CALL Scotland Blog

Using Cooliris to Switch Control YouTube

Robert Stewart — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:50:45

YouTube is a popular video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. However, due to its design and abundance of links it's very hard to access using just switches. Not to worry though since there is an application called Cooliris which when used in conjunction with Facebook will allow access to this huge library of videos. You don't just have to use Facebook since the slideshow can be hosted on other social networking sites such as Bebo or Twitter. Or, if you prefer, create a web file (.html) which can be run from your desktop or web space.

A new Quick Guide called 'Using Cooliris to Switch Control YouTube' is now available for download which explains the process of creating your own switch accessible YouTube slideshow!

Saving a Youtube video to your computer

Sandra O'Neill — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:42:19

At a meeting recently there was a question about saving useful Youtube videos. Many local authorities do not allow access to Youtube as some of the content is unsuitable for schools but there are also many videos that would be useful for a teacher to access for use in school. In the Spring 09 New in CALL newsletter there was an article about how to do this. It had been found that the easiest way to do this was to use KickYoutube.

In order to use this the word 'kick' is typed in after the 'www' and before 'youtube' in the adress line eg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNdijknRxfU&feature=related becomes http://www.kickyoutube.com/watch/?v=sNdijknRxfU&feature=related. This particular link is to a video about a couple of chemical reactions that help illustrate the reaction of alkaline metals in water. As these experiments may get done only once in class (and with less reactive metals due to safety issues) a Youtube video could be used for illustration, for revision, for pupils absent on the day, for pupils in hospital or at home due to health or social issues.

Once a suitable video has been found and opened in KickYoutube you will now have a series of rectangular buttons across the top of the video with a number of different alternative formats. Probably the most appropriate one to use will be MP4.

To convert the video :

check that MP4 is selected
click on the green 'Go' button - button then changes to a blue 'Down' button
right click on the blue 'down' button
select 'Save target as ...' and locate where to save the file eg pen drive if wanting to use on a different computer
give file an appropriate name and save
the saved file can be played using iTunes or QuickTime, both free and available for PC and Mac.

New in CALL (Issue 26) available for download

Robert Stewart — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:16:03

Issue 26 of 'New in CALL', the free news, views and events leaflet is now avaiable for download.

Inside this issue:

Books for All Scotland Database;
The Royal Mail Book Awards;
Mainstream Devices for Communication;
AAC Adult Discovery Day;
New DynaVox Xpress;
2010-2011 CPD Calendar.

... And much more!

Signing stuff

Sally Millar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:56:14

Thinking about how raise awareness and enthusiasm for signing?

Did you know that there are lots of terrific little videos on Youtube of signed songs? Just Search on 'BSL signed song'.

Lee, and Duckingquackers are particularly impressive performers, and - my personal favourite - BenGee143

There are some very funny ones, and some that are just plain brilliant. All good! also some stories.

There are signing Apps coming out for iPhone / iPod Touch but so far these are only ASL. For BSL so far there is only the sign alphabet - but they'll be coming.....

Also - bit behind the times, but I just spotted this clip re creation of a new digital BSL sign dictionary.

Training on BoardMaker 6/BoardMaker Plus!

Sally Millar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:08:41

Hopefully everyone will now be aware of the cheap deal on BoardMaker software offered through LTS.

Please note that there is a training course on BoardMaker 6 and the new BoardMaker Plus! features in CALL on 25th March, and places are still available. Could be just the thing to get you started! Find out more and book

Guide to Pictures and Symbols for Communication 2010

Sally Millar — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:14:02

A new Information sheet called A Guide to Pictures and Symbols for Communication 2010 is now available for download or can be viewed along with the collection of other Information Sheets in the Resources section of this website.

It is a completely revised version of a similarly titled paper that was up on the CALL website before, but with buggy graphics now fixed and information added about a number of newer symbol and pictures resources.

TapToTalk app for Nintendo DS

Joanna Courtney — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:07:25

TapToTalk is software created for the Nintendo DS Lite, DSi or DSi XL, and is comparable to a handheld dynamic screen communication aid.

The user simply taps the chosen picture on the DS Lite's lower touch-screen to make it speak the word or sentence represented by the picture and appear on the upper screen. The DS Lite has 3" screens. You need to have fairly good fine motor skills to access the screen and also some of the DS control buttons to navigate. It costs $99.95 for a home yearly subscription. There are different rates for home (1 child) Pro (2 or more children) and Agency (for 5 or more children)This could be off putting to people who like to buy a 'one off' product. However, there is a 30 day returns policy giving people the chance to try it out and see if it works for them.

The software comes with a large bank of pictures, and can be fully customised to contain the user's own pictures, photos and messages. If you want to use symbols, you need to either subscribe online to SymbolStix or import your PCS/Widgit symbols as jpegs. Sets of pictures, or 'albums' are customised on 'TapToTalk Designer' (accessed via the Internet), and then transferred to the DS via an SD card. You cannot programme on the device itself for quickness, but can easily download the latest version if the DS gets lost or broken, whilst the DS itself is affordable to replace.
There are many advantages of this software: Tap To Talk is low cost, fully customisable and the fact that it works on the DS range means that the user is likely to feel less self-conscious about using it as it has a 'cool' factor. The DS itself is fairly robust, suited to small hands, and has a decent battery life of 19 hours. It can also be used whilst charging from the mains.

However, its volume is not loud enough for functional communication. The DS Lite requires external speakers such as 'DS Lite Grip Speakers' to make the voice output audible for everyday use. The sound quality when you record your own messages for the device is particularly poor. Also, the 'Tap to Talk Designer' software is not very intuitive for those used to conventional communication aids.
Tap To Talk can also be put on the DSi, which has a built-in camera, mic and five brightness settings. It is also slightly larger with 3.25" screens. The latest version - DSi XL - has 4.2" screens, and a larger 'pen sized' stylus. Both of these are marginally more expensive but promise 'enhanced sound.' To find out more visit the TapToTalk website.

Creating Accessible Information with symbols

Paul Nisbet — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:51:06

Many people think that 'alternative format' means things like Large Print, Braille, audio, Daisy etc, but it also includes symbolised materials. Widgit software, who publish software for creating and using symbolised resources, are running a FREE day on symbols here in CALL on Wednesday 3rd March. Go here to book a place.

Widgit have pioneered the use of symbols in learning and communication for over 25 years and their software and services are used worldwide to create symbol-supported materials in print, onscreen and online. Information augmented by symbols can be helpful for people with learning, language and communication disabilities, dyslexia, those with English as a second language and students with literacy difficulties.

The first part of the day will look at incorporating symbol based information in a variety of communication media. There will be a focus on the importance of this for educational establishments such as schools, colleges and universities to provide accessible information as part of their learning and teaching, on their websites, as part of their general marketing strategies and within other services such as libraries, design units etc.

The second part of the day will provide an opportunity to have hands on experience of using the software and will provide delegates with the chance to try out different Widgit products including Communicate in Print (symbol dtp software to create books, worksheets, newsletters and posters etc) and Communicate Symwriter (a symbol and grid supported writing tool).

What you'll learn:
Incorporating symbol based information in a variety of communication media;
hands on experience of using Widgit software.

50 Educational Apps for iPod Touch

Sally Millar — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:55:36

Well, here's some more Apps to consider for classroom use, if you are iPhone /iPod Touch active. Free!

Bespoke voices for your voice output communication system

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:45:42

Heather, the Scottish Voice, which can be downloaded free from CALL's Scottish Voice web site by anyone in Scottish schools, is a product of CereProc, an Edinburgh based company. CereProc make 'custom' voices by recording and synthesising human speech, and one possibility is to create bespoke computer voices for people who are likely to lose their speech as a result of illness or disability. CereProc have created a synthetic voice for Robert Ebert, an American film critic, who lost his voice after surgery. The voice was created by analysing the recordings made for Robert Ebert's TV series. This is fine if you are a well-known (in the USA) TV broadcaster, but not so good if the sum total of the recordings of your voice consists of a few warbles from your childhood or speeches at weddings and the like. Nevertheless, it's good to see progress like this because better synthetic voices, greater individuality and more personalisation all improve the communicative experience with voice output communication aids. Certainly, the response we have had to Heather, the Scottish Voice, has been extremely positive both when she is used for communication and also when reading out digital books, learning resources and exam papers. To find out more about the voices visit the CereProc web site.

AAC users invited to Technology Discovery Open Day at CALL

Sally Millar — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:10:31

Please remember about the Saturday event on 13th March, the Technology Discovery Day for adults (and teens 15/16+ years) who use augmentative communication.

More details and booking available from the Technology Discovery Day web page. Phone (0131 651 6235) or email CALL if you have any questions.

It will be fun, please come!

Good Deal on BoardMaker software

Sally Millar — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:52:34

Hurrah! At last Mayer-Johnson UK and LTS have got their act together and brought out a cheap deal on BoardMaker for Scotland.

CALL has been pushing for this. BoardMaker purchasing information has been pretty muddled lately, so the new clarity is welcome, as well as the discount.

The offer is only for the latest version, BoardMaker Plus! V6, which is the ordinary print-based BoardMaker 6 plus some new interactive features (see below). In case you are unclear - here's a few basic questions and answers.

I've got BoardMaker 5 - why might I want V6? Lots of nice features such as 'Swap Button', easier photo importing, easier resizing, and the magical 'symbolate as you type' tool.

Why can't I just upgrade my print-only BoardMaker? A marketing decison by Mayer-Johnson, it seems. The old paper only version looks set to fade away quietly. (You MAY still be able to get it through third party suppliers, for now.) I don't want to pay for extra features I'll never use! I know, it's really annoying! But this LTS deal may take some of the pain out of it. And you never know, you may change your mind later and see a use for the new interactive possibilities of BoardMaker Plus!

I've got BoardMaker 6 - why might I want the Plus! version? Well, it's not necessary IF all you ever want to do is make print-based symbol materials. But the Plus! version is also interactive - it talks, kids can use it themselves - drag and drop and switch access - brilliant on interactive whitboards or large plasma screen - you could make symbol quizzes, language activities, on screen work sheets, homework exercises etc. - could be just the very 'next step you were waiting for, for your pupils...

I'm new to all this. Why might I want to buy BoardMaker Plus! at all? Well it is a really valuable tool to help you make the educational environment visual and supportive, useful for ALL pupils actually, but especially early years, additional support needs, those with language or literacy difficulties. It's not the only tool - (CALL is not wanting to 'advertise' as such or to promote one symbol software above all others, but we do believe almost everyone can benefit from using symbols more, and BoardMaker is a tried and tested old warhorse)

There's a good overview and comparison (and free trial) on the Mayer-Johnson website Also there are more and more free downloadable resources coming out all the time through the Adapted Learning website - a bit like the Clicker Learning Grids (only in symbols).

I like the sound of the free downloadable resources. Are they only for the Plus! version?No, they are mixed. Many are for V6 print version but these will also play in V5. I suppose in time more of them will become more Plus! oriented

I've got an ancient Mac version - does the upgrade apply to me? Yes, to ANY/ ALL old versions - but you'll get a PC version V6, there is no Mac BoardMaker Plus! (If I were you and I still use Mac, I'd keep my old Mac BoardMaker that will run in any machine without the CD in the drive AND buy the new PC one at the discounted price)

I hate upgrades! I love my old BoardMaker because it is so simple! Will the new version look all different and complicated? No actually, it looks and behaves pretty much exactly the same as the older version, it's just got the new features added in. You don't see the new interactive features unless you double click and go looking for them.

What is the BoardMaker Plus! Player? It means you can set a symbol exercise and get a pupil to complete it on ANY computer, without needing the BoardMaker Plus! CD in the drive. Interesting possibilities here for homework perhaps

What are the Symbol Addenda and why would I want them? This is a one CD pack of ALL the new PCS symbols that have come out since 2000. (There were 5 editions - 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008). Everyone is always muddled about which symbols they did or didn't buy - whether they installed them - how to tell which Addenda are or aren't installed and so on. It's confusing to see symbols in some materials that you then can't 'find' in your BoardMaker. The Addenda are where many of the symbols particularly useful for autism materials are. So frankly I'd advise everyone to get this pack unless you are 100% certain that you already bought and installed all of those Addenda at the time (and still have the CDs...) Ensuring that ALL classes / schools have the same full set of Symbol Addenda is a valuable step forward in preparing to make your school or authority Communication Friendly. The symbol Addenda will work with all versions, including older ones.

I use BoardMaker with my communication impaired clients, but I'm not in a school - can I buy at the LTS discounted rate? As far as I know, yes, if you are in Scotland.

For further information about the LTS deal, available from 22nd February 2010, see www.LTScotland.org.uk/aboutlts/resources/software/specialoffer/index.asp or call Jonathan Cairney (Commercial Licensing Manager) on 0141 282 5000.

�50 cashback when purchasing a Toshiba Netbook

Robert Stewart — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:08:36

Procurement Scotland have negotiated a good price on the Toshiba NB200 Netbook (Procurement Scotland quick guide is available) for purchasers in Scottish public sector organisations. There is a 3G (allows you to connect to the internet via a mobile SIM card) and non-3G version being supplied with the same specifications:

1Gb Ram;
160Gb Hard Drive;
Windows XP Home;
10.1" screen;
6 cell battery (up to 9 hour batter life);
1.33Kg weight.

The units are being sold at £199 (excluding VAT) and £269 (excluding VAT) respectively but for the month of February you get £50 cash back via the Toshiba website on the non-3G version!

New books on the Books for All Scotland Database

Paul Nisbet — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:10:18

Another 54 books were added to the Books for All Scotland Database today.

There are 23 new books in PDF which have been produced by CALL Scotland. LTS funded the production of these books, which are scanned PDF copies of third and fourth year textbooks from various publishers including Heinemann, Leckie and Leckie, Hodder and Pulse. The books were originally produced for a pupil with physical disability and they have structure for easy navigation. They have been OCRd so that most of the text is readable with text-to-speech software, but some parts of books with very complex visual layouts are not accurate - the OCR process just doesn't work with squint text or low contrast text on coloured backgrounds.

There are also 31 new 'Classic' titles such as Frankenstein, Heart of Darkness, Kidnapped and Oliver Twist in PDF and Microsoft Reader format. Most of these books were produced by the participants on the Books for All course in Stirling last term: thanks to Anne Beveridge at LTS who checked, amended and collated these titles.

The new books can be used by pupils with visual or physical impairment - pupils with other print disabilities should not use them (yet) because the CLA licence under which they are made does not yet cover other disabilites (but we're told it will, any minute now...).

Teachers can access the Books for All Scotland Database via the Finding Books page or by going direct to the Database itself. To log in to the Database and download books you need a Scran password (all teachers in Scotland have one - someone in your school or local authority will know it) or you can log in via Glow.

Teach reading, use alternative formats, or do both?

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:38:45

The Books for All programme is about learning resources in accessible, alternative formats for people who cannot access standard printed books.

Sometimes this is due to, for example, severe dyslexia, visual impairment, blindness or physical impairment. In these case it is self-evident that the reader can't read a paper book because they either can't see, can't hold the book and turn pages, or just can't read.

But there are also many children and young people who have problems with reading when the cause is less obvious. Maybe they have a language difficulty, or a visual-perceptual problem, or maybe English is not their native tongue.

Or maybe they have never been read to as a child, never been comfortable with print, and have not had enough practice to become a fluent reader. (I read somewhere that you need to practice reading for 5,000 hours to become fluent.)

In these cases, should we try and teach the pupil to read, or should we use, say, audio books or digital books that can be read out by the computer? If we persevere with teaching literacy, will the pupil get frustrated and fall behind in class because they cannot read independently? By introducing books in accessible formats maybe we can prevent this frustration, help the reader be more independent, and at least give experience of language and literature. Maybe if we can encourage pupils to read books in accessible formats it will help motivate and develop general literacy and actually help develop reading skills? Maybe the opposite is true: if we give books in accessible formats, will they ever learn to read standard print?

Or should we try to both teach reading and also provide accessible formats so we have the best of both worlds - access to the curriculum and also development of reading skills?

This is a long introduction to a short blog to say that Pearson Education have published some interesting case studies and research reports about their Rapid Reading intervention programme which they say is "an award-winning, Wave 3 reading intervention programme that's been proven to deliver more than twice the normal rate of progress." Of course, there are many programmes and methods which make similar claims (see Dr. Chris Singleton's comprehensive review of teaching methods Interventions for Dyslexia) but the Rapid Reading videos and reports are interesting and well worth a look.

(And if anyone has answers to the questions posed above we'd be really keen to hear them....)

SQA 2009 Adapted Digital past papers are now available

Paul Nisbet — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:02:05

SQA have put up the 2009 adapted digital past papers on their web site for anyone to download. They cover all levels from Intermediate through to Advance Higher with a wide range of different subjects. This means you can now download papers from 2007, 2008 and 2009 for revision and practice.

In response to comments from centres, SQA have added 'tick boxes' to Part 1 of the Standard Grade Chemistry paper. Previously, you had to use the Comment/markup tools to draw a circle or mark the answer from the multiple choice, but now you just click with the mouse, which should be faster and simpler.

In 2009 there were 1,167 requests for Adaped Digital Question Papers from 73 centres on behalf of 422 candidates. To find out more about digital papers visit CALL's dedicated web site http://www.adapteddigitalexams.org.uk/Home/, SQA's Assessment Arrangements site, or come on a CALL Scotland training course.

Technology Discovery Day: 13th March 2010

Robert Stewart — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:28:24

For People Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Time: Saturday 13th March 2010, 11am - 4pm

Location: CALL Scotland, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh

Webpage: Technology Discovery Day

It's FREE and refreshments will be provided. Drop in, or stay all day!

The day is run by expert staff from Ayrshire and Arran AAC Resource, CALL Scotland, FACCT, KEYCOMM, SCTCI, TASSCC and other specialist centres and funded by Augmentative Communication in Practice: Scotland.

Try out new computers, software, websites, music, communication aids, environment controls, and games and technology for fun and communication! (Remember to bring YOUR communication aid!).
Make new friends and contacts. Get help and ideas from specialist professionals from AAC services and other centres across Scotland.
You'll need to arrange your own transport and bring someone along to help you and join in the fun!
Refreshments (eg. sandwiches, tea, coffee, juice) will be provided. If you have special dietary requirements, please bring what you need.

Registration

If you would like to come:

Visit the Technology Discovery Day and read more about it and use the online form to book your place;
OR telephone CALL Scotland, 0131 651 6235 to book a place;
OR fill in a paper copy of the booking form and return it to: CALL Scotland, Paterson's Land, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ.

Free Books for All CPD!

Paul Nisbet — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:54:05

Another opportunity to learn how to make Books for All!

Learning & Teaching Scotland, on behalf of the Scottish Government, would like to invite you to send a representative from your local authority to attend Books for All CPD event at Stirling Management Centre. This free CPD is a four day training course, developed and delivered by CALL Scotland and is aimed at practitioners who currently produce books in alternative formats (such as large and adapted print, digital books and audio), for pupils with print disabilities as a result of visual, physical or learning impairment.

The course information is detailed below:

Day 1 & 2 - 10th & 11th February 2010
Day 3 & 4 - 25th & 26th March 2010

The venue for all training is Stirling Management Centre and overnight accommodation and refreshments (if required) will be paid for by the Books for All Database project.

Some of the topics that will be covered at the training include:

Sourcing accessible resources
Scanning papers resources into digital format
Making publisher PDFs accessible
Making "intermediate" files
Converting intermediate files to different alternative formats
Copyright

If you are interested and would like someone from your authority to attend then please let Gayle Monteith at LTS know by Monday 25th January. Please note that places are limited on this course and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

If you are unable to attend the training, you can join the books for all user group on Glow. We have formed a user group of experienced practitioners who, as part of their practice, create and use these types of resources. The aim of the group is to share information, materials and practical strategies to support their use.

If you would like to know more about Books for All in general go to http://www.booksforall.org.uk/ and to find out more about the Books for All Database go to http://www.booksforallscotland.org.uk/.

Once you have confirmed your interest in this course, LTS will confirm if a place is available and send you a booking form for the training.

If you have any questions about the venue, funding or arrangements please contact Gayle Monteith at LTS. If you have any questions about the course content contact Paul Nisbet or Stuart Aitken at CALL.

iPhone / iPod Touch Apps for Communication, Education and Access

Allan Wilson — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:59:11

Were you lucky enough to get an iPhone or an iPod Touch for Christmas? Perhaps your school was able to scrape together funds to buy one?
In addition to all the music and videos that you can download from iTunes, you'll find a bewildering array of apps that you can use, covering everything from tuning a guitar to tantalising your tastebuds with a Jamie Oliver recipe.
There is an increasing number of excellent, low-cost apps available to support children (and adults) with additional support needs or disabilities.

Sally Millar blogged last year on the excellent Proloquo2Go, which provides a full AAC system with over 7,000 symbols and high quality voices. There are now additional apps to support communication, including:

iConverse - a simple app combining speech and symbols with a focus on expressing basic everyday needs. It costs £5.99.
Look2Learn - AAC, a basic, low cost (£14.99) app that combines the use of photographs with pre-recorded speech to help someone express their wants and needs.
MyTalk - Another low-cost (£21.49) communication app combining symbols with speech output. Pages can be created and stored online, using a public image library with over 1,000 symbols.
Speak it! - this is a basic text-to-speech app, costing £1.19. It can read out text as it is typed into the device, or can be used to read out existing text, e.g. from a web site
Voice4U - this comes with 130 pre-loaded icons and high quality speech output. You can add your own photos and icons to personalise the system. It costs £17.99.

These apps all come from a comprehensive list of 'iPhone and iPod Touch Apps for (Special) Education' by Eric Sailers, an American speech-language pathologist. The list contains over 150 apps categorised under the headings Communication; Organization; Reading; Writing; Math; Music; Songs; Art; Games; Assistive Technology.

One interesting app that Eric missed from his list is iMocon, an App that allows an iPhone/iPod Touch to be used as a remote control for a computer by emulating the mouse. It costs £1.79.

I am so proud of these AAC users

Sally Millar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:30:33

WOW - I have received two emails this week that make me feel a bit old but massively proud! Both were from young women in their early twenties who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) - at opposite ends of Scotland - that I have known since they were very young. I've known both since they entered Primary school (one from Nursery actually), when they were referred to CALL for assessment. Both have cerebral palsy and no functional oral speech, and were amongst the first ever Scottish users of voice output communication aids. Both were members of the first ever generation of children with complex disabilities to go through their education from Nursery to Secondary in their local mainstream school.

When I first met and started to work with those wee tots in the late 1980s /early 1990s, it was certainly my vision - but only a distant dream - that one day technology could help them to communicate freely, so it is really exciting to see it come true in this way.

This sudden burst of pride and excitement prompted a somewhat deeper 'round-up of the year/ decade / century' reflection, and some darker thoughts rose to the surface. I realised that what has been achieved has mainly been through the efforts of these determined young people, themselves. Sadly, in both cases, the girls were rather let down at school. Well, OK, it was all new then to staff in mainstream schools. Individual staff did their best. The curriculum seemed both a straitjacket and a set of blinkers. 'Communication' seemed to mean only 'literacy'. 'Inclusion' all too often meant little more than just being present in the room.

The girls' experiences with FE in Scotland seem to have been no better, overall. One had to go to England, and one has struggled to access any relevant courses locally, not to mention the battle for funding to allow her to attend at all.

On a positive note, we have now moved a long way from those days and we are committed to getting it right for every child, active learning, pupil participation and listening to the child's voice, and the rest. We are signed up to delivering a Curriculum for Excellence that promises to create effective contributors, successful learners, responsible citizens and confident individuals. Well, clearly none of these outcomes are possible without effective communication skills. Dare I hope that the next generation of AAC users are set to receive an appropriate, child-centred outcome-focused education that recognises the importance of communication skills as a fundamental underpinning of all learning?

I salute the two young women who emailed me with Christmas greetings and offers of voluntary help for younger AAC users coming up behind them. They HAVE turned into effective, successful, responsible and confident individuals - but largely in spite of, not because of, their educational experiences.

Lochaber High School Audio Revision Project

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:26:09

The Audio Revision Project at Lochaber High School is a really good example of how learning resources can be provided in alternative formats. The project is a collaboration between Dyslexia Lochaber, who raised the funding and organised some volunteer narrators, and Lochaber High School. Revision materials (some produced by staff, some commercial publications) were recorded and made available as podcasts on the school web site and the end result of the project is a set of revision materials for Standard Grade and Higher courses for all the subjects offered by the school in audio format. Pupils can listen to the revision materials online or download them to their own computers or audio players. Have a look at the project site and listen to what's been recorded.

Spoken Ink short audio stories

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:59:25

Spoken Ink is a new web site offering downloadable audio short stories by authors such as Roald Dahl, Angela Carter, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood "and a host of new and unknown talent." Most of the stories cost 99p to download and you can listen to them on your computer, MP3 player, mobile phone etc.

Moray House PGDE ICT Conference 2009

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:56:36

Last Friday we gave a couple of talks on assistive techology and AAC, to students on the Moray House Primary Postgraduate course, and here's the powerpoint presentation. It is a whistle-stop tour through Communication, Access, Literacy and Learning. The presentation is a PDF and the notes for each slide can be seen by pointing with your mouse to the organe speech bubble in the top left hand corner of each slide.

Scottish Schools Browsealoud trial

Paul Nisbet — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:08:51

This is a chance for you to help improve the accessibility of Glow.

If Glow is to fulfil it's aims it needs to be accessible to every pupil in Scotland and one way of helping many pupils with visual or reading difficulties is through 'text-to-speech' software, so that pupils can have material on Glow read out to them by the computer.

There are many text-to-speech programs for reading different types of digital text, such as:

Rod Macaulay's WordTalk (which you can download free from CALL), can read out Word documents, for example, or
TextHelp's PDFaloud, which can read PDFs such as digital textbooks or SQA exam papers,

but we also need a program for reading text from the web itself.

Again there are several options (see Allan's Reading the Web guide at http://www.callscotland.org.uk/Resources/Publications/Information-Sheets/) , and one of them is Browsealoud from TextHelp Systems. Browsealoud is a free program that reads 'speech-enabled' web sites and also Word and PDF files on the web sites.

TextHelp have agreed to 'speech-enable' the CALL Scotland and LTS web sites and also Glow until the end of January 2010, for us to evaluate.

CALL's speech-enabled web sites are:

All LTS web sites (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/) and also everything accessed through the Glow portal are speech-enabled.

The pilot Books for All Scotland Database at http://www.booksforallscotland.org.uk/ is also speech-enabled.

To read the web sites with Browsealoud you need to download it from http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80004.

Jennifer MacDougal from LTS has agreed to set up a discussion forum for the Glow users and so once you have tried out Browsealoud on Glow, go to My Glow Groups > ASN Group and add your comments about it to the discussion. The direct URL for this is https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Additional%20Support%20for%20Learning/Lists/Pages/Discussions.aspx

Browsealoud is essentially a tool for reading web sites with text-to-speech software. It can help pupils with visual impairment, dyslexia, reading and learning difficulties or pupils who are not fluent English readers access information on web sites. It can speak using a number of different voices including Heather, the Scottish voice.

To take part in this trial, download and run Browsealoud and then test it on Glow or on the CALL or LTS websites, and then log any comments or issues on the Glow group. If you can't access Glow send an email to CALL at callscotland@ed.ac.uk.

LTS are currently looking at how the accessibility of Glow can be improved, and a text-to-speech facility could be extremely useful, if not essential, for thousands of pupils in Scotland (not much point in having a national intranet if it isn't accessible to all pupils in Scotland).

Browsealoud is only one option for reading the web and so you might also like to look at some others such as Click Speak, a free add-on for Firefox, but it is really important that we all have a chance to test this particular tool to find out if it does what we all want. Please comment on whether you think Browsealoud would help pupils access Glow, as well as any problems that you come across. Take a look at the video tours and user guides on the Browsealoud web site as well - see http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80006

We're aware that you won't have much time before the end of term, but no doubt some keen people will be unable to resist the temptation to play with Browsealoud over the break, and there will be a few weeks at the start of next term for you to try it.

Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year

Creating digital files from printed materials

Paul Nisbet — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:12:54

Lots of teachers, pupils and parents are interested in scanning books into the computer, converting it readable text, so that for example:

pupils with physical disabilities can press a key on the keyboard, or click a switch, to turn the pages, or
dyslexic pupils can have the text read out with text-to-speech software, or
pupils with sight loss can use text-to-speech software or magnify the text to read the book.

There's a good article by Jim Kauppila on making digital files from printed materials in the latest issue of Closing the Gap. Jim's project has scanned hundreds of books and thousands of pages and in the process has gathered a lot of experience. You can read the article by signing up for a 14 day trial of Closing the Gap. Jim advocates a similar process to the one that we covered in the recent Books for All courses at Stirling, which involves:

Scanning the book
Converting the scanned image to text using FineReader Pro optical character recognition (OCR)
Checking and editing the text with FineReader Pro.
Saving from FineReader as PDF (which makes a digital book that looks like the original) and Plain Text or RTF (for further editing in Word, say, if you want for example a Large Print copy)
Saving from RTF/Plain text/Word as MP3 audio.
Adding structure to the PDF with Acrobat Pro.

The nice thing about this workflow model is that it generates several different types of accessible format for lots of pupils with different literacy support needs.

Lightwriter SL40 Connect

Robert Stewart — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:40:08

The SL40 Connect is a new addition to the Lightwriter SL40 product range which replaced the much loved SL35. As well as providing text-to-speech communication capabilities through face to face communication or by Short Message Service (SMS) texting, it also now gives the user the ability to make mobile phone calls. This is achieved by using the voice synthesiser whilst making phone calls.

A hand, neck and waist strap can now also be attached to the SL40.

Available from: Toby Churchill.

Free Resources for you at the Plasma Screen and Whiteboard Room

Sally Millar — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:45:29

Just a reminder about another source of great and FREE resources! Have a look at the Plasma Screen and WhiteBoard Room created and managed by the Advisory Unit Computers in Education, which offers freely downloadable "Whiteboard resources for pupils with SLD, PMLD and ASD". Most of the resources are in Powerpoint, some are for SMART notebook (free player downloadable). They are all designed for interactive use on a large screen (doesn't mean you couldn't also use on a small PC) The resources are organised under curriculum headings and include a number of very basic activities for learners with complex additional support needs. also links to other useful blogs and websites with resources. This is one of those websites I keep forgetting about, but whenever I remember and look at it, I think WOW, that's GREAT!

CALL helps the University of Edinburgh celebrate 40 years of commercialisation

Paul Nisbet — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:13:33

The University of Edinburgh celebrated 40 years of commercialisation with an exhibition and reception in the Playfair library on November 16th 2009. The Smart Wheelchair was Mr (or should that be Miss?) 1987 - the year when we started work on the first protoype. The event was attended by His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had a narrow escape from being run over while watching the Smart Wheelchair following the track around the stand. The Duke remarked that a big problem with wheelchairs is the low height of the seat, which he said is a bit of an issue at cocktail parties: I'm not sure there's much of a market for a cocktail-shaking Smart Wheelchair with powered elevating seat but who knows, I'll add it to the wish list....

The DVD and booklet produced to mark the occasion feature the Smart Wheelchair and also CALLTalk, the communication vocabulary developed by Sally Millar and Janet Larcher. Thanks to Derek Waddell, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from Edinburgh Research and Innovation Limited (ERI), for inviting us to the event. A video report is available and CALL's work was also featured in the latest edition of Infinite, ERI's annual review.

Splatz: new funky non-slip switch holder

Robert Stewart — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:33:25

Get rid of all that Velcro! This is a unique holder designed specifically for the Jelly Bean and Buddy Button range of switches. The bottom of the holder keeps the switch in place on the desk or wheelchair tray by stopping it sliding around. There is a hole in its side so you can thread through the switch cable.

They are made from a washable floppy rubber and are available in 4 colours: blue, pink, green and yellow.

They can be purchased from QED.

The 2009 Royal Mail Book Award winners

Robert Stewart — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:58:27

The 2009 Royal Mail Book Award winners were announced yesterday, 24th November, and they are:

Early Years 0-7

Manfred The Baddie by John Fardell.

Younger Readers 8-11

First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts by Lari Don.

Older Readers 12-16

Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray.

Voice Notes / Comments in Microsoft Word 2007

Allan Wilson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:36:55

Many pupils with writing difficulties can benefit from the use of Voice Notes in Microsoft Word to record their answers to questions in a worksheet. Rather than type an answer, a pupil can speak it into a microphone and have the recording saved with the document for the teacher to review later.

CALL produced a free quick guide, Creating Voice Notes in Word (PC), which explains how to do this with Microsoft Word 2003 and Windows XP.

Voice Comments in Word 2007 with Windows XP

It is also possible to use voice notes (also known as voice comments) with Word 2007 on an XP machine. There's a short video that shows this on the Jing Screencasts web site. Basically, you have to add a Voice Comment icon to the Quick Access toolbar at the top of the screen.

This is done by going to Quick Access Toolbar - Customise - More Commands - Choose Commands from.. Commands not in Ribbon - Voice Comment - Add - OK. The icon will now appear on the Quick Access toolbar. If you place your cursor in a document, e.g. on the line below a question, and then click on the Voice Comment icon, the Windows Voice Recorder will open and you will be able to record an answer to the question.

But what about Vista? Try Sticky Notes!

The procedure for Voice Comments in Word 2007 for Vista looks as if it should work exactly the same way - but it doesn't! The Voice Recorder in Vista is different from the equivalent in XP and will not open in Word. Instead, when you click on the Voice Comment icon you will be asked to create a 'Package' from an existing file - whatever that means! It appears that the useful facility to create a Voice Comment in a Word document is no longer possible in the Vista operating system.

Is there another way to add a voice comment to a Word document? Yes! Fortunately, all versions of Vista (except Home Basic) have a utility, Sticky Notes, which can be used to add voice comments to a Word document. Sticky Notes is located in All Programs - Accessories - Tablet PC - Sticky Notes. We suggest that if you want to allow voice comments in a Word document in Vista, you run Sticky Notes, set it so that it is 'always on top' (Tools - Options - Always on Top) and reduce the size of the Sticky Notes window so that only the menu bar and the recording bar are visible, as shown.

To record an answer, click on New Note, then the red Record button and record your answer into a microphone. When you have finished, click on the Stop button, then click on Play to hear your answer. If you are happy with your answer, copy and paste the recording into your Word document. Do this by clicking on Tools, then Copy in Sticky Notes and then clicking in your Word document where you want the comment to go and finally, Paste. This will paste a sound icon into your document, which you can play by double-clicking on it. The icon is labelled with the date and time.

Spellcheckers and digital papers

Paul Nisbet — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:02:08

Staff, parents and pupils often ask us for advice on whether a spellchecker can be used with an SQA Adapted Digital Paper, so this is what we think is the situation. If you are in any doubt, contact the SQA Assessment Arrangements team.

Question. Can I use a spellchecker in the examination?

Answer: SQA's policy is that "all software such as spellchecks, predictive software etc, must be disabled, unless it has been approved by SQA." [1]

If your candidate is eligible and wants to use a spellchecker (or any other technique that may help the candidate with spelling, like word prediction or speech recognition), you must request it using the standard Assessment Arrangements Request system. Use of a spellchecker is regarded as a type of Assessment Arrangement.

Spellcheckers should only be requested for candidates who have a particular spelling difficulty due to, for example, dyslexia, and where their poor spelling is likely to impact on their ability to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Spellcheckers can be requested for candidates who "potentially have the ability to achieve the national standards" , but are "unable to do so using the published assessment arrangements". [2] A candidate who does not have an identified difficulty with spelling should not use a spellchecker. You will of course need to have evidence that the candidate's spelling difficulty means they cannot demonstrate their skills and knowledge in the examination, and why and how a spellchecker should help. A spellchecker should not be requested if it won't help the candidate, or if it will give the candidate an unfair advantage over other pupils sitting the examination.

You can request to use a spellchecker in almost all subjects apart from the writing papers in Modern Languages and , Gaelic (Learners) and Gaidhlig. The Writing papers for these subjects assess spelling and so spellcheckers are not allowed for any candidate.

Question. So how do I disable the spellchecker in Adobe Reader when I use an Adapted Digital Paper?

Answer:

Open Adobe Reader, click Edit > Preferences
click Spelling in the list at the left, and then untick Check Spelling while Typing

Mis-spelled words in the answer boxes will no longer be marked with a red wavy line. From 2010, SQA will supply two versions of each Adapted Digital Paper: one version will let the candidate use the Adobe Reader spellchecker, and the other won't (even if you have the spellchecker turned on, it won't work in the answer box). The presenting centre has responsibility for loading the correct version of the paper on the computer, i.e. make sure the spellcheck-enabled paper is only given to candidates who have permission to use it.

Keep up to date with the latest communication aids + Free Lunch!!

Sally Millar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:28:59

Act NOW and book a place at one of the forthcoming Scottish Communication Matters Road Shows. It is completely free, and you get a free lunch as well! Choice of three venues (all 9.15am - 3.30pm, or 'drop in'):

Tuesday 1st December - Edinburgh (Murrayfield Stadium, with CALL)
Wednesday 2nd December - Aberdeen (Pittodrie Football Stadium, with TASSC)
Thursday 3rd December - Glasgow (Hampden Park Stadium, with SCTCI)

This is THE opportunity of the year to find out about all the equipment and software available to support people with complex communication support needs. Suppliers of communication technology exhibit their wares and highlight any new products. As well as each giving a short presentation - you choose which you wish to attend - product experts are on hand all day to answer any questions you may have, demonstrate equipment, supply catalogues and literature, give you mini 1:1 tutorials. Unlike with visits from one particular company, you get the chance to 'compare and contrast' systems. Staff from the local specialist AAC services in Scotland are on hand to help to point you to local sources of informaiton and support, and you will also be able to 'network' with like-minded colleagues. Hope to see you there!

To find out more and to book online, go to Communication Matters Road Shows. Or, you can email Communication Matters or ring 0845 456 8211, giving your name, full address with postcode and contact telephone number. You will receive an acknowledgement of your booking.

You are also always welcome to contact CALL for further information, on 0131 651 6235 or 0131 651 6236.

Halloween Tips for switch users

Joanna Courtney — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:36:23

Here are a few spooky switch ideas for you!

Dress up your switch operated toys in Halloween costumes e.g. witch's hat, black cape etc.
Then, make a simple (e.g. decorated cardboard box) 'Haunted House' for them to walk into, with spooky sound effects on a 'BigMack' or 'Step by Step' switch!
Put a small switch adapted light inside a pumpkin and have your children turn on the spooky glow!
Make 'witches brew' or 'yucky potions' using your PowerLink and blender!
Use a PowerLink and fan to operate spooky wind chimes or blow dried leaves!

Have fun!

Free Internet Resources

Allan Wilson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:43:10

There are some incredible resources available free on the internet these days. (We like to think we have some pretty incredible resources available on our web sites, too, e.g. WordTalk and The Scottish Voice.) Here are a couple of American sites that I have come across recently and which are definitely worth looking at:

Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative (WATI)

WATI was funded by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction until 2009 and is now run as a volunteer network of assistive technology consultants in Wisconsin. They have chosen to make some great free resources available from their web site:

Assessing Students' Needs for Assistive Technology. This is a massive (500+ pages) reference providing useful information on assessing a student for assistive technology. Chapters cover such topics as 'AT for Seating, Positioning and Mobility', 'AT for Communication', 'AT for Computer Access', 'AT for Mathematics', 'AT for Writing', 'AT for Reading' and much more. Materials can be downloaded in PDF, Word and PowerPoint versions. The assessment strategies are generally based on the SETT (Student, Environment, Tasks, Tools) approach, that is popular in the USA, and which can easily be transferred to the UK.
Assistive Technology Supports for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This provides checklists for assessing a student's needs and abilities and suggests strategies for identifying the most suitable assistive technology and resources for a student. There is a particular emphasis on the use of augmentative and alternative communication.
DESK (Designing Environments for Successful Kids). This book looks at the design of a suitable environment for children with disabilities at different stages of their educational development.

National Centre on Universal Design for Learning

The National Centre, based in Maine, was set up to promote the idea of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), i.e. a flexible approach to curriculum design that offers all learners full and equal opportunities to grow. Much of the work on UDL is echoed by recent legislation in the UK, including the Disability Discrimination Act and requirements for local authorities to have Accessibility Strategies in place for school education, covering not just physical access, but also access to the curriculum, and improved communication within the school. The web site provides detailed guidelines, backed up by research, based on three primary principles for Universal Design for Learning:

Provide Multiple Means of Representation;
Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression;
Provide Multiple Means of Engagement.

The Principles are broken down into Guidelines and then Checkpoints, with detailed resources and examples provided for each Checkpoint.

Making Books for All CPD at Stirling Management Centre, 29 and 30 September

Paul Nisbet — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:12:39

Paul Nisbet and Stuart Aitken have developed a comprehensive 4 day course that attempts to cover techniques for making learning resources in accessible formats. The course is split into two sections and the first half was held on 29/30 September, at Stirling Management Centre. It was attended by colleagues from across the country - from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway, and was very successful. It was great to have a meeting of minds both geographically and also in terms of remit - there were people who make Large print, Braille and audio books for pupils with visual impairments and also staff who make digital books for pupils with other print disabilities due to physical impairments or dyslexia. This mix made the two days very stimulating (and hard work).

Over these first two days we covered:

where to find and source accessible formats;
accessibility of different formats for different groups of print-disabled pupils;
how to add structure to digital books and make 'Intermediate Files' using Microsoft Word;
how to convert these Intermediate Files to different audio, print and digital formats;
adapting digital files from publishers.

The second part of the course will be on 19/20 November and will cover scanning and OCR, making interactive resources, uploading accessible books to the Books for All Database, and copyright issues.

We hope to repeat the four day course in February/March 2010 initially, and also in summer 2010 and/or the 2010/2011 session.

These courses are funded and organised by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS): attendence was FREE for participants. If you would like to find out more, contact Gayle Monteith at LTS (G.Monteith@LTScotland.org.uk).

Including All Children in the Royal Mail Scottish Children's Book Awards

Allan Wilson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:15:10

Book Awards

The Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books is an innovative nationwide reading project in which children and young people from every corner of Scotland read and vote for their favourite Scottish children's books of the year. Last year:

Over 18,000 children were involved and an amazing 9,541 votes were cast;
Over 350 schools and libraries in every corner of Scotland, from Aberdeen to Dumfries; Shetland to Arran, took part;
The 2008 awards ceremony brought 550 young judges from across Scotland together to see their peers act out the winning books.

The Awards were originally set up by the Scottish Arts Council in 1999 and are now run by Scottish Book Trust. More information is on the Scottish Book Trust web site.

The shortlist

Children can vote for their favourite book from a shortlist in each of three categories:

Early Years (0 - 7 years)

Manfred the Baddie by John Fardell;
Pink by Lynne Rickards and Barbara Chamberlain;
Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Younger Readers (8 - 11 years)

Dino Egg by Charlie James;
The Eleventh Orphan by Joan Lingard;
First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts by Lari Don.

Older Readers (11 - 16 years)

Crash by J A Henderson;
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray;
The Reckoning by James Jauncey.

But what about disabled children who can't read the books?

CALL Scotland has worked with the Scottish Book Trust and the authors and publishers to create accessible digital versions of the nine shortlisted books. The idea is that children and young people with physical, visual and reading or dyslexic difficulties, who can't read the paper books, can read the digital books instead and take part in the awards.

Children with spinal injury, cerebral palsy or other physical impairments can click a switch or press a key on a computer, to turn pages and read the books by themselves. Dyslexic readers or children with visual impairments can change the font size and/or colours on screen, or use text-to-speech software to read the books.

The books can be read out by the computer using "Heather", the high quality Scottish computer voice that is available free for schools and pupils from CALL Scotland's web site at www.TheScottishVoice.org.uk. Accessible digital versions of the shortlisted books are available free of charge from CALL Scotland by completing the 'Request Digital Copy' online form' via the Books for All website or phoning 0131 651 6236.

In a related initiative, RNIB Scotland have produced Large Print, Braille and audio copies of the books.

Tobii C-Series: C8 and C12 communication aids

Robert Stewart — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:51:58

Tobii seem to be releasing a lot of new products recently and have added the weather resistant C8 (approximately £4800) and C12 (approximately £5400) to their range. They are both designed like tablet PCs with a 8.4" and 12.1" screen respectively. The C12 can also have the Tobii CEye control system (approximately £4900) attached to it. Both of these devices have an integrated desk stand or can be wheelchair mounted. You can also insert a mobile phone SIM card into each of them for sending and receiving text. Saves all that hassle with connecting up mobile phones! I've been told that it also works well in a wide variety of lighting conditions which will be useful for wheelchair mounting. Keyguards can also be fitted to them.

Both of these devices come pre-installed with Tobii Communicator, however, you are free to choose the communication package (such as the Grid 2) you wish since the underlaying operating system of the device is Windows Vista. I suspect the reason for having Vista (as opposed to Windows XP) installed is the fact that Vista has touchscreen capabilities built-in.

An interesting feature on these devices is the ability to add an extra battery which will take the battery life from 4 to 6 hours on the C8 (no data for C12). Not that remarkable that you can add another battery until you see that they are 'hot swappable'. This effectively means that you can remove (and replace) the secondary battery without having to turn the device off.

They also support interchangeable coloured side panels....a nice feature if the client is particular to a certain colour!

Tobii C8

Touchscreen: 8.4"
Attach CEye control system: no
Dimensions: 213 x 200 x 38mm
Weight: 1.8 Kg
Memory: 2Gb
Hard Drive: 60 Gb
Battery life: 4 hours
Switch inputs: 2
Mounting: Daessy or Vesa
Integrated desk stand: yes
Wireless: yes
Built in camera: yes

Tobii C12

Touchscreen: 12.1"
Attach CEye control system: yes
Dimensions: 313 x 264 x 46mm
Weight: 2.9 Kg
Memory: 2Gb
Hard Drive: 60 Gb
Battery life: 5 hours
Switch inputs: 2
Mounting: Daessy or Vesa
Integrated desk stand: yes
Wireless: yes
Built in camera: yes

Fast charging battery: 90 percent in 90 seconds

Robert Stewart — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:59:21

Toshiba were rumoured to have been initaly planning an April 2009 launch for this new technology but held off because of the recession and market conditions. The super charge ion battery could revolutionise technology and uses nanotechnology to rapidly charge in a couple of minutes (90 percent in 90 seconds) and recharges up to 6000 times (on a laptop).

The battery is planned for use in a variety of other applications and not just laptops. Car batteries are one such application so this could have implications for wheelchair batteries.

So, we shall wait with bated breath for Toshiba to launch this new technology.

Oska on-screen keyboard

Robert Stewart — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:30:36

Another interesting application demonstrated at Communication Matters, Oska is designed to offer a variety of alternative input methods to custom designed keyboards.

The software basicaly allows you to design your own keyboards and attach an input method (such as a switch) to control that custom keyboard. Thus, users are able to operate a PC in a way that suits them. Methods of input range from mouse, keyboard and switch to head and mouth stick. Since the keyboards are custom designed you can have any key perform almost any action; open and close a program such as Microsoft Word or open another custom keyboard specifically designed for an application or game. You can even move the keyboard around the screen if it's in the way. Some great features can be designed into the keyboards and the editor is surprisingly easy to get to grips with. Although, that is from a 'techy' point of view!

The package is free to developers but clients wishing to use the keyboards have to purchase the Oska suite for £159 from Claro Software.

I shall describe 2 methods demonstrated at Communication Matters:

Scroll Wheel Scanning

Using a standard UK on-screen keyboard you can use the scroll wheel on a mouse to operate a switch/scanning system. You scroll (as fast or slow as you wish) the column or row back and forth and click the scroll wheel to select. i.e.

scroll to the desired column using the scroll button;
click to select the column and then scroll to the desired row;
click to select the key you require;
repeat the process.

TenKey Mouse

Using the numeric keypad at the right of a computer keyboard or a keypad such as the Kensington Pocket Keypad. The keyboard is separated into 9 sectors of 9 keys (9 x 9) and you press 1 - 9 on the keypad to select a sector and then 1 - 9 to select a key.

The advantage of this method is that the user could eventually memorise the key presses for every key and no longer need to look at the keyboard to type.

Intel Fizzbook tablet PC as a low cost VOCA

Robert Stewart — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:54:29

Peter Keeves (Cornwall Partnership Trust) recently presented a session at Communication Matters on the new Intel Fizzbook Tablet PC and its potential as a low cost voice output communication aid (VOCA). I shall give very brief details on this:

Fizzbook Spin (Standard laptop version is just called a Fizzbook) can be purchased for around £300 which is very cheap for a Tablet PC (Touch screen laptop with rotating screen). It's powered with an Intel Atom processor, 1Gb Ram, 10.1" screen, 160Gb hard drive and Windows XP. It also boasts a carry handle.
Peter suggested purchasing an iWantit IW150 ipod speaker station for under £15 which can then be attached to the back of the tablet (with good strength Velcro). The speaker is then powered via USB from the tablet (you can also use 4 x AAA batteries) and the sound can be turned on or off and adjusted easily with buttons on the top right of the speaker.
Copy of Clicker 5 (with Quickfire grids) can then be purchased for home use at £59.

It should be noted that some basic soldering was mentioned but this was not elaborated on. I'm assuming this is for the earphone cable between the tablet and the speaker.

At less than £400 the finished article was very profesional and the audio fairly loud. I worked out that the total weight was about 1.75 Kg which isn't too heavy.

An added touch is that the user can still attach their iPod to the back of the speaker!

If you wish to know more then you may wish to contact Peter Keeves via the Cornwall Partnership Trust (Peter.Keeves@cpt.cornwall.nhs.uk).

Toshiba NB200 Mini Notebook: 9 hour battery life!

Robert Stewart — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:21:05

Yet another mini book (also known as the net-book) hits the market! However, this one is slightly different, as the Toshiba sales Rep claims a 9 hour continuous use battery life from its 6 cell battery.

There is a basic XP Home model for £254 (excluding vat) as well as a 3G enabled model (built-in mobile broadband capability) at £300 (excluding vat). The drawback with the 3G model is a reduction of battery life by 3 hours (if the 3G is used continuously) which just shows you how much power is consumed by mobile broadband.

Update (02/10/09): There is also 3 cell version battery (4 hour continuous use battery life) available in Linux and Windows XP for £218 + vat.

The Toshiba Rep also informed me that it has been designed for school children and so features the usual rugged clips, etc. Didn't mention any drop testing though! Saying that, I've read Toshiba have installed a G-sensor to enable free-fall protection for the hard drive. Whenever excessive movement is detected the drive heads are locked to help protect the hard drive. Since the hard drive is the only mechanical part, it is usualy the most common mode of failure when you drop it! So, this G-sensor will help prevent damage during a fall.

Specification:

Intel Atom N270 processor
10.1" VGA screen
1Gb Ram
160Gb Hard Drive
Wireless

The Grid 2: buried treasure - right click to hear a preview

Sally Millar — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:29:02

I like The Grid 2 software for pupils who have really complex communication and writing difficulties. Amongst its many good features, I especially like the symbol supported prediction, for users who really have barely any spelling ability at all, maybe just initial letters - but who still want to speak out and get their thoughts down on paper - and who are building their confidence to bridge from symbols to keyboard and words. (You can do this with Clicker and Penfriend combined but it can be a bit fiddly.) The Grid 2 does everything that Clicker does - and more - in some ways more elegantly and with more versatility. But one criticism I've heard voiced is that The Grid 2 doesn't allow you to do that much-loved Clicker 'right click' trick - ie you 'right click' to get the spoken preview of the word in the cell, to check what it is, before you decide whether to select it or not (and then hear it spoken out 'properly' as it is sent up into the document/message bar.

Well - you CAN!! It's just ridiculously well hidden as a feature, in The Grid 2. Here is how to do it:

Go to User settings
select Input settings>pointer>tooltips
select "right click to speak tooltip" (it may already be selected)

You will also then need to go to Speech Settings, to select a private voice, as this is the speech that will be used on a right click. (I think this is the bit that most people don't know - I didn't!) If you can, discuss with your user whether he /she'd like the right click prompt to speak in the same or a different voice as the left click select.

Also discuss whether the volume should be the same or different. Clicker doesn't allow you to vary these, but The Grid 2 does (so the user can have a quiet little prompt that nobody else can hear). I suggest you set the volume on the Private voice at about 50% (if the volume on the Public voice is 100%) - this can be changed to suit.

Learn more about The Grid 2

New AAC device: Alt-Chat+ from Liberator

Sally Millar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:41:27

We have just had a chance to trial a new device called the Alt-Chat+ developed by the US company Saltillo and marketed in the UK by Liberator Ltd. It is an interesting mixture of two different devices - it has the hardware 'body' of the Springboard Lite (a very popular small lightweight device) and the software 'guts' of the Chat PC4 / Silk handheld device. Retailing around the £3,500 mark (ex VAT) it plops straight into an area where there was a gap before - ie devices that are relatively simple to use, do not have a load of unwanted fancy features, and that are not overwhelmingly expensive, but that - unlike the digitised voice devices - do have a synthetic voice, text and prediction. This makes it of potential interest in the education / school market. Watch this space for more information as we explore the loan device, its prestored vocabularies, and find out how easy it is to adapt and programme.

Update: 04.09.09

Don't want to sound too negative but in spite of some good points we were a wee bit disappointed overall when we checked out more of the inner workings of this device - on the usability front, it may not be the miracle answer we were hoping for ....

FREE switch accessible games and resources

Sally Millar — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:32:56

Simple games that can be operated by switch(es) or space bar are important for children who cannot easily access and play 'ordinary' computer games. CALL Family Fun Switch Games will lead you to a huge stock of FREE and fun switch accessible resources (list created by Alan Stewart and CALL Scotland) Enjoy! Do please let CALL know (or sign up as a guest and add your own) if you know of any we've missed!

'Staying on TrAACk' AAC Study Day

Joanna Courtney — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:05:22

Special Interest Group-AAC Scotland

This study day is being held on Monday the 26th of October at St John's Hospital in Livingston. It is relevant for Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs), Teachers, Occupational Therapists (OTs), Support for Learning Assistants (SLAs) and all staff who work with people who use AAC. The day costs £20 per person and both coffee and lunch are provided.

As the speakers on the day will be covering topics from both child and adult services , it should attract a wide range of professionals and will be a great opportunity to share ideas and practical approaches to working with clients in the field of AAC!

For more information and to book a place, please download the AAC SIG flier and follow the instructions provided.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Software Discounts

Sally Millar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:35:26

As the new session starts, a reminder to all schools that LTScotland offers a range of educational software at discounted rates, including key software for additional support needs i.e. BoardMaker V6 and Clicker 5. Check out their software promotions for Early Years, Primary, Secondary, or schools in general, and/or their software licensing schemes.

New Communication Aids for summer 09

Sally Millar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:13:08

This has been quite a summer for AAC - no fewer than four new communication aids have recently hit the AAC High Street.

Firstly there is the mindblowing Proloquo2Go, (P2G) software from Assistiveware which runs on an ordinary iPod Touch (only 115gms in weight) or iPhone. It is undoubtedly the ultimate in 'cool'. The fact that it is a wholly 'mainstream' product - bought through mainstream outlets, with the software downloaded as an 'App' from iTunes, and affordable to many families - is such a radical new development that it has the potential to change the face of AAC. It needs additional speaker for adequate volume. It will not suit everyone but it has some interesting new design features from an enthusiastic young developer who really listens to users (and replies), and fabulous potential. No switch access for now anyway.

Secondly, there is the clever but really simple ProxTalker, a sort of talking PECS system, which was featured recently in this Blog, from Logan Technologies. PECS users will be keen to try this easy to use device, which may hold the key to bridging the gap between low and high tech communication aids.

Thirdly there is the new low tech Frenchay Alphabet Board (FAB) from E2L Ltd. It's still a bit beyond me why a piece of laminated paper would not be just as good, for some users anyway, but then again I can see that many hospitals and establishments in the community / public places would prefer to buy a device to have available at all times, rather than rely on having a staff member make one for a particular user. And some users would benefit from the sort of keyguard/guide that helps accurate finger indication.

Lastly, news has just broken of the new DynaVox Xpress which is small enough for pocket or hands, but is a powerful complex device with the familiar DynaVox software/ vocabulary look, and full Wifi connectivity. It has built-in synthetic voices and a 5 inch screen like an iPhone or Blackberry, and unlike the P2Go, it DOES offer switch access. It does not exactly 'replace' the much loved and much lamented DynaMo which featured such endearing simplicity, but joins the competitive field of handhelds and 'quasi handhelds' (NB. no more Palmtop 3 in the UK). It weighs about 700 gms which is about twice the weight of a standard handheld but still pretty portable. The weight is in the built-in amp and speakers which give high volume and excellent quality speech. Look forward to finding out more about it soon.

UPDATE: 20th August: Sorry for misinformation posted in the original version of this blog item - the Xpress offers one switch scanning access.

Text to Speech and Web Browsers - Is CleanPage the Answer?

Allan Wilson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:34:54

Shortly after our recent comparison of text-to-speech utilities that can be used to read web pages, Reading the Web was released, we received an email suggesting that we have a look at the free CleanPage utility, free from ReadonWeb. We had a look at it and liked it, but it wasn't quite right. When you install CleanPage it adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer, which allows an 'uncluttered' version of a web page, without graphics and 'junk', to be created. The font and colours in the uncluttered version can be adjusted to suit the reader and it is also possible to have this text transferred to a separate text-to-speech window straight from the original web page. It seemed great for people with a visual impairment and those who just wanted to have web pages 'de-cluttered' or read aloud, but it wasn't so good for people who needed a little more support. We had three main issues:

Sometimes people need the pictures! If you are looking at a web page with descriptions of various animals, it is helpful to be able to see the pictures while you are listening to the text.
It wasn't possible to select only a part of the text on a web page, so if you only wanted the description of the zebra at the bottom of the page, you had to sit through the antelope, the bear, the chimpanzee, etc.
It wasn't possible to change font and colours for text in the text-to-speech window - either you could have colour options in the uncluttered view, or text-to-speech - but not both.

We outlined our concerns in an email to ReadonWeb. Within 24 hours their President had replied, saying he would ask his team to look at our suggestions. Six days later we received another email saying that our suggestions had been implemented in a new version (1.1.1.6) of the program. Very impressive!

We've looked at the new version - points 2 and 3 have been fully addressed. Point 1 can be met by minimising the text-to-speech window and highlighting text on the original web page so that it looks as if it is being read directly from the web page. It doesn't quite match our ideal - to have text highlighted as it is read direct from the web page - but it comes very close!

For PC users with Internet Explorer, CleanPage should be the first option to consider - it may not suit everybody, but it is definitely the best of the free options. If you are using Firefox on a PC or a Mac, the best option is the free CliCk, Speak add-on.

New AAC device, the Logan ProxTalker

Sally Millar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:55:53

Today CALL was pleased to receive a demonstration and short term loan of voice output communication aid that is new on the UK market, the Logan ProxTalker.

This is a VERY simple-to-use system that is basically a PECS or communication book that can talk. The user's pictures are on little cards with a Velcro backing, stored on Velcro-friendly pages. These can be photos, PCS symbols Widgit, Pics for PECS, plain words, or anything. The user selects the symbol card he wants and places it on the Velcro tag on one of 5 buttons on the device. As he/she presses the button, the card will speak (recorded/digitised speech).

How does it work? The symbol cards are 'smart' tags that are ID coded with unique radio frequencies (like swipe cards for security doors etc.) and the speech message is linked to the code. Messages can be between 2 and 8 seconds each, and the device will hold thousands of messages (on an SD card).

It is really quick and simple to change the recording, increase or decrease volume, check battery function. You can buy it with a core vocabulary of 80 symbols (and 20 blanks) or 100 blanks and make your own set of picture/symbol cards. Extra pages, tags etc can be purchased separately later. The ProxTalker uses 4 ordinary 'C' Duracell batteries that last about 6 months. It comes in grey, blue or pink and can be carried in a neat little backpack, weighing overall about 2.25 Kgs.

We liked the innovative design and the extreme simplicity and robustness of the ProxTalker and can imagine that there will be lots of potential users out there - particularly children with autistic spectrum disorders but maybe others too.

For more information, check it out on proxtalker.com A Proxtalker web site (www.proxtalker.co.uk) is coming soon.

If you would like to see or try this device, get in touch with CALL Scotland, we should have the demonstrator loan machine here until late September and will be keen to find potential users and to get feedback that we can relay to the developers/supplier.

Using Text-to-Speech Utilities to Read Web Pages

Allan Wilson — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:13:46

CALL frequently receives enquiries from people seeking advice on utilities that can be used to read text from web pages. Teachers and parents may be using WordTalk to read Word documents and are now looking for something similar to read web pages.

Earlier this year CALL carried out a detailed comparison of over twenty utilities that can be used to add speech output to web pages. A report on the results, Reading the Web, can be downloaded from the CALL web site. We looked at a range of options from free utilities, to the use of comprehensive literacy support packages which included the ability to read web pages among a wide range of features. Many schools may already have a package like TextHelp, or Penfriend, both of which can be used to add text-to-speech facilities to the web, but for parents, or people staring from scratch, we recommended the free CliCkSpeak add-on for the Firefox web browser. At the time, we could not wholeheartedly recommend any single option for Internet Explorer, though Balabolka, NaturalReader and Ultra Hal were all worth considering as free options. TextAloud was a good choice for those with a small budget.

Read on Web's ClearPage

ClearPage is a new option for adding text-to-speech to Internet Explorer. When you install this free utility to a PC (there isn't a Mac version, unfortunately) a new toolbar is added to Internet Explorer, which allows you to create an 'uncluttered' version of the original web page, stripped of graphics and unnecessary text. The uncluttered version can be presented in your preferred font, text and background colours for easy reading, and can also be transferred to a text-to-speech window. This may sound complicated, but it is actually very easy - it is possible to go straight from the original web page to hearing the text-to-speech version with a single keystroke.

Unfortunately the text and background colours in the text-to-speech window cannot be changed from the standard black and white so people with different colour preferences are not able to change to suit their needs. There are also issues with the way in which text is selected and read - if you try to read a single word, the word will be read, but it will carry on reading the following text.

ClearPage is not particularly helpful if you need to see the text in the context of graphical material, or if you only want to read a small portion of the text on a web page, but, despite these reservations, it is definitely a useful utility that is worth considering for getting text-to-speech from Internet Explorer.

A typical web page seen in a standard browser.

The same page in ClearPage's 'uncluttered' view.

The same page in ClearPage's text to speech reader.

Livescribe Pulse pen for notetaking and maybe as AAC device

Sally Millar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:40:23

One of the new devices on show at CALL's recent ICT and Inclusion sessions was the rather amazing Livescribe Pulse Pen.

You can see the product description (with video) at Livescribe.com

It has been designed for note-taking and could be useful to students and older school pupils with memory or writing difficulties of speed, legibility or spelling (or all of these). It's not particularly new to have a pen that records audio (though this one is good quality audio and can pick up teacher talk so long as student is at the front of the room) but this device follows through, so you can also quickly and easily transfer the file to your computer and link the recording to your written notes / diagrams, share notes via email, convert your written notes into a word processor file (with the audio still attached). The special notebook that is part of the pen pack might be an attractive alternative to heaving a laptop around everywhere.

The Livescribe Pulse pen is marketed in the UK, you can find more details at Dyslexic.com It's not unduly expensive at approx. £199

For those with an AAC interest, Karen Janowski from the USA outlines on her Teaching Every Student blog how you could use the Livescribe to create a talking communication book, and links to an interesting article that describes in detail how to do this, see "Augmentative Communication: A Low-Cost and Lightweight Communication Device with Natural Speech."

ICT and Inclusion 2009, Glasgow

Stuart Aitken — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:46:03

Janette Graham and Andrea MacBeath, based at the ASL Technology Service in Richmond Park School in Glasgow provided their top ten tips (well at least twelve, really) for supporting literacy. They covered Word Prediction such as using Penfriend or Co:Writer; symbol support using Boardmaker; use of WordTalk and a host of others. Not only that but they kindly offered to share their PowerPoint slides for the presentation with others.

Katie Robinson, a teacher at Middlefield, a school in Glasgow for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, presented on her use of the SmartBoard with pupils she works with. She has found that Smart technologies offer particular advantages for pupils with ASD. These include:

being bright and attractive, drawing on the strengths of visual learners
being interactive, pupils really can "Do to learn"
allows the teacher to reduce his or her use of verbal language - free from multiple sub-clauses
easier to focus on, helping when teaching the skills for taking part in a group - such as turn-taking

Katie noted that she had found Education City particularly appropriate software with the pupils she worked with. Problems of positioning the board, using a touch sensitive screen as opposed to the kind that lock you into using a particular kind of pen (options of magic wands, conductor's batons and such like led to some useful discussion).

ICT and Inclusion 2009, Edinburgh

Sally Millar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:32:47

About 130 people attended here in CALL Scotland, in Edinburgh, for the second very successful CALL Scotland ICT and Inclusion day. It's quite ambitious to try and meet the CPD needs & interests of everyone from staff working with Primary pupils with severe and complex additional support needs, to NHS therapists, to tutors of students with disabilities in Further Education. But somehow our mix of exhibition displays, suppliers' presentations and good practice workshops seems to have pulled it off! Evaluation forms show that participants liked everything a lot, and especially the chance to have 1:1 discussions and hands-on with suppliers, the ideas provided in the practitioner workshops, and information about free software resources.

ICT and Inclusion 2009 Dingwall

Paul Nisbet — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:56:05

About 80 people enjoyed a great day at the Ross County Victoria Park stadium in Dingwall yesterday on 16th June. There were 18 presentations from suppliers and practitioners on a wide range of topics as well as a chance to look at software and hardware in the exhibition space. A quick glance at the evaluation forms shows that all the participants found the day useful. Craig Mill's AccessApps and 2Simple software got several appreciative mentions, as did the lunch and the weather. Next up Edinburgh and then Glasgow.

The BBC's new Accessible Newsreader

Allan Wilson — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:15:15

Welcome!

Welcome to the first entry in the new CALL Scotland Blog!

We will be using the Blog to share information about our work, events we are organising and developments in augmentative and alternative communication, assistive technology and education.

The BBC's Accessible Newsreader

The BBC have launched an accessible news service website, allowing switch users to chose news items for reading. People using the site can use a switch to choose stories from Headlines, UK News, World News, Sports News, Animal News and Showbiz and can them have the material read aloud by the computer.

The site has already received positive comment from the United States - see the Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs website. We know of a school in Scotland where a class has been making use of this exciting, new resource. One pupil was particularly annoyed to hear about an MP claiming back the cost of a toilet seat on his expenses and expressed herself so well that she was awarded an NVQ pass for expressing her views on a controversial subject!

We think it is great that a major news organisation has made the effort to create a news site that is accessible for switch users. The BBC are already planning improvements to the site and CALL have made some suggestions which will be taken on board as the project develops. Let us know if there are any improvements that you would like to see and we'll pass them on to our contact in the BBC.