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communication
software
Symbol Chat
Symbols are useful to people with no lit-eracy skills, as well as helping those with limited literacy to develop a larger vocab-ulary. Different users can cope with widely varying levels of complexity in their symbol systems. The Grid can take the user from very simple communication screens to the more advanced arrangements
.
The Grid 2
Play your grids on iPad, iPhone
and iPod Touch...
What is Grid Player?
Grid Player is a new App that enables you to use resources from The Grid 2 on other devices – iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and the new Papoo communication aid.
How much does it cost?
The Grid Player App is free to download from the Apple App store.
How does it work?
Users will require The Grid 2 software to do any editing or to create resources for use with Grid Player.
Sensory Software will be releasing the Grid Player App in October 2011 in the UK and are planning a worldwide release in 2012.
The Grid 2 is an all-in-one package for communication and access.
The Grid 2 allows people with limited or unclear speech to use a computer
as a voice output communication aid, using symbols or text to build
sen-tences. You can also access your Windows desktop and other programs,
with the built in Computer Control features. In addition to this, you can send
and receive email and sms messages, browse the web, listen to music...
and more too!
The Grid 2 is accessible to everybody, accepting input from eye gaze,
switches, headpointer, touchscreen, mouse, and other options too. It
re-quires a PC running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7.
Computer Control
The Grid 2 includes all the features you need to use everyday Windows programs, without using a standard keyboard and mouse. The Grid 2 can replace either a keyboard, a mouse - or both! The Grid 2 replaces your keyboard, so you can type into other programs, write Word docu-ments or emails, use the internet and more. The Grid is accessible with switches, touch screen, headpointer, joystick... and many more - all of these can be used for Computer Control. The Grid 2 also re-places your mouse, so you can move the mouse and click anywhere on the screen.
Access
The Grid 2 has been designed to be ac-cessed by everyone, from those with com-plex disabilities to people with good motor control.
Text Chat
The Grid 2 provides quick and accurate text communication for literate users. Grids can be simple typing grids, or more com-plicated setups with stored messages and prediction. Write sentences by spelling words or selecting complete words, and then speak them aloud.
You can type using:
• a physical keyboard (including adapted keyboards such as BigKeys) • a keyboard grid, displaying a
key-board on the screen
• grids with complete words or phrases
new
To connect switches to your computer, you will need a switch
inter-face. Please see page 22.
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40
Tobii SymbolMate is ideal for creating paperbased communication pages and educational material with symbols, text or photos. Sym-bolMate allows for the creation of communication pages for AAC users and their static devices with pre-designed templates. Along with supporting communication needs, SymbolMate is the perfect tool for building visual schedules and social skill activities for children with Autism. It also supports literacy development by allowing the educator to create books and symbol-based literacy activities for emergent readers.
SymbolMate is packed with features that make it easy to use: • 15,000+ SymbolStix® symbols developed for
communica-tion.
• Subscription service – Get the latest news and symbols from News-2-You.
• Supports Widgit, Bliss, Pictogram and PCS symbols. • Symbols translated into multiple languages.
• Supports png, jpg, gif, wmf, emf, tiff and bmp image file for-mats.
• Create your own picture libraries on the fly. • Tools for inserting text and symbols.
• Modern WYSIWYG editor for modifying symbols and pictures. • Compatible with Tobii Communicator 4.
• Import and edit Boardmaker® v6 files.
• Ships with templates for most widely used static AAC devices and classroom activities.
• Create pages from predefined templates - communication devices, calendars, activities or schedules or storyboards. • Switch between grid and freehand layout modes to make
visual scene displays, schedules, symbol cards or any other graphics for your communication or classroom activities. • Customise and print to any paper format.
Making it easy for educators to
create paperbased symbol
com-munication and educational
ma-terial. Ships with more than 15,000
symbols.
Tobii SymbolMate
GoTalk Overlay Software
Creating great-looking overlays quickly is a snap
with GoTalk® Overlay Software!
This updated version comes with the complete Imagine Symbol Set and an integrated online search feature that gives you instant ac-cess to millions of images. You can export files in PDF, JPG, or PNG formats so it’s easy to email overlays to others.
Now also available with SymbolStix, a complete library of 12,000 symbols by News-2-You.
Overlay cells can now contain multiple images and text boxes, so you can create personalised communication boards. Editing fea-tures let you adjust colour, size, and font of the text. Move, enlarge, rotate and crop pictures. Choose from dozens of ready-made tem-plates for all of the GoTalk range plus standard paper sizes. Print overlays to any any inkjet or laser printer.
Features:
• Select from dozens of pre-made templates. • Make professional-looking overlays quickly.
• Search online easily for images (Internet connection required). • Add your own photos.
• Change images and text with a full-featured editor. • Place multiple images and text boxes in one cell. • Save and print overlays.
• Export overlays as PDFs, JPGs, or PNGs. • Windows only - XP or higher.
The full spectrum of communication
Create paper based communication and
eductional material!
Check out our range of GoTalk’s on
pages 5, 7, and 9.
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communication
software
Tobii Communicator
Who is Helped by Tobii Communicator?
Communicator is designed for use by all individuals with communication disabilities, at vari-ous levels. It is also ideal for those creating page sets and communication boards, such as speech and language therapists (SLP), special education teachers, family members and care givers. Communicator works seamlessly with, but is not limited to, Tobii speech genera-tion devices such as the Tobii PCEye and the C-Series devices - C8, C12 and C15.
Effective communication
In today’s world, the ability to go beyond face-to-face communication is increasingly im-portant. Access to e-mail and messaging enhances the independence and quality of life of many AAC users. Being able to engage in private and personal conversations without the assistance of a helper is of huge importance to many people — all of which is possible with Communicator.
Flexible
Communicator allows for high levels of personalisation and for multiple user profiles and get-ting started couldn’t be easier: you can be up and running in minutes, ready to chat, joke, give opinions, send texts or surf the Internet. And with powerful time saving tools such as word and phrase prediction, communication is quicker than ever.
Extended functionality
Communicator is suitable for all levels of cognitive and physical ability, featuring symbols and pictures for users who cannot write or the choice of keyboard layouts for text, telephone and computer access for users who can.
Using the different Tobii Sono Suite software products, the functionality of Communicator can be extended even further.
Communicator supports a full range of input methods too, from keyboard and mouse input, to scan, switch, head mouse and eye control. And whichever method you use, with Com-municator you can use infrared light transceivers to control your environment, giving you even greater independence.
Tobii Communicator is an alternative and augmentative communication
(AAC) software platform designed with you in mind.
Communicator converts text and symbols into clear speech, gives you
computer access and even allows you to control devices and appliances
in your surroundings (Environmental Control Unit).
Communicate the way you want, when you want, giving you new levels of
control and independence.
www.pagesetcentral.com is a free sharing site for Communicator and SymbolMate page sets. You can easily
find and download page sets that other people have made, all at no cost.
free resources @ www.pagesetcentral.com
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What makes Tobii Sono Flex unique?
Sono Flex combines structure, flexibility and a clear growth path in a way that makes vocabulary unique. Tobii Sono Flex has been pur-posely designed to quickly and easily help AAC users develop their communication and interaction skills, but also to save valuable time for SLPs, teachers or family members when configuring the applica-tion. Some of the highlights of the vocabulary include:
• Combines core and topic-based vocabulary in a unique and dynamic way.
• Provides an easy and highly motivating start with over 50 pre-made context vocabularies.
• Comes with more than 11,000 SymbolStix® symbols.
• Uses the camera and photo albums of the iPhone or iPad to create your own symbols.
• Comes with 5 high quality Acapela voices; one boy, one girl, two women and one adult male voice.
• Offers a solid structure to build up a large common vocabulary and enables versatile communication.
• Provides excellent flexibility in tailoring the vocabulary to indi-vidual and situational needs.
• Allows development within Tobii Sono Flex, into other Sono Suite products or even other hardware platforms.
• Tobii Sono Flex is available for iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android de-vices and on regular PCs and dedicated speech dede-vices run-ning Tobii Communicator.
Tobii Sono Flex is an easy to use AAC vocabulary app
that turns symbols into clear speech and provides
lan-guage to non-verbal users who are not yet in full
con-trol of literacy.
Combining the benefits of structure and flexibility, Sono
Flex offers a framework for language development
and quickly matches individual and situational
com-munication needs.
Tobii Sono Flex
Make your iPad switch
accessible! See pg 23.
Communicate: SymWriter
A different approach to writing, reading and literacy development, Communicate: Sym-Writer is a talking word processor that matches symbols to words to help students of all ages and abilities increase comprehension and fluency. Writing activities challenge students with a focus on creating summaries, biographies, letters, persuasive papers, reports and reviews. A great tool for students with limited spelling abilities or those who have trouble accessing a keyboard, SymWriter comes equipped with symbol-supported grids for writing, making independent engagement in assignments and projects possible for all students. Plus, Sym-Writer features built-in aids, like spell checking with symbols, to help make writing even easier! Speech support can read out a letter, word or sentence meaning that documents can be reviewed by listening rather than proofreading and smart symbolising suggests the correct symbol based on part of speech for more accurate symbolisation.
Includes more than 8,000 Widgit Literacy Symbols.
Tobii Sono Flex was developed to be easy to
oper-ate and easy for SLPs, teachers, parents, caregivers or
other communication partners to set up and
custom-ise. It is widely available on the iPhone, iPad, Android
devices and on PCs and dedicated speech devices
via Tobii Communicator.
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communication
software
Tobii Sono Primo
Tobii LiterAACy
Sono Primo is a comprehensive and motivational content package for emerging communi-cators; it lays the foundation for success – right from the very start. It is available for both the static display S32 and for Tobii’s dynamic display devices and offers the right language and entertaining activities for a quick path to meaningful communication.
Situational communication
Sono Primo addresses a carefully selected set of communicative situations within a user’s world of experience. Each context offers a broad variety of pre-programmed content that makes it easy to create lively interactions through joined activities. The material allows explor-ing communicative roles, coach participation, as well as model language use in a playful and entertaining way.
Appropriate language levels
As suggested by leading AAC researchers, the different developmental stages of AAC users are matched through:
• Single symbol grid pages • Social scripts
• Visual scenes • Hybrid scenes • Storybooks • Fun activities
Quick setup and customisation
The Sono Primo provides great flexibility through its Control Center in Communicator. It allows for the quick pre-selection of activities, instant changes to the visual appearance, as well as easy to adjust settings. Further customisations, like changing vocabulary words and creating your own contexts from templates are really easy.
For communication to be effective, AAC devices need to be quick, effortless and natural to the user. LiterAACy is a system that makes it easier for individuals with speech and com-munication impairments to learn how to read and write. Individuals who use LiterAACy can make their first experiences with letters and words – just like other children, who first scribbles with pencils.
Traditionally a steep learning curve
Traditional learning strategies often require a steep learning curve, where the student needs to be able to cipher and decipher entire words and sentences. For many individuals in need of alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) this becomes quite an obstacle that they can’t tackle, and as a result they never learn to read and write.
Quick wins motivates
LiterAACy takes a different approach to learning how to read and write. LiterAACy categorizes words by their first letter, so that users with knowledge of the initial sound of a word quickly can access it. On average a user can access up to 3,000 words by just two key presses. Offering such quick wins the student is likely to become more motivated to further develop their read-ing and writread-ing skills.
Techniques that makes learning and typing faster
Clear SymbolStix symbols, colour coding according to the Fitzgerald key, deliberate hiding of letters and the clear speech output all facilitates the advancements of reading and writing skills even further.
Easy to use for teachers, relatives and caregivers
LiterAACy is intuitive and easy to use - teachers, relatives and caregivers can start using it im-mediately.
System requirements
Tobii LiterAACy requires Tobii Communicator Premium 4.5 or higher.
ne w
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Boardmaker software is the most popular choice
among educators, speech-language pathologists
and para-professionals for creating new and
adapt-ing existadapt-ing activities for students with special needs.
What does that mean? It means that, with
Boardmak-er, you can create and adapt symbol-based printed
activities that are a fit for all of your students – no
mat-ter their ability. A symbol database combined with an
easy-to-use drawing program, Boardmaker features
more than 4,500 Picture Communication Symbols™
(PCS) in 44 languages, all in colour and black and
white.
Boardmaker has been developed and refined to reduce the time and effort involved to adapt curriculum to meet your student’s in-dividual needs. Quickly adapt a story or poem with the Symbolate tool which adds symbols to text automatically as you type. Swap content, appearance and actions between two or more buttons instantly with the swap feature. Drag-and-drop and resize images from the Internet or from your own digital camera. Randomly shuffle buttons to quickly create new sorting activities or bingo boards. There are over 350 print templates and sample boards to get you started. Use them as they are, adapt them to your students’ needs, or create your own from scratch.
Want even more symbols and activities?
Choose from Add-ons and additional PCS designed for Boardmak-er, Boardmaker Plus! and Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro (pg 46).
Boardmaker® Software Family
Boardmaker® v6
Boardmaker® Plus!
Boardmaker® with
SD Pro
Boardmaker v6 lets you design valuable printed materials, like communication boards, sequences, schedules and more, with Picture Communication Symbols (PCS). Choose the topics, symbols, labels, colours, borders, languages and more to help your students reach classroom goals.
Boardmaker Plus lets you easily transform paper activities into fun, educational and interactive lessons featuring animation, sound, video and much more. You can create all of the same materials you do with Boardmaker v6 - practice quizzes, worksheets, schedules, books, writing ac-tivities, games and more in 44 languages. And, with Boardmaker Plus!, you can make them talk, prompt and support your stu-dents as they learn.
Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro builds on the power of Boardmaker Plus! with features like natural sound-ing voices, word prediction and more! Designed for individuals challenged by significant speech or language disabili-ties, Boardmaker with Speaking Dynami-cally Pro transforms any computer into a speech output device and powerful stu-dent learning tool.
Educators are using Picture Communication
Sym-bols (PCS) with Boardmaker to enhance learning
and communication for their special needs students.
Boardmaker gives educators the ability to create a
wide range of materials with its vast range of
time-saving tools and features. Here are just a few ideas:
Visual schedules and social skills stories for
children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Materials to reinforce common educational,
behavioural, and functional living skills.
Books and symbol-supported literacy activities for
beginning and pre-readers.
Communication boards and device overlays for
non-verbal students.
Worksheets and flash cards for English Language
Learners.
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communication
software
Boardmaker® Studio
Boardmaker® Player
Creating your lessons can now be fast and fun! The ultimate classroom
resource, Boardmaker Studio has hundreds of time-saving templates,
gad-gets and tools. They have defined Boardmaker Studio as “the future of the
Boardmaker Software Family.” Before they considered how to revolutionize
Boardmaker Studio, they looked back at all of the powerful features that
make Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! and Boardmaker with Speaking
Dy-namically Pro the most popular tools for creating and adapting classroom
materials.
Designed for Windows, Boardmaker Studio delivers your favourite
Board-maker Software Family features, like thousands of Picture Communication
Symbols (PCS) and tons of time-saving templates and samples. But, there’s
something very different about Boardmaker Studio...
Content
Looking for fun-filled activities to complement your lessons and challenge your students? Look-ing to save time creatLook-ing them for your classroom? Once upon a time, you would’ve been asking a lot. Now, with Boardmaker Studio, you can consider it done! Find hundreds of time-savers, like easy-to-use Studio Starter Templates and Gadgets, that mean fast solutions for you and fun-filled activities for your students.
Interface
Boardmaker Studio boasts a design that’s efficient and straightforward, making it easy-to-use. And with a clear toolbar, obvious menus and icons, organised templates and convenient project management tools, Boardmaker Studio will be familiar to anyone who’s used a Micro-soft© Office program.
Connect Dashboard
Boardmaker Studio pulls out all of the stops to help you achieve classroom goals. And, any tool that comes with that much power, is bound to come with questions. That’s why they cre-ated Studio Connect - your gateway to the activities you’re creating with Boardmaker Studio. Studio Connect also instantly connects you with the community of Boardmaker Software Fam-ily users on BoardmakerShare.com!
A fresh spin on a familiar favourite
Boardmaker Studio stays true to its roots, and is a great tool for creating printed activities that are so important for teaching students with disabilities. Use Boardmaker Studio to import, edit and improve all of your Boardmaker print activities and most of your interactive Boardmaker Plus! activities, too.
Reach every student with fully-accessible, interactive activities created with Boardmaker Stu-dio, Boardmaker Plus! and Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro. Play your Boardmaker activities across classrooms, computer labs, and more! Create an activity then load it onto any computer with Boardmaker Player! Reach each and every student with engaging, on-screen activities that are fully accessible – and a fit for their individual needs. And now, maker Player for Windows plays Windows activities created with Boardmaker Studio, Board-maker Plus! and BoardBoard-maker with Speaking Dynamically Pro!
boardmaker
add-on
software
46
Beyond Boardmaker®
Beyond Boardmaker® II
Beyond Boardmaker® III
Beyond Boardmaker® Plus
New to Boardmaker? Call yourself a ‘Boardmaker Pro’? More than 25 creative templates are designed to get new Boardmaker users up-and-running quickly, and offers fresh ideas to Boardmaker Pros.
Quickly create and adapt: Worksheets; Flip books; Games; Recipes; Notes to parents; Cards; Reports. Customisable templates can be printed and used with ease, and completed sam-ple activities are also included.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Beyond Boardmaker II includes 25 ready-to-use templates you can personalise, print and use in the classroom and at home. Ideal for you - whether you’re new to Boardmaker, or are a Boardmaker Pro. Templates include: Bookmarks; Flash cards; Games; Number and colour books; Choice boards; Book and weather reports; Job chart; Preposition folder and more! Beyond Boardmaker II even includes completed sample activities to help you create weekly exercises to master a skill. Or, use the templates to encourage students to share with show-and-tell every week.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Beyond Boardmaker III includes 25 additional ready-to-use templates you can personalise, print and use in the classroom and at home. Ideal for you - whether you’re new to Boardmak-er, or are a Boardmaker Pro. Customise templates with personal touches for student success.
Templates include: Birthday poster; Desk name tags; Paper karaoke activity for communica-tion; PCS yearbook template; Pep rally communication board; Tornado drill; Fire drill; Earth-quake drill and more!
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Beyond Boardmaker Plus! provides countless new opportunities for reinforcing students lan-guage, learning and communication skills during the school day. It includes 15 customisable boards and interactive activities for teachers and students to use during a typical school day. And create pop-up and linking boards to give students more choices and options for each activity. Customise activities to familiarise students with daily routines and activities.
Beyond Boardmaker Plus! uses fun activities to cover topics like: Attendance, Leisure, Maths, Photo albums, Schedules and more! Includes 116 activities.
*Requires Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
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boardmaker
add-on
software
Math Exercises for Nonreaders includes Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) to help non-reading students learn critical concepts like: Number recognition, Basic counting skills, Simple addition and subtraction, Calculator skills, Number matching, Grocery maths. Reinforce job training, community involvement and life skills education with over 100 activities. Included worksheets can be customised as needed to suit any learner - even pre-schoolers and kin-dergartners.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Also available as a Book (see pg 94).
Math Exercises for Nonreaders
Boardmaker® Building Blocks
for Math
Who, What & Why
Schedule It! Sequence It!
Schedule It! Sequence It! is designed to give teachers, parents, caregivers and therapists the information needed to help individuals with special needs structure their time at school, at home and in the community. An invaluable resource for developing the important visual tools of calendars, schedules, sequences and choice boards, Schedule It! Sequence It! provides templates, samples and step-by-step instructions for creating helpful visual tools.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Also available as a Book & CD (pg 94).
Who, What and Why features a range of activities that help students ask and understand “wh-“ questions. Real-life situations and objects are combined with activity sheets to create mean-ingful, personalised lessons. Each lesson includes topic-specific communication boards that can be customised with Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynami-cally Pro, as well as worksheets with Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) for visual reinforce-ment. Each lesson includes customisable communication boards and worksheets.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.3 or higher.
Students of all abilities will benefit from this simple-based curriculum as they sharpen their maths skills. Boardmaker Building Blocks for Math uses symbol support and consistent activities that support inclusive classrooms, making it ideal for adolescent students with language or learning disabilities. All 150 activities are designed to follow curriculum simples for pre-kinder-garten and kinderpre-kinder-garten students as they address: Quantity; Comparing; Temporal, Sequen-tial and spaSequen-tial relationships; and Fine motor skills.
Activities can be printed and used as worksheets or Boardmaker Activity Pad lessons. Or, you can complete them on-screen for an interactive experience.
*Requires Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.6 or higher.
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48
Now you can collect all of the Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) for the Boardmaker Software Family with the 2000 - 2008 PCS™ Addendum Libraries Bundle. Add to your collec-tion with these four libraries and have everything you need to create interactive materials and activities. The 2000-2008 PCS™ Addendum Libraries Bundle includes symbols that cover com-mon objects and every-day activities – making communicating specific needs that much easier. Just load the PCS™ Addendum Libraries into your Boardmaker software and bring your classroom materials to life!
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
2000-2008 Addendum Libraries
Picture This... Photos in
Boardmaker® Libraries Deluxe
This picture library brings an added level of realism to your Boardmaker Software Family sym-bol options. The only photo library that loads directly into the Boardmaker symsym-bol library, Pic-ture This... Photos in Boardmaker Libraries Deluxe includes 5,000 picPic-tures from PicPic-ture This Professional Edition (sold separately). Search for photos in all 44 languages of the Boardmaker Software Family.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Boardmaker® Backgrounds
Boardmaker Backgrounds provide unlimited possibilities for language activities - for any set-ting or occasion. Use more than 100 background scenes to: customise language activities and communication boards, build interactive scenes, create or re-tell stories, create writing prompts, invent story-starters, review completed exercises and much more!
Terms and phrases that describe functional skills can be generalised for any user. Use the background scenes for print-based activities or computer-based activities with sound, anima-tion, pop-up boards and multiple board changes.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
PCS™ Sign Language Symbols
Volumes I, II, III Bundle
Designed to reinforce sign language, each volume of the PCS™ Sign Language Symbols are a direct result of requests from teachers, parents, speech-language pathologists and educa-tors of students with hearing impairments. Features American Sign Language (ASL) symbols, Signed Exact English (SEE) symbols and a combination library of ASL and SEE symbols. Includes 4,396 symbols.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Please note: All titles on this page require Boardmaker v6 or higher (see pg 44)
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boardmaker
add-on
software
Social School Stories uses activities with characters and context to teach and reinforce ap-propriate habits and interaction skills. Prevent socially inapap-propriate behaviour that can result in loss of friendships, invitations and employment options. Social School Stories covers impor-tant and sensitive topics like: Swearing, Stealing, Hair-pulling, Horseplay, Spitting, and Facial expressions.
Social School Stories portrays correct and incorrect behaviours with interactive stories and printable activities. You can also help students comprehend feelings with lotto cards, and extend literacy skills beyond the book with book reviews.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
Social School Stories
Learning My ABC’s
Learning My ABC’s contains interactive and print materials for all 26 letters that help students learn the alphabet. And, teachers can supplement letter recognition goals in the curriculum. Use two interactive books to read books on the screen or print the books for off-computer learning. Learning my ABC’s includes 26 separate, interactive activities like: I Spy ABC’s activities, What’s Next letter lessons, ABC Matching, Beginning letter practice, ABC typing, ABC snacks and more!
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.3 or higher.
Boardmaker® Building Blocks
for Reading
Fun with Colour
A perfect model for an inclusive classroom, Boardmaker Building Blocks for Reading includes activities designed for typically developing pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. The symbol-based curriculum, symbol support and consistent activities are a fit for students with different abilities. Simple, redundant tasks and extensive picture supports are ideal for learn-ers on the Autism spectrum, those who are hearing impaired and those with language or learning disabilities. Boardmaker Building Blocks for Reading addresses: Vocabulary; Abstract concepts; Phonic skills and awareness; and Sentence-building.
Activities can be printed and used as worksheets or Boardmaker Activity Pad lessons, or you can complete them on-screen for an interactive experience.
* Requires Boardmaker Plus!, Boardmaker Player or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.6 or higher.
Fun with Colour includes twenty-four simple rhyming stories that reinforce colour recognition and can be used for a consistent or variable story line. Entertain children with kooky characters featuring red, orange, black, brown, grey, white, yellow, green, blue, turquoise, pink and pur-ple. Reinforce colour learning with book activities, and use worksheets to encourage practice and reinforce learned skills. Stories include symbol-supported text plus humorous illustrations so students will enjoy reading the stories over and over again. Includes 51 activities, 25 stories, two interactive worksheets for each colour and an 11 page colouring book.
*Requires Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus! or Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro v.5 or higher.
dyslexia
software
ClaroRead is a highly effective multi-sensory software solution for supporting individuals who struggle with reading and writing. De-signed with maximum simplicity, adaptability and flexibility, users of any age and level of ability will have a world of information un-locked through ClaroRead.
As ClaroRead is closely integrated with Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer, practically any text can be spoken aloud by this powerful software. ClaroRead can assist in delivering high quality documents through using the proofreading capability.
Users can also benefit from the addition of included visual tools that colour, highlight and focus on difficult to read text as it is spoken by the computer. Words can be spoken back as they are typed, ensur-ing the accuracy of written papers, tests and study notes.
Available in Standard, Plus, Pro, and SE versions, with a wide range of additional high quality voices in over 25 languages. ClaroRead is easy to use and provides the perfect integrated text to speech tool for use with Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 and 2010. ClaroRead is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP.
ClaroRead V5.5
Supports any computer user who
struggles with reading and writing,
perhaps due to dyslexia.
New Features:
Definition Tooltip - The Speaking Dictionary feature
in ClaroRead V5.5 enables you to get a definition
tooltip simply by holding down the control key and
hover the mouse cursor over your chosen word.
The definitions tooltip will show English dictionary
definations as well as a Google lookup button if you
require further information.
Spellcheck Anywhere - The Spellcheck Anywhere
feature allows you to Spellcheck any text in any
ap-plication, whether this is a webpage or PC
applica-tion. To use the feature, highlight your chosen text
and click on the ‘Check’ button on the ClaroRead
Toolbar (please note that this feature requires
Mi-crosoft Word to operate).
ClaroUp - ClaroUp is the new software update
mech-anism. ClaroUp will automatically check for updates
to any of the Claro Software product range and will
notify you when a new patch or update is available
for any of your software.
Also available for Mac OS!
Save to iTunes functionality. Send selected text as
audio files to iTunes. Files can be named, indexed and
organised easily.
ClaroRead Standard
- Practically any text can be spoken aloud. You can also scan paper documents or convert PDF files and have them spoken. There are male or female human sounding voices and spoken words can be tracked using a custom colour selection. With Word, ClaroRead offers a homophone and tricky word dictionary, font and spacing commands, a thesaurus, spell checker button and a ‘save to audio file’ function. It also has word prediction and a talking calculator. Customisable to meet the user’s needs.ClaroRead SE
ClaroRead SE is a simple and discreet floating toolbar that adds text to speech to Word, Internet Explorer and other programs. USB memory stick avaliable seperately. Run ClaroRead diectly from the memory stick, no need to install!ClaroRead PLUS
- all the features of ClaroRead Standard plus it also includes ScreenRuler and ClaroView.ClaroRead Pro
- all the features of ClaroRead PLUS and more. Includes powerful new technology that will scan and convert any publication into an editable PDF that can be read out loud with colour highlighting. ClaroRead Pro ensures that any scanned or inaccessible document will be perfectly reproduced with all pictures, diagrams, columns and text intact.USB memory stick version avaliable separately for both
ClaroRead SE and Standard. Runs directly from the
memory stick, no need to install.
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dyslexia
software
Penfriend XP 4.1
Penfriend Portable 4.1
WordShark 4
StarSpell 3
Penfriend XL 4.1
Penfriend XP is a powerful tool for those with dyslexia or physical disabilities, adding word pre-diction, speech and an on-screen keyboard to almost any other software.
Penfriend XP offers considerable support for users with special needs, helping with spelling, confidence and speed of composing text. It will also read out almost any text, such as web pages or word processed documents.
Penfriend XP will work with your word processor and tries to guess the word you are typing. It also learns the words you use frequently and recently, so it improves as you use it. This informa-tion is saved for each individual user, together with individual settings. In addiinforma-tion, it is easy for teachers to select preferences, edit children’s lexicons and add topic specific vocabulary.
Penfriend Portable is available for use on an unlimited number of computers, one at time, so is ideal for taking between classrooms at school, around working sites or taking home in the evening. Even better, this hand-held Penfriend software requires no installation, and can be used on machines with stricter administrative policies than for other software. Simply plug in the USB stick, double click on the icon, and it works! No installers, no networks, no delays.
Available in XL or XP version.
Penfriend XL has all the features of XP plus the following: • Screen Reading
• Word Prediction • On Screen Keyboards
• Spell Checking, Thesaurus and Dictionary
WordShark 4 combines the excitement of computer games with the serious task of learning to read and spell. Its 55 games use sound, graphics and text to teach and reinforce word recognition and spelling. Now with courses to support the latest recommendations for a high quality phonics programme.
WordShark 4 includes phonics, onset and rime, homophones, spelling rules, common letter patterns, visual and auditory patterns, prefixes, suffixes, roots, word division, high frequency words, use of words in context, alphabet and dictionary skills and more. The games and selection of 1,500 pre-recorded words are designed to assist those with specific learning difficulties. Suitable for home and school use, and all ages.
StarSpell 3 offers a galaxy of tried and trusted approaches to learning and improving spelling. StarSpell is an established yardstick in the literacy and spelling toolbox, installed in thousands of schools and homes. Its reassuringly calm approach assists learning through positive reinforcement, and its non-gimmicky style makes it equally suited to mainstream and special needs education, for adult learners as well as children.
This new version contains all the features for which StarSpell has become renowned, and adds a brand-new Phonics section which is designed for use with interactive whiteboards and complements the English Letters and Sounds phonics scheme (with matching word lists).
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Big Bang has eye catching images, stimu-lating movement and crazy sound effects and music to match! It grabs the user’s attention and encourages interaction with the computer. Visual and auditory stimula-tion, visual tracking and more.
Big Bang Action has explosive animated fireworks, flying bubbles and stars, and wig-gling worms. Or build up the action gradu-ally by pressing a switch, with Big Bang Builds. See crazy objects moving around the screen in Big Bang Movement or sim-ply change the colour of the screen with Big Bang Colour.
Animations and picture builds can be played in different ways to suit the learn-er. Use switch, keyboard, touch screen or mouse.
Big Bang
Touch Balloons
Big Bang Patterns
Big Bang Pictures
Big Bang Patterns contains over sixty differ-ent animations in two bright colours, with lively music and sound effects to encour-age response and interaction. The anima-tions are bright, bold and attention grab-bing to encourage the user to watch and interact with the computer.
Three different activities allow the program to be used for cause and effect work or simply at an experiential level. A set of useful options lets you change the colours and otherwise tailor the activities to your students’ specific needs.
Big Bang Pictures has twenty animating pictures of everyday objects displayed in only two colours, for maximum visual ef-fect. The eye-catching animations have been designed with three levels of visual complexity together with colour options, following consultation with colleagues in the VI service.
The program includes exciting music and sound effects. Big Bang Pictures can also be used at an experiential level, to en-courage looking and listening. Configu-rable options allow you to meet individual needs.
Fun for all ages!
Develop hand-eye coordination skills by popping
bal-loons as they float past. Use the mouse, touch monitor
or switch to target and burst the balloons. Choose a
large pointer or a cross-hair to aim.
An extensive menu allows you to choose direction of
travel - up, down, left, right or, a real challenge,
ran-dom! For the real expert you can also change the
speed of travel and the number of balloons.
Addition-al options change the background. You can choose
from a range of colours and sky effects or use your
own pictures - have the balloons float across a picture
of the school.
The program has bold or pastel colour choices to
allow you to design activities to develop visual and
tracking skills.
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cause
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Turn the page to check out the rest of the titles in the SwitchIt! series!
Almost all cause and effect programs feature switch building levels. These usually involve the child creating
a picture or scene, ‘building’ it step-by-step with repeated switch presses or mouse clicks, or by touching the
touch monitor. For many learners, switch building can serve as a useful next stage in the progression from
cause and effect to making independent choices.
All switch building programs allow you to choose the number of steps the child will have to complete before
receiving a reward. Initially you should start at one step where a single switch press will build up the scene and
play the animation in much the same way as programs like Big Bang. When you feel the learner is ready you
can change the settings to three presses.
The key skill we are teaching is learning to complete a sequence and it is very important to ensure that the
child pauses to notice and understand that the screen has changed after each press of the switch. Failing to
do this might cause the child to repeatedly tap the switch just to see the final reward. By far the best method
we have found to teach this level is to use the stories in the SwitchIt! Extra series (pg 54-55).
Each story can be punctuated by up to five switch presses, each moving the story along toward the final
re-ward animation. Using stories allows us to talk to the learner about the narrative and help them identify what
has changed. SwitchIt! Extra stories have no words; rather, the narrative of the story can come from you or the
child and can be differentiated to meet the child’s language level.
Remember to use prompts which key into the unfolding story and increase the level of anticipation. “What do
you think will happen? Let’s find out.” Try not shift the focus back to the switch.
Switch building programs help learners to improve their looking and listening skills as well as to build on early
cause and effect work by introducing the concept of sequences.
About Switch Building
A great addition to the SwitchIt! family.
This is the latest title in the popular SwitchIt! software
series, covering twelve everyday technologies,
some-times with unexpected results!
We can sympathise with the character trying to turn
on their television when faced with a selection of
re-mote controls, and everyone has had a disaster with
overloaded supermarket carrier bags! We are sure
that lots of classroom discussion will be encouraged
with everyone sharing their experiences about photo
booths, car washes, vending machines, lifts, mobile
phones and more – great as preparation or follow up
for a visit.
SwitchIt! Technology
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These programs all offer engaging and motivating
activities for your learners and are ideal for early
lan-guage work. There are lots of exciting themes to try out
and friendly characters to meet along the way. See
flash cards appear, build a picture or watch an
ani-mated story unfold. The activities are fully configurable
to suit each learner’s needs and accessible using a
mouse, keyboard, switch, or touch monitor.
The programs help learners to increase their ability to
use switches and to demonstrate an understanding of
language concepts. In addition they help stimulate
and encourage movement and hand function,
de-velop visual skills, and provide learners with access to
a range of learning situations - particularly those
lim-ited in physical movement who cannot access
tradi-tional methods.
SwitchIt!
Christmas Extra
SwitchIt!
Weather Extra
SwitchIt!
Hygiene Extra
SwitchIt! Series
Explore the weather theme! The program covers the sun, wind and rain and their ef-fects: keeping warm, keeping cool and h phenomena like rainbows and thunder-storms.
Switch accessible activities on the theme of personal hygiene. The areas covered include showering, cleaning teeth, hair care, clean clothes, food hygiene and being well dressed.
Enjoy lots of seasonal activities with this fun-packed program! With SwitchIt! Christmas Extra you can build an on-screen snow-man, pull a cracker, decorate the tree and much more.
Learning about cause and effect is
the first step in switch operation, the
user needs to develop an
aware-ness of the relationship between
their switch presses and the resulting
reward. Some learners grasp this
im-mediately while others require lots of
practice with a wide variety of
ac-tivities. The SwitchIt! Series provides
plenty of opportunities to learn and
develop this skill in a visually
stimulat-ing and appealstimulat-ing environment.
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This SwitchIt! program contains twelve animated stories demonstrating different sports, plus flash cards and animations for cause and effect work. Watch the foot-ballers use teamwork to score a goal. Find out why going jogging is good for you. Sprinting, rounders and other sports played in school and college are also featured. Sports played by people with disabilities are included, such as wheelchair basket-ball, Boccia and New Age Kurling.
SwitchIt!
Sports Extra
SwitchIt!
Dinosaurs Extra
SwitchIt!
Farm Extra
SwitchIt!
People Extra
SwitchIt!
Wildlife Extra
SwitchIt!
Transport Extra
SwitchIt! Transport Extra is a switch acces-sible program all about everyday vehicles. Join in the countdown and see the rocket launch, see the forklift unload the truck or go on holiday on the aeroplane. Raise the sail in the dinghy. Will the wind blow, or will you get beaten by the speedboat? Experience an exciting helicopter rescue at sea, complete with sharks. Also includes a ferry, car, cherry picker, school bus, taxi and train. See the builders and their digger – watch out for the water pipe!
Encounter lots of fascinating creatures in this motivating addition to the SwitchIt! se-ries. Look at the dinosaurs’ behaviour, their habitat and how they hunt or forage. This accessible program has exciting encoun-ters with a pterodactyl, a tyrannosaurus rex and a mammoth. It also has a brontosau-rus, triceratops, velociraptor, stegosaubrontosau-rus, mollusca and more.
SwitchIt! Wildlife Extra features lots of ani-mals and birds, from a tiger in the jungle to penguins in Antarctica. See how they move and hear the sounds they make. Also covers environmental issues, food chains, etc.
Find out about farm animals, their young and where they live. Also look at the jobs that are carried out on the farm.
This SwitchIt! is all about the people that help us in our daily lives. See the postman, lollipop lady, supermarket assistant and others at work.
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Each program comes complete
with extra resources, activities and
worksheets to extend the learning
opportunities provided.
switch
skills
These activities have exciting themes
that provide all the motivation
need-ed to help students who understand
cause and effect to develop more
dis-ciplined switch use. The activities also
encourage speaking and listening and
help develop concentration skills. The
bright, clear graphics are suitable for
those with visual impairment and there
is lots of sound and music too.
The program keeps statistics about
stu-dent performance and the options
al-low you to make the games more
dif-ficult as the student progresses.
Switch Skills 1
Switch Skills 2
Switch Skills 3
Switch Skills Series
This collection of easy switch timing activi-ties is fun for all ages.
• Racing cars: press when you see a car, to make it race.
• Gorilla: press when you see the fruit. • Soccer Shoot: press to kick the ball. • Ready Steady Go: press when the
ro-bott turns green and you hear “Go!” • Catch the Crocs: press your switch
when you see a crocodile. Can you get all six?
• Monster House: an introduction to switch scanning. Choose a door and press to see if a monster is inside. • Sunflower: press when the bee
reach-es the middle of the flower.
Twenty activities at an elementary level. Press your switch or the touch screen when a big, bright object appears, and see an animated reward. Exciting music pro-motes interest.
Higher level activities require more visual discrimination, although most can still be played successfully by those with severe visual impairment. Configurable options allow you to meet individual needs or de-velop learners’ skills in small steps.
Four activities provide opportunities for creative and experimental play by early switch users, e.g. the Spray Can zigzags over a wall and sprays paint when you press your switch. Topics range widely and should appeal to a wide range of ages.
Sixteen activities at a higher level than Switch Skills 2. The first activity is ‘Splat the Clowns’ - watch a clown move across the screen and throw a custard pie at him when he reaches the middle. Other games of a similar nature have themes appropriate for older learners.
The rest of the CD has activities that work towards understanding switch scanning. Some of these are error-free, such as DJ Master, whilst others require good switch timing skills. As ever, options are provided so you can control the level of difficulty in small steps.
Two simple video games are provided at the end for learners who have grasped the concept of switch timing but need more practice.
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Switch Skills
for Two - Set 1
Switch Skills - Scanning
Switch Skills
for Two - Set 2
Switch Skills
Champions
This CD contains 16 activities in carefully graded sections. It provides an accessible environment to encourage the learner to move beyond the stage of cause and ef-fect.
Thinking, experimenting, observing and interacting are encouraged by providing simple activities that delight and engage. For example, in the ‘Two Objects’ section, choose to press the left switch (or space bar) to make the ballerina dance beauti-fully or the right switch to let the monster do his crazy dance.
There are spacemen to jump into rockets and blast off, basketball players to help shoot baskets, a crocodile to be woken up and fed, musicians to allow to show off and much more.
Eleven more activities for experimenting and progressing towards effective scan-ning skills.
‘Build Up’ promotes the use of one switch to add items to the screen, with the sec-ond switch used to start the action or watch the animated reward. Build a tin can tower and knock it down, make a rocket and launch it, blow up a balloon until it pops, or sit the children on the roller coaster and start the action.
‘Move and Get’ activities are designed to move learners towards the skills required to use, for example, a scanning commu-nicator. Activities include loading crates onto trucks, feeding the croc and passing the ball along a line of basketball players to shoot.
Every child can be a champion with these fun games that help develop switch tim-ing skills.
The program features five sports that are included in the Olympics or Paralympics. For one or two players - useful for devel-oping turntaking skills. Try basketball, vol-leyball, boccia, ice hockey or hurdles. It includes a simple ‘training’ activity for early learners. Just wait for a player to appear on the screen, then press your switch to win a medal. You can change the difficulty level for each player.
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Switch Skills - Scanning is a new set of 22 simple
and motivating switch activities. It is designed for
students who are learning how to use switches to
make choices, either within software or scanning
communication devices.
The activities are split into 5 sections with increasing
levels of skill and complexity in very small steps. These
begin with ‘free-choice’ activities that allow
experi-mental play. More demanding tasks with specific
tar-gets are then introduced.
The CD features a wide range of themes, including
music groups, rockets, a funfair, trains, farm, Treasure
Island and more!
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choice
making
choose a character
how will they travel?
where will they go?
Choose and Tell Series
Choose and Tell programs are beautifully
illustrat-ed adventures that encourage children to make
choices and create their own stories.
The simple framework guides them through an
ad-venture, but the children’s decisions make it all their
own. They will giggle at the comic situations the
nurs-ery rhyme characters find themselves in ... and gasp
when legendary heroes face fearsome monsters!
The programs are designed to engage and motivate
the user. They are encouraged to respond to the
un-folding story on-screen and to make decisions, using a
combination of cause and effect and choice-making
activities. It also helps the user to gain an
understand-ing of sequences of events.
The activities can be adjusted to suit learners of
different ages and abilities and to include those
with special needs.
You can use a keyboard, mouse, one or two
switches, touch monitor, or interactive
white-board.
Choose and Tell characters can be used in
ac-tivities away from the computer too. The images
can be printed out and black and white versions
are available for learners to colour in.
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Choose and Tell: Legends
Choose and Tell Fairy Tales
Choose and Tell: Nursery Rhymes
Choose and Tell: More Nursery Rhymes
Modern yet magical, Choose and Tell: Fairy Tales brings the classics to life.Choose from Snow White, Beauty, Cinderella, Princess Aurora (also known as Sleeping Beauty) or Rapunzel. Then enjoy a magical adventure with special appeal for today’s children! De-cide whether to travel in a pumpkin coach, or go for a funky moped or some groovy roller-blades. Will your heroine visit a fairy tale castle, a palace, a candy cottage or a tower - or will she go to the supermarket?
You will encounter a whole variety of fairy tale characters in this program, from the Beast to Rumplestiltskin. Will your heroine find her Prince Charming - or will a magical kiss lead to a completely different surprise? After all, frogs need love too. and of course, they all live happily ever after.
Select a popular nursery rhyme character and create your own story! You decide what happens next.
Choose from Humpty Dumpty, The Grand Old Duke of York, Old Mother Hubbard, Old King Cole or Baa Baa Black Sheep. Decide where you want them to go, how they will travel and what they will do when they get there!
Take Baa Baa Black Sheep off to the beach on a space rocket. Or will Humpty Dumpty visit the castle on his green boat? This is a great way to get children using their imagination and taking control of the story by making choices. The results are always entertaining and often delightfully comical.
The fourth title in the highly popular Choose and Tell series, ‘Nursery Rhymes’ was so popu-lar that we’ve created another one like it, but with different nursery rhyme characters. There are also new monsters and treasures.
Choose from Little Bo Peep, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, Little Jack Horner, Yankee Doodle or Pussy Cat. Decide where to go and what to do. Take Little Bo Peep off to the jungle on a flying carpet. Or will Pussy Cat go to the desert on his digger?
Great for getting children using their imagination. Lots of fun adventures to enjoy, with delight-fully comical results. Lots of images are available on the CD for printing in colour or for children to colour in.
Choose and Tell: Legends takes your learners on a magical adventure based on legends from around the world and different cultures.
Packed with fun decisions to make and puzzles to solve, this program is sure to motivate your learners! Join Jason, Sir Lancelot, the Pharaoh, Hiawatha or Rama on a spellbinding quest. Pick a destination and decide how they will travel. See if they can discover treasure. Can they rescue their lady?
The learner will also encounter monsters that will offer them a question with configurable dif-ficulty levels.
choice
making
Let’s Go To Town
Let’s Go To The Seaside
The Let’s Go Series offers a multimedia tool for
in-teraction and discussion, either one to one or as a
group learning activity. There is no age limit on the
programs’ suitability and children and adults alike
show great enthusiasm for the travels of the
char-acters.
There are lots of different scenes to explore,
encour-aging users to be creative, to improve their
indepen-dence and to reinforce basic skills. Each activity is
simple, has a sentence or key word text prompt, and
the graphics are clear, bold and bright.
When using the program, first choose the scenes that
you wish to use and set up appropriate access for
the learner - number of switches, colour and speed
of scan etc.
First, load the car and we’re off!
Once there the learner can have fun in the sea, make a sandcastle, choose some beachwear, make sandwiches, explore the coastline with a telescope and see what they can find in a rock pool. Finally they must clear up the beach before going home.
It encourages the discussion or preferences and promotes life skills. The program is also useful for developing early reading skills, recog-nising patterns and matching sizes and colour. It covers staying safe in the sun and picking up litter. Learn a simple sequence by making an on-screen sandwich. There are fun creative activities too.
First, catch the bus and we’re off!
Once there you can choose clothes and food at the market, buy an ice cream or lolly in the square, post a letter and finally catch the bus home again at the bus station.
Let’s Go To Town is designed to promote decision-making and en-courage discussion of the real-life activity at a basic level. Learners also gain an understanding of sequences of events and they can practice early reading skills too.
Use a keyboard, mouse, switch, touch monitor, or interactive white-board.
Once you have begun the stories, stop at each scene
and ask lots of open questions. These might be “What
can you see?”, “Where are they?” or “Why is she doing
that?”. It is important to use language and discussion
with the learner while they interact with the program in
order to gain maximum benefit. The link scenes
be-tween the activities also encourage discussion as well
as providing context.
The story and presentation are aimed at students of all
ages, principally with severe learning difficulties and/
or little reading ability, but it is suitable for young
chil-dren as well. The large eye-catching animations are
designed with the visually impaired student in mind,
and fun for all of us! The limited interaction is also very
useful for students learning scanning using one or two
switches.
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touch
skills
Target and Touch:
Music
Target and Touch:
Patterns
Touch the screen to make something happen!
Target and Touch: Music is based around a variety of appealing musicians and their instruments and accompanying music. This highly structured program supports the development of skills re-quired to use a touch monitor effectively, beginning at cause and effect levels and progressing through the stages of targeting and touching single, multiple, ‘peeping’, scattered and moving prompts onscreen.
The activities are designed for use in special and mainstream edu-cational settings, as well as with older users. Aimed at those de-veloping early ICT, visual and coordination skills, the configurable activities are highly suitable for use on the interactive whiteboard, a touch monitor or computer and mouse. Teachers’ notes and simple assessment and record keeping are included.
This new exciting CD-Rom, is packed with motivating activities sup-porting the visual skills of locating, fixing and tracking static and moving objects.
Target and Touch: Patterns has been created using over 40 high contrast and motivating spokes, ripples and spirals pattern shapes. This highly structured program supports the development of skills re-quired to use a touch monitor effectively, beginning at cause and effect levels and progressing through the stages of targeting and touching single, multiple, ‘peeping’, scattered and moving prompts onscreen.
The activities are designed for use in special and mainstream edu-cational settings, as well as with older users. Aimed at those de-veloping early ICT, visual and coordination skills, the configurable activities are highly suitable for use on the interactive whiteboard, a touch monitor or computer and mouse. Teachers’ notes and simple assessment and record keeping are included.
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Check out our Magic Touch Add-On Touch Screens on pg 34 to convert
regular monitors/screens into touch screens!
creative
software
SwitchIt! Maker 2 will turn your text, im-ages, movies and sounds into simple on-screen activities. These activities are au-tomatically accessible using a mouse, whiteboard, touch monitor, keyboard, one or two switches or IntelliKeys. Make talking books starring your pupils, or a slide show of a recent trip. Put that digital camera to good use!
SwitchIt! Maker 2 is especially designed so that children can make activities as part of a lesson. It’s that easy. SwitchIt! Maker 2 first asks you to choose a layout for a new page - do you want words with a picture, or just a picture? Then add an im-age or some video. Type in the text using your keyboard or the on-screen keyboard (great on an interactive whiteboard), then add some voiceover or load some music. That’s it! Export and import features let you transfer your activities to other computers or onto CD, etc. Also included is a freely copiable “player” version so students can take their activities home.
The program also has over 1,500 useful example files, including a selection of PCS symbolsh and Rebus Symbols from Wid-git, clip-art pictures, sample videos and music. It also allows you to import a wider range of image and sound files than ever before.
ChooseIt! Maker 2 turns your text, images and sounds into linear, on-screen choice-making activities and quizzes that are accessible using a mouse, whiteboard, touch monitor, keyboard or switches. There is enhanced flexibility too, for ex-ample, you can offer text choices as well as images, and have more than one cor-rect answer if required.
SwitchIt! Jigsaw Maker 2 gives you a easy way of making your own photo-graphs or other pictures into interactive on-screen jigsaws. Pictures can be cut into two, four, or nine piece puzzles. Play on-screen and you’ll never have to worry about pieces being chewed up or scat-tered! Jigsaws can also be printed out for use away from the computer. The jigsaws can be completed in 4 ways, which vides activities with a finely graded pro-gression in skill level:
• Cause and effect - just press a switch to build the picture. This level can also be used in a reveal game: The picture appears bit by bit, so learners can try and guess what the picture is before it is completed.
• Click on any piece - it will jump into place. An easy introduction to mak-ing jigsaws.
• Find the piece that fits the place chosen by the computer. A more de-manding activity.
• Drag the pieces into their correct places. This level simulates making a real jigsaw. Support is provided for those players who find dragging with the mouse difficult, and this level can also be played using single clicks of the mouse.
All of these can be played using the mouse, a touch screen, an interactive whiteboard, or by using one or two switch-es.
The program has over 1,500 useful ex-ample files, including a selection of PCS symbols and Rebus Symbols from Widgit, and it allows you to import a wider range of image and sound files than ever before. Auditory scanning is included too. A new export feature allows you to trans-fer your activities onto other computers or onto a CD. Also included is a freely copi-able ‘player’ version to help you share your activities. Children can even take them home.
