C-PEN DIGITAL HIGHLIGHTER

C-Pen Digital Highlighter

Say goodbye to taking textbook notes the traditional way with your yellow highlighters. Introducing the C-Pen Digital Highlighter that is changing the way we read articles for essays, study and read textbooks for tests and exams. If you are like me you spent countless hours highlighting the key points in your text books or journal articles for essays and then spent more time re-writing/typing your notes. You probably also use different colors for different things you need to study, maybe yellow for definitions, green for important people and so on. While some may argue that having to re-write/type notes is a form of studying, I found this time consuming and exhausting.

With the C-Pen, and individual can highlight the material they need and have it copied directly into their word processor. I feel this is especially beneficial when writing any types of research paper as it will save a person time in having to find that ‘great’ article you have with that ‘awesome’ quote but cannot find in through your stack of thirty articles. Now with the C-pen and your key points written in your word processor you can easily navigate you way to finding that all important quote.

Take a look at this great video on the C-Pen for an example of how it works. 

The Benefits of Trial Software

In an effort to gain a basic understanding of the various assistive software available on the market today and to assist me in writing my reviews I have relied on trial software. Many of these 30 day trials, in my opinion, offer the user just enough time to adequately gain a better understanding of the software and assist the user in determining if a specific software is worth purchasing once the trial is expired.

For educators who may have a student with a disability in their classroom I think trial software can be a very effective way of determining what software is going to be most beneficial. I understand that this may mean putting the software on ones own personal device but I feel this minor inconvenience can go a long way. Parents can also trial software on their home computers allowing their child to use the software to do their homework. With trial software the educator and parents can keep track of the students progress, for example taking not of how the student performed the work before the assistive software was introduces, how they are performing in the middle of the trial and then at the end of the trial. These results can be shared then with parents and with member of you special education team as evidence of if the software was beneficial. I feel in many cases having already has a student trial software gives educators a parents a base for having the software purchased for the students continued use. 

Just in the couple of software trials that I have tried I have gained a better understanding of how each software works.  Now when people ask me about different assistive software I can give them my review.

PERSONAL REVIEW OF ZOOMTEXT

Recently I have been playing around with Zoomtext to familiarize myself with this software that is used by many people with visual impairments. Before starting to try the software out my sense was that I would not find the software very user friendly, this coming from others I had spoken to about the software. I  was pleased when I started to use the software to discover that many options it has for users and began thinking that this software could be beneficial for not just people with visual impairments but for others as well which I will explain as I continue describing the software and it many uses.

For magnification, zoomtext  can begin at 1X and can go as high a 36X allowing each user to modify the text to their comfort level. The user can also change the view to allow them to see the full normal view which most of us are used to to different views according to the level of vision. For example overlay view opens a separate window that is magnified wherever the cursor is  as in the line view the document is used line by line. I felt this feature would be beneficial for people who may have difficulty with visual tracking that is not part of a visual impairment. I have Cerebral Palsy and sometimes have visual tracking difficulties where I may be reading a document and may skip a line or two as my eyes did not find the right spot, having a feature that would allow me to go line by line would have kept me on track and not constantly loosing my space.

When looking at color schemes on the computer,  the traditional black on white is not ideal for people with visual impairments. Zoomtext allows the user to change the color scheme to be something that is easier on their eyes, one popular color scheme is a black background with yellow print but Zoomtext offers many options

When it comes to cursors, I don't know about you but I can never find my cursor. I end up having to start typing to see where it is and then go back and delete once I've found it. With Zoomtext there is a feature that places a circle or a square around your cursor, never to loose it again. 

As I said before even though zoomtext is a software program for people with visual impairments I see many features that can be used by others. 

Check out tzoomtext and download a free trial and try out all that this program offers.

Assistive Technology Talk: Niagara Centre for Independent Living

Assistive Technology Initiative in Niagara

WHAT CAN THE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE DO FOR YOU?

This initiative allows students who use assistive technology the opportunity for training on their own device and allows parents to learn about the software that their children are using to allow parents to assist their children at home. Either in small group or on a one-to-one basis (depending on the students needs).

The initiative encourages teachers (both classroom and resource) to learn more about the software their students are using.  This allows teachers to familiarize themselves with the software that the students may be using as part of their accommodations in the classroom. Workshops are available to all teacher and will focus on many of the software programs and apps being used in the classroom today to assist students with disabilities.

The initiative encourages parents to learn more about the software their children are using.  This allows parents to familiarize themselves with the software that the children may be using as part of their accommodations in the classroom so they are able to more effectively assist their children with work that is send home. Workshops are available to all parents and will focus on many of the software programs and apps being used  to assist students with disabilities.

This initiative also allows community members to come and learn about assistive technology in their perspective agencies. Workshops are available to all community agencies who may have clients who can benefit for assistive technology. For agencies, I am willing and able to come to your agency for training.

 WHAT CAN THE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY  COORDINATOR DO FOR YOU?

As the AT coordinator I can provide product reviews on assistive technology. I refer you to look at earlier blogs where I talked about Dragon Naturally Speaking and different types of mouse devices that I fund useful as a individual with a physical disability and a speech impediment.

I can also provide product feedback on assistive technology. If you have a product that you think may be beneficial for individuals with disabilities and would like some feedback please feel free to contact me and see how I can help you. Contact Krystine .

As an individual with a disability believe I have expertise and practical experience in using technology. I would like to share my knowledge with not only those who use assistive technology but those who support individuals who use Assistive Technology.

Please feel free to forward this blog and any of my other blogs to those who would benefit from my experience.

Awesome blog by @KrystineDonato http://t.co/sB51Aum8hB @R2Empowerment #Niagara #AT #CHCs
— Julia Dean (@JuliaDtheHP) November 25, 2014

Great Article on Assistive Technology in the Classroom

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WW_TechnologyTools.pdf

Using an AAC device for communication

What is AAC? AAC is a set of tools and strategies that an individual uses to solve everyday communicative challenges. Communication can take many forms such as: speech, a shared glance, text, gestures, facial expressions, touch, sign language, symbols, pictures, speech-generating devices, etc. Everyone uses multiple forms of communication, based upon the context and our communication partner. Effective communication occurs when the intent and meaning of one individual is understood by another person. The form is less important than the successful understanding of the message.

As part of my Cerebral Palsy I was unable to speak until I was 4 years old. Until that time I used a picture board. Mine was different but this gives you the basic idea of a picture board. I think mine probably had things like mom, dad, sister, brother, toilet, hungry, thirsty and other words that a young child would need to communicate.


Once I learned to speak through the help of a speech pathologist I no longer needed my picture board. It wasn't until I moved away from home and no longer had my parents to speak for me if people didn't understand that I started asking what devices were available to help me. For me I use my AAC device in situations where my speech may not be understood (such as going to a new doctor or a social services agency) or in situations where I know I may not be heard because of noise levels as in situations where I need to speak louder my speech becomes more distorted.

My first device was a Dynavox. This is a great AAC device but I found for a person such as myself who has an unsteady gait, the portability of the device was not what I was looking for as I found it quite heavy. It did however have all of the options I wanted such as the alphabet board for spontaneous conversation and also allowed me to program messages for use in places I may need to use the device.



 My second device it was a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with AAC software that had the same capabilities that the dynavox had but was alot more portable. I could place this, like a phone, in my bag or purse and take it out when needed.


 




 A few years after I got my PDA I purchased a Samsung tablet. Originally I purchased the tablet just like a lot others to replace my laptop to have something more portable to have when I went away on trips. I decided it was time to combine the two devices and started searching for AAC software to use on the tablet. I asked for some ideas from my AAC clinic and they recommended I use a software program called "Predictable', it had all of the features that I needed and has been my chosen AAC software for about the last year and a half.




 As I know a number of educators read my blog I thought I would relate this back to how having a speech impediments and/or having an AAC device can be effectively use in the classroom. For those students who have a difficult time getting their words out or who's speech may be unclear the best thing an educator can do is to give the student time to formulate their answers. If you know ahead of time what questions you will be asking, perhaps give the question to the student who may have difficulty speaking or using an AAC device time to form their answers.

Please feel free to ask me questions about any of my blogs.


For more information of people with communication disabilities please visit the 'Communication Disabilities Access Canada'.
http://www.cdacanada.com/

Giving a fifth grader the tools to suceed

A few years ago a friend of mine was teaching a Grade 5 class. One of her students had recently been diagnosed with a writing disability and was struggling to get a lot of his work completed. Even though he had the use of a computer, he would often sit in front of the computer, just staring at the screen not knowing where to begin. He often used a scribe to do his work but this often depended on the availability of the classroom teacher or the SERT.

She asked the Special Education Resource Teacher if the school had Dragon Naturally Speaking and they did. When asked if the student would  be trained on this program the SERT explained that it would be great but he did not know how to work the program. It was his lucky day as my friend knew that I had been using Dragon Naturally Speaking for years and I would be willing to train students on assistive software like Dragon http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm. She called me that night to set-up a time for me to come meet the student and start training.

A few days later I went to the school and met with the student and the SERT to begin training. This student was ideal candidate for using Dragon Training. We went through the training quite quickly and by the next session he was ready to test it out using some work he had to do for class. After just two sessions he was ready  begin using Dragon on his own.

The student continued to progress using Dragon and his marks were reflecting this progress. Now when he was given a writing assignment to do he was given the option of having a scribe or using Dragon. The more the year went on he chose Dragon more as he became more comfortable with the program.

I feel that this great example of a students' use of Dragon Naturally Speaking, speaks to how a student with a disability benefit from assistive technology like Dragon Naturally Speaking. For teachers, I would recommend asking around to see if there are people available to train students on the software if your SERT and/or school board do not offer training. If my friend did not have this student in her class and did not know that I was willing to train, this student could have been still waiting for training, thus continuing to struggle academically with writing assignments.

Logitech trackball and Kensington Trackball

Using a regular computer mouse has never been fun thing for me to do. My hand is gets uncomfortable from being in a unnatural position, I have difficulty pressing the buttons at the right time and most annoying is that I usually run out of desk space and end up dropping the mouse on the ground.

It was not until I got my first PC when I was starting college that I was introduce to a trackball. The first trackball system that I used was a Kensington Expert Mouse. As you can see the ball sits on a base and therea four buttons surrounding the ball. The base does not move allowing the user to focus on controlling cursor movements through moving just the ball, not the entire device. The four buttons on the base are for left clicks and right clicks but in some models the buttons can open different programs on the system.

The Logitech Trackman mouse is also a trackball system that I have used with a great deal of success.The design is more narrow so that the user can place their hand around the base or as I do just use the ball to move the cursors. Again the base does not move, allowing the user to just move the ball or click the buttons without the worry of running out of desk room as with a regular mouse.

For me, as an individual with Athetoid and Spastic Cerebral Palsy, these two trackball systems have been the answer to a lot of difficulties I had using a regular computer mouse. I could know cut and paste text without the worry of losing the text half way to its destination because my hand slipped off the mouse or because I was not able to drag and hold the buttons at the same time. Using the trackball system also allowed me to be on the computer for longer periods of time as my hand would not be as cramped up as it was with a regular mouse.

Many people use trackball systems for different reasons, not just physical disabilities. I have seen people who have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as it alleviates the pain on their wrists. Also those who have or are experiencing fine motor difficulties due to accidents or the onset of  disability. 

Technology in Post-Secondary

Technology in Post-Secondary

I was first introduced to the Dragon System when I was transitioning from secondary to post-secondary school.  At the time the only system I could use was the Discrete Speech which means the user says ‘one – word – at – a - time’ opposed to continuous speech where the use speaks in a natural rhythm. The discrete speech recognition was good but it was very time consuming.  To read more about continuous vs discrete speech recognition click on this link http://www.synapse-ada.com/naturallyspeaking/define.html  You must remember that this was the mid 1990’s so continuous speech recognition was not what it is today.

I used Dragon Discrete speech until I was in University and when the time came for me to get a new system things changed. I have been fortunate to have all my computer related needs met through the Technology Access Clinic at Chedoke in Hamilton and had the same Occupational Therapist for years. When I went to the clinic for my assessment I was informed that my O.T. was no longer with them and I now had someone new. This O.T. was great, not that the others we not good but this one was not afraid to try new things with me. Making sure that I had all my technology needs met.

As we started taking about my new system, at the time, he mentioned to me that Dragon had a new Pro edition that he wanted me to try.  If I remember correctly I think I laughed out loud and said something like ‘not with my speech’. My speech pathologist was there with me and talked me into trying it out which I reluctantly did, not expecting it to work. To my surprise it worked better than I thought. It actually understood the majority of words I was saying. It did take a long time in the beginning to train Dragon to my speech patterns but it was definitely worth it. I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking for about 15 years and have found it fantastic.  

When I use the computer I use a combination of keyboarding and speech recognition. When my fingers get cramped up or sore I switch to Dragon and when I get tired from speaking I switch back to keyboarding. 

Technology when I was in High School

During the planning stages for transitioning from elementary to high school a number of things had to be taken into consideration. One of the bigger decisions was what writing tools would I be using. I had use a typewriter since I was in third grade but this was no longer going to be beneficial. With moving to a larger school and having rotation it was decided that I should have a laptop computer. It was a Toshiba 1000 and I remember how thrilled I was to be going to high school with my own laptop. In preparation for Grade 9, I took “Introduction to Keyboarding”, not that I needed to learn how to type but more so I could have time to familiarize myself with my new computer. I still did all the assignments required, just instead of using the typewriter I use my laptop. Taking this course allowed me to get out any of the bugs that I may encounter while using the computer. One example of this is due to my lack of fine motor coordination I always hit this one particular button by mistake ALL THE TIME. I do not recall what button it was, but I do remember that in order to fix the problem I had to turn the computer on and off again to get it to work. Because it was the summer there were no technicians around to consult with so the teacher and I had to problem solve for our self. One of the computer teachers did come by once or twice to see how things were going and it was then that we learned the power of the “ESC” button. I no longer needed to turn the computer on and off when I accidently hit wrong buttons.

As I started Grade 9 I now had one of the tools I needed to succeed. The computer had at disk drive and for my class work I would just save my work and then go to the resource room to print off my work. This wasted a great deal of time having to go back and forth from classes to resource to have work printed but that was the way it was. Some teachers allowed me to bring the work the next day which was great as then I could use my resource time to print off the day’s work as others wanted it right after class ended. Today it would be a lot different as a students can just email their work directly to the teacher,

My parents purchased a Toshiba 1000 for use at home which made it easier in that I did not have to carry the laptop back and forth. For most students carrying an extra 5 pounds would not be an issue, but for me the extra weight threw me off balance causing me to fall. Having a laptop both a school and at home meant that I only needed to bring my disks back and forth.

I used the laptop for the five years in high school and only a hand full of times did it break down. Unlike today where a student would hopefully be given a replacement while their computer was being fixed, I was left with nothing. This meant any class work I had to do had to either be handwritten by me (which meant it never got done on time), I would have to go to my resource teacher to have her scribe for me (which meant time away from the classroom) or I was able to take it home to finish, which was always my preference.

Again with another transition (to post-secondary) questions were asked, was the laptop doing what I needed it to or was it time again to look into a new piece of technology. In my next blog I’ll talk about my transition to post-secondary and my first encounter with Dragon.

How Assistive Technology has impacted my life.

For my new job, I was asked to create a Blog for myself and later one that will be related to my work. I am working as a Co-ordinator/Manager for the Brock-Niagara Assistive Technology Initiative. When considering what topic I should start with, I thought about my journey through using assistive technology from when I received my first typewriter until now and how it played an important role in my education and life.

I have Cerebral Palsy (CP) which affects my fine and gross motor skills. My speech is also affected and can sometimes be unclear. Technology became a part of my life at the age of eight when I was given a typewriter to help with writing tasks. My parents would have liked me to have the typewriter much sooner but the school felt it was important that I learn to print, despite the struggles I had in holding a pencil without dropping it twenty times a day.

Finally, in Grade 3, I was given a typewriter. Of course, I now needed to learn how to type. From what I remember this was a much more enjoyable task then learning to cursive write as that was what the other students were doing while I had typing class. I became quite the typist and even to this day my Occupational therapist is always impressed at my speed and accuracy for someone with fine motor difficulties. Writing tasks now became much more manageable as I was able to keep up for the most part with my peers.

My parents purchased our family a Commodore 64 when I was in Grade 5. Although we used it mostly for games and fun there was a word processor called GEOS. This was my first time using a computer mouse and believe me when I say it was an adventure each time I used it. Other then the frustration of getting my hands to cooperate in using the mouse, the commodore was a great asset. I was able to edit my work on screen. One of my biggest problems was having double letters where they did not belong because I left my fingers on the keys to long. You could not adjust the keyboard like you can now.

In Grade 7, I got a new typewriter for in class work. It was a lot quieter and had a small screen that you would type a line out and then have it type on line. This typewriter would do for Grade 7 and 8 but high school was right around the corner and a typewriter that still made noise was not going to cut it.

Follow my blog to see what happens in Grade 9 and beyond.