Spectronics Update

In this Issue

6th October 2005

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1. Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006 Update
2. ZYGO Australia's speech generating devices now available from Spectronics
3. ClaroRead and WordRead - New Kids on the Block in LD support software
4. textHELP Read&Write GOLD half-price offer for students on again!
5. Australian News-2-You® one-week FREE trial
6. MiniMO / MightyMO software upgrade now available
7. Other useful stuff to know about!

Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006 Update

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Yes … that’s right! If you offer to present a session at the Inclusive Learning Technologies® Winter School 2006, and it is accepted, you will be given a free registration to attend the Winter School! As suggested above – if you have been thinking about a possible presentation – why not jot down your ideas and send them off to Heather Jones, the Winter School Co-ordinator. Heather’s email address is heather@spectronicsinoz.com

We are working with all of our presenters at the moment to pull together the program – including small group sessions in a hands-on computer lab. So we have yet to finalise the length of each session etc. At this stage, an outline of your proposed presentation would be very helpful – and Heather can talk further with you about session details as the program comes together more formally.

Who is presenting apart from our clever Keynote Speakers – Scott Marfilius and Dan Herlihy?? We are very excited to have confirmation that experienced trainers from all of the following companies will be attending to share their expertise.

• Mayer-Johnson (Lisa Petit)


• textHELP Systems (Paul Thompson)


• Crick Software


• Laureate Learning Systems (Adam Wing)


• IntelliTools (Suzanne Feit)


• DynaVox Technologies (James Rowe)


• Widgit Software (Mike and Tina Detheridge)

And we have been told that there is a possibility that we will also have trainers from:

• Kurzweil Educational Systems (David Bradburn)


• News-2-You® (Jacquie Clark)
  
• Inclusive Technology (Ian Bean and Trish Hornsey)


• And others still under negotiation

Visit www.spectronicsinoz.com/info.asp?info=winterschool for more information about the Winter School! Or click here to download a flyer to help in your application for funding to attend. And a big thank you to those of you who have registered already. It is very flattering to have you registered before we even finalise the program! You won’t be disappointed – we can assure you.

PS See note at the end of this newsletter about the ATLAS workshop planned as a Winter School Pre-Conference workshop on Monday 22nd May 2006!

ZYGO Australia's speech generating devices now available from Spectronics

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Announcement from ZYGO Australia on 5th October 2005

It is with great pleasure I announce the addition of Spectronics to our ZYGO Australia dealer network. Spectronics is a well known supplier of “inclusive learning technologies” – supplying and supporting special needs software and assistive technologies across Australia and New Zealand since 1985.

Many of you will recall the ZYGO Australia-Spectronics Summit in 2000 where the companies combined forces to bring Caroline Musselwhite and Pati King-DeBaun to Australia to present a series of seminars in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Over recent years Spectronics have expanded and consolidated their commitment to speech generating devices (SGD) and other augmentative and alternative communication resources. They have employed a team of three speech pathologists and have become key suppliers of SGDs from other companies. It seemed timely that we should join together so that they can offer the range of technology from ZYGO Australia.

We look forward to the support and resourcefulness they will bring to the ZYGO Australia devices and assistive technology.

Tracey Bode
Australian Manager
ZYGO Australia

PO Box 190
SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205
zygoaus@bigpond.net.au
www.zygoaustralia.com.au

And a note from us here at Spectronics too! We are excited to be working closely with ZYGO Australia to be able to bring their range of technologies to our customers in Australia and New Zealand. We feel that it now allows us to offer you a much more complete range of alternative communication options – from low-tech to high-tech and everything in between!

Visit the following new pages of our website which give you information about all of these new devices and assistive technologies.

• GEWA range of programmable infra-red transmitters


• Optimist 3


• Dialect


• Talara-32


• AdVOCAte


• MACAW 5 (Not yet released – but we will advise when it is available)
• And for Australia only … the popular LightWRITER
  Including useful comparison sheets compiled by our speech pathology team like the LightWRITER Comparison chart and a review of the LightWRITER vs the DynaWrite titled “Which is best for me? A LightWRITER, a DynaWrite or both?“.

If you would like more information about the ZYGO Australia range of devices, please feel free to contact our speech pathologists for advice. Jane Farrall is available on email jane@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (03) 9848 4812 and Sue Owen is available on email sue@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833 or FreeCall 1800 999 718.

ClaroRead and WordRead - New Kids on the Block in LD support software

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In early 2005, Claro Software launched several new software programs – including WordRead and ClaroRead. The product designer, Paul Blenkhorn, worked with Microsoft to help develop the Narrator component of Microsoft 2000 and XP. He is also Professor of Assistive Technology at the University of Manchester.

In this edition of our newsletter – we will introduce you to WordRead and in our next newsletter, we will introduce you to ClaroRead Version 2.

What is WordRead?

It is a relatively low cost proofreading program. Prior to the advent of electronic spelling and grammar checkers, documents were often proof read for accuracy by one person reading the text to another. The human ear can often pick up errors which the eye can miss. So technology can make your PC your proofreading partner!

WordRead also can be used to convert any Microsoft Word file to an audio file (in .wav format) so that a student can listen to the text on a portable audio player or on another computer.

An added bonus with WordRead is that it reads back text using clear Australian voices! These are the same high quality voices which people have enjoyed listening to this year in the textHELP Read&Write software programs. To listen to voice samples of “Karen” and “Lee” – visit the ScanSoft website at www.scansoft.com/speechworks/realspeak/languages or click here to listen to Karen and click here to listen to Lee!

WordRead is simple and intuitive to use – an excellent tool for proofreading and for converting text to very high quality audio files for “on-the-move” learning. But if you are looking for a tool from Claro Software to support a student with more significant learning difficulties, ClaroRead Plus has been specifically designed for that purpose. It offers many more features and addresses the following issues for students using WordRead.

• WordRead highlights blocks of paragraphs as it is reading – not word-by-word which many students with learning difficulties require


• WordRead offers no option for editing of pronunciation when the voice reads the word with incorrect pronunciation


• Users need to copy text to the clipboard to haveWordRead read it aloud – unless reading a Microsoft Word document.

For more information on this simple but clever little program download the manual from www.clarodownloads.com/manuals/WordReadManual2.0.pdf or sign up to download a trial version of the program from the Claro Software website

textHELP Read&Write GOLD half-price offer for students on again!

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In late 2004, Spectronics and textHELP Sytems Limited offered a “special half-price offer” on textHELP Read&Write for students attending a school which had purchased a whole of school licence. This was only offered for a limited time, and we have been asked to repeat the offer many times since! So, we have worked together with textHELP Systems and are now able to offer a half-price copy to students which will continue indefinitely – but will only apply to textHELP Read&Write GOLD Version 7.1.

The following criteria must be met:

1. For a student to be entitled to purchase textHELP Read&Write at half price, their primary school or secondary school must have purchased a whole of school licence ie. either a K-12 or High School Unlimited Site Licence or a Primary School Unlimited Site Licence of textHELP Read&Write GOLD.


2. All orders for these specially discounted copies of the program must be accompanied by a letter on school letterhead confirming that the intended end-user of the program is a current student of the school

In Australia, the price for this Student Edition of textHELP Read&Write GOLD with Australian and UK voices will be $395.00 Australian Dollars (no GST applies). See www.spectronicsinoz.com/product.asp?product=11005

In New Zealand, the price for this Student Edition of textHELP Read&Write GOLD with Australian and UK voices will be $422.00 New Zealand Dollars + GST of $52.75 NZD. See www.spectronics.co.nz/product.asp?product=11005

Unfortunately, we are not able to offer this special pricing on the standard version of textHELP Read&Write, nor are we able to offer it to any other purchasers apart from students of primary or secondary schools which have purchased a whole of school licence of textHELP Read&Write GOLD.

Australian News-2-You® one-week FREE trial

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Spectronics is offering a special ‘one week FREE trial‘ of the News-2-You® Australian Version weekly symbol newspaper! To take advantage of this special offer – just visit the Australian News-2-You® website at www.news-2-you.com.au to sign up. Use the words “free trial” as your password and enjoy your À˜one week FREE trialÀ℠now!

Symbol newspaper and activity sheets are delivered to your computer every week of the school year – or you can download them from the News-2-You® website if you prefer! Just print and distribute to your students. Saves hours in resource preparation time each week!

Who are your clever Australian News-2-You® editorial team? Amanda Hartmann, Speech-Language Pathologist from Spectronics and Jacquie Clark, Speech-Language Pathologist and founder of News-2-You® in the USA. Each week Amanda and Jacquie work closely to put together your edition of News-2-You®.

They spend many hours with Jacquie’s team of graphic artists to draw new customised symbols to support the news every single week of the school year! As a result, many unique, topical symbols are available in News-2-You® – and not available in any other symbol sets. Where else would you find images of Willy Wonka (looking very Johnny Depp-like), our sporting stars like Ricky Ponting and Ian Thorpe, and even a unique symbol for “crocodile hunting” for Amanda’s paper about Steve Irwin and his latest exploits!

All News-2-You® symbol design is closely supervised by Jacquie Clark. Her SLP background ensures that the key concept is conveyed in a very clear and non-ambiguous way. She calls the new symbol set, now the only ones used in News-2-You®, “SymbolStix”. See www.symbolstix.com for more info as the collection grows!

This attention to detail makes the News-2-You® newspapers and activity sheets easy to understand by readers who are reliant on symbols to understand text. This international News-2-You® team puts in a total of at least six full days per week to produce ONE edition of News-2-You®. Yours to receive by email, or download from the Web, and print for your classroom for just under $15 per school week! Great value for the hardworking multi-talented team you will have working for you!

For more information about the Australian Version of News-2-You® please contact Amanda Hartmann on amanda@spectronicsinoz.com or phone (07) 3808 6833. She is keen to talk to you and answer any questions you may have!

MiniMO / MightyMO software upgrade now available

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Software version 1.02 is now available for all DynaVox MiniMOs and MightyMOs. Apart from being immediately impressed with how much quicker the device runs, you will appreciate some of the exciting new or enhanced features which are installed with this upgrade including:

• Easy importing of MP3s through a USB memory stick


• Ability to make multiple recordings more efficiently


• Improved scanning control and options


• Introduction of step scanning


• Ability to auditory scan through headphones or a pillow speaker


• Ability to highlight symbols or words in the message window as they are spoken

Please contact Richard Frimmer (Technical Support Technician) at Spectronics on richard@spectronicsinoz.com or on FreeCall Number 1800 999 718 if you would like to request an upgrade for your MiniMO or MightyMO.

Other useful stuff to know about!

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• Another ATLAS Workshop planned for 2006!

  After Adam Wing’s recent visit to Australia and his ATLAS Workshop last week, using Laureate Learning Systems software, we have been asked repeatedly, “When is the next ATLAS Workshop going to be held in Australia?” So we are pleased to be able to offer another ATLAS Workshop on Monday 22nd May, 2006 – as a pre-conference workshop the day before the Inclusive Learning Technologies Winter School starts. Visit www.spectronicsinoz.com/downloads/flyers/ATLAS_2006_A4version.pdf to download the information and registration form for his next workshop!

• Disability Standards for Education in Australia

  After many years of planning and debate, the Disability Standards for Education 2005 came into effect in Australia on 18th August 2005.

  The primary purpose of the Standards is to clarify, and make more explicit, the obligations of education and training service providers under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA) and the rights of people with disabilities in relation to education and training. The Standards are intended to give students with disabilities the same rights as other students. They are based on the position that all students, including students with disabilities, should be treated with dignity and enjoy the benefits of education and training in an educationally supportive environment which values and encourages participation by all students, including students with disabilities.

  This may have significant implications for greater adoption of assistive technologies in all educational facilities – where those technologies will afford students improved opportunities for equal and active participation in the learning environment.

  For more information see www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/agdHome.nsf/AllDocs/1821B1CD1293253DCA2570610014D867?OpenDocument on the HREOC website.

• Spectronics Professional Training Services

  At Spectronics, we are increasingly being asked to provide training services – to assist in the successful adoption of our technologies. So, over the past year, we have been building up our professional training team. There are now six trainers at Spectronics from a variety of teaching, speech pathology, occupational therapy, and technical backgrounds – all with many years experience in the inclusive learning technologies arena. To learn more about our Schedule of Fees and training options, please contact Spectronics or download our Professional Training Services brochure from www.spectronicsinoz.com/downloads/flyers/Training_Services_Flyer.pdf