick, Pam H., Sue M., Mads, the Penn State community, The DC Crew, TLC, Origin Instruments, Apple Inc. and the whole Proloquo2Go community for their support.

Best wishes,

David and Sam

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Penn State Board of Trustees meets; President Spanier’s remarks

Friday, July 10, 2009               12th Paragraph Down about Proloquo2Go and Samuel Sennott

Seriously, being a PhD student at The Pennsylvania State University is one of the most fantastic experiences of my life.  The individuals I am surrounded by are simply phenomenal.  From four AAC faculty to experts in Special Education, Psychology, and Computer Science, to the amazing students in the programs I am connected to, it is simply terrific to be here.  Reading Dr. Graham Spanier’s remarks about the  work  I am doing and my place in the Penn State community made me smile even wider.

I know how lucky I am in all of this.    I will take these opportunities being presented to me and work as hard, smart, and long as I can to serve individuals with special needs, as well as their families and the people who support them.

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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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Everyone can communicate, so let’s empower everyone to communicate.

Here is the template for the activity for today

4-by-4-and-picture-template

Here are the resource links:

http://www.alltogetherwecan.com/2008/02/27/ms-word-and-slater-softwares-free-online-symbol-resource-video-podcast/

http://www.slatersoftware.com/PixLibrary.html

www.flickr.com/creativecommons

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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.

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