Chrome - Google Tone

I continue to be impressed by the options for access that are being developed for the Chrome Web Browser.  Google just released an experiment called Google Tone.  The concept is that it will play a short tone that other computers can hear, and they will open the URL you shared.  The extension must be installed on all the computers nearby (wish it worked on mobile devices!) and have access to the microphone.  Just click the link in the toolbar and it sends out the "tone".  You can install the extension here - g.co/tone and it works in Chrome for Mac, Windows and all Chromebook devices.  Happy Sharing!

Patrick

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EdCeptional Minute #045.5 - Accessibility Features to Know and Love

This week's EdCeptional Minute is all about Accessibility available on currently iOS devices and how to use it.  Make sure to head over to the EdReach.us site and check out the accompanying video!

EdCeptional Minute #045.5 - Accessibility Features to Know and Love

Patrick

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EdCeptional - Alternative Computer Access

Check out my latest post on the EdReach Network, Alternative Computer Access.

Patrick

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EdCeptional #27 - Making it Happen with Jeannette

This week we talk with Jeannette Van Houten (@jvanhoutensped) - My Point of View... about alternative ways to access the computer

EdCeptional #27 - Making it Happen with Jeannette


Patrick

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More Keyboard

What do you get when you make a keyboard with wider keys, but not higher?  You increase the font size 3 times a standard keyboard? And include a multiple leg system with tons of options?

The More Keyboard

The More Keyboard was designed for persons of a larger stature (large fingers, etc..), but it is easy to see how this keyboard is perfect for anyone with a disability.  Having larger keys is great, but not having to change the distance you go from front to back would great decrease fatigue in many individuals.  The size of the letters and durability of them seems like a perfect match for a classroom.

As you can see from above it takes up no more space than a standard keyboard, but does move some of the keys around to accommodate the wider keys.   The More Keyboard retails for $69 and is available from the More Keyboard website.

Thanks to Wade Wingler (@indataproject) for featuring this innovative new product on the Assistive Technology Update podcast.




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Hear and There podcast #a11y

Here's an interesting idea, make a podcast and describe visits the places that many person's with visual disabilities might not get a chance to visit.  The Here and There podcast does just that.  Dave Uhlman is a visually impaired Accessibility Consultant who visits and gives his unique perspectives on things like museums, nature, animals, art shows and much more.  One of the most recent episodes was a visit to the Cincinnati Zoo to pet Cheetah cubs. 


It's very interesting listening to the visual descriptions (especially as a sighted person).  They are very detailed and I find it very interesting.  Many of the episodes have pictures to accompany the descriptions.  Just listening to the episode while visiting the Cheetahs it was very fun to hear the purring as they pet the animals.  I would be very interested in hearing the episode about the "Tac Tiles" tour for the blind at the Chicago Art institute.


Check out this innovative and fun podcast out at http://hearandthere.net


Patrick


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#iPhone4S, #Siri & #iOS5 - #a11y #accessibility #assistivetech #spedchat

iPhone 4S

Earlier today, Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S at their "Let's Talk iPhone" event.  While this new model is not much different than the iPhone 4 on the outside, its inside has been completely overhauled.  The iPhone 4S features the A5 dual-core chip as well as a better camera (8MP, 1080p).

Pricing:  $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), & $399 (64GB).  
Pre-ordering for iPhone 4S begins online on October 7 and in-store purchasing on October 14.

Siri

The most revolutionary component of the iPhone 4S with regards to accessibility would have to be the "intelligent agent", Siri.  Siri not only performs speech-to-text translation but also recognizes complex voice commands!

• Siri understands what you say.  Have a conversation with your iPhone as you would another person!
  
• Siri knows what you mean.  It is proactive and will ask you questions until it finds the information you are looking for.
  
• Siri can help you easily accomplish a variety of daily tasks, such as set reminders, schedule appointments, find directions, find locations near by, perform web searches, and much more!
  
• Siri can read & dictate notes, text messages, or e-mails.  Dictation also works with third-party apps.  Anywhere you see the keyboard, you'll see a microphone too!

This breakthrough software upgrade makes the iPhone more accessible for individuals with special needs, who benefit from the ability to interact with their smartphones using natural voice.  The potential benefits of an "intelligent agent" like Siri for students who have special needs are mind-blowing!  Let's think about a simple daily task like maintaining a planner.  How cool would it be if a student (or teacher) could easily setup reminders for assignments by simply speaking into the student's device?  There are many more possible uses of Siri for students with special needs.  I will write another post soon to share the ideas I have.


Unfortunately, Siri will only be available on the iPhone 4S. The reason for this limitation being that the voice activation features are processor intensive (requiring the A5 chip).  Additionally, Siri relies on the integration of Apple's new iCloud service, as voice commands are processed on a remote server.  To activate Siri on the iPhone 4S, just hold down the HOME button for a few seconds.

Siri will be a beta for the time being, as it only supports English, German, and French voice input.  There are more language add-ons and tweaks to come.  Furthermore, there has not yet been any mention on whether or not Siri will be available for the iPad 2, which also sports an A5 processor, or Mac laptop and desktop computers.

iOS 5

Apple also announced iOS 5 will be released to the public and available as a FREE download via iTunes next Wednesday (10/12).  iOS 5 will be compatible with iPhone 4S/4/3GS, iPad 2/1, and iPod Touch 3rd/4th generation.  Accessibility features of iOS 5 include flashing LED alerts, custom-vibration alerts for phone and SMS messages, an interested split keyboard interface, multi-touch gestures, and voiceover “element labeling” to enhance the screen reader user’s experience.

I can't wait to hear what everyone in the field of special education has to say about the new accessibility features of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S, especially Siri!


-  Jeremy

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"Babies, start your engines" #a11y #disability #udel #assistivetech #spedchat #OTpeeps #PTpeeps

Toy ride-on cars provide mobility and sociability to kids with disabilities!  Cole Galloway, an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at my alma-mater, the University of Delaware, is adapting off-the-shelf ride-on cars to enable children with limited mobility to explore their world and make friends.

Galloway's research focuses on determining if mobility can drive children's socialization.  He is known for his "babies driving robots" research.  However, he recently switched gears and is exploring the use of off-the-shelf, ride-on toys.  Galloway explains, “Using these cars in our project helps to normalize the therapeutic experience for children with limited mobility."

Galloway points out that the low-tech isn’t replacing the high-tech but complementing it.  While these ride-on toys are the real deal that you could go out and buy at your local Toys "R" Us, each car is adapted to meet the needs of the child who is riding it.  Added features, or simple modifications, include roll bars made out of PVC pipe, sling seats made from soft fabric, harnesses fashioned from mesh and plastic, and a specialized console over the steering wheel.  Future ideas for improvement include the use of GPS and webcam technologies.

The untold secret is that the low-tech aspects of this might not stay very low-tech very long.  We are still going to work on the high-tech, but in parallel we are also going to work on lower-tech solutions.

One of the larger goals for this project is to take what the research team is learning and create a toolkit for others who want to adapt the cars for kids with special needs. Galloway emphasizes the importance of doing this right. “We make sure to stay within the manufacturers’ intent, which is to use these cars as toys,” he says. “We don’t alter their use, and we don’t alter the safety factors built into the cars.”

“Fun is the key here—it unlocks brain development,” Galloway says. “When your main goal is providing socialization for infants and toddlers, you can’t ask for better collaborators than Barbie and Mater.”

Read more about this research project on UDaily.

-  Jeremy

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Notes from Accessibility Summit 2011 (#a11ysummit) #a11y #accessibility #assistivetech #spedtech

Today was Accessibility Summit 2011 - a one-day, online conference with sessions by some of the most notable experts in accessibility.  I learned about this event from @SFecich.  I was able to follow this event via Twitter using the hashtag #a11ysummit.  I have highlighted what I thought were the key points from each session.

• Session 1 - Color for the Colorblind by David Berman, Strategic Consultant (@DavidBerman | DavidBerman.com)
•  Accessibility is about individuals with disabilities and also about the digital divide
• Reasons why accessibility is important:
• Large % of useres
• Large labor pool
• It's the right thing to do
• Legal compliance
• Innovations for disabled people can be a revolutionary for all of us.
• Impaired senses: visual, mobility, hearing, language\communication, cognitive, social
• Solution for impaired senses = Assistive Technology
• Nouse - scans head movements and eye blinks
• Will soon be integrated into tablet technologies!
• Everyday Guide: What is a Nouse?
• Tech-FAQ: Nouse
• Nouse - National Research Council Canada
• Ideal web accessibility: everyone, anytime, any connection speed
• WCAG 2.0 conformity levels
• Section 508
• We need to plan for accessibility.
• When creating a web site, consider the following:
• Don’t rely on one sense to convey information to readers.
• Avoid poor contrast effects and colors (background and text)
• snook.ca
• Check My Colours
• Color background & text modifications available
• Text-to-speech (ex. Voki)
• Accessible PDF’s
• larger landing zone for website selections (click here)
• Use larger landing/click zones for clickable links
• David's eBook: Do good: how designers can change the world - preview first 40 pages FREE!
• Also see Session 1 Notes from Samantha Fecich

• Session 2 - The Inexactness of Web Accessibility by Jared Smith, Accessibility Trainer for WebAIM (@jared_w_smith)
• Theme?
• Guidelines are important, but so is common sense when doing accessibility.
• Accessibility is a process that is continuous.
• "A website will always be inaccesible to someone.  A website can always be made more accessible."
• "You cannot design or program a user's experience, you can only enable that experience."
• "Accessibility is about getting out of the way."
• "Good accessibility is a by-product of not being a dick."
• SEO for Non-dicks (SEO = Search Engine Optimization)
• If your site is "accessible" - you are probably not innovating or updating enough.
• Think of improving accessibility as climbing a summit.  Look for the next possible handhold; look up to be sure it leads the right way.  Even if you don't reach the top, you can still get a better view, one handhold at a time.
• Free site certification by WebAIM
• Providing a good user experience is more important that accessibility certification.
• It's okay to not launch when accessibility issues block a good user experience.
• People comply.  Websites conform.
• Compliance does NOT equal accessibility - use as guidelines
• "You can implement all techniques & still fail. Your site can be fully compliant and technically accessible, yet functionally inaccessible"
• Check out Jon Gunderson's Technical Accessibility Evaluator
• "WCAG allows you to be equally inaccessible to everyone."
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
• Recommendation:  Ensure #alt text is equivalent to image it replaces
• Recommendation:  "Skip to Main Content" links
• Don't hide these from sighted users
• Estimated 50% of skip to main content links are broken - either hidden by display:none/visibility:hidden or anchor/target deleted
• Position them off screen, make visible on :focus.
• Color contrast checks should utilize some common sense.
• "Programmatically determined" does NOT mean that assistive technologies or browsers can interpret it.
• Recommendation:  web pages should be readable when tet is resized to 200%
• When a site doesn't allow resize, grab screenshot & enlarge it.
• Text is used to give information rather than images
• Recommendation:  Don't remove focus indicators from links.
• Screen reader testing is very important when testing sites and apps for accessibility
• Screen reader "freak out mode" - element being read is destroyed or modified
• If a mouseover effect occurs with the mouse, must be the same effect on keyboard focus.
• Recommendation:  Consider applying "hover" visual enhancements to "focus" as well
• FREE web accessibility evaluation tool
• Automated accessibility tools are great for pointing out issues, but should not be relied on as an indicator of accessibility.
• Prioritize the failures or needs of improvement - what has the most impact on the user?
• Don't do accessibility user testing, rather do usability testing with users with disabilities!
• Focus usability testing on users, not so much on compliance standard or guidelines.
• Do usability testing AFTER fixing every flaw detected with WAVE toolbar.
• Become an accessibility champion!
• Also see Session 2 Notes from Samantha Fecich

• Session 3:  Accessibility and HTML5 by John Foliot, Co-Chair of W3C Accessibility of HTML5 Media Elements (@johnfoliot) - view presentation slides
• ARIA is now part of HTML5 - This means that if you use ARIA it will validate for HTML5.
• Recommendation:   Creating a tooltip?  @johnfoliot suggests <div>, not title attribute.  
• Title can't be activated w/out mouse.  
• Title attribute isn't consistently recognized by screen readers.
• Recommendation:   No HTML5 element exists for div id=main, so add ARIA attribute role=main
• ARIA States and Properties
• ARIA - describedby is not equal to #longdesc.
• longdesc's target can have links & other code, whereas ARIA-describedby's must be plain text
• Recommendation:  It's better to use <button> instead of <div role=button> to get lots of built-in, AT-compatible behavior from browser\OS
• Using some of the new 'types' and 'attributes' that are part of HTML5 can improve battery life for mobile devices.
• HTML5's Input Types & Attributes
• Don't use AUTOFOCUS when more important content/context exists prior to form element, as screen readers will skip the content.
• Use ARIA-DESCRIBEDBY to provide instructions if you are using AUTOFOCUS to focus cursor on field
• Spellcheck attribute input form in HTML5 - only works in Chrome & IE10 presently.
• @tomkompare: So far what I'm experiencing as an overarching lesson for web accessibility is: Don't be lazy!
• Media Accessibility User Requirements
• Cognitive accessibility comes down to the content & knowing the audience, no easy answers.
• If you don't include 'controls' attribute in your video tag, you won't get the browser-based video controls.
• HTML5 track kind attributes
• Terry Thompson's accessible video player for HTML5
• Rumors of Flash's death are greatly exaggerated.
• Stay away from CANVAS.
• More from @johnfoliot in great interview for #EDUCAUSE2011

• Session 4:  Screenreaders, ARIA & HTML5 by Jason Kiss, Accessibility Consultant and Researcher (@jkiss) - view presentation slides
• Accessibility is a shared responsibility between browsers, AT manufacturers (screen readers), developers, and users.
• Explanation of why/how screen readers interpret HTML5 & ARIA landmarks differently
• HTML5, ARIA Roles, and Screen Readers in March 2011 - results of study by @jkiss
• JAWS navigates by ARIA landmarks; interprets info. from Document Object Models (DOM) instead of API
• NVDA Project (work of @jcsteh) - FREE screen reader software for Windows
• ARIA
• Use "banner" & "contentinfo" roles only once per page (main header and footer)
• HTML5 Cookbook

• Session 5:  Captioning Strategy by Glenda Sims, Senior Accessibility Consultant at Deque (@goodwitch)
• Captioning is synchronized text transcript of multimedia content/
• Captioning is important for all multimedia, not just video.
• There's no reason not to caption your multimedia with so many free software options and great tutorials out there.
• Audio descriptions are not well known. They are verbal statements of important on-screen visuals.
• AudioDescribe samples
• Wonderful video illustrates need for captions by putting the shoe on the other foot - Unity for Gallaudet
• @goodwitch maps stages of grief model to stages of accessibility awareness: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance - slide image
• Accessibility is key to universal design. 
• Objectives of Accessibility Laws: 1) Equal opportunity 2) Independence
• "For most people, technology makes things easier. For people with disabilities, tech makes things possible." (Radabaugh, 1988)
• "People retain 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see and 50% of what they see and hear."
• "Augmenting an auditory experience with captions more than doubles the retention and comprehension levels." - Gary Robson
• The Closed Captioning Handbook
• Captioning video is like reading picture books to your kids: seeing, hearing, and reading the content all at once.
• John Slatin Captioning Project
• Captioning/transcripting (non-live) video about $165/video-hour. Still less than a lawyer.
• Error rates:
• At 2% error rate during captioning, 30% of intelligibility is already lost.
• Trained speech recognition application can get 3% to 5% error rate for captioning.
• Trained stenographers have a typical error rate of .5 to 1%, which is way better than other transcribing sources.
• As with many other aspects of accessibility, captioning from scratch is faster and cheaper than fixing a poorly captured text.  "Poorly captured," according to Kevin Erler's model, is a transcription error rate of 5 percent or greater.
• Cost of correcting bad transcript (5% error and +) is higher then starting over
• "Good design is accessible design." - Dr. John Slatin
• Universal Subtitles

• Session 6:  Integrating Accessibility Across Devices (Mobile Accessibility) by Henny Swan, Inclusive Design and Accessibility Consultant (@iheni)
• Build it simple, meaningful, & neat.
• Mobile browser support for HTML5 currently not good - but future may be bright
• "The 'dark art' of testing: know what to look for and know how to fix."
• Strategy:
• Step 1: mobile website
• Step 2: Add native apps. 
• Wondering abt folks using open source HTML5 to app convertor.
• "Mobile is by definition disabling."
• Poor light, small keyboards, glare, touch, etc.
• Interesting!  An accessible website is more likely to be mobile friendly. 
• "Platform accessibility APIs for mobile dev is less mature than for desktop" 
• Apple has raised the bar for accessibility in the mobile space.
• Link to compatibility tables for #HTML5, WAI-ARIA, @iheni recommended: http://bit.ly/mem4Ar.
• Mobile Web Best Practices:  (when) caniuse.com
• WebAIM mobile screen reader survey: http://bit.ly/nPI2CM
• There are no definitive guidelines for mobile accessibility, but there are many shared principles between desktop and mobile design.
• Be consistent when developing for mobile (and making accessible web sites).
• Use consistent text alternatives across desktop & mobile
• brief & descriptive
• use tooltips sparingly
• Resources for Mobile Accessibility Guidelines
• Color
• Avoid using color alone to convey information.
• Use blocks of color rather than outlines or shades.  
• Color contrast is unpredictable on mobile devices.
• tabindex="-1" is not supported on some mobile devices - great blog post by @iheni
• Beware of clutter, avoid using <span> element.  Text to speech engines may lead to repetition.
• Text large enough to read, not necessarily large enough to tap on! 
• Use buttons, menus etc. instead of free text input on mobile devices. More accessible and fewer errors.
• Touch targets on mobile web should be 9.2-9.6mm at minimum, with 1mm of inactive space around it, says @iheni quoting Jacob Nielsen.
• Android doesn't make it easy to use Text to Speech.  Requires sighted person to enable on Android
• IDEAL Web Access Pack = browser w/ built-in speech for Android

• Session 7:  Watch Your Language by Matt May, Accessibility Evangelist at Adobe (@MattMay)
• "I found this problem and it affects some of your users and you can fix it with these resources and if you don't, these are the consequences"
• The word "accessibility" means different things for different groups of people.
• "one feels empathy when one has 'been there' and sympathy when one hasn't"
• No accessibility is perfect, but any attempt at it is better than no attempt.
• Words are important, yet tricky.  Accessibility is a journey.

• Session 8:  Everything I know about accessibility I learned form Star Wars by Derek Featherstone, Accessibility Specialist (@Feather)
• Used Star Wards to convey great points!
• Chewy was just used as an example of facing an inaccessible system
• Jar Jar Binks = Tab Index
• Equivalent of redoing the Star Wars cantina scene to make Guido shoot first = trying to kill off #longdesc in HTML5
• "Good against machines is one thing.  Good against the living is something else."
• Interpretations and opinions change over time.
• Featherstone's Law: When a discussion in an Internet forum is declared closed-the issue resolved-that's when the arguing begins.
• "We implement solutions that seem like a good idea at the time, but later we fade those things out.”
• The entire web industry may be built on "view source".
• Find ideas that work from every experience you have and use them to your advantage
• "When you find a good accessibility solution, steal it and share it."
• "As professional, as developers, as designers, we continue to evolved and we continue to iterate our designs and our solutions."
• Focus on the people!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES mentioned in Twitter stream:

• Seeing People with Disabilities as a Culture in E-Learning

-  Jeremy

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All Abilities ePlayground #a11y #assistivetech #spedtech #spedchat #tck

All Abilities ePlayground is an online, or virtual, playground that features fun and games that are accessible to children of ALL abilities. This site, which is based in Australia, is an initiative of the Gold Coast City Council supported by the Department of Communities (Disability Services) and developed by Sonokids Australia.  The All Abilities ePlayground reflects the values and aims of 17 outdoor all abilities playgrounds funded by the Queensland Government.  Learn more about this ground-breaking project enabling all children to participate in play - Queensland All Abilities Playground Project.


The All Abilities ePlayground, which was developed to create a way for children to visit an all abilities playground from anywhere, aims to:

• reflect an all-inclusive and safe play environment
• offer fun, innovative and accessible ways of interactive online play
• stimulate and support imagination, skills development and cognitive learning
• allow a child with a disability to play as independently as possible
• create awareness and acceptance of alternative ways to play
• support integration and mutual understanding by play and interaction

The ePlayground features a number of entertaining actions as well as 4 games: IbisBuster, Memory, TrixMix, and Roo Hill Thrill.

1. IbisBuster - adventure game in which the player collects different "good things" and "shoo" Iris the ibis who tries to steal them.  The game is accompanied with a great adventure story.
2. Memory - puzzle-type game that involves finding the matching pairs of sounds and images
3. Trix Mix - creative game with music and animations that allows the child to mix and record musical sounds to a set beat.
4. Roo Hill Thrill - action game with a fantasy setting in which a kangaroo must surf over hills and avoid beach balls.

The entire site features audio instructions\narration by BuddyFly, who guides children through the playground.

Also, please note that you will need to complete a FREE registration to use the site.

With regards to accessibility, there are two versions of All Abilities ePlayground:

1.  Mouse and keyboard ePlayground - recommended for children who are able to use a mouse or keyboard.  This version is also accessible for children who are blind using a screen reader.  There are a number of ways the games in this version could be accessed: mouse & keyboard,  interactive whiteboard, touch screen, or trackball\joystick.

2.  Automatic scanning ePlayground - In this version, all actions as well as the games are played feature automatic scanning.  Access options include single switch, space bar, mouse left-click, puffing into microphone (Puff2Play™) , or interactive whiteboard.

The activities and games on the site have been tested by children with print disability, autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, learning difficulties, speech impairments, cognitive delays, and physical impairments.

-  Jeremy
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Listen & Learn with Podcasts! #a11y #assistivetech #spedtech #spedchat #slpchat

Are you wondering how you can access more professional development this school year?  Too busy to attend trainings, workshops or conferences?   Well, podcasts are great way to learn!  There are a number of good podcasts about accessibility, assistive technology, special education, speech language therapy, and technology.


Here is a list of podcasts that I have found not only informative but aslo entertaining!


Accessibility

1. The Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast (iTunes) - explores the use of Apple products by individuals with disabilities, focusing on but not limited to, users with visual impairments.
   
   
2. AssistiveWare: Users in Control: A Fresh Perspective on Accessibility (iTunes) - This podcast offers an insightful look at how people with disabilities are empowered through the Mac OS X.
   
   
3. All With My iPhone (iTunes) - John Cory Ballard and voiceOver give audio tours of iOS apps.
   
   
4. Bind Cool Tech Podcast - The Blind Cool Tech Podcast provides interviews, brings you along on sound seeing tours, and discusses life and cool technology, especially technology that blind people can use.
   
   
5. SeroTalk - podcast & interactive blog on the accessible digital lifestyle, produced by Serotek, the Accessibility Anywhere people

Assistive Technology:

1. Assistive Technology In Public Schools (A.T.TIPScast) (iTunes) by Chris Bugaj - a podcast about using technology to help students meet their educational goals
- Facebook page
- @ATTIPScast on Twitter
- YouTube channel


2. EdCeptional (iTunes) - EdCeptional highlights access to learning for exceptional students of all abilities.
   
   
3. Assistive Technology Update (iTunes) - fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts by INDATA
   
   
4. Tech Access Weekly (iTunes) - a podcast of unspecified length about accessible technology
   
   
5. AT Maine: The Assistive Technology Show (iTunes) - The Assistive Technology Show is a weekly round table-style forum devoted to discussing all things assistive technology, or technology related.
   
   
6. AssistiveWare: Assistive Technology Podcasts and Videos
   -  Exploring the Frontiers of Assistive Technology (iTunes) - This is a video podcast showing how people use assistive technology to communicate, express their creativity, play games and make so much more out of life. These videos show that there is no reason why people with physical, vision, speech or language impairments cannot use the same creative and educational software as every other Mac OS X user. There are a few episodes per year, each starring a different person.

Special Education:

1. The Coffee Klatch (iTunes) - A virtual cup of coffee for parents of special need children bringing you award-winning authors, expert psychiatrists, psychologists, & international renowned children's foundations.
   
   
2. Making Special Education Work (iTunes) by KPS4Parents - Podcasts regarding special education and how it affects families, taxpayers, and society at larget as well as how everyone can work together to deliver sound educational services to children with disabilities in a way that benefits society as a whole.
   
   
3. rethink autism (iTunes) - rethink autism shares several tips a month about how to teach children with autism in a way that is easy to understand and apply.
   
   
4. Special Needs Talk Radio - talk radio network with outstanding new broadcasts produced by The Coffee Klatch.
   
   
5. The IRIS Center PodCast (iTunes) - The IRIS Center offers special education resources and materials--validated instructional strategies, research-to-practice strategies, best practice strategies--for the effective inclusion and mainstreaming of students with disabilities. The Center provides resources for college and university faculty and professional development providers in the areas of accommodations; assessment; behavior; collaboration; differentiated instruction; disability; diversity; learning strategies; math; reading, literacy, and language arts; response to intervention (RTI); and school improvement. In addition, IRIS materials provide information on issues related to professional standards and SPP indicators. IRIS online modules, case studies, activities, and podcasts are available at no cost to all education professionals.

Speech Langauge Therapy:

1. ASHA Podcast - every 3 or 4 weeks, ASHA will feature an interview with a professional that is making news the field of speech-language pathology or audiology.
   
   
2. GeekSLP TV (iTunes) - GeekSLP, or Barbara Fernandes, does monthly video shows featuring reviews of iOS apps and accessories as well as discussion of various topics related to the use of technology in speech therapy.

Technology:

1. This Week in Technology (TWiT) (iTunes)
   -  iPad Today (iTunes) - Leo Laporte and Sarah Lane highlight the best apps, most helpful tools, coolest tricks, and essential news surrounding the iPad revolution.  This show is recorded live on Thursdays at 1:30PM PT/4:30PM ET on http://live.twit.tv.
   
   
2. MacReach (iTunes)  - hosted by Apple Distinguished Educator and mobile learning specialist, Meg Wilson, the MacReach podcast brings the most innovative contributors, integrative ideas, and cutting-edge classroom strategies to the forefront.  The show generally airs on Thursday nights.

For Students:

1. Night Light Stories - podcast featuring original children's stories told by the friendly glow of a child's night light.
   -  Facebook page
   
   
2. Billy Gorilly's Podcast for Kids (iTunes) - "The Billy Gorilly Show" is perfect for 3-6 year olds.  This entertaining show is designed to promote learning in 5 key areas: values, creativity, literacy, math, and science.   Free activity pages that kids can work on while they are listening are available to download at billygorilly.com.
   
   
3. Sesame Street Podcast (iTunes)

READERS:  Which podcasts do you listen to about the above topics?  If I have left a good podcast off this list, please share by commenting below.


-  Jeremy

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Texthelp reveals web apps! (@texthelpUK) #edapp #IEAR #assistivetech #spedchat

EXCITING NEWS!!  Texthelp reveals their new suite of assistive technology web apps: Read&Write Web, eBook Reader, Speech and Dictionary Apps!  Watch the video to find out more.  For further info email webapps@texthelp.com.

-  Jeremy
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CNN article on traveling with children who have special needs

Today, CNN published an article directed at parents of children with special needs about the benefits of traveling with their children.  I enjoyed reading this article and thought it made a wonderful point about how the benefits of traveling with children who have special needs outweigh any related challenges.  The author mentions a several tips with regards to traveling such as finding special events or locations that cater to the needs of their child like AMC's collaboration with the Autism Society to present Sensory Friendly Films, shares resources like TravelinWheels, and even goes into a discussion about accessibility.

The only complaint I have is that the media still does not seem to understand Person First language. The title of this article should be "Travel with children who have special needs..." and not "Travel with disabled kids...".


-  Jeremy

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