What is Assistive Technology? Any device and/or service that is determined to be educationally necessary for a child to receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) & helps these individuals to interact with the world around them! Basically, it helps level the playing field.

Visual Strategies What are they How can they help

Boardmaker Software by Mayer-Johnson http://www.mayer-johnson.com/

Use Boardmaker to: Make communication boards. Create calendars. Design schedules. Modify curriculum. Import digital pictures. Make photo albums. And much, much more. . .

Calendars Boardmaker comes with calendar templates that are ready to use. Just add symbols and print out your calendar.

Templates for devices Tech/Talk sample Boardmaker has over 185 templates that fit a variety of communication devices. Templates come in a variety of sizes and shapes. All are ready to have symbols added. Tech/Talk sample

More Templates Just add symbols Boardmaker has templates that fit the a variety of display items. Good way to increase communication in the community. Just add symbols

1st page of 8-step schedule Schedules If you use schedules, Boardmaker provides 7 schedule templates that are ready to have symbols added. 1st page of 8-step schedule

More Schedule Templates Boardmaker Schedules come in several styles. Use the templates or design a schedule template of your own. Ready to have symbols added

Create your own schedules Design schedules to fit a variety of activities that will take students through the day.

Customizing Curriculum Make worksheets, reading activities, writing activities, and more. With Boardmaker, they can be simple or complex as you want them to be.

Directions Make picture directions for the classroom or home.

Custom Books Customize books by using Boardmaker to make sentence strips.

Flash Cards Make your own flash cards and picture cards. Make the cards any size or style you want. fold

Signs Make classroom signs. These can be used to inform about class activities or to give directions.

More books and games Make books. Create games and song boards.

Menus Scan images from fast food restaurant menus. Use scanned images to create a picture menu of favorite fast food restaurant items.

Import pictures Make a photo album or class newsletter. Take pictures of classroom activities, import them into BM to use anyway you want.

Designing with Boardmaker Make a place mat. Customize any place mat with symbols or design your own with construction paper and laminate for durability.

Why is Assistive Technology and programs like Boardmaker important? 1 in 6 children experience developmental delays or behavior problems---50% not identified before kindergarten Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects up to 1 in 68 people. As many as 1.5 million people in the U.S. today have some form of ASD. ASD is growing at a rate of 10‐17 % per year. At this rate, the prevalence of ASD could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade. It is estimated that in the US, 24,000 children born each year will eventually be diagnosed with an ASD A new case of ASD is diagnosed nearly every 20 minutes. About 25% of children with ASD do not talk at all. Centers for Disease Control, 2009