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Hi … Thought I would take a break from our frantic preparations for the AGOSCI Conference in Melbourne this week to send you an update on new developments at Spectronics! What is AGOSCI? If you are not familiar with this organisation – AGOSCI is the Australian Group on Severe Communication Impairment. Every two years, they run a conference with a vibrant and exciting program focusing on support of people with complex communication needs and AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication). Their 2007 conference starts in Melbourne on Wednesday of this week. If you will be there … please do call into the Spectronics display stand or join us for workshops in the Hands-on Laptop Lab supplied by Spectronics. Call in to see new speech generating devices like the FL4SH Scanning Communicator, the DynaVox V and Vmax and the tango! Also check out the MyTobii P10 Eye Control System, the new Boardmaker Version 6 family and Clicker Paint! Read more about these new programs in this newsletter too! If you are not attending, but would like more information on the new technologies being shown on the Spectronics display, please just contact us for a copy of our “What’s New from Spectronics for AGOSCI 2007” brochure. We will be happy to send it out to you.
If you would like to be sent a kit of tango! info and resources – please contact Lisa Meyer at Spectronics on lisa@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 and she will make sure one is sent out to you ASAP. Visit the Spectronics team on the AGOSCI stand to pick up a kit too! 2007 sees lots of staff changes at Spectronics! We are sad to have lost Sue Owen and Alysia Harvey from our Speechie team along with Katie Weston, who has done an excellent job on our reception desk for the past three years. Check out the new look Spectronics line-up for 2007 at www.spectronicsinoz.com/library.asp?article=9934. We are always surprised at how many people say they visit our staff page to “check us out” so we try to keep it up-to-date for you. Quick update on the Inclusive Learning Technologies® Conference 2008 being hosted by Spectronics from 12th to 15th May 2008. We are very excited to announce that Scott Marfilius will now be joining Kelly Fonner (his business partner) and Caroline Musselwhite as our third Keynote Presenter at the conference! As Scott was so popular as a Keynote Presenter at our Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006, he will be a great addition to our line-up of presenters at the 2008 conference! Cheers for now |
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Windows Vista Access Options and Speech Recognition
 After a loooong wait, the new Windows Vista Operating System has been launched by Microsoft. This is the replacement for Windows XP and, like XP, has Accessibility Options built into the system to make using a computer easier for people with disabilities. We attended a workshop recently where the new Accessibility features were demonstrated. The existing accessibility tools of the Onscreen Keyboard, Narrator and High Contrast options remain pretty much as they were in XP. The major accessibility improvements in Windows Vista are the “Ease of Access Center”, magnification capabilities and VERY impressive improvements with the speech recognition engine! Ease of Access Center In previous versions of Windows, it was often difficult for people to find the accessibility settings they needed because the settings were scattered around the OS. The new Ease of Access Center replaces the Accessibility Wizard and makes it much easier to discover accessibility settings and tools in Windows Vista because they are in one centralised location. Magnifier Improvements to Windows Vista magnification result in crisp images and text that do not stretch and have jagged edges when magnified. Fewer “system crashes” when using magnification are also promised by Microsoft! Speech Recognition This is the feature that was significantly improved! We watched a demonstration of the speech recognition for 30 minutes – and the program only made one recognition error in that whole time! Impressive. But the demonstrator did have an American accent. At Spectronics we are currently building some computers to run Vista. We will evaluate the effectiveness of the speech recognition with Australian accents and separately with New Zealand accents. (We will share these findings with you in our next emailed update.) The exciting thing is that the Vista speech recognition can be used for so much more than dictating text into any application or online forms. It really does offer hands-free navigation of the computer by voice! It can be used to open programs, use menus within the programs, move the mouse via the clever Mousegrid feature to home in on the item you want, and offers highlighted suggestions if confused about the words spoken or the item being selected by voice. “Show Numbers” also speeds navigation when opening a folder of files. Just say “Show Numbers” and “Double click 23” to open the required folder. Still no scripting or creation of macros is available – but “this is a possible future development” apparently. See www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/nlarchive/bexp2/issue_8/LookNoHands.aspx for an independent review of the Vista Speech Recognition features. Also see www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsvista for a host of demos, guides and downloadable information sheets! |
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Clicker 5 - New Australian/New Zealand Version!
 An Australian/New Zealand version of Clicker 5, the powerful, easy-to-use writing support and multimedia tool, is due for release in May 2007! Over 150 new images have been drawn and will appear in a new library in addition to the standard Crick Picture Library. Many new activities and sample grids suitable for the Aus/NZ curriculum have been created too. Crick Software will also be launching an Australian/New Zealand section of the Clicker Grids for Learning website at www.learninggrids.com allowing users to download more FREE Clicker classroom resources! This brand new, regularly updated site will contain fully localised resources and will be accessible both directly and through an integrated link in Clicker 5 ANZ Version which will automatically load the new activities into your copy of Clicker 5 ANZ! All customers who have placed orders with Spectronics for Clicker 5 in 2007 will be entitled to a FREE upgrade to Clicker ANZ when it is released! Order now and you will receive the UK version of Clicker 5 so that you are not left waiting until the ANZ version is released. Then you will be entitled to the free upgrade in May 2007! If you purchased Clicker 5 before 2007, upgrades are available. Visit our web for details at www.spectronicsinoz.com/product.asp?product=19378 for Australian pricing or www.spectronics.co.nz/product.asp?product=19378 for New Zealand pricing. Contact Lisa Meyer on lisa@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 for details of how to register your interest in receiving your free upgrade! In New Zealand, please contact Trev Willson on mail@spectronics.co.nz or phone (07) 854 5100. |
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Boardmaker Version 6 for Windows - Australian/New Zealand symbols and much more!
 Have you noticed that a whole new version of Boardmaker for Windows was released in Australia and New Zealand in early 2007? The Version 6 Boardmaker for Windows family covers Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! and Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro. What’s New in the Boardmaker Version 6 Family?
Click here to download a flyer (PDF) outlining the new features too. Upgrades are available! Visit our web for details at www.spectronicsinoz.com/browse.asp?cat=3083 for Australian pricing or www.spectronics.co.nz/browse.asp?cat=3083 for New Zealand pricing. If you purchased Boardmaker Version 5 for Windows from Spectronics from 1st September 2006 onwards, you are entitled to a free upgrade to Version 6 and should have received a letter about this offer earlier this year. Contact Lisa Meyer on lisa@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 for details of how to register your interest in receiving your free upgrade if you have not received your letter! In New Zealand, please contact Trev Willson on mail@spectronics.co.nz or phone (07) 854 5100. Oh … we have had a few enquiries about when Version 6 for Macintosh is coming out. The Mac and Windows versions are always “out of sync”. Boardmaker and Boardmaker Plus! Version 5 for Macintosh was only released recently (and is compatible with Mac OSX). We have had no word of Version 6 for Mac even being on the drawing board yet. |
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Widgit Literacy Symbols now available for Boardmaker!
 The Widgit Literacy Symbols (formerly known as Rebus Symbols), consist of a set of over 8,000 symbols and cover a vocabulary of over 24,000 words. This set is now available as a Boardmaker Addendum. Install the Addendum and the Widgit Literacy Symbols (WLS) will appear in your copy of Boardmaker along with Boardmaker’s Picture Communication Symbols (PCS)! Widgit Literacy Symbols have been developed to support literacy and to help make information accessible to those struggling with traditional writing and spelling. The simplicity of the line drawings makes them ideal for reinforcing the meaning of text. Widgit Literacy Symbols cover a range of terms common in primary and secondary education allowing students who struggle with language to more fully engage in the variety of learning opportunities that are presented in the classroom. The full library of symbols is available in both colour and black-and-white. Visit the Spectronics website for more details! |
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Learning difficulties support software - Economical and convenient USB stick versions!
 A new convenient and economical option has just been released for two of our popular software programs for supporting students with learning difficulties – textHELP Read&Write GOLD and ClaroRead 2007 for Windows. Both programs offer floating toolbars which work with any Windows application (Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word etc) to read out the text with clear Australian voices to assist with reading comprehension. They offer many other supports to assist students struggling with reading and writing too! Both programs are now available on a portable USB memory drive (otherwise known as a “USB stick”) – as pictured. By having the full program installed on the USB stick, a student can use the program on any computer, anywhere by simply inserting the portable USB stick into a USB port of the computer. No software installation is required on the computers being used – all that is needed is stored on the USB stick. This means that a student is no longer required to buy multiple single user copies of the software for each computer used at home and at school, Uni, TAFE or Polytech. Since user preferences are stored on the USB stick itself, students can work comfortably using their own settings on any computer, these portable versions offer a much more economical option as one licence covers all computers used by the student! With no installation required, there is also less risk of conflict with software already installed on any computer’s hard drive. (And Network Administrators will be happier too!) For more information about the features of each program and the “portable licence” options, please visit the Spectronics website to read more about ClaroRead Standard 2007 for Windows USB Version – Portable Licence or textHELP Read&Write GOLD MOBILE. |
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Word Prediction Topic Dictionaries for Co:Writer SOLO and Neo
 In our last emailed update, we mentioned the Co:Writer SOLO word prediction program which offers support to struggling writers who know what they want to say but have difficulty writing it out. The program supports these students by predicting and suggesting the words it thinks the student is trying to type. In the last update, we covered the wide range of readymade “Topic Dictionaries” which are available to assist writing on a particular topic. But what if you want to make your own Topic Dictionaries? Penny McCulloch, our Special Education and Learning Difficulties Consultant, has put together a helpful guide which outlines how to use Co:Writer SOLO to create customised Topic Dictionaries. These allow a student to be given help with suggested words which are relevant to the topic about which they are writing – greatly improving the richness of vocabulary used and the amount of writing generated. Visit www.spectronicsinoz.com/downloads/faqs/CoWriter-Creating-a-topic-helpsheet.pdf to download a copy of this comprehensive Help Sheet. What if you need access to these Topic Dictionaries away from the computer? Co:Writer is available for the Neo – a lightweight portable notetaker that runs for over 700 hours on 3 x AA batteries! The Co:Writer for Neo grammar-smart word prediction program is a separate program to Co:Writer SOLO and it comes on a separate CD to the one that you would use to install Co:Writer SOLO on your computer. But if you wish to create customised Topic Dictionaries – you need to have a copy of Co:Writer SOLO. Co:Writer for Neo then allows you to download these customised Topic Dictionaries from the computer to the Neo. A great way to ensure that students have access to all of the topic-specific words they need when writing on the move from classroom to library and home! Visit www.spectronicsinoz.com/downloads/faqs/cowriter-for-neo-helpsheet.pdf to download the Help Sheet which outlines how to use Co:Writer for Neo with customised Topic Dictionaries. Thanks Penny! |
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DynaVox V Series launches in Australia and New Zealand
 So many exciting things are happening in 2007 in the world of speech generating devices! One such development is the release of the new DynaVox V Series of devices and we are really excited to be able to invite you to the launches of the DynaVox V and Vmax to be held later this month in Brisbane, Christchurch and Auckland! What is special about the V? Featuring the new InterAACT language framework, the V and Vmax provide individuals of all ages and abilities challenged by significant speech disabilities with a system that supports successful and efficient day-to-day communication, as well as language and literacy skill use and development. The DynaVox V and Vmax and InterAACT are the results of extensive collaboration with Speech Language Pathologists, augmented communicators and AAC researchers.
What else is there to know about the V? LOTS! So please join us in Brisbane on Tuesday March 27th. To RSVP for the Brisbane launch – please contact Mikaela Kroesen, AAC Technical Support at Spectronics, on mikaela@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833. Or join us in Christchurch on Thursday 29th March or Auckland on Friday 30th March. To RSVP for the Christchurch and Auckland launches – please contact Jane Farrall, AAC Support Services Manager at Spectronics, on jane@spectronicsinoz.com or phone the Spectronics New Zealand office on (07) 854 5100. Full details of the events are downloadable from our online Travel Diary at www.spectronicsinoz.com/info.asp?info=travel_diary |
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Other useful stuff to know about!
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You have received this newsletter because you told us at Spectronics that you would like us to keep you up to date with technology changes. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, click on the following link to unsubscribe: http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/email/unsubscribe_me.asp or click on the following link to change your subscription details: http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/email/edit_me.asp Please feel free to forward this newsletter or sections of it on to your colleagues. You are also free to post it up onto the web. All we ask is that you acknowledge the source as Spectronics Email Updates and list our contact details below with any posting. Past copies of our email updates can also be found at http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/library.asp?library=email_updates
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