Monthly Archives: September 2009
The Mac is back!
Posted in New Technologies, Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 30, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 30, 2009
 Over the past two years, we have noticed a marked increase in the number of Apple Mac related enquiries coming in to Spectronics’ advisory, training and technical support teams. So it may be of interest to you to be aware of a couple of new text-to-speech programs now available for the Mac platform.
A one button mouse – how cool is that!
Posted in New Technologies, Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 28, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 28, 2009
We are often asked about ways of assisting younger students learning to use the mouse – to avoid their confusion over using the right and left mouse buttons. Inadvertently clicking on the right mouse button can result in them opening up all sorts of unwanted menus – ending up with your students landing in areas of the computer you’d rather them not to be …
WriteOnline: Online writing support for upper primary and secondary school students
Posted in New Technologies, Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 25, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 25, 2009
 WriteOnline is a new concept – offering an online writing support tool which allows students the option to access their work from school, home, anywhere! It has been developed by Crick Software as a logical progression for older students who are ready to move on from using Clicker 5 as their writing support tool.
Word Prediction Comparison Chart – Updated for 2009
Posted in Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 23, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 23, 2009
Word prediction is a tool built into several of the programs sold and supported by Spectronics. To help you to quickly compare the features of these programs, we have just updated our Word Prediction comparison chart. View it online or download the PDF file. Let us know if you find this helpful!
Delicious – What is it??
Posted in Permanent Resources, Techniques & Tips, Tools & Resources, Web links
Barbara Landsberg September 21, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 21, 2009
Delicious is a web-based social bookmarking tool that allows you to store, categorise, share and find website bookmarks. The Delicious website was founded in 2003 and now has over 5 million users bookmarking over 150 million websites!
How do I see more pictures/symbols in Clicker 5?
Posted in Techniques & Tips, Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 18, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 18, 2009
 Clicker 5 is a very popular writing support tool for primary school students – and comes with over 2000 engaging pictures to support and motivate younger students’ writing. One of the most commonly asked questions from Special Education settings however is, “My students need more pictures to support their writing. Can I import the Boardmaker symbols in Clicker 5?â€
Inclusive Learning Technologies Conference 2010 Update – September 2009
Posted in Conference 2010, Events
Barbara Landsberg September 16, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 16, 2009
 There have been MANY emails going back and forward with our talented Keynote Presenters over the past few months. They are coming up with some great ideas for their workshops and presentations! We will be posting news of the sessions up onto the Conference Program section of the Conference website very soon. Keep an eye online as the exciting Preliminary Program comes together!
Weblinks for accessible text and eBooks
Posted in Permanent Resources, Tools & Resources, Web links
Greg O'Connor September 15, 2009
Greg O'Connor September 15, 2009
We are often asked about web links to alternative text formats for people who have difficulty accessing traditional printed text. The team here at Spectronics has put together the following web links for accessible, digital text (also sometimes referred to as ebooks). Check out the resources below, and let us know of any websites we have missed. This blog entry will be updated as …
Ginger Software – new contextual spelling and grammar checker!
Posted in New Technologies, Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 14, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 14, 2009
Every now and then a really innovative new software concept for supporting struggling writers pops up. We think that Ginger fits into this category! It is a clever contextual spelling and grammar checker which automatically suggests corrections for even the most phonetically spelled sentences! It works with sentences written in Microsoft Word and in emails constructed within Microsoft Outlook.
Writing with Symbols 2000 discontinued 30th October 2009
Posted in Tools & Resources
Barbara Landsberg September 10, 2009
Barbara Landsberg September 10, 2009
Writing with Symbols is now over ten years old! Widgit Software, developer of the program, is not continuing to provide software and symbol updates for the program and it will no longer be available from Spectronics after 30th October 2009. Widgit is looking to the future and has written two new replacement programs – Communicate: InPrint and Communicate: SymWriter. Combined, these new programs offer all …
