AT Blog Carnival for January 2010 on Teaching All Students

The AT Blog Carnival for January is up and going right now at Teaching All Students. Your host is Patrick Black.

There are some great posts on using AT with the iTouch, a new release from Dr. Brian Friedlander and a review of SOLO 6. Ricky Buchanan shares her MAC secrets. There is sharing on the new iPad, cooking in the classroom, Digital reading tips and more.

Check out a great issue!
Lon

Note: Patrick is looking for monthly submissions for a regular carnival. If you would like to share to contribute to our AT community, send a link to a post you write on your blog to Patrick Black at Teaching All Students.

"Sabotage!" April Theme for the AT Blog Carnival on "Teaching All Students" Blog

The AT Blog Carnival is going on the road!

Patrick Black has volunteered to be our host for an April edition themed "Sabotage." Share your post on a strategy or share a story on how you used sabotage to help someone learn or develop. The carnival will be up April 9.

All the details can be found on Patrick's post here:

http://teachingall.blogspot.com/2009/03/at-blog-carnival-sabotage.html

I am looking forward to some great stories...

Also - if you are interested in hosting a future edition of the AT Blog Carnival, contact me at:

lon.thornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!

Lon

Guitar Hero Motivates Middle School Use of Writing Support Tools

"How many ways does Guitar Hero help your brain work better?" I asked. I was working with a boy that needed writing support for some slow processing issues. He was easily distracted and couldn't spell worth a lick.

"Hand-eye coordination," he said. He was very confident, sharp and really knew the laptop we were using. He shared he had a touch-screen tablet laptop at home.

"Good one!" I shared. "What other things do you do that would strengthen your brain?"

"I don't know..." he looked around the room. He was interested but had a hard time staying focused. I prompted him a little and said "You are getting distracted - pull it back in!" with a smile.

And so we worked - but I got him when I had him open "FreeMind" a mind mapping software and we typed "Guitar Hero" in the main cell. He began to label new ones connected with Hand-eye coordination, patterns and memory.

After doing the web of our little writing activity with the mapping, I opened "DSpeech," a talking word processor, and we chose a cool young guy with long hair falling across his eyes for the voice. I showed our student how to shrink both application's windows so he could see his map and copy the words of the main ideas into sentences he typed on the DSpeech text window.

He struggled with the first sentence, and hit "speak" to hear what he had so far. He caught that he had missed a space between two words when he heard them run together and fixed them.

When we were done, he had written 3 sentences, combined his ideas and had correct spelling. He liked to say, "Let's hear everything we have so far" and play it back. There was a sense of progress being made everytime he heard a little more. When he was done and listened to the whole thing, it was ready to be published or converted into an Mp3 sound file for others to hear.

He loved that he could downloaded the Access Apps Suite on a jump drive for free and access them. He could also save his homework on the jump as well - and nothing had to be loaded on a computer. It could all go between school and home.

I shared with the teacher afterwards that we could use DSpeech to write some writing prompt directions and save them to open so he could hear what he was going to do, then open Freemind and have an assistant help him organize his thoughts, then use DSpeech or another tool like Natural Reader by Naturalsoft to write and proof read through text to speech. These are two free tools that can really support developing ideas and provide an order to writing so a student gets guidance through the process visually. I showed him "The Sage" a dictionary and thesaurus that gives him word ideas. If he can't spell a word we will work with a free spell checker tool and get that going for him too.

I had buy-in and interest today as I worked on teaching this student these tools. Using Guitar Hero, gave me instant appeal factor for the assignment as well! Why not try some popular theme ideas to get your students to learn support tools that will strengthen their writing and literacy - maybe you will make self-accommodators out of them in the process!

All the best to you,

Lon

Lon Thornburg is an assistive technology specialist and professional development trainer who lives in Oregon and serves 12 districts in 7 counties. He hosts the No Limits 2 Learning Blog and The No Limits 2 Learning Live Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio. He is sharing as a contributing writer on LD LIVE!

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"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?

http://www.alltogetherwecan.com/2009/01/31/wiimote-whiteboard-in-education-a-tutorial/

More Explorations this month...

http://lifekludger.net/2009/02/10/clarifi-iphone-case-with-macro-lens-for-low-vision/

http://athenpro.blogspot.com/2009/02/apps4android-releases-smspeaker-for.html

http://www.itanalysis.com/blogs/Abrahams_Accessibility/2009/2/wcag_2_0_rap_and_easy_youtube.html

http://www.lioncourt.com/2009/02/11/authors-guild-opposes-tts-for-reading-electronic-materials/

http://www.assistivegaming.com/spip.php?article58

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

All the best to you!

Lon

Call for Submissions, February AT Blog Carnival: "Perfect Pairings"

The AT Blog Carnival theme for February is "Perfect Pairings", highlighting combinations of assistive technology that work together. Do you have a software switch combo? How about a device and switch you have used together, a website that provides resources or software you have used with a piece of equipment or strategies for using various keyboards or scanners with text to speech?

We have lots of AT we pair with things and find useful but don't think about sharing. What we take for granted and use all the time might be the solution that someone else has been looking for and hasn't found.

There are all kinds of Readers for ebooks and files, all kinds of sites to find e-texts, free music and clip art sites that can be integrated with AAC buttons, communication softwares, etc. Share what you use or experiment with a new combo and see what you come up with. We want to hear from you!

Deadline: Friday, February 20.

We will post the carnival on Monday, February 23.

Write up your post and send in the link via email: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!
Lon

AT Blog Carnival Edition #6: Back to School Issue

Welcome to Edition #6, Back to School Edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival.

Those of us that use AT for education have been back at it now for about a month and there are some great ideas and posts that have come out of this time.
We get to visit a classroom, share some parent's views about their children, discover some great support tools for the Mac and how to build free audio books for students that need modified curriculum.
Enjoy!

Alicia Odem gives us some photos and a descriptions of her classroom at her SMD Teacher Blog.

Penny Richards has had permission to submit a friend's blog, "I Am Micro-Managing". It shares the struggles of being a parent with a child who was home from school for the summer, developing communication and a new AAC device possibility - the Tango from Blink Twice.

Penny also sent 2 more blogs our way , "Maggie World". Listen as a mom shares how her child communicates. I had a tear there somewhere while I read...wish all my SLP's would read this one! It's wonderful when kids can communicate - I think my tear was for the joy of that - but also for all the ones I know could if we can get the device in their laps and hands.
Autism Schmatism! shares a wonderful blog on a family who have a boy with autism and this post shares on him working on AAC with "Leo".

Ricky Buchanan of ATMac has been working on sharing print disability tools for the Mac with us. She gives us her take on the use of AT tools for accommodation for all students...the Mac way.

Lon Thornburg from No Limits to Learning is sharing How to Create Free and Low Cost Audio Books.

All the best to you!

Lon

Edition #4 of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival

The Assistive Technology Blog Carnival, Edition #4: Grab Bag Edition

This month we have 10 great submissions from some wonderful writers and providers of AT resources and information. There are posts on new updates of software and tools for AT, a UDL Wiki, some insights into the Kindle and AT equipment, adapting a keyboard for braille, using the SMART Board for special education, and a look at the MS Word add-in that saves documents as a DAISY file. The last submission is a great list of resources for Special Education. I hope you get some time to sit back, relax and explore!


Assistive Tek, Brian Friedlander:

I am excited to share a post from one of my mentors, Brian Friedlander. Dr. Friedlander was my AT professor through Lesley University in Cambridge. I was an instructional resources trainer at the time finishing my masters. He "warned" me that as soon as people found out I knew about AT, they would put me in charge of it! Well, his words came true, and now I have found my niche and my passion. Thanks Brian! Brian has submitted a review from his blog. Find out his perspectives on Write Online by Crick: http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/2008/06/writeonline-from-crick-software-first.html

Free Resources on the Net, Paul Hamilton:

Paul has started a project that is a wiki on Universal design. You can read about his project -UDL4All: http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/06/11/udl4all-online-resource/


Disability Studies, Temple U, Penny L. Richards:

I missed getting Penny's submission in past month from Wheelie Catholic and so promised it would be in now. Thanks Penny! Here is her submission from Wheelie Catholic, Ruth - on the Kindle and Assistive equipment: http://wheeliecatholic.blogspot.com/2008/05/does-it-matter.html
I am throwing in Penny's Blog on Disability Studies from Temple U that fits with our topics.
Thanks Penny - (and sorry I got you a little mixed up with Ruth!)


AnneMarie 80, Anne Marie Corrieri:

Anne Marie was our winner in the new blog contest drawing. She writes on uses for the SMART Board and adapting activities in the special ed classroom. She has submitted her post on SMART Boards and learning to write: http://annemarie80.edublogs.org/2008/03/25/writing-his-name/

ATMac, Ricky Buchanan:

Ricky is on hiatus from her blog due to some health issues of late, but she gave me permission to sift through her blog and select a permalink of my choice to add to our collection this month. Because of the DAISY work I have been doing lately, I have been more and more interested in tools and supports for visual impairment and this post stood out as an interesting one on adapting a regular keyboard to become a braille keyboard:

http://atmac.org/2008/03/31/use-your-regular-keyboard-as-a-perkins-braille-keyboard/#more-321



The Talking Book Librarian:

The Talking Book Librarian sent me 2 posts to choose from and I am including both. She shared that this first one on updates to the Victor Reader stream Version 2.0 was her most popular this month so check it out:
http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/victor-reader-stream-version-20-is.html

Her other post is on the new version of the popular Window Eyes screen reader:

http://talkingbookslibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/06/window-eyes-70-beta-1-released.html

No Limits to Learning, Lon Thornburg:
Since text to speech tools and print disability text files from DAISY seem to be popular, I am enclosing my own post from this past month that has hit my most popular post list at #1. It is on my adventures learning about the MS Word add-in and how to convert text to play in a free reader. The post caused a lot of email and some comments. I began to do follow-up posts and I am including the initial post and last follow-up for June which had a wonderful contributing comment/post from Romain Deltour of the DAISY Pipeline Team (which is a converting tool for text files to digital talking book files).

Initial post:
http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com/2008/06/adventures-in-using-free-tools-to.html
Follow-up post:
http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-use-ms-word-to-daisy-add-in-more.html

Teaching Tips.com Article on 100+ Resources and Links for Special Education (They are all under some helpful categories):
http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/25/the-ultimate-guide-to-special-needs-teaching-100-resources-and-links/

I hope you enjoy spending some time reading what folks have worked hard to write and submit. Add their blogs to your feed lists and check in regularly!

All the best to you!
Lon

AT Blog Carnival Edition #2: My Favorite Post on Assistive Technology

Edition #2: "My Favorite Blog Post on Assistive Technology"

Hello Everyone.
You are about to read something VERY special. If this is your first time here, you are in for a treat. The folks that are sharing their writing below are amazing. Some of these authors have overcome incredible odds just to be able to write what they write for you to read here today. Everyday I am challenged, inspired, awed and humbled by the stories I hear through emails of introduction from folks that have been up against incredible odds but have perservered to achieve incredible things. Some of these authors are therapists and educators to those with special needs, and most amazingly - some are serving the needs of those with disabilities professionally while having their own disabilities. I hope you are just as grateful as I have been for the gift and example they are to us all.

So, with that introduction out of the way, I am very excited to present to you our Second Edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival:

A carnival is supposed to travel around from town to town and set up somewhere different to amuse and entertain the residents of a community. My hope is that this "carnival" will begin to travel around from blog home to blog home different months so we can all visit different places to be educated, encouraged, challenged and maybe even provoked from time to time - that's OK too.

This month I have enjoyed making some new friends as well as communicate with some old ones, and I proudly present their submissions below. Our topic this month is to share a favorite post we have written on our own blogs that involve assistive technology, or to submit a blog post by someone else that we have really found important. I asked also that there would be some commentary on why it was important.
Since I am the host, I will share first:

Lon Thornburg: I have been writing my own blogs since last November of 2007. I started "No Limits 2 Life" to share my thoughts on disability and positive thinking as a catalyst for rehabilitation. I started another blog on children, education and assistive technology called "No Limits to Learning" out of a desire to share a story of a boy that we were working on getting a speech device for around Christmas time. My first post on the education blog was about the "Mystery Spot". I still think that is my favorite blog post and capsulizes who I am and why I do what I do. I don't think I could re-write it today to say anything better than the way it was stated originally.

You can read it at:

http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com/2007/11/there-are-no-limits-to-learning.html

I hope you enjoy it!

Now on to a friend I have had the honor to make through this blog endeavor:

Ricky Buchanan: Ricky shared her blog with us last month and this month has a favorite post from Kate Ahern, who is also submitting this month, and 2 posts from her own blog "ATMac". She had a hard time picking one - I know the feeling Ricky! She is a talented user of AT, using it to enhance her life with challenging disabilities as well as inform us on AT. If you are a Mac user you will want to go to her blog often. She has shared:

"This post from Kate is MY favorite one on her blog:

http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2007/09/les-miserables.html

"I think the post is amazing even though it's not really about AT because it educated me hugely about the value of doing something like taking severely intellectually disabled students to a production like Les Miserables. Before I read the post I admired Kate for doing it, but I didn't really see any value in it... after I read the post my mind was completely changed and I can see the enormous value of something like this. And, of course, I admire her more."

Ricky has shared the following two posts that you can visit her site to read. Her commentary is included here:

Post One:
http://atmac.org/2008/02/13/did-you-know-your-mac-could-do-that/ " This post shows some of the more out-there things that assistive technology can make available to anybody who can use even just a single switch. Assistive tech can really be amazing and enable us to do amazing stuff!"

Post Two:
http://atmac.org/2008/01/22/assistive-technology-really-makes-a-difference-dustins-story/ "This one reminds me why it's all important and how far we've come with AT in just 20 years. Without a computer, Dustin has no way to communicate beyond yes/no responses but with the computer he can express what's important to him. It's slow and difficult still, but it's possible and what's possible now is way beyond what was possible in the Apple IIe days. This is one of those posts that I look at when I'm wondering why I bother with all this stuff."

Thank you so much Ricky!

Ron Graham: Ron is an amazing man. He has achieved several degrees, serves the disabled through student support services and is active in informing on access issues. He should know the issues because he is blind and shares his view on his own accessibility issues as well as other issues on his blog, "Access Ability". This is Ron's second month to share with us. We are proud to have him as a "carny" in our AT blog carnival.

Find out what Yahoo DID NOT acknowledge in his post on inaccessable content: http://accessability.blogspot.com/2007/11/yahoo-acknowledges-inaccessible-content.html

He wanted to share with us here why he felt this was a favorite post of his:
"The reason this is a favorite post of mine is that it got a good bit of attention from Yahoo, the company that is the subject of the post, even though the comments do not reflect this. The subject of the post is Yahoo's CAPTCHA technology and its inaccessibility by users of screen readers. I was closely watching my blog traffic numbers and had noticed a distinct spike in my daily traffic the day after I published this post. Upon checking the source of this traffic, I noticed that I had almost 20 visits from different computers on the Yahoo servers. These were in Sunnyvale, CA, Mountain View, CA, and London. Somebody within Yahoo had apparently read the initial post and shared the link with others within the company, as that first visit from Yahoo showed a most of the referrals after that first one were unknown. "

"The reason that makes this post a favorite, even though Yahoo didn't acknowledge reading it, is that something I wrote resonated enough with somebody in the company that they felt the need to share it with others. I kept hoping that somebody from Yahoo would email me or comment on the post, but that never happened. The problems with Yahoo's CAPTCHA continue today, but I know of almost 20 Yahoo staffers who knowof its existence from reading that post. This means that they can not feign ignorance of the problem's existence."

Thanks, Ron.

Dr. Barabara Boucher: Barbara has an impressive resume, holding a doctorate and her license in PT and OT. Her speciality is young children and her blog is "TherExtras". Barbara and I began to email and discuss therapy, blogging, etc. Barbara's post slipped past our March edition and I am presenting it here. Please check out her blog or feel free to contact her as a resource for issues with small children. Her post on "Assistive Technology and Me" is here: http://www.therextras.com/therextras/2008/03/assistive-techn.html

Thank you Barbara and I am so glad to include you...

Robert Martinengo: Robert has been a studio director at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, in Los Angeles. He joined the California Community College system and began approaching textbook publishers directly on behalf of students. He is currently the supervisor of the Alternate Text Production Center in Ventura, California. This is his first submission and we are proud to present his article on E Textbooks and Issues for College Students from "Accessible Content Online".

Jason Voiovich: Jason submitted a fascinating post he wrote on the story of David Savill, Naughty Auties, and how Second Life helps people with (and the image of) Autism. "Second Life" is a 3D virtual community. The post is found on this link at the blog, "The State of the Brand" by Ecra Creative Group.

When I emailed Jason expressing my thanks for his submission he replied:

"Thank you Lon, I much appreciate the comment. I have spent significant time working with AbleNet - a company that develops products for persons with disabilities of all types - I would not have been able to write this article without that experience."

You will enjoy reading about this. Thanks Jason for bringing it to us.

Paul Natsch: Paul works for Assistive Gaming.com which has "Assistive Gaming" a Blog for gamers with assistive technology needs in Mac OSX. The post. "Tools of the Trade" is his submission.

Thanks for sending this in Paul. I am beginning to do some home visits to help students with severe disabilities as summer is coming on so they can access receational interests on their computers. So this is a big topic!

Kate Ahern: Kate has the "Teaching Learners with Multiple Disability Needs" Blog which I have been reading and admiring for some time. Kate has what I like to call "Power-house Posts" full of information. I was understandably excited to have her send a submission for the Carnival. Her submission takes us on a trip to order fast food when one of her former students doesn't have his speech device along. Kate's post: http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-voice-is-my-power-part-two-personal.html

Enjoy this post....and thanks Kate, for submitting it.

Dustin Oakley: Dustin submitted a post on AT Blogging on his blog The Crass Pip. Dustin has his own unique style!

Craig Phillips: Craig did not submit a post to this Carnival, but I recently met him through Ron Graham. He has an impressive story of having a traumatic brain injury when young and going on to do what no one thought he should be able to do. He has lots of tips for those with TBI also. Check out his story at: http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/2007/02/18/my-journey-thus-far/

There were a couple of submissions that came in as articles from sites that the authors submitted. They had some interesting things to say about learning, resources for etext through itunes University and podcasting in the classroom. You can link to them below:

Heather Johnson wrote on Audio Book College Content Resources from itunes on Learn out Loud.com Blog.

Understanding Media Blog submitter, Nick, presented a post on podcasting in the classroom.

I hope you take some time to visit the blogs of our twelve presenters this month.

Our next AT Carnival will up on Monday, May 26th. The deadline for submissions will be Friday, May 23. If we wait until the last Friday in May to submit, the next Monday puts us in June.

If you have any ideas for a May theme, please let me know as a comment here or through my email at: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

All the best to you!

Lon

AT Blog Carnival Edition #1

Assistive Technology Blog Carnival: Edition #1

Welcome to the first ever Blog Carnival on Assistive Technology!

The first edition deadline sneaked up on us pretty fast, but I would like to share some great posts by folks that are becoming good friends in the AT blog arena. Before I do, as the host, I would like to share a little about myself and how I use Assistive technology.

This Week's Host: Lon Thornburg

Since I have decided to start this blog carnival, I will host it here until someone else wants to guest-host. The idea is that you can be a host and share all the links we get in from your blog so you get all the visitors and they can find out how great your blog is too if they haven't discovered it yet. I envision lots of great blogs and posts and friendships coming out of this as time goes by. I would release this on my home blog, but since this is the carnival home, I will do it here.

My home blog is http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com/

I am a teacher, administrator and an assistive technology specialist. I work for the Umatilla Morrow County Education Service District in Pendleton, Oregon. I cover about a third of the state of Oregon as the only AT specialist. I work with OT's, PT's, Autism, Speech, Vision and Hearing and Eary Intervention and Early Childhood specialists. I do a lot of professional development and teach at the occasional State-wide conferences - usually doing lab workshops on interactive applications for software, helping teachers and specialists design and build their own activities.

My wife and I own and run a small retreat center that is a little mountain hotel built in 1897 for the Union Pacific Railroad. We have groups (quilters, scrap-bookers, church groups, planning meetings, teachers groups, etc.) that come stay for many different kinds of meetings and weekend retreats. We have a boy who will start first grade in the fall of 2008.

I LOVE working with AT. I feel like I am really making a difference for children and helping classrooms and families get things together to improve life for their kids. I had a stroke last year that put me in the hospital and I experienced some disabilities that have been subtle but have meant some adaptation on my part. That experience has made me look at AT in a different light. I have put together things so that if something happens again, and I would be permanently disabled I have things ready to go - just in case.

For AT, I personally use Dragon Naturally Speaking, Read Please as a text reader sometimes - and like using Odiogo on my blog. See "My Reading Chair" blog to see how I have used Odiogo there. (I will have to try the application suggested by Larry Ferzallo in his submission below.) I have a Track IR camera eye and a reflective dot on a baseball cap I can use with the free Click-n-type Keyboard from Lakefolks. I use a Virtual Magnifying Glass free software also for looking at certain things and using when doing professional training and workshops where I want people to see close up on the screen with a data projector.

Well, that gives you an introducation to me. Now I would like to share the contributors for our first carnival...

Ricky Buchanan is an amazing user of AT in Australia. We first communicated in January I think, when she sent me a nice email after reading my No Limits to Life blog that is for adults, perspectives on life, disability, etc. She has some wonderful artwork she has done and my son has been inspired to paint her a picture in return sometime. Check it out as the art is on a page that is linked from her personal site space. You can get there from her ATmac blog. I have enjoyed getting to know her and browse her blog. If you have a Mac, you will want to get her blog posts. She shares how she uses AT.

Larry Ferlazzo submitted his post on a new text to speech tool... Read the Words. He has a site dedicated to ELL and language learners and education onEduBlogs. I am just getting to know him and we have exchanged some emails. I am going to spend some more time browsing and reading there for information for the ELL,ESL folks I work with. I will be referring them to him too.

Since our submissions are just starting, I have listed below a few people that are doing work I admire. Their blogs are timely and full of great information:

Dr. Brian Friedlander was one of my college professors in my Masters Program and he has left some nice comments on my blog. He was very encouraging to me when I was starting out and he was gracious enough to announce my blog on his which has increased my visitors. I want to link to him here: Assistivetek Dr.Friedlander has some wonderful posts and up to the minute new release info as things occur. Check him out.

Paul Hamilton has a blog on Free Resources. I have gone there to find some great help and information. When looking at his picture on the "About" page, I was thinking that MAYBE we met at an ASHA conference on Assistive Technology in Seattle, WA a few years ago. He looks familiar and He is from Vancouver, BC. I remember visiting with an AT specialist from Vancouver when I was there. We will have to figure that one out.

Another blog that I go to frequently is Special Education Law Blog By Charles Fox. I wrote a series on parent advocacy and he was gracious enough to comment on it and post a section block quote from it on his blog. We were both online writing our blogs that day and had a great interchange of conversation and introduction. I look forward to future contributions he makes to his blog. His blog is also a great archive of legal information if you need to research something.

Kate Ahern has Teaching Learners with Multiple Needs . I recently discovered her blog just as she stopped posting indefinitely because of care for her sister. Her sister passed away from critical complications to a brain injury. Her blog was nominated for an award for top educational blog of 2007. Quite an honor. There is a HUGE list of links to vendors, associations, free tutorials, activities, etc. I hope to visit with her and get to know her one day.

I hope you enjoy this first edition of Assistive Technology Blog Carnival. Next month, the deadline for submissions will be the last Friday of April and the blog will come out on the next Monday. I hope some of you that read will submit.

Thanks for visiting and all the best to you!