Sunday, February 22, 2009

"Perfect Pairings of Assistive Technology Tools" February 2009 Edition of AT Blog Carnival

Welcome to The AT Blog Carnival for February is "Perfect Pairings", highlighting combinations of assistive technology that work together. There are some great tools shared this month that blend to do some great things. I hope you enjoy them!

Ricky Buchanan of ATMac shares:
"Two things that go together well are laptops and beds! If you need or want to use your computer in bed, using a laptop is often the easiest way to do it. I have a brand new website Bedbound/Unlimited which I'll be developing over the coming months, and one of the first articles is "Using a Laptop in Bed"http://bedbound.org/using-a-laptop-in-bed/ , talking about some technology that can make this easier for you. I hope you all come and say hello to the new blog, too!

Back on"ATMAC, I've written about two things which often don't go together but should: You Must Have Backups. It was prompted by the main hard drive in my computer failing completely and needing replacement - luckily in this case I did have a backup so disaster was averted. Please make sure all your computers are backed up, especially if they're used with assistive technology - for those of us that can't use just any computer this is twice as important."

Thanks Ricky!


Patrick Black of Teaching All Students shares some reasons why you should look at Special Education and SMART Boards. He shares some great ideas too.


Ron Graham of Access Ability shares about his cool HP Netbook and some great software for working with the visually impaired/blind.


Tim O'Brien, a blind photographer, shares from his blog, tim o'brien photos, "Access the Web!" with a trio of tools for web access for the visually impaired.


I (Lon Thornburg) share from my blog No Limits to Learning about a free AAC tool that can be created using 2 free software downloads on Windows.


Here are a few other links this edition to explore for some other great reading:

Accessible Twitter: Why Twitter can and should be accessible: http://doteduguru.com/id2215-accessible-twitter.html

Handwriting Fonts:
An interesting way to capture handwriting: http://www.yourfonts.com/
Wii Remote Whiteboard:
Build Your Own Interactive Whiteboard with a Wii Remote?

More Explorations this month...











Thank you to all that submitted...and all that read.

All the best to you!

Lon