I am so excited to share with you feedback on the No Limits 2 Learning Live segments on Blog Talk Radio and this blog. My guest yesterday, Ellen Witham and myself, had emails from listeners who shared the value of her topic on AAC implementation from a parent's point of view.
One listener shared:
"Much of what you were talking about almost directly applies to a child in a Sunday school class I am teaching (2 year olds, in our third week). One child has a vocabulary of 4 words - mom is currently working with an SLP and as of yet there is no diagnosis. He obviously will benefit from a symbol communication system, and mom has been teaching him some sign language.We did a matching game with magnetic 'pictures' (I think they actually may have been PCS ala Boardmaker) symbols and a cookie sheet, and he was one of the brightest as far as comprehension went and was able to pick out matched pairs of specific symbols on demand. I will refer mom to your interview - I think you probably do not realize how much a few moments of your time will positively impact folks for years to come!"
I also received this comment:
"ALL of your interviews are useful and topical to broad groups of people. What a nice contribution for you to make to the world at large, to pull these things together and put them in one place so we can get to them and listen at our leisure."
I just wanted to share this with all of you. I know that sometimes we work on our projects fired only by our own passion. When we hear things like the above, it gives us a boost. I had a software/online tool representative contact me this past week and thank me for some positive and encouraging words given towards their project. It was shared that their team is small and they work very hard - to hear the feedback was a boost to them too!
My desire is to see that the resources appearing on this blog, the talk show and the AT Blog Carnival be positive, constructive and add to the assistive technology community in a larger way. When I hear that what I write is encouraging, or that the interviews we do are building into an archive that will "positively impact folks for years to come" I am humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude.
I must share that the number of readers returning to this blog continues to grow and the blog has now over 2000 reads a month. The combination of the numbers visiting and reading as well as the listeners on No limits 2 Learning Live encourage me. I am seeing upwards of 70 downloads of segments by listeners going to archives. I know that my efforts are doing some good and creating a foundation for greater resources down the road.
I have lined up some wonderful guests for July and August. I have been visiting with the DAISY Consortium to work on an interview for their folks to share on the future vision and services with the DAISY format - allow them to tell us what things they want to pass along, as well as allow you to call in and ask questions or make comments.
I have been visiting with with gh Accessibility to work on a time for their CEO to share his story of how the company got started - which has to do with supporting his wife with accessibility to alternative text while in college.
Next week, we have Gayl Bowser and Penny Reed, highly respected pioneers in AT implementation in education sharing on the team model. There are others as well that will be sharing over the summer.
I am so thankful for everyone's willingness to share. Knowing that these archives will become a valuable resource for folks down the road, means a lot. Thank you to all of you too as listeners and readers, commenters and emailers. This entire effort is FOR you and I am encouraged that things seem to be appreciated and are regularly read. I will continue to do my best to provide valuable resources, interviews and tips for AT users. I have a goal to get a bundle of activities, templates and tutorials as well as some other AT resources ready to make available online by the end of the summer. Some will be free and others for purchase at a nominal cost. Since I am on summer break for a month or so, my posts won't have quite the usual student stories and experiences until I get back to school in August. In the meantime, I am excited to focus on some video tutorials, share on some online tools and software to fill the gap.
I know many of you will be off on some summer adventures as well, so enjoy the time off. I will be taking my son camping a few days from the 4th of July (our U.S. Independence Day) on, and will try to set up some posts to be up on the days I am gone. If I miss a few and take some time off - forgive me and check back - I promise I won't miss very long, I would miss hearing from you and the folks I am working with to present new information for future projects.
All the best to you!
Lon
Remember! If you want to contribute to the AT Blog Carnival for June, I need you to email me your blog post submission by this Friday, June 27. The next edition will be up on Monday at:
http://atblogcarnival.blogspot.com
Send your submissions to me at: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com
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