Well ... finally ... the Spectronics website Australian Activity Exchange has been launched! Check it out at www.spectronicsinoz.com/activities/. Our aim is to have a practically useful collection of activities for Australian users of the software titles which we sell.

There are many activities yet to be posted up. Thank you to all of you who have submitted activities which are not yet up on-line. These are "in the pipeline" - so keep watching. And Mac users, don't feel neglected, we are just sorting out a few techie issues, and your activities will be available for download soon too.

Please do contribute any ideas or activities which you have built. If they have been useful to you, it is likely that visitors to our web will also find them helpful and it may save them hours of development time if they can use or modify your ideas. We can't feature anything which uses copyrighted images - but anything original - go for it! Let's show other Australians, and the world, how clever we are. Send any suggestions through to us at mail@spectronicsinoz.com

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Last newsletter, we mentioned that there were a few issues with the Co:Writer UK SmartApplet being used on the AlphaSmarts which we use in Australia (as we use the US Keyboard layout). These issues have been resolved and we have finally started shipping these out to customers this week. See instructions enclosed with your Co:Writer SmartApplet or visit our FAQs section on-line for important guidelines on installing the SmartApplet on your AlphaSmart.

One of the great features of the Co:Writer SmartApplet is its ability to receive customised Topic Dictionaries which have been created in Co:Writer 4000. For tips on how to download Topic Dictionaries to your AlphaSmart, visit the Don Johnston website. On the same site, they also offer a wide range of downloadable Topic Dictionaries which have been pre-prepared. All the work is already done! Just visit http://www.donjohnston.com/downloads/downloads.htm and go to the British English topics link.

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One of the papers presented at last November's Closing the Gap Conference in the USA was titled "Adapting Activities and Increasing Independence in Inclusive Settings Using Windows and Microsoft Office". Presented by three special educators, it gives some great tips on using the Microsoft Office programs to support students with special needs.

The article can be found at http://www.rcs.k12.in.us/eses/ctghandouts2000.doc and presents lots of interesting ideas. We were impressed with their suggestions for creating on-screen answer sheets using Microsoft Word. Students can navigate through the answer fields by simply using the tab key. Another clever suggestion was their tip on how to build in "correct answer" and "incorrect answer" responses to choices made on a PowerPoint screen. Lots more ideas are presented too.

Actually - an example of how one Australian school has used PowerPoint to create mouse and touchscreen training activities for students with disabilities, can be downloaded by clicking here. This activity was created by J.T. Hew, Glenallen School's Computer and Assistive Technology Support Officer. Well done J.T.!

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The latest release from IntelliTools is their upgraded version of IntelliPics - now called "IntelliPics Studio". This new program is like a combination of KidPix, PowerPoint and basic animation editing software - with a bit of the old IntelliPics thrown in too! Each and every feature is accessible via a mouse, a switch or an IntelliKeys keyboard. It is a very clever piece of software for creating multimedia activities and slideshows on your computer, or for passing that task on to your students, no matter what access method they are using. Like PowerPoint and KidPix, it includes a large collection of ready-to-use graphics, sound and video files, supports multiple graphic formats (including the PCS symbols .wmf format at last!) and is able to hyperlink text to website addresses.

What does IntelliPics Studio offer that PowerPoint and KidPix don't?

1. It offers the ability to create quizzes with customised responses for correct and, up to four, incorrect answers.



2. Switch and IntelliKeys access is available for students wishing to create activities from scratch or to run pre-prepared activities. Students with disabilities can therefore work side-by-side with able-bodied students on multimedia projects.



3. Customised "IntelliMation" animations are possible - bringing your slide shows to life on-screen - whether it be moving images around the screen or recording and replaying "painting" of images and text on screen.



4. Text incorporated in activities can be spoken aloud using text-to-speech built into the program, or can be spoken using recorded voice files.



5. You can re-use IntelliPics Studio palettes in IntelliTalk II and IntelliMathics (the other two-thirds of the IntelliTools Classroom Pac).



6. IntelliPics Studio automatically creates overlays if you wish to use IntelliKeys to operate the program. Each time you open an IntelliPics Studio activity, the relevant custom overlay is then sent to IntelliKeys. It ships with a copy of Overlay Printer, so you do not need to use Overlay Maker at all - create and print overlays directly from IntelliPics Studio.



7. It also supports importing of activities created in earlier versions of IntelliPics.

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It is a rare thing to see programs in the special education and assistive technology area go down in price. But it has happened ... The Mayer-Johnson company, manufacturers of Boardmaker and Speaking Dynamically Pro, have just announced that the cost of these programs will decrease. So, all orders for these programs placed with Spectronics from 6th February 2002 onwards, will be available at the cheaper price now listed on our website.

From February 2002, if you are installing Boardmaker for Windows, you will be offered the option of installing the Australian version - with all of our images and vocabulary preferences built right into the Boardmaker install CD. If you are a Mac Boardmaker user, we have posted up information on how to "Australianise" your copy of Boardmaker on the Spectronics website

While we are talking about Boardmaker, you might also be interested in the latest statement from Mayer-Johnson about copyright issues surrounding use of their PCS symbols. Even if you are just using PCS symbols in communication boards created in your Boardmaker program, and then sharing these resources with others, you should read this important Copyright Statement.

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After a long wait, we are finally able to announce the release of the Portable Impact Handheld Communication device. This communication device is incorporated into an NEC Windows CE computer - and, unlike the other Portable Impact devices, has a full keyboard built into the device. Use the keyboard to generate text which is then spoken aloud, or use the integrated touch screen and on-screen keyboards which are a part of the Portable Impact Software.

For more information, visit the Spectronics website. For a free demo CD of the Portable Impact Software, just email us at barbara@spectronicsinoz.com

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• Mike and Tina Detheridge, UK-based developers of Writing with Symbols 2000 will be visiting Brisbane in early October this year. They have offered to run two workshops for us giving users of Writing with Symbols 2000 a better understanding of how to use the many features built into the program. At this stage, we are looking at a one-day workshop in Brisbane and a one-day workshop at a centre within driving distance of Brisbane. There will be a charge - just to cover room hire, catering and training materials. Please email me on barbara@spectronicsinoz.com if you are interested in receiving more information as details are finalised.



• Would you like some help in working your way through the features of textHELP! Read and Write and Wordsmith? Free textHELP! Training Guides developed by textHELP! Systems staff are available for download from the Spectronics website. Click here for the textHELP! Read and Write Training Guide. Click here for the Wordsmith Training Guide. and These guides, being in a Microsoft Word format, can also be read aloud to you using Read and Write or Wordsmith.



• Looking for a definitive collection of photographs on CD for preparation of classroom and communication resources? Would 100,000 crystal clear photos with clear backgrounds be enough?!! Visit our web at to read more about Photo-Object Collections - a fantastic new resource!

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