The Spectronics team has been hard at work behind the scenes planning for the next Inclusive Learning Technologies Conference – to be held on Queensland's Gold Coast from 25th to 28th May 2010. Mark off these dates in your PD Calendar now!

We have four excellent International Keynote Presenters confirmed – all with a wealth of knowledge of practical application of assistive technologies in real world settings! Between the four of them, they will cover use of technologies from early intervention right through to post-secondary settings and will bring both the US and UK perspectives to their presentations.

• Dr Caroline Musselwhite (Speech Language Pathologist, USA)
• Dr Gretchen Hanser (Occupational Therapist, USA)
• Chris Abbott (Teacher, UK)
• E.A. Draffan (Speech and Language Therapist, UK)

To learn more about their extensive range of experience with technology visit the conference website.

Do YOU want to present at the conference yourself?

The Call for Papers is now open! Click here to submit your proposal online. Submissions close 30th September 2009. As usual, one complimentary three-day conference registration will be offered for each presentation accepted for the final program (valued at $595)!

It is going to be tough to better our HUGE 2008 conference – but we like to aim high and have plans to make 2010 bigger and better all round! If you wish to receive updates about the conference, just contact Eliza Bale, Conference Convenor at Spectronics, on elizab@spectronicsinoz.com and she will definitely make sure you are kept in the loop.

And if you are ready to register already, click here to register now and be sure to reserve your place!

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Version 9 of the popular textHELP Read&Write GOLD literacy support software has just been released!

Why is the program so popular?

Readers of this newsletter will be well aware that many students in schools and post-secondary institutions experience difficulties with literacy. textHELP Read&Write GOLD software offers critical support for reading and writing tasks throughout the day in class, in the library and after hours at home. These supports are built into a discreet “floating toolbar” that works with all regular Windows-based software programs (including Web browsers and virtual learning environments such as Blackboard and Moodle). As a result, students using the software do not feel “different” to their peers. The resultant ability for these students to achieve independently of adult assistance, often results in significantly improved self esteem and a willingness to participate actively in reading and writing tasks for the first time.

What's new in Version 9?

Full details of the many new features are listed on the Spectronics website but in a nutshell, some of the new features include:

• New high quality UK voices (in addition to the Australian voices of Karen and Lee)
   
• Screen Masking
  Users can tint the screen using any number of colours, like an overlay and mask areas of the window apart from the reading or typing area. This feature is helpful to users who have trouble focusing on the screen by masking out the non-active parts of the screen.
   
• Integration with Dragon NaturallySpeaking
  When using Dragon to dictate or navigate with voice commands, words and phrases can now be spoken back using the high quality textHELP voices.
   
• Significant enhancements in the following tools:
  • Dictionary entries and definitions
  • Homophones
  • Word Prediction
  • Fact Mapper
  • Screenshot Reader

 What does it cost to upgrade?

If you currently own Version 7.1, 8.0 or 8.1 of textHELP software, upgrade pricing is available. To calculate costs in Australian dollars use our Australian textHELP Upgrades Calculator and for New Zealand upgrade pricing use our New Zealand Upgrades Calculator.

Want to test-drive it for yourself?

Contact Spectronics to be sent a free 30-day Demo CD of the new program – along with a Presentation CD of videos showcasing all features built into the Read&Write toolbar!

Or book in to join one of our FREE online training sessions showcasing textHELP Read&Write GOLD Version 9! Visit Spectronics' Online Training page or contact Eliza Bale on elizab@spectronicsinoz.com to book into a session.

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We are currently planning to host a tour of a number of cities in Australia by Jackie Prentice, Training Services Manager with the textHELP Company in Northern Ireland. Jackie has been training in the use of textHELP Read&Write software for many years -  making her the most experienced textHELP Trainer in the world!

The trainings will be conducted over the last two weeks of May. Unfortunately, we will not be able to visit all of the centres we would like to include in the limited time we have available. To date, we have scheduled sessions for:

• Brisbane (18th May)
• Melbourne (22nd May)
• Sydney (25th May)
• Newcastle (26th May)
• Adelaide (28th and 29th May)

We will be offering the option of textHELP Certified Trainer certification at the end of each of the full day training sessions. We also hope to be able to offer the workshops free-of-charge. Please contact Denise Hunter, Events Coordinator at Spectronics, on denise@spectronicsinoz.com if you are interested in joining us for one of the training sessions.

If you have previously completed textHELP Certified Training for an earlier version of the Read&Write software, you do not need to attend another formal session to upgrade your certification. We can forward a copy of the Version 9 Certification assessment to you for completion in your own time if you prefer this option. But of course, it would be great to have you join us anyway!

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The Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Displays (PODD) light-tech communication books Resource CD is designed for use by people supporting children who are learning to communicate using aided symbols (pictographs, graphic symbols, whole written words). The PODD was developed by Gayle Porter - an Australian speech pathologist with over 25 years hands-on experience working with people who have complex communication needs. Gayle currently works at the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre in Victoria and runs a private practice working with children and teenagers who have complex communication needs.

Using this comprehensive resource, parents, teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists can learn to create and make a wide range of personalised communication books to support varying communication, language, sensory and physical access requirements. It provides templates and guidelines to develop an appropriate communication book and also describes comprehensive strategies to enable use of the system in the child’s daily life - at home, at school and in the community. Over 700 Boardmaker boards are included in the three-CD collection! A copy of Boardmaker (Version 5 or higher) is required to be able to open, customise and print the boards.

Two versions of the PODD are available. The original A4 version includes some Australian-specific vocabulary items, UK English spelling and boards designed for printing on A4 sized paper. This version is available directly from Spectronics.

The recently released US version includes a number of vocabulary items that are more specific to North America (with US English spelling) and the boards have been resized to be printed on US Letter sized paper. Because many of our US-based customers would prefer to deal directly with a US-based company, we are currently referring enquiries about sales into the USA to the Mayer-Johnson Sales and Customer Support Team at mayerj@mayer-johnson.com.

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AdaptedLearning.com website now open!

Have you seen the new online collection of over 14,000 Boardmaker boards now available at AdaptedLearning.com? Most are available for download for free!

AdaptedLearning.com was developed in response to the requests of the many loyal Boardmaker users who were looking for a place to share their work and access new content. There are now close to 10,000 members of the site - therapists, teachers, and parents of students with special needs. If you are a regular Boardmaker user, it is well worth a visit.


Using Boardmaker with adults: Creating “aphasia-friendly” materials

Boardmaker is well known as a tool for creating printed resources for primary school and early childhood students. But have you considered its use in supporting adults with an acquired or degenerative condition?

Katie Lyon, one of Spectronics’ speech pathologists, has put together a short article outlining suggestions for using Boardmaker to create adult-friendly, aphasia-friendly materials. Click here to download a copy of the article.

She highlights that while Boardmaker is ideal for creating symbol-based materials such as communication displays, visual timetables and activity schedules - it is also an excellent tool for creating signage and general functional living skills materials for both children AND adults. In order to make the information that you provide to people aphasia-friendly, Howe (2004) suggested that you need to:

• Write in simple words and big print
• Use lots of white space
• Use pictures to help explain the words
• Allow more time to read.

Research supports the fact that people with aphasia better comprehend aphasia-friendly versions of health information brochures. However, some people with aphasia felt that the use of pictures indicated a lack of respect for them and that they preferred the version without pictures. The need to present information in an aphasia-friendly manner while still using images that are acceptable to adults was also highlighted by Katie in her discussion of using Boardmaker for this purpose.

Howe, et al. (2004) Review: What is an aphasia friendly environment? University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

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Every now and then a new technology really captures the heart and imagination of our Speech Pathology team at Spectronics - and the innovative MegaBee Electronic ETRAN has certainly done that!

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The DynaVox Implementation Toolkit is a fabulous new resource from DynaVox to assist in the implementation of Speech Generating Devices (SGDs). Some topics are DynaVox specific, such as Teaching Vocabulary in InterAACT, but many of them are great generic resources for people supporting any SGD.

Current topics include:

• Teaching Vocabulary in InterAACT - which includes lesson plans and activities
• AAC Myths Revealed - which includes handouts on topics such as "AAC Will Keep Someone From Talking" and "AAC Is Not Needed If One Can Express Basic Needs"
• Communication Partner Techniques - which has some fantastic suggestions for creating opportunities throughout the day to promote the use of SGDs
• Opening the Box - with some suggestions for early strategies for getting your DynaVox device up and working
• Tools for AAC Users - with excellent suggestions for helping the device user to increase their communicative competence
• Basic Operational Skills - which is aimed at helping the AAC user to develop basic operational competence strategies with their device.

New topics and information are going to be added constantly – so keep an eye on the DynaVox Implementation Toolkit section of the DynaVox website for further useful ideas.

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• Conference papers downloadable now
  
  Two valuable conferences held each January in the USA are the ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) Conference in Orlando and the TRLD (Technology, Reading and Learning Diversity) Conference in San Francisco. Some presenters have now made available informative handouts from their presentations at these conferences. These handouts are downloadable for a limited time from the following links on the ATIA website and the TRLD website.
   
• Atomic Learning Online Trainings
  
  Atomic Learning is a company that provides web-based software training for over 100 different programs used by students and educators. They currently offer thousands of short tutorial movies and a library of curriculum resources on their website and have recently launched a series of Assistive Technology Tutorials covering programs such as Clicker 5, Co:Writer SOLO, textHELP Read&Write and Dragon NaturallySpeaking to name a few. Access to the full collection of training resources is available through payment of an annual subscription fee.
   
• Spectronics FREE online training sessions updated for 2009!  
  
  The Spectronics Training Team has posted a new schedule of free online training sessions for 2009 to the Online Training page of the Spectronics website. To register for any of the scheduled sessions or to suggest a session time that would better suit you, please contact Eliza Bale on elizab@spectronicsinoz.com. There is no charge for these regular sessions and if you are able to assemble a group outside of the regularly scheduled times, there is also no charge. You simply need to use your Web browser to open up a link provided by Eliza to join the session - avoiding the need for expensive long distance phone connections too!

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