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Hi … What a busy time of year for everyone! With the end of the Financial Year fast approaching, the phones are ringing hot at Spectronics with people seeking advice about which technologies to spend their end of year dollars on. We are happy to talk to you if you are still making those last minute decisions and need some advice. If you require a Tax Invoice to ensure your funds are committed by June 30th, we are very happy to do this for you. While we keep as much as possible on our stock shelves, some items are not available all the time, and they need to be ordered in from overseas. As a result, delivery cannot be assured for all orders by the end of June. But we certainly can prepare your Tax Invoice ahead of delivery and send it to you if that is helpful. Please contact me on email barbara@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 if you would like our Accounts section to prepare and send your Tax Invoice. Or if you are in New Zealand, speak with Trev Willson on trev@spectronics.co.nz or phone (07) 854 5100. On another note, thank you to all of you who have been patient with Spectronics over the past few months. With changes to our staff and implementing a new order processing system, some customers have had to wait for much longer than usual to have their orders filled. We have been spending a LOT of time trying to remedy this and feel we have finally started to turn a corner! It might take a few weeks to sort out the last orders waiting in the system – but rest assured, we are working really hard on it for you! We have always prided ourselves on the quickest delivery that is possible – and it worries us that we have let some of you down. Please accept our sincere apologies if you have been affected. Cheers |
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Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006 a GREAT success!
 The Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006 has come and gone – and what a GREAT event it was! Feedback from our 300 delegates and presenters has been overwhelmingly positive with 75% of delegates saying they will definitely be joining us for the next Inclusive Learning Technologies® Conference planned for 12th to 15th May 2008! Make a note in your diaries now – as we have started looking around for a bigger venue to ensure we can definitely fit you all in. Click here to view some photos from the Winter School! What was the Winter School about?This conference (hosted by Spectronics) focused specifically on “inclusive learning technologies” – those technologies designed to support people with disabilities and/or learning difficulties. It included sessions looking at these technologies in the following four different interest streams:
What were some of the comments?The following quotes were taken directly from some of the feedback sheets submitted by delegates at the end of the Winter School.
We were blown away by such high praise! Thank you! And we aim to deliver an even better conference in May 2008 based on other constructive suggestions for improvements like better identification of which sessions are for beginners and which are for advanced technology users. We will definitely build this in for next time to help delegates to decide which sessions are best for their level of expertise. We will also try to increase the number of computers available for hands-on labs and increase the number of hands-on sessions. These were (as we expected) very popular additions to the program this year. And many delegates told us they wanted more time to network with people who had similar areas of interest. This was one of the major reasons people cited for attending the Winter School, so we will certainly look at ways of setting up designated forum time to facilitate this important networking and sharing of ideas more formally for you too. Lots of other improvements are in the pipeline – and we have booked an excellent entertainer for the Conference Dinner already! (Yep – we have our priorities right at Spectronics!) If you wish to be kept up-to-date with plans for the Inclusive Learning Technologies® Conference 2008, please contact me on email barbara@spectronicsinoz.com and I will add you to the list of people to contact as plans progress. |
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AlphaSmart 3000 now discontinued
 The popular AlphaSmart 3000 portable word processor has officially gone out of production. The last AlphaSmarts were shipped from the USA on 30th April this year. The Neo, also produced by the AlphaSmart company, has replaced the AlphaSmart. Like the AlphaSmart, the Neo has the same excellent battery life of 500 to 700 hours on just 3 AA batteries, is economically priced, offers instant on/off and autosave features, and now is able to have the Co:Writer for Neo word prediction program installed. It offers several advantages over the older AlphaSmart – including holding 200 A4 pages of text, more sophisticated file management, the option to change font size and many extra productivity tools. Spectronics will continue to offer support for the AlphaSmart (in terms of maintenance, repairs, replacements, etc.) for our standard 12-month warranty period and for as long as replacement parts are available from the AlphaSmart company. They have advised us that this support will be available from them up until April 2009. Very few repairs are required on AlphaSmarts, but we will do our best to ensure that we have a stockpile of repair parts to take us past that date if at all possible. We still have a limited number of AlphaSmarts available at Spectronics and will continue to list them on our website until the remaining stock is sold. |
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NZ Symbols for Boardmaker now available for free download!
 New Zealand Symbols for Boardmaker for Windows v5.x Members of New ZealandÀs AAC Community and staff at Spectronics in Australia and New Zealand worked hard with the talented Mayer-Johnson graphics team to build this collection of New Zealand PCS symbols – and it is really exciting for us all to see the final collection! The New Zealand symbol addendum includes over 100 brand new symbols, including the most asked for symbols like New Zealand wildlife, rugby terms, currency and public holidays. Small changes have also been made to many of the existing symbols, such as army and police, ensuring that symbols are consistent with New Zealand culture. Currently, these free symbols need to be installed into Boardmaker. Download the Mac or Windows file by clicking on the appropriate link above, then double click on the download and they will automatically install into Boardmaker. At the moment, your Boardmaker search language will need to be set to US English in order to see the new symbols. Later this year a full New Zealand version of Boardmaker will be available for purchase from Spectronics. In this completed version you will not only have all the New Zealand symbols available, but you will also be able to search for symbols using a custom New Zealand search language, with English spelling and New Zealand words, such as “jandals” and “chilly bin”. If you live in New Zealand, or work with clients/students from NZ, the changes made to this version of Boardmaker will save you LOTS of time. You will no longer have to make the many small adjustments necessary for some PCS symbols to be “less American” and more relevant to New Zealand users. We will certainly let you know as soon as this full New Zealand version of Boardmaker becomes available. |
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SpeakQ - A new Voice Recognition Software option
SpeakQ is a new voice recognition software program – recently released from Quillsoft Ltd. in Canada. It is designed to work in conjunction with the WordQ 2 word prediction program. With the accuracy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking being so high for Australian/New Zealand accents, we were initially unsure about adding another voice recognition program to our range of software. However, we have found that provided text is entered in small chunks (as many of our students with learning difficulties dictate anyway), its accuracy is surprisingly good for a non-localised program. It includes several other features expressly designed to support students with learning difficulties (like reading aloud and highlighting the training texts). Other voice recognition programs do not meet the needs of many of these students. Jan Polkinghorne, Software Advisor at SPELD in South Australia, has prepared a comprehensive review of the program which can be viewed on the Spectronics website at www.spectronicsinoz.com/library.asp?article=23596. In her article, Jan writes the following … “Having tried SpeakQ with a number of students who struggled with Dragon NaturallySpeaking or the speech input feature in textHELP Read&Write GOLD, I have found it successful for a number of reasons. Firstly the training process is much easier as training passages can be selected according to reading ability. The training can be undertaken in shorter segments. For those who struggle with reading, the program reads aloud the text in manageable phrases for them. For students whose speech is not so clear, or who have difficulty thinking in phrases or sentences, they can compensate with typing or word prediction. As the program becomes more accurate at recognising their speech they can decrease their dependency on the other functions. Because of the blend of functions, what goes into the document can be reasonably correct first time which decreases the process of editing which so many students with learning difficulties find tedious and difficult. For students with clear, concise speech and reasonable reading ability, Dragon would be my first choice for voice input, but for those who struggle with reading, the complexity of correcting errors or whose speech is more hesitant or lacks clarity, SpeakQ is an excellent starting point.” A 30-day demo of SpeakQ is downloadable from http://www.wordq.com/cgi-bin/download/step_1.pl?fid=1127846286. But, at 88MB, it is a hefty download if you do not have high-speed Internet access. So if it is easier for you, just email me on barbara@spectronicsinoz.com and I can arrange for a copy of this file to be sent to you on a CD. Alternatively, Spectronics does offer a 30-day money back guarantee if you purchase a program from us, and find it does not work as well for your students as you had hoped. All we ask is that it be returned in fully resalable condition (without any markings on the CD or case). A good quality microphone is critical to successful voice recognition. See our website at http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/browse.asp?cat=22551 for details of some microphones which we have found to work well. |
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Spectronics Symbol Activity Exchange coming soon!
 We are excited to announce that on 1st July 2006, we will be launching a section of our website devoted to symbol-based activities. These activities will be developed by Spectronics’ Speech Pathology and teaching staff and will be designed to work in popular programs like Boardmaker/Boardmaker Plus!, Communicate: In Print and Writing with Symbols 2000. All activities will use either the PCS symbols from Mayer-Johnson or the Widgit symbols (previously called Rebus Symbols) from Widgit Software. We understand that it is hard to find time to build these activities yourself – so we will do some of the hard work for you! Download the activities, open them in your program, save them as templates and add your own content too if you wish. Our team will come up with ideas for using symbol-based activities for supporting curriculum-based work in ALL primary classrooms, and for supporting communication and emergent and early literacy development of students in special education settings. Please visit our website at www.spectronicsinoz.com/activities on 1st July 2006 to see the new resources available. New activities will be posted up regularly – so it will definitely be worth checking in often! If you wish to have particular activities developed to meet the needs of your students or older symbol users, just email Amanda Hartmann (Speech Pathologist) on amanda@spectronicsinoz.com with ideas for the types of activities you would like to have created! Alternatively, if you have created some activities, boards or schedules which have worked well for you – it would be GREAT for you to send them through to Amanda for posting up to the Symbol Activity Exchange! |
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Trade in your old IntelliKeys Classic keyboards on a new IntelliKeys USB and save $100!
 The original IntelliKeys is called the IntelliKeys Classic. Unfortunately, this model of the IntelliKeys is not compatible with newer computer operating systems. It will still work well with older operating systems like Windows 95, 98, 98SE and ME and on Macintosh computers running Mac OS 6.07-9.x. But if you are running Windows 2000 or XP, you need the IntelliKeys USB (which also works with Windows 98 and ME). The same applies if you are using a Macintosh computer running Mac OSX. The IntelliKeys USB is even now compatible with Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger). Do you have any old IntelliKeys Classics in cupboards not being used since you have upgraded your computers? Why not take advantage of this special offer to return your disused IntelliKeys Classics and receive a $100 discount off the price of each new IntelliKeys USB you have ordered – bringing the price down to $539 Australian Dollars ($583 + GST New Zealand Dollars) per IntelliKeys USB ordered. Because so many people have asked for the chance to take up this offer, it is now extended to 31st December 2006! You need to return your IntelliKeys Classic (and all original overlays and cables) to Spectronics before your order for the IntelliKeys USB Exchange can be processed. To ensure that your returned IntelliKeys is tracked properly, please contact Terry Prescott on terry@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 in Australia – or Trev Willson in New Zealand on trev@spectronics.co.nz or phone (07) 854 5100 to be given an RMA (Returned Merchandise Authority) Number. If possible, it would help Terry and Trev if a copy of the order for the IntelliKeys USB Exchange could be placed in with the IntelliKeys Classic being returned. If this is not possible, information on the Order Number or expected date of placement of the order would also be helpful to ensure you do not miss out on your $100 credit! What will Spectronics do with all of the returned IntelliKeys Classic keyboards? We are planning to liaise with underprivileged schools in East Timor about donation of these keyboards to assist students with special needs. Click here to order your IntelliKeys USB Exchange keyboards to replace your IntelliKeys Classic keyboards! |
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Other Useful Snippets
Following on from the Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School, and the tour around Australia by James Rowe (from DynaVox Technologies) and Jane Farrall (from Spectronics) – we have had many requests for guidelines for creating visual scene displays using DynaVox devices and software. What are Visual Scene Displays? A visual scene display (VSD) is a photograph or picture with active areas or hotspots that a user can select to communicate. Individual elements such as people, actions and objects appear within the visual scene. Research into VSDs and their use with young children with developmental disabilities, people with acquired communication difficulties (such as those who have had a stroke or head injury) and people with multiple disabilities is just beginning. So far, the indications are that VSDs may be an option to support social communication and retrieval of vocabulary for those who find more traditional communication grids difficult or challenging. Click on the following links to download a copy of two guides written by the Spectronics Speech Pathology team to help you in creating VSDs using DynaVox devices and software. Creating Visual Scene Displays on a DV4 or MT4 |
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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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