Free Web-based CalcuType Adds Scanning to Math Functions

We are always looking for math interfaces for assistive technology. CalcuType is a simple browser-based switch-accessible writing tool with word prediction that also does mathmatical equations and writes out your work.

Dr. Gary Bishop, Professor of Computer Science at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill has co-developed and is sharing their program and asking for input. He let me know that although there are other programs out there that do what theirs does, they have added a couple of special features he shared:

"First, the word prediction also does arithmetic. If you type 3+5*2 the suggested completion will be =13. It handles complicated expressions and enables the student to show their work by including text and equations along with their solutions. We think all the vendors of word prediction systems should integrate mathematics into their software. Additionally it allows the student to write on a worksheet represented as an HTML form... It still needs work but we'd love to get feedback from users who would benefit from it."

Calcutype uses an on-screen keyboard with a math window interface. You can configure the setiings you want and open a URL window with it ready to go or use a regular keyboard. You use it to write a document, fill in a form, do math homework, etc. On their web page they share that this is a web-based application that works within the browser and has an embedded calculator. I got the best results using the Firefox web browser. I would highly recommend using the CalcuType with Firefox. I had some problems with IE and Google Chrome, although that might be a problem with our security and firewall at work and not in the program. I love thta it is customizable and works off of the web - so there is nothing to install.
I used a switch interface USB and 2 jelly bean switches for scanning access and it worked great. The developers would really like your input too. They were great to respond and work with me to answer questions. Check them out below.

CalcuType link

It could be interesting to add text to speech and play with a text reader toolbar with it to see what it does. There are several. The click speak embeds in the Firefox browser and Natural Reader is a floating toolbar anywhere on your screen.

All the best to you,
Lon



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Great Variety Pack of On-Screen Keyboards for Alternate Access

How do you help a girl who types with her toes very well, is self-concious, is going into middle school next year and uses a mouse with her hands fairly well?

We have been using the Click-n-Type On-Screen Keyboard with her and an open Word document. I have used the Click-n-type because it is free, has word prediction and is size-adjustable. But for this particular student, we have a need to adjust her keyboard more and today I found Comfort Software's On-Screen Keyboard Package. You can get a basic set for $9.95 or the fully customizable set with all the bells and whistles for $19.95. You can download it for free and use for 30 days to try it out.

I found over 40 different styles of keyboards with word prediction, opacity settings, and thematic backgrounds such as jelly beans, watercolor art, bubbles, dew on a leaf, etc.

There are multimedia keyboards, ergonomic keyboards, split ones, vertical ones, circle key keyboards, etc. There are fully assignable hot keys and you can design and save your own customized keyboards. All this for $19.95.

I have experimented with a lot of on screen keyboards and for the price, this one is terrific. I would love to try it out on a Dynavox V Max with the Touch screen PC part turned on!

I would highly recommend checking Comfort Software out...

All the best to you!

Lon

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kidthing Offers Four Free Dr Seuss E-Books for Read Across America

Read Across Amercia and the NEA join kidthing to give you Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, Hop on Pop and Horton Hears a Who free starting March 2nd.
I have been sharing how cool this reader is and how you can let kids read for themselves and attach a switch interface and jelly bean to do the mouse click and turn the pages. If you are a teacher or specialist, you can download the player with an NEA password to get books. Check it out...



Go to: www.kidthing.com/nea

All the best to you!
Lon



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Wii Therapy: Using the Wii and Wii Fit in Special Education

Yes, you heard me...Wii therapy.

Maybe you have already discovered it and I am slow to figure it out. I received a call from one of our directors telling me that there were two Wii's from a residential program that closed. "Do you think you could use them in some way with students for therapy?"

"Sure," I said, "I bet we can find some occupational therapy uses for them."

In my online search for some uses for the Wii in education and therapy, I found a blog, WiiHab - by the "Wii OT". In this blog it mentions how the Wii Sports and Wii Fit board can work to address coordination, bilateral integration, crossing the midline, motor planning and visual motor integration.

Another Blog, "All Together We Can," by Samuel Sennott, shares some great Wii resources. One is on how to use a Wii remote to build an interactive white board. Another is on adapting a Wii for access.

I am beginning to gear up and see how I can use this to work with students through our OT's. We will have two in our equipment center to check out now and use for therapy. I am excited about the potential.

If you have any resources or experiences to share, please comment or email me to let us know.

All the best to you!

Lon

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February 2009 Assistive Technology Blog Carnival Now Live

AT Blog Carnival February 2009 Edition: "Perfect Pairings" is now up on AT Blog Carnival.
We have some great suggestions for SMART boards, using laptops, software supports and games for the blind, tools used to access the web by a blind photographer, preserving your handwriting as a font, how to build your own interactive whiteboard with a Wii remote...and more!
Check it out and enjoy some great reading and ideas!
All the best to you...
Lon



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Dear Mr. President, Free Ebook on kidthing

kidthing just released "Dear Mr. President" on President's Day. Sifting through 4,500 submitted chidren's drawings and text, the published collection shares 150 top submissions. You can read an article about the project here.

You can download your own free kidthing player and your free copy of "Dear Mr. President" by going to: http://www.kidthing.com/dmp.

AT Blog Carnival Submissions deadline this weekend.

If you have a submission for our next Assistive Technology Blog Carnival, send it to me at lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com The Carnival will be up Monday. You can read more about it at http://atblogcarnival.blogspot.com

All the best to you!

Lon

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My Tribute: Remembering A Voice That Could Have Been

"I am leaving it up to you guys to work on getting a communication device. I wouldn't know where to start." I was talking to the mom of a terminal boy that I was visiting at home this past fall. I had come to check out how things were going after summer break.
I had visited last spring and had done an assessment of what was needed in AT after meeting with our service team, the OT, PT and SLP. They had been concerned that the student was losing his voice and the use of his hands.
"He likes to play video games and spend time on his computer," shared the occupational therapist. "Maybe you can help the family out with some ideas as to what would be helpful for him over the summer so he can access the computer at home."
I had met with the student at school and had found out that he loved to record rap music on a Mac computer he had received from the Make A Wish Foundation. You might recall my post last spring, "How to Rap While Losing Your Voice," which told the story of how I got to know this young man and how I heard his rap music on his computer.
I had written a piece at the end of the school year last June entitled, "Leaving the Ninety-Nine for the One" which shares my heart when it comes to wanting to do everything possible for a child. I mentioned this boy in that post as one that I couldn't wait to help out more.

So, here I was, this past fall, looking to set up a device for him for communication. The state had funding through his case worker to pay for the device - it just meant that the AAC representative, the school case manager, the SLP and myself needed to coordinate to start the procedure. I made all the initial contacts with these folks and began the process of setting up meetings. Before long, it was time for the holidays and I had not heard back from everyone. The day to day appointments and projects crowd out ones that are in a holding pattern and you have to be diligent to pursue them. Winter storms forced missed days and early closures of schools in December and a whole week of time was lost.
In January we started in earnest to set up a loan. I had met 2 times with the SLP and had been communicating with a regional consultant from an AAC company. We were setting up a time for starting a trial when the news came...I was in a state meeting in Portland last week when my cell phone buzzed in my coat pocket.
I went out in the hall and checked my voice mail. "Hi Lon, this is the speech path for ---, can you call me?"

I knew...our boy was gone. I just knew.
I called back, and yes, my hunch had been right. I had known he was deteriorating but had no warning or word that he had been pulled from school, was staying home now, etc. If I would have known, I would have gone to see him one last time and share with the family where we were in the process. Maybe it had been sudden and no one had known it would happen.
I regret that we didn't get to see him use a device and give him a way to tell his family some of the things he was wanting to say. I wish I would have been able to gather everyone up faster and have expedited the trial and purchase of some AAC. It is frustrating that we have so many people to coordinate, with so many schedules and appointments - people who have huge case loads and are trying to fight for meeting times in between. Life and death don't wait while we try to order our lives. I want to blame myself and say I failed him. There is no one to blame even when we want to find someone or something.
He was a courageous boy, full of desire to get all he could out of life. He knew his limitations and he knew he was living on borrowed time. His mom had shared with me that they had talked about it often. There was an unspoken realization between them all the time.
My heart goes out to the family today.

I got a wonderful email from his physical therapist. Our team is going to purchase a tree for the family to plant in his memory. When I replied, asking them to count me in, I got this reply:
"Thanks Lon we will and will let you know your portion.
I just wanted to say I appreciate all your efforts with working with ----. I know that you had some great ideas to make his life better for communication as well as improving his own personal fun on his computer.
You are wonderful—I look forward to working more with you and learning more about assisted technology."
I replied:
"Thanks. I guess no matter how much you do, you always wish you could have done more."

The answer came back: "How true."

All the best to you,
Lon

The Transporters DVD Brings Faces and Feelings to Children with Autism

The Transporters is a fun and effective way to build understanding about emotions. I showed it to 3 first grade children who were glued to the screen the whole time. It was definitely a hit.

Each episode has a short quiz that asks students to pick which of two faces from the story was mad, sad, happy, etc. The style reminds me a lot of the Thomas the Train series and the animation and story lines are terrific.

The setting is a bedroom and any kids dream of a center play table area, with a cable car tram, water, a ferry, etc. The developers share that the mechanical nature of the toys attract children with autism and the faces on them teach the emotions. With regular viewings, the video has increased children's expression and ability to recognize emotion.

Developed in partnership with The Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, this DVD has been designed incorporating the latest research on what works with autistic children to help them develop accurate reading and expression of emotions. The Transporters website says that just 15 minutes of viewing a day over 4 weeks can make a big difference.

If you work with or have an autistic child, you need to check this one out.

All the best to you,

Lon

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"What We Need to Know in Assistive Technology"

Gayle Boswer Shares: What We Need to Know in Assistive Technology

Today I am in Portland, Oregon area at a state-wide inter-agency meeting. Gayle Bowser, AT pioneer, opened our morning session with a presentation: "AIM-ing for the Paradigm Shift"
"The AIM initiative is involving everyone in a conversation about making accessible instructional materials available to those who need them. This is a shift as significant as when IDEA came out to say that all IEP's must consider AT." Gayle shared that we have to change in our approach to technology use and change in our teaching strategies. How do we teach differently with electronic books introduced into the classroom?
We are just now learning how to implement this and have a shared vision, build the practical steps to implement.

IDEA Section 300.172
Defines provisions within the Individuals with Disabilities Education improvement Act for providing texts and core materials instruction in a timely manner.

Core materials published with the texts are defined as written and published primarily for use in an elementary and secondary school instruction. These materials are to be supplied in:
Braille
Audio
Digital text
Large Print
These are for use exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities
Section 121(d)(4) of title 16, United States code

Not all students with reading difficulties meet the criteria for "print disabilities" under the Chafee Amendment of Copyright Law. IDEA 2004 requires that state education agencies make provisions for providing accessible core instructional materials for students that require them in a timely manner.

As we work to implement IDEA mandates for AIM we need to ask:
Who is going to be in charge of finding the titles and acquiring them for our students?
Who is the state level designated NIMAS authorized representative where we get these titles?
How do we involve our state-level text book adoption committees in requesting NIMAS standard electronic files of all text books?
We have a lot of work to do, but we are beginning to understand what we need to do so we can move forward. Our goal needs to be to inform all the key players in education so they are able to support this initiative.

All the best to you,
Lon



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Prosthetic Hand Tool in Top Five for National High School Engineering Competition

Look what a Catholic high school engineering team designed...for $20.



Here is the link to the article and video if you can't see it above:
Prosthetic Hand Article
All the best to you!
Lon



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Build Your Own Free AAC with Foretype, Natural Reader and Win XP

"What free programs for text readers come with word prediction?" a special education teacher asked on an email yesterday.
I had to answer that I didn't know of any off-hand, but that got me thinking, and so I thought I would spend some time researching what was available. One free shareware program stood out - Foretype. It utilizes Microsoft Word's Autotext capabilities to let you design abbreviations easily for your own quick words and phrases. Add a text to speech tool like the free version of Natural Reader, and you have a free AAC communicator right on a Word document - running on codes and abbreviations, which saves energy on typing.

Here's what I did:
I built some custom shorthand abbreviations for comments I wanted to make within the easy Autotext engine that comes with Foretype. You enter your abbreviation shortcut and in another window you enter the text you want it to type. You can also just write and use their word prediction. It doesn't come up as much as I would like, but definitely is nice with phrases, signatures, etc. you build in.
I tried: brb=be right back, nhp=I need help please, ml=maybe later.
I opened the miniboard in Natural Reader on my screen, and as I wrote the shortcuts, I pressed "enter" for the real text when it appeared in the box. Then the real text would be on the page. I highlighted text and pressed play on the toolbar and it said my phrase.
That's all there was to it!

Some limitations:
If you have someone who is orthopedically impaired, all the key shortcuts for highlighting text could be helpful as listed on Learnthat.com . There is the free Click n type on-screen keyboard that can do scanning that could be a possibility to get to the keyboarding piece with a switch or just the use of a mouse/trackball/trackpad. Because there is a lot of navigation for the speech part with the highlighting and pressing of play with the text to speech toolbar, it might be inappropriate for certain individuals. I also did not see a version for Vista or for Mac OS.

This combination is especially ideal for someone who has lost their voice and has partial to full use of their hands to do regular navigation on the screen to write and talk - and is experiencing a tight budget.

All the best to you,
Lon




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Where Are We with the Stimulus Plan Support for Special Education?

The New York Times Sunday shared the following update on the Senate stimulus plan as it addresses education:
There is slated "$79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in education aid and provide block grants; $25 billion to school districts to fund special education and the No Child Left Behind K-12 law; $14 billion to boost the maximum Pell Grant by $400 to $5,250; $1.1 billion for Head Start."
This totals approximately $119 billion.
You can read the entire article on the "Wide Variation in House and Senate Stimulus Plans" from an online edition of the San Fransisco Chronicle.
I had shared last week in a post on special education and the new stimulus plan that there was a proposal of $150 billion for education, and that $17 billion of it would be for special education and students with disabilities. This was to be an increase from $11 billion in the past.

Based on a comparison of the old and the new numbers, we are seeing a decrease in proposed funding for education in general, but an increase in funding and support for special education - a jump from $17 to $25 billion. President Obama's message to the nation last night identified education and technology in the new century classroom areas where money would be placed, but congress has yet to nail down the specifics of what the end result will actually be.
Please contact your state representatives and your sentaors to let them know how important it is to see support continue so we can meet the needs of our special needs student population.

All the best to you,
Lon




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Teenager Shares: Surviving TBI and Having a Great Life After High School

"I was a popular girl in my high school, a cheerleader. This is me with my date for the prom. Here I am with my friends. I made a bad choice and now I am in this wheelchair and can hardly talk to you."
I was at a TBI conference this past fall, listening to a young woman share about her traumatic brain injury through a Powerpoint slide show. She was able to talk to us, but her condition was a far cry from the person we saw in the pictures on the screen.
" I thought nothing could happen to me. I was at a summer outdoor rock concert with some girlfriends. Some boys we met wanted us to leave with them and drive around. I called my mom and dad and told them what I was going to do. They said "No, come home now," and I got mad and told them off, hung up and went anyway. Our car was t-boned by a big pick-up and I was taken to the hospital."
There had been alcohol involved, and the one of the group was killed in the accident. Our speaker shared about her recovery and how hard it was. How she had to learn to talk, to read and write again. She talked about choices young people make thinking they are indestructible.
"You might think this will never happen to you. You need to listen to your parents because they know more than you think. They are trying to protect you even when you think they are being mean. I had everything, good looks, lots of friends and popularity. I still have my family and friends but I lost a lot of who I was and what I was. Don't be like me. Stay away from situations where you can get hurt or killed. Make the right choices."
I was amazed at the courage this young woman had. She had been taking her show "on the road" as it were to share in high schools throughout Oregon. She wanted teens to hear her story and maybe think twice before getting in a situation where this could happen to them. She has a woman friend/care giver and business partner that she works with to manage and operate a therapy pool center in their community as well as a business doing gift baskets.
I am heading to another TBI training here in a couple of weeks, and in conversation today, this girls story came up. I will have to ask at my next meeting about more specifics on her name and contract information and see if she has a website. If I can, I will get some information to you. I just thought her story would be an encouragement to all of us that we can make our life into anything we want, no matter the circumstances, if we are able to see our potential and work to do the right things. Have a great week!
All the best to you...
Lon



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Load up Free Assistive Technology Tools with Access Apps

Load up Your Flash Drive with Incredible Free Access Apps

Access Apps from RSC in Scotland - (Regional Support Centers, UK,) have some great open-source assistive technology software. I bought a 2 gb flash drive the other day and downloaded "The Works" from the site. It was a compressed version that I unzipped and then I dragged the folders onto the jump. A small icon on your system tray tells you it is plugged in. Click it and you get a small launch window with all the apps - nothing is ever loaded on the computer - it all runs from the jump drive so you can take it wherever you go.

Great Tools:

The applications are listed under headings like planning and organization, Reading and writing support, Visual support, Accessible browsers, keyboard/mouse alternatives, Multimedia tools, Presentation tools and the whole Open Office Suite (the open source answer to MS Office). There are even some fun games like sudoku and Jooleem - kind of a Jewelquest game finding sets.

The Apps include:

Open Office - word processing, spreadsheet, data base, slide presentations, etc.

Free Mind - mind mapping

Sticky Notes - on-screen notes

Sunbird Calendar

Amis - DAISY Reader

Click-n-type Keyboard

Audacity - sound recording

Dspeech - text to speech and speech to text, plus Mp3 conversion

Type Faster - typing tutor

Wink - screen capture

Art Weaver - art tools

Virtual Magnifying Glass

Camstudio - on-screen video tutorial maker

The Sage - dictionary and thesaurus

Power Reader - Dyslexic Reading Support

And the list goes on... I will be highlighting some of them in the weeks to come in-between other news. I would call this a one-stop-shop for many helpful tools all on one little flash drive. Life will be easier for anyone who uses a computer once they discover all the cool things you can do with these tools.

Also: If you have some ideas for great pairings of AT, don't forget the call for submissions to the February AT Blog Carnival (see sidebar) AND thank you for all of you who come here to read - January was our biggest month yet - I have had almost 2,500 vistors with 3,500 pages read since January 5 - a great way to launch 2009!

All the best to you!

Lon

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IDEA Funding Levels Being Challenged in U.S. Senate

This is an action alert from the Council for Exceptional Children:

Opposition Threatens to Derail Historic Funding Increases for IDEA Tell Your Senators How IDEA Funding Will Save Special Education Programs, Jobs!
"This week, the Senate will vote on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, legislation which would provide unprecedented funding increases for IDEA programs for school aged children/youth as well as for infants and toddlers with disabilities. This funding comes at a time when states are struggling to provide programs serving children/youth with disabilities. On January 28 the House of Representatives passed similar legislation.

However, opposition to this legislation has been steadily increasing. And while the measure passed the House, opposition continues to grow:

At a Capitol meeting last Thursday night with Senate Democrats, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag questioned the level of education spending in the House and Senate bills. And by all accounts, the $26 billion provided for Title I and special education programs is close to double the administration’s request. – Politico

We know that this infusion of resources for IDEA will help deflect job layoffs, help ensure program continuation, and free up resources for other critical initiatives.

But we need YOU to explain to your Senators how budget cuts have impacted you, your school or your early intervention program! "

There is an email or printed letter engine that has a prepared text. You can customize it and send it to all U.S. Senators from the bottom of the article.
Let our leaders know we need their continued support for funding IDEA.

Other links on the page:
See how much money the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would bring to your school district in the areas of Title I, school construction and IDEA Part B.
Click here for background information, including a chart of education funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

All the best to you!
Lon



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Let's Re-define Student Use of Computers in Special Education

How many times have you seen special needs students on computers doing busy work or filling time that should be used for instruction? Often it is set up as a "reward" so they get to do pointless games online, full of ads and pop-ups. You might say, "No way! Not in MY room." or you might be saying, "Ouch! I have to work really hard to keep our kids and staff from falling into that routine."
I had a special education teacher recently start training with me on Classroom Suite 4.0 by Intellitools. I showed her the templates for phonemic awareness and math, full of activities that can be designed with pull-down menus prescriptively to meet specific remedial needs of students.
We set up an activity that could match ending sounds. The teacher previewed her new activity and set it up in a student folder she had designed for one of her students to do the new activity this week. I showed her the creativity tools. We did some switch-accessed Early Learning activities that used boardmaker type symbols for up. down, crawl, bounce, etc. The student can learn to recognize these movements and the symbols for them. If you never got to climb or bounce, you might like making a kite or a ball do it for you - complete with sound effects. (OT's would love the reinforcement of movement concepts that this teaches for kids who can't do them.)
I showed her how to enter text and make it talk along with an open book and a switch, so that the student could hit the switch at the start of each new page and get the story to read off of the computer. (it just creates some fun variety in the way to read.) We built a story starter about space where the students could write and put space pictures on the page and animate them. They could record their own voice reading the page and when the book was done, play it for others and print it out to go home.
"Wow, I might get my kids to actually write something!" was the teachers comment. "This might be a way to get the computer to be used for something academic instead of games that waste time."
"If students have motivating activites with a point to them, " I said, "they will get in a routine and do those things instead. The trick is to have activities on the computer in their CS4 folder every week and train them to go look and do what is inside."
You have to make kids do these things. By human nature, they will press to go the easiest route. School is a place to learn, not play video games that have no academic base. We don't need to apologize and let ourselves feel like we are mean because we don't let them play online games during school or do that worn out CD program that has been by the computer forever. There are plenty of software programs and educational sites with academic goals to their games, but I hear teachers and parents say, "My kids find them boring and they don't want anything to do with them. They want to do the fun games."

Well, I'm sorry, but some things need to be re-defined. How we use the computer in special education (if we are lucky enough to have one for kids to use) is one of them. I can't expect to change a kid's computer appetite overnight and send him back to the computer alone to do busywork. Setting up a new routine can be like weaning a calf off its' mama or taking a drug addict off their fix, but when you stick to your guns and spend some one-on-one time guiding them into the routine, the pay-off will show in dividends. Especially when you can prescribe real remedial tools that ARE fun, challenging, boost self accomplishment and self-esteem and bring kids up to the academic standards where they need to be.
Let's try and press in as we are already in February. Let's use every available moment to reach the goals we so want and need to meet with our students. If we are creative, we can still make it fun at the same time.

All the best to you!
Lon

I think we need to look at the ISTE standards and adapt them to have our own set for student self-accommodation. Maybe there is a list out there already - if not, we need to think through motivating approaches to teaching life skills on the computer in special ed as well as using it as an academic tool. If you have thoughts on this, or know good links, please share them.
Maybe I have a topic for an AT Blog Carnival in the next few months!



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DSpeech: Terrific Treasure for all kinds of Text and Speech Operations

DSpeech gives you free text to speech, text to mp3 and wav conversion, voice recording and speech to text - all from a flash drive!
I was exploring Access Apps, a free downloadable accessibility suite from RCS in Scotland, that runs from a flash drive. I was exploring for Mp3 conversion tools and one of the tools was DSpeech. I will be sharing more on Access Apps on another post, but wanted to specifically share the DSpeech today. You can opt to download it from the link at the top and just use it off a flash drive or your computer if you don't want the full downloaded suite in AccessApps. (More to come on the tools on the AccessApps suite.)
DSpeech can import text files in many formats and read them aloud. There is a box to check that shows tracking so that words are highlighted as they are read. Text can be converted to wav or mp3 files to download and listen on a portable player or they can be heard through the computer.
I used the speech to text tool and found that if I spoke slowly and clearly, I could get most of what I said to print okay. I could then save that as a text file. I found that under options, if I configured the ASR (automatic speech recognition) with the pull-down menu choice, SAPI Developer, I got better results with the computer interpreting my voice. There are recorder buttons on the program also to record messages and read text outloud to create Mp3/wav files as well. The website says you can do conversational things with the text and set up new voices by blending other voices - I haven't explored it that deep yet, but it has great potential. When you choose a voice, you get an avatar at the top that blinks and talks when the text to speech is activated. This will definitely be a draw for students!
I recorded some sound files, used the speech to text, copied an article from Word I had taken off the Internet and turned it into an mp3 file. Everything worked great.

Because DSpeech can run off a jump or flash drive, nothing has to be installed on a computer. A student can carry the jump drive with them and store files on it as well. The interface uses any voices you have on a computer. Mine had the Voiceware VW Paul and VW Kate. I liked them the best. I think I got them when I downloaded a free version of Natural Reader. The voices extended themselves over to the DSpeech which made a much more natural sounding voice so you might want to try downloading the free version of Natural Reader and see.

If you are looking for some great accessibility tools for voice, text and mp3, check out DSpeech. It's a great tool.

All the best to you!

Lon




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Would the New Stimulus Plan Improve Special Education Programs?

Stimulus Plan could Reshape U.S. Education Policy to a Stronger Fed Voice.
Saving jobs and programs could result in loss of state and local control.
The federal investment in education would more than double under a proposed stimulus package pending in Congress. It includes $150 billion in new education spending, which would change the federal government's role in education. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the money will prevent hundreds of thousands of teachers' layoffs and money also will go to support early childhood education, repair aging school buildings and improve special-education programs. The pocket of money for disabled children would increase from the current $11 billion to $17 billion. The question is, what strings or requirements will come with this money and will it be what care-givers and educators deem best?
Read the article at the International Herald Tribune.
Taiwan News, I read Sunday night, where it was already Monday, gives us a glimpse of Obama's bi-partisan White House Super bowl party Sunday and the struggles in passing the stimulus package under intense scrutiny this week. This is an interesting article too.

All the best to you!

Lon



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