The SoundHouse Special Access Kit is made up of the Banana Keyboard and software for your computer allowing you to program this clever keyboard to be whatever your students need it to be!

The Banana Keyboard was developed in Melbourne by Ken Owen, a Music Teacher and accomplished live keyboards performer, who observed the difficulties students with disabilities experienced in trying to use standard keyboards and synthesisers in the SoundHouse Music Technology Labs around Australia.

What is the Banana Keyboard?

It is a lightweight membrane keyboard with sixteen keys and is configured like a section of an oversized piano, but curved to suit the radial movement of an arm. It may be placed on a wheelchair or a desktop and students need only to lightly touch the surface of the keyboard to activate any music, sounds or speech which have been programmed into each key of the Banana Keyboard.

"Any sound on any note at any time!"

• Play the sounds of any instrument your students choose to play


• Compose songs to sing and play along with


• Play back words and speech - for example, use one key or switch press to introduce the class concert with a recorded message and the next to set the concert performance in motion!


• Play back a series of recorded messages - using keys on the keyboard to activate the message sequence step-by-step. Use the Banana Keyboard as a 16 or 24 message communicator if you wish!


• Record your students' own musical compositions

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Remember the Spectronics and Zygo Australia Assistive Technology Summits held in 2000? For a reminder of this motivating series of events, visit www.spectronicsinoz.com/library.asp?library=summits.

We have had so many people asking for us to run another conference that we have decided that 2004 will be the year. Watch out for more news of the Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technologies Summer School 2004!

Our plan is for a conference hosted by Spectronics which will focus on "Inclusive Learning Technologies". This Conference will have a slightly different emphasis to the Spectronics and Zygo Australia Summits. It will include sessions not only focusing on assistive technologies for students with intellectual and/or physical disabilities in Special Ed settings - but will also focus on the technologies available to assist students with learning difficulties who are in mainstream settings but are struggling to keep up with the reading, writing or organisational tasks required of them.

Kelly Fonner, whose presentations were so popular at the Summits in 2000, will be returning to present sessions at our 2004 conference. Kelly is a Special Ed teacher in the USA with extensive experience in assistive and educational technologies. She presents workshops and trainings at all major conferences across the USA and we are really excited to be welcoming her back to Australia for our conference in 2004. Click here for more information about Kelly's background.

We will also be co-ordinating presentations by key assistive technology users from around Australia. As a result, our Summer School will be very relevant to the unique needs of Australian users of technologies to support students with disabilities and/or learning difficulties.

We have lots of finalising of plans to be sorted at this stage ... but we are working on the dates of 9th to 11th November 2004 with the venue being the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia ... there are worse places to spend a tax deductible week in Summer!! We also plan to run two streams within the conference - one focusing on the needs of students with disabilities, and one focusing more on the needs of students in mainstream settings with learning difficulties.

If you would like to be kept up to date as plans evolve for the Spectronics Inclusive Learning Technologies Summer School 2004, please email Lisa at Spectronics and she will keep you posted. We will also keep you up on developments through this email update.

Make sure you book up this session in your 2004 PD Calendar!

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The popular AlphaSmart 3000 and Dana portable notetakers have always been affordable alternatives to laptop computers. They are now even more affordable after Spectronics worked with AlphaSmart in the USA to bring the price down further for Australian users. The new pricing is as follows:

• AlphaSmart 3000
  Was $548.90 (incl. GST) now $438.90 (incl. GST)
  Saving of $110 per AlphaSmart 3000!



• AlphaSmart 3000 IR (Infrared Model)
  Was $594.00 (incl. GST) now $493.90 (incl. GST)
  Saving of $100 per AlphaSmart 3000 IR!



• Dana
  Was $1089.00 (incl. GST) now $896.50 (incl. GST)
  Saving of nearly $200 per Dana!



• Dana Wireless
  Now $995.50 (incl. GST)
  Keep an eye on our website over the next few weeks as we add information on this new Dana Wireless - the newest Dana model which allows for wireless network connectivity.

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Research indicates that when students select their own books to read, their literacy levels improve. My Own Bookshelf is the newest software program from SoftTouch and it gives your students the ability to select their own electronic books from their own customised bookshelf and read them as often as they wish.

It is a very easy-to-use program for creating talking books - a few simple steps and you have created books which can be selected from the bookshelf and independently read by students who are using a mouse, touchscreen, IntelliKeys or switches. The program also keeps track of which books each student selects and how long they spend reading.

The My Own Bookshelf Book Reader included with the program means that it is also possible to share the books with other students who do not have the full My Own Bookshelf program installed on their computer.

When the program was released at the Closing the Gap Conference in the US, several people took the program home and reported that they had "made three books before bedtime"! We are all super busy ... so a quick and easy to use program like this one is a great find!

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This year, we reduced the price of our NEC Portable LCD touch monitors from $2300 to $1500 (plus GST) - and have one only left now in stock at this price!

Being portable (only 4.7kg), it is an ideal touch monitor for use with a laptop or when you are on the move visiting schools or centres throughout your district. It is also fitted with a TouchPen.

What is the benefit of having the TouchPen fitted?

TouchPen technology's "Intelligent Hand Rejection" distinguishes between pen and finger touches. It even ignores the hand if it rests on the screen during writing. It offers users an alternative to fingertip touch for making onscreen selections - for example, when users are required to click on small icons or website links on screen. A fingertip may be too large for accurate selection of these smaller targets.

For more information about this touch monitor visit the Spectronics website at www.spectronicsinoz.com/library.asp?article=15441

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In our last email update, we told you about the Therapy Friends Kits which have been developed for use with Boardmaker. Just print out the boards, laminate them, then use them following the instructions given in the Therapy Friends Kit manuals.

Amanda and Terri-Lee (the Therapy Friends team) released another Kit last month with an Australian Christmas focus - called the Therapy Friends: Christmas Theme Kit. Click here for more info about the Kit.

There are lots of Australian Christmas activity ideas built in. My favourite is the Twelve Days of Christmas Activity ... ten wombats washing ... nine echidnas eating ... eight dingos dancing ...

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A note from Michael O'Leary, Managing Director of Spectronics ...

"Despite the short notice, Spectronics has successfully arranged a tour of Australia and New Zealand for Colin Clayton, the developer of the wiseDX, to follow on from his visit to Australia earlier this year.

A number of rehabilitation centres in Australia have participated in the two day training necessary to be able to competently set up the wiseDX for power wheelchair users. It has been very exciting trialling the wiseDX with potential end-users after the two days of training, putting the wiseDX through its paces to tailor its flexibility to suit individual requirements for the control of their power wheelchair, and then to drive other "stuff" (infrared controlled appliances, computers and communication devices).

Australia and New Zealand have shown great interest in these new technologies. I am personally very proud of the way Colin Clayton has been made welcome by all with whom he has worked. My sincere thanks to those who participated, and a special thank you to the individuals who liaised with Spectronics to facilitate his visit to their area.

In conjunction with the developers of these control systems, Spectronics has compiled an up-to-date comparison chart which details the features of the wiseDX system and compares it with the ClickToGo and the Genie Joystick control systems (integrated powered mobility control options from Unique Perspectives in Ireland). This chart is downloadable from the Spectronics website at www.spectronicsinoz.com/downloads/general/Alternate_Controls.pdf or, if it is difficult for you to download the file, please contact Lisa Meyer at Spectronics on lisa@spectronicsinoz.com and she will be happy to email or post a copy to you.

To facilitate feature for feature comparison with other systems, our chart uses the same headings as the document developed in 2002 by the Crippled Children's Association of South Australia, comparing the wiseDX with the Dynamics Iris System and the SRS 100 System, also available in Australia (This document is downloadable from www.regencypark.org.au/content.asp?p=395)

To support the need for more hands-on experience in this area, Spectronics hopes to have both Colin Clayton and Brian Dillon (developer of the ClickToGo and Genie Joystick systems) attending the ARATA 2004 Conference to demonstrate their systems in action and answer your questions in person.

If you are wishing to source one of these integrated power mobility controls, please contact Spectronics for information on the rehabilitation centre and/or reseller nearest you."

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In another article from our last email update we put out a call for contributions to the Australian/New Zealand version of Clicker 4. At that time, we believed we were working to a really tight timeframe, but software development cycles being what they are ... we find ourselves with more time up our sleeves. The OZ/NZ version is unlikely to be released until late in 2004 now, so we are really keen to receive more grids and ideas for grids which have worked well for you.

Please contact Heather Jones on heather@spectronicsinoz.com for more information on how you can contribute. As previously offered, we will provide a free upgrade to the new version for all contributors.

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