CTG 2006 Comments

I am exhausted just getting in from Newark Airport and having spent the week at Closing the Gap. Having a chance to walk the Exhibit Hall and spending lots of time talking to other assistive technology specialists is invigorating. If anything, everyone pushes themselves to the limit and tries to squeeze out every minute learning and talking about our experiences in the field. Having walked the Exhibit Hall, there was lots of new assistive technologies displayed but there were no really big announcements to speak of. Crick Software showed Clicker Paint which I am sure that you will enjoy using with your students, it integrates with Clicker 5 and is truly accessible by mouse, switch or any other access method. Clicker Paint can also be used as a stand alone paint application, It will be a great addition to Clicker 5 when it is released in January. John Crick has done some outstanding programming to make the Clicker Paint a truly accessible tool. Also look for a free upgrade to Clicker 5 in the next couple of weeks. TextHelp released Read & Write Gold on a USB Flash drive which now brings true portability to their full featured assistive technology suite. Likewise, Don Johnston was showing off their recently released Incite videos which is a great way for teachers to help provide students with the background information they need when accessing the curriculum. For teacher working with students with more severe disabilities, SoftTouch just announced the release of Test Me Score Me 2.0 which is a wonderful tool for teachers to have at their disposal for alternate assessment. The program is easy to set up and use and keeps a running record of the students performance. Teachers can use graphics, sound, text and select from many access methods. If you need to design alternate assessment for your students with moderatge to severe disabilites then Take a look at Test Me Score Me 2.0.