Terrific new \'AACknowledge\' resource launches
Posted by 14 on the 18th January, 2013
A terrific new AAC resource has recently been launched, in the form of the AACknowledge website. This is an outcome of Communication Matter's AAC Evidence Base project. The new website provides a wealth of useful information for both experienced AAC specialists, who get summaries and links to a...
The Grid 2 Webinar: Introducing Fast Talker 2
Posted by Robert Stewart on the 7th December, 2012
Event date: 12th December, 2012 Event time: 1.00pm - 1.30pm Presenters: Craig Mill and Dougal Hawes Fast Talker 2 is Sensory Software's most complete text-based grid set for use with The Grid 2. It combines powerful communication grids with some of the most popular modern comput...
Customising the background/wallpaper on the iPad
Posted by Craig Mill on the 27th November, 2012
Despite the popularity of the iPad it is surprising there are only 23 background wallpapers to choose from. These consist of a range of mellow or atmospheric images and scenes including dewy grass, a cobbled street, tree rings, a carved totem pole, flowers, crashing waves, denim and other pattern...
Talking Glove
Posted by 14 on the 23rd November, 2012
A rather amazing new development by two engineering students - a glove that 'translates' a hand gesture into a spoken output. The glove can 'learn' a large number of differentiated gestures (but would different wearers, if physically impaired, be able to make clearly differentiate...
How (not) to teach AAC use
Posted by 14 on the 20th November, 2012
Brilliant (and honest and funny) insights here from a parent of a young child learning to use a Talker. Every single Teacher, Additional Support Needs Assistant, therapist, parent - and everyone else - needs to read this! It is a summary of the three most important things about te...
Ivona MiniReader free text-to-speech reader
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 20th November, 2012
One very common question we get asked is "what do you recommend for reading out the SQA Digital Question Papers?" There are several good programs for this such as TextHelp Read and Write Gold, ClaroRead, Co:Writer and Penfriend but if you have no money and you want a nice si...
Switch adapted Nerf gun
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 16th November, 2012
Yesterday we hosted a course delivered by the great Ian Bean, on switches and switch-operated technology, and during lunch I gave a short demo of my latest favourite switch-operated toy: a Nerf Havock Fire dart gun. I set this up for the CALL Family Day earlier this year, and it was prett...
iPad Scotland Evaluation is published
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 13th November, 2012
Earlier this year eight schools in Scotland participated in a study which asked “How does the use of tablet devices (e.g. the iPad) impact on teaching and learning?” Given the huge interest in iPads, this is a good question to ask, and even better to answer! Researchers at the Universit...
New App, SimpleAAC
Posted by 14 on the 8th November, 2012
Well, just one day after yesterday's very successful Using iPads in AAC Study Day, I've just discovered that yet another new AAC App. It's called SimpleAAC, produced by Tony Jones / Unliimiter, and marketed through Ability World. Have to say, CALL is not endorsing this App as such, &n...
WordTalk problem after Microsoft Office Update?
Posted by Robert Stewart on the 8th November, 2012
A number of users of WordTalk on Windows 7 (64-bit) have reported an error with WordTalk installed with Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 which looks like it is caused by an Office update and causes the following error: "Dialog Box Title: Microsoft Visual Basic, Compile Error in Hidden Module: This D...
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