Two decades ago, resident launched center to meet special needs

When Margaret Doumitt learned she was a recipient of the local Jefferson Awards, she was honored. When Doumitt learned she was going to the nation’s capital to represent her hometown, she was surprised. Doumitt is the founder of the STAR Center, a local assistve technology center in Jackson, TN.

August 05, 2008

Emerging technology makes learning more accessible

A free, open-source online screen-reading program that gives visually impaired students the ability to surf the web from any internet-connected device, and a system that enables students with severe physical handicaps to control computers or wheelchairs with only their tongues, are among the latest developments in assistive technology (AT) that aim to lessen--if not completely obliterate--the gap between the able and the disabled.

August 05, 2008

Devices help bring voices to life

With a few keystrokes to a device that looks like a touch-screen computer, Doug Goering, 16, of Indian Hill, “described” one of the things he likes to do.

August 05, 2008

Tongue-assisted technology is developed

U.S. engineers said they’ve developed a tongue-assisted technology to help individuals with severe disabilities lead more independent lives. The system allows individuals with disabilities to operate a computer, control a powered wheelchair and interact with their environments simply by moving their tongues.

August 05, 2008

New learning center showcases assistive technology

AT: LAST Inc., the Maryland Assistive Technology Cooperative in Columbia, held a grand opening for the center, showcasing devices including adapted telephones, dressing and grooming aids, and altered recreational games like pinball machines.

August 05, 2008

Early years crucial to learning and development

Every baby is unique and all infants and toddlers grow and change at different rates. Sometimes children experience delays in their development that may be perfectly normal; but other times delays are cause for concern.

August 05, 2008

Accident Can’t Derail Teaching Dream

The traffic accident that sidelined Cheryl Salyer didn’t slow down her dream of becoming a teacher. Compassionate classmates, a determined University of South Florida professor and technology saw to that.

August 05, 2008

Symposium brings latest technology to Alabama School for the Blind

People from across the state came to Talladega to participate in a technology symposium hosted by the Alabama School for the Blind.

June 06, 2008

Keys to change

The humble keyboard is facing competition from touch and voice-recognition technology.

June 06, 2008

A miracle convention for the disabled?

Fine words without actions are meaningless but actions usually only come about after fine words have been written - Victoria Brignell celebrates a new UN convention

June 06, 2008

Faith in a nonverbal world

Autistic youth has a traditional bar mitzvah using nontraditional technology

June 06, 2008

Grandfather builds Web browser for autistic boy

John LeSieur is in the software business, so he took particular interest when computers seemed mostly useless to his 6-year-old grandson, Zackary. The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration.

June 04, 2008

Disabled Teens Get Grant For Online IT Training

Young people with disabilities are expected to get a helping hand with new online IT services thanks to national grant monies garnered by the Computing Technology Industry Association Educational Foundation.

May 27, 2008

Making Assistive Technology Work at Libraries

While many libraries have assistive technology for the public, most report it’s not used very often since people don’t know how to use it. Our instructional program is comprehensive – taking people with no computer skills and teaching them to keyboard, to use the computer and to use the assistive technology programs.

May 27, 2008

Ireland’s First Ever Assistive Technology Library

Ireland’s first every Electronic Assistive Technology web based library bank was launched May 15 by a consortium of groups who work with people with disabilities.

May 27, 2008

Accessible play areas: Able-bodied and handicapped kids can share many playgrounds

When Robison Elementary School unveiled its new playground in April, a whole new world of activity opened up for Anthony Planck, a student. “He thinks they built it for him,” his mother, Jamie Planck, said in a telephone interview, “so he can play with the other kids.”

May 27, 2008

Microsoft, DAISY Make Reading Easier for People With Print Disabilities

Microsoft Corp. has joined with industry and advocacy group leaders worldwide to launch new software that will make it easier for anyone to create documents and content that will be accessible for blind and print-disabled individuals.

May 27, 2008

Technology helps the disabled find independence

The sleds are just one piece of assistive technology equipment that helps people with disabilities play sports and lead independent lives. Assistive technology devices can range from a $5 cane to a $30,000 iBOT Mobility System, which is a wheelchair that can climb stairs.

May 27, 2008

Student with Visual Impairment Creates Art for a Purpose

Jeff Hanson is not a regular teenager. Jeff is swamped with work from people commissioning him for one of his colorful paintings. Orders for his beautiful art just keep coming in, and they command top dollar.

May 10, 2008

Can assistive technology save computing?

Computing is becoming an old man’s game. Last year just 8,000 people graduated with computing majors, nationwide, the lowest figure in years. Can assistive technology turn that around? Michael Buckley at the University of Buffalo thinks so.

May 10, 2008

Technically, 11-year-old boy a whiz kid

Timmy Clawson is remarkable for his abilities, not his disabilities. The 11-year-old Loveland boy with cerebral palsy uses technology to help him communicate his academic prowess, and his quick wit. He’s so proficient that the Loveland Intermediate School fifth-grader has gained national recognition. Timmy was selected as a 2008 “Yes I Can!” award-winner. The award, sponsored by the Council for Exceptional Children, honors students who achieve despite disabilities.

May 10, 2008

Chattanooga: Assistive technology director loves the work she’s been honored for doing

Molly Littleton says she has the best job in the world, and it’s hard to argue with her. One day she gets to test toys. Another day she gets to try out the coolest, latest technology devices. One afternoon last week, she was examining colorful outdoor musical instruments that two eager UTC engineering students had made for some of her clients. Later this week she’s heading to Slovakia to help enlighten that country’s special-education teachers.

May 10, 2008

Technology puts more pupils in the mainstream

The schools are part of a movement in education to integrate technology into mainstream curriculum and general classrooms so students with disabilities such as mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, blindness, and dyslexia can join their peers.

May 10, 2008

LATKids Launches New Programs

“In Other Words,” a new game designed for children and teens with autism, teaches figures of speech. Our popular “Verbal Behavior Technique” is renamed “MatchUp!”, runs on the web, and lets you customize it!

April 14, 2008

Uncommonly typical: 12-year old earns national honor for use of technology

According to his mother, Mark Steidl, 12, is a pretty typical kid. He loves music and being outside with friends near his Highland Park home. Mark is an honor student at his Overbrook school who taught himself to read at age 4 and has composed music. Typical? How about extraordinary? Mark has cerebral palsy, which robs him of the physical ability to sing or hold a musical instrument.

April 13, 2008

An Interview with IBM’s Vicki Hanson

Accessibility concerns a lot of users: 1 out of 5 people will suffer from some disabilities during their life, especially as they grow older. And technology is in general a barrier for older adults, because of well documented cognitive declines that make it more difficult to learn.

April 13, 2008

Students donate technology, time and expertise

The gift involves the purchase of an iMac computer with Photo Shop software to be used at the Alfred Rendigs Center. In addition to the computer, the students have agreed to volunteer to teach and assist the participants with the use of the system and other computer applications.

April 13, 2008

High-tech computer software helping students improve literacy skills

Through a partnership between the Northeastern District Catholic School Board and the Provincial Schools Branch, students with language-based learning disabilities at O’Gorman Intermediate Catholic School are being provided the type of equipment they need to succeed, in their own community.

April 13, 2008

Wall Street Journal: Aid to Make Homes ‘Accessible’

Americans generally would prefer growing old in their own homes. Yet many of those homes are ill-suited to the disabilities that can accompany old age.

April 13, 2008

‘Giving the Non-Verbal a Voice’ goal of ATRI conference

The conference is intended for professionals in speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and special education who work with children and adults who have moderate to severe speech impairments.

April 13, 2008

A Tug of War Over a Struggling School’s Future

Three years after a Logan Heights middle school split from the school district, striking its own path as a nonprofit-run charter school, its problems have multiplied, prompting calls for the school to relinquish its independence and return to the district’s control.

March 30, 2008

What is the use of a signing avatar?

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has just run a week-long Festival of Social Science. One of the events was an afternoon discussion on signing avatars (avatars that have been animated to produce British Sign Language (BSL) to help communication with the deaf community).

March 30, 2008

Special program that scans and reads books helps those with dyslexia

Having a disability such as dyslexia or having trouble reading a book is no excuse to keep you from learning. The Kurzweil 3000, a program found at the DSPS center, is making education easier for those with these disabilities

March 30, 2008

Bookshare.org Partners with Don Johnston to Provide Free Text Reader

This technology access partnership announced at the 2008 CSUN conference in Los Angeles, CA, will serve an estimated 1-3% of the total K-12 student population, specifically those who receive special education services and qualify under the 1996 Chafee Amendment.

March 30, 2008

Canada: Disabled student has sights set on journalism gig

When the 2010 Winter Paralympics begin in Vancouver two years from today, Grace Brulotte hopes to roll in with the athletes, a camera fixed to her wheelchair, a keyboard at the ready with which to write stories.

March 30, 2008

Casio’s Electronic Dictionaries Utilizes Fonix Speech Technology

"Users of Casio’s new electronic dictionary products incorporating FonixTalk technology will enjoy a much improved, more natural sounding female voice in 2008,” commented John Shepherd, Sales Director for Fonix Speech, Inc. “The sounds, accents and intonations have all become better, allowing users to more clearly hear these differences.”

March 30, 2008

Kids don’t come with an instruction manual

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families today announced the detail of a Government parenting programme to help parents get extra help with issues such as bullying, school exclusions and dealing with the impact of divorce.

March 30, 2008

Website Makes Gaming Accessible For Everyone

For many of us, playing video games and working on computers is second nature. My laptop and I are practically attached at the hip. But what if, due to physical limitations, you were unable to use your computer for gaming and other applications?

March 30, 2008

Mind control: the latest assistive technology

A short article in my newspaper caught my eye ‘PC games controlled by thought’. It described the Epoc Headset from Emotive Systems. The headset is a lightweight ‘hat’ which uses electroencephalography (EEG), to measure brainwaves, and a gyroscope, to detect head movements.

March 30, 2008

Fonix Speech Voice Recognition Technology Featured in New Tom Clancy Video Game

Of particular interest to the gaming community is Tom Clancy’s EndWar’s groundbreaking voice command technology. Especially the fact that the voice command (or talking control) works as well on the console versions (i.e. PlayStation®3 and XBOX® 360) as it does on the PC version. This is something that previous voice command games have failed to deliver.

March 30, 2008

‘Tools for Life’ Conference in Idaho Falls Helps Disabled Students

Students with disabilities can have a hard time adapting to the world after high school. The Tools for Life conference kicked off Morning to help this up-and-coming generation.

March 30, 2008

Guam: Hawaii-based Shriners Hospital aids disabled kids

Guam’s children can find solace in the fact that doctors 4,000 miles away are working for them. At the Shriners Hospital For Children in Honolulu, doctors work arduously to provide free medical treatment to children with orthopedic handicaps and birth defects across the Pacific.

March 30, 2008

Making the most of light - the natural way

Maximising the use of natural light is probably the answer to countering various problems. Neera Gulati explains how the new wave of tubular skylights enables both, homeowners and businesses, to enjoy the benefits of natural lighting techniques without the drawbacks.

March 30, 2008

England: Our house in cyberspace

It’s not often you catch a grown man playing with a doll’s house, let alone doing it while pretending to be a little old lady. But this is not your average Barbie residence, and it’s all in the name of research.

February 28, 2008

College rallies behind its disabled students

Marcel Legault is able-bodied. But he gained first-hand insight Wednesday on challenges people with disabilities face every day. Legault was among the 120 participants in the 19th-annual Wheelchair Rally and Awareness Day at Northern College’s Porcupine campus.

February 28, 2008

Massachusetts: “Assets” for young readers

Eight students from New Bedford’s Lincoln School graduated recently from a unique 10-week reading program offered at ASSETS, Inc. Students received donated gifts, valued at $100, which included specially selected books and gift certificates.

February 28, 2008

Technology Aids Independent Living

Recent hearings in front of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and the U.S. Senate Medical Technology Caucus illustrated new advancements in caregiving aids.

February 28, 2008

Texas: Assistive Technology for Every Child

The Montessori philosophy advocates that the classroom be a reflection of the home, the community, and the world. Now, a century after Maria Montessori founded her Casa dei Bambini, the world is becoming a hightechnology society, with computers a part of everyday American lives.

February 28, 2008

Assistive Technology Industry Association Elects Leaders

The Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) played host to a record setting number of attendees during its 9th annual conference held January 30 - February 2 in Orlando, Florida.

February 28, 2008

Florida: Sensory Complex plans to expand

A Pensacola school that helps disabled children, some who are immobile and locked within their own bodies, is launching a fundraiser to expand its facility.

February 28, 2008

England: New SMART house demonstrates latest technology

An exciting new SMART house which has been fitted out to demonstrate how modern technology can be used to help older people and those with disabilities to live in their own homes will be officially opened at a special ceremony at Tremorvah Industries.

February 11, 2008

George Washington University library helps disabled students access resources

Thanks to a donation and collaboration between Gelman Library and Disability Support Services, blind and visually impaired students can now access resources in the library with more ease.

February 05, 2008

Arizona: High-tech devices help kids with disabilities

Ever wonder if the advances in technology are really making a difference for children? One family no longer wonders. Michael is a typical 11-year-old boy who loves fishing and music, but he also has cerebral palsy.

February 05, 2008

New Mac Gaming Site Serves Disabled Users

AssistiveGaming.com launches to make computer games more accessible to fans with physical disabilities.

February 05, 2008

Minnesota: Nonprofit launched to help blind get web access

The AIR Foundation, led by Executive Director Art Schreiber, launched Thursday at the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) 2008 National Conference in Orlando, Florida.

February 05, 2008

Cell Phone Software Reads To The Blind

K-NFB Reading Technology, a developer of assistive technologies, introduced what it claims to be the first mobile phone software that reads to the blind and the disabled.

February 05, 2008

Software offered that may help special needs pupils

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board has partnered with Premier Assistive Canada to give students access to software that allows their computer to read - out loud - any written text appearing on the screen.

February 05, 2008

Enabling Disabled Shoppers

Often considered a niche market, there actually are 750 million to 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, according to the United Nations Population Reference Bureau, making them the single largest minority group. And careful examination of the latest statistics would suggest they are just waiting for the chance to do business with merchants.

January 22, 2008

Fonix Speech Technology Utilized in Major Video Game Release

Fonix Speech’s “VoiceIn” technology is the only software currently available to game developers that permits voice-activated interface across all major platforms, including Xbox, Playstation2, PC and Mac versions.

January 22, 2008

Home care for disabled children offers more humane option

The United States is wrestling with the formulation of policy toward its millions of chronically disabled youngsters. The debate will grow louder with each passing year.

January 22, 2008

Colleges providing resources necessary for students with disabilities

College is a little scary for most freshmen, but for those with disabilities, the new level of independence and responsibility can be especially daunting.

January 22, 2008

England: Improving usability with assistive technology

IT companies have made fortunes on a philosophy of mass production and one size fits all. However, in a small but growing part of the industry, a band of companies has stood this model on its head.

January 22, 2008

England: Local Authorities challenged to deliver for disabled children

The Every Disabled Child Matters campaign is challenging local authorities to make the national indicator on disabled children a priority in their local area agreements.

January 22, 2008

Alaska: Intensive needs funding examined

Children in wheelchairs, forever breathing with the help of ventilators, or so mentally handicapped they need full-time nurses to help them process the world around them. These are the intensive-needs students who cost the Anchorage School District the most money to educate: an estimated $75,000 a year each.

January 22, 2008

Ohio: Technology lends a hand

Redwood’s Assistive Technology Resource Center offers people access to specialized equipment that helps them to be more independent. Examples: A special computer keyboard for someone who can’t use his hands, or a talking alarm clock or large-button telephone for someone visually impaired.

January 22, 2008

Microsoft Looks To Extend Accessibility Push

Last month Microsoft helped form an industry association focused on helping developers make hardware and software more accessible.

January 22, 2008