Wordle

Cognitive Credit Cards

Cognitive Credit Card site

This site provides models of various types of cognitive credit cards. It can provide the samples for Mathematics , Language Arts , Language, and French.  It is well worth a look!

iTouch and iPhone apps for special education

The iTouch has become an excellent tool in the assistive technology toolbox. The iTouch can be utilized in numerous ways in the education setting. The app store on iTunes provides access to thousands of apps for the device. Some apps are free and some have a fee attached.

Eric Sailer ( http://speechlanguagepathologysharing.blogspot.com/ ), a speech language pathologist as well as AT specialist with the La Mesa Spring County School District in San Diego, California, has compiled a list of apps relating specifically to education. Each app listed has a description attached and a link to the app in iTunes.

The list is available at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/24470331/iPhone-and-iPod-touch-Apps-for-Special-Education

It is well worth a look!

Teacher's Central and Start To Finish Books

In Teacher's Central (automatically installed with the Start to Finish title), you can set preferences for the student. This would include being able to set the cloze activity so it will be read to the student. Your Teacher Central will most likely be located in My Documents OR in the Thawzone. You will be looking for the Don Johnston folder, then Teacher Central.This is also where you can print a summary of the student's activities, test results (time on task, words clicked on etc.).

Here's how to change the settings:

Just click here to be taken directly to the instructions on how to change the settings. If you would like to know how to get there on your own, here's the instructions:

If you go to the Resources section of the Don Johnston website, and click on the Resources tab, click on Start to Finish Books Library in the drop down menu. Scroll down the resulting webpage and you will find a pdf file you can download called Start to Finish Library Quick Card. This file will provide you with a step by step overview of how to assign Start to Finish books to read the tests to the student.

WriterPlus Solution

Occasionally the WriterPlus will display a message similar to this when you turn it on:

Aborting APP Fatal Error

Missing application

BOIS.0x2029

Hopefully the student(s) using the Writer have been diligent in printing off their writing assignments. When this message comes up, essentially the data on the Writer is or has been deleted. There is a solution to ensure the Writer quickly becomes operational again. Here are the steps to take:

With the Writer turned OFF, press and hold ESC and Z keys simultaneously.

Tap the ON key, wait one full second and then release the ESC and Z keys.

A screen should come up and ask for the master reset password.

The Master Reset Password is ACE135

The Writer is now functional again. Student files will have to be set up again. If you have any questions, please contact us for more information.

Co:Writer Concerns

The other day, I was showing a teacher Co:Writer software and got a little surprise. Co:Writer was not sending the completed sentence in the sentence window to Word, nor would it do so in any other word processor. What a surprise! A search of the Don Johnston support site (Co:Writer is a DJ product) produced the following resolution to the problem.

Why is Co:Writer is only sending the first few letters/words of my sentence to my word processor?

On some Windows systems the Auto-Hide option needs to be enabled within Co:Writer for the proper transfer of the sentence window.

Click the Settings button on the floating palette in Co:Writer SE.

Click the Prediction tab.

Check the box labeled Auto-Hide and click OK.

If the Settings button is not available under More Commands then you will need to login to Co:Writer as a teacher. In the Teacher Options you can then select your student from the Writer drop-down list (It will say "Teacher" by default until you select the students name). You can then click the Settings button in the Teacher Options palette to access that students settings.

Hope this helps those of you who encounter this problem with Co:Writer.

SYMBOL SUPPORTED TEXT MATERIALS

The following are sites to provide support for those using symbol based text. They provide both activities and books.

Mayer Johnson Sharing Site

Symbol World - speech enabled with BrowseAloud or Webwide

Askability

Slater's Software

Website of chapter books adapted for older students with WWS2

Priory Woods - school for students with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties

Website with symbols to download to create your own books

Downloadable Boardmaker Activities