ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

After months of work I am proud to announce that my new Assistive Technology DVD- Assistive Technology: Powerful Solutions for Success is now available from my publisher, NPR Inc. To find out more click on the links.

Technology is not only having a profound impact on the way we live our lives, but also how we learn and access information. For students with disabilities, technology can make the difference between success and failure in general education environments. Assistive Technology (AT) provides a means to help students compensate for their disabilities while building upon their strengths. Utilizing the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), this revised and updated DVD takes you into classrooms where AT solutions are being successfully implemented for students requiring:

• auditory processing supports
• fine-motor and writing supports
• reading supports

Observe first-hand how hardware and software programs not only assist students in being more successful academically, but how AT empowers them to be more confident and independent learners.

How to use this DVD

• If you are a principal or school administrator, use this DVD at faculty meetings to build the skills of your staff.
• If you are a professor/instructor at a college or university, use this DVD to enhance your classroom instruction.
• If you are a staff developer or trainer, use this DVD with new and/or experienced teachers.
• If you are a classroom teacher, use this DVD as a resource for proven Assistive Technology solutions.
• If you are a parent, use this DVD to better understand the value of Assistive Technology

The viewer will be able to:

• Describe the value of Assistive Technology in helping students access the general education curriculum
• Explain how Assistive Technology adheres to the theory of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• List a variety of hardware and software programs available for use as AT solutions
• Identify specific AT devices and software programs to support students experiencing auditory processing, fine-motor, writing, as well as reading problems
• Identify the five steps to successfully implement Assistive Technology

To find out more about the DVD click on the link.

One Sentence Summary Created with Context Organizer After months of work I am proud to announce that my new Assistive Technology DVD- Assistive Technology: Powerful Solutions for Success is now available from my publisher, NPR Inc.

It has been a busy couple of weeks along with being under the weather which has made it difficult for me to blog. I trust that I will be back on schedule next week with some posts, so look for them. It really is a juggling act getting all that needs to get done-but I'm pushing through.

Just today I mailed out an issue of Inclusion Times that was past due and worked on the Fall issue. For the past 4 years I have written and published Inclusion Times, which is geared towards educators who are working with students with disabilities. Over the past two year, I have expanded the coverage to include new and innovative technologies that are important for educators to know about. Because it is a traditional newsletter that goes out to individual educators and libraries I have printed, collated, and mailed out this newsletters via the post office. This process is more time consuming than you can imagine and because it is a niche newsletter I decided this year that I would produce Inclusion Times in an electronic version (PDF file) that my subscribers could download. This will not only save me time, energy but a will allow me to get the newsletter out that much quicker. To get a free sample of Inclusion Times click here or you can view the embedded PDF right within the blog post. If you like what you see let me know and I can get you set up with a subscription. I will let you know how this process works- in any case this is the way of the future!

I have had the opportunity to use the PersonalBrain 4 for the past couple of weeks and have found it to be extremely useful for organizing my materials and ideas. I do want to thank Shelley, Harlan, and Matt at theBrain Technologies, LP for their help and giving me the opportunity to work with their fine product. In fact, I have been using the PersonalBrain 4 more and more to organize my ideas, for my blog and for my newsletter, Inclusion Times. One of the really neat features of the PersonalBrain which may be overlooked is the ability to export your brain and publish it on the web. From the File menu you simply select Export-- and then select Site Brain HTML with XML Data. The PersonalBrain 4 opens a dialog box and prompts you to save the exported files. Once the files have been transferred to your hard drive you simply upload them to your server and they are ready to go. What is really exciting is that all of your notes, URL links and documents can be accessed from within your PersonalBrain on the web. Within minutes ,I had my PersonalBrain 4 on the web. If you want to see one of my PersonalBrain’s on the web click here. Remember that all of the information is hyperlinked so that clicking on an item allows you to jump to related information. If there is a link or note or a file attached to the item you can click on it in the bottom portions of the screen to access it. Give it a try and let me know what you think. The PersonalBrain 4 is a great tool to quickly put up a website for a presentation or even for a class complete with links, documents and attachments.

I came across this interesting utility that adds incredible functionality to MindManager 6 or 7 for Windows, which was reviewed in the last issue of Inclusion Times. Imagine a scenario in which your students have to read through a long and complex Word document and figure out what it means. Well with ThemeReader from Mindsystems it is now possible with the aide of MindManager to simply Right click on the Word document and select ThemeReader. ThemeReader begins to process your Word document and when it is done it creates a MindManager mindmap which summarizes all of the key points in the Word document. Using artificial intelligence and sophisticated algorithms, ThemeReader looks for recurrent or common themes in the document and graphically displays them in MindManager 6 /7. Mindsystems ThemeReader™ is powered by CiriLab's revolutionary “Knowledge Engine” technology. This advanced new technology is able to quickly analyze a file or document and pick out recurrent or 'common' themes. The MindManager Map that is shown was automatically developed from a proposal that I created in Microsoft Word. This is a very handy and powerful tool for students as well as educators who need to analyze information. This could be a very interesting way for students to analyze their reading material or for that matter their written work. This could easily be used to help students in the area of reading comprehension. Using ThemeReader alongside MindManager 6 or 7 and a text to speech application could go a long way to assist students in the area of comprehension. The text to speech application could be used directly within MindManager 6 or 7 to help students who have reading disabilities. If you are using MindManager 6or 7 in the classroom then take a look at this handy and useful add-on.