Special Education Software and Programs Demetrios Houmas

Introduction Special Education software and programs are needed to enhance learning and human expression for individuals with special needs through symbol- based products, training and services. Mayer-Johnson offers an array of software products each designed for specific needs Board maker is symbol-based desktop publishing software used for the creation of printed materials.

Research Findings Spoken language - listening and speaking. Written language - reading, writing and spelling. Arithmetic - calculation and concepts. Reasoning - organization and integration of ideas and thoughts.

Mayer-Johnson

Mayer-Johnson Mayer-Johnson offers a family of powerful, yet easy-to-use software products each designed for individuals with special needs. For more than 25 years, Special Educators, Speech and Language Pathologists, Parents and Caregivers have successfully applied the company's Picture Communication Symbols® (PCS) at home, school and in clinical settings. Today, approximately 10,000 PCS symbols are available in 40 languages and used throughout the world.

Boardmaker

Boardmaker Boardmaker software products each designed for specific needs: Boardmaker is symbol-based desktop publishing software used for the creation of printed materials, Boardmaker Plus! adds on- screen features such as voice and video for the creation of interactive educational activities and Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro offers additional features for Augmentative and Alternative Communication* (AAC). Boardmaker is offered on Windows and Mac and available in 11 languages.

What can assistive technology (AT) do? AT is merely support to “get the job done” more independently. AT can support both remedial and compensatory approaches for a student. Appropriate AT can help students with special needs to be included in regular rather than special classrooms,

Word Processors Students with learning disabilities are free to focus on the meaning of their written communication spell and grammar checking can help the student stay focused on communication rather than spelling and grammar. Portable word processors cost much less than a computer, are durable and lightweight.

Spell checkers Available as stand-alone desktop and pocketsize tools. Devices are particularly valuable because they change phonetic spelling into correctly spelled words. Other devices actually “speak” the words with a speech synthesizer.

Franklin Electronic spelling and reference tools

Franklin Electronic spelling and reference tools Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. designs, develops, publishes, and distributes globally innovative electronic language learning solutions on handheld devices, memory media cards, and via Internet downloads.

Yak-Yak ™ - online spelling and writing tool

Yak-Yak ™ Yak-Yak is a computer program for language training, and language assistance. It is used by individuals, in schools, and in institutions. As a rule, users make remarkable progress from the first day. Even someone who can't read or write at all, given proper instruction. Surprising, yes. But the reason is simply that Yak-Yak has the right technologies for it, such as computer speech, and our new word finding methods.

Tape recorders listening to recorded text. Text on screen to be read aloud through a computer's sound card. Variable speech control

Word Prediction Word prediction programs work together with word processors.They predict the word a person wants to enter into the computer. For spelling, word predictions programs can be either liberating or limiting. Predictions are based upon the sentence content and spelling, as well as the number of times a word is used.

Concept Mapping/Software for Organizing Ideas Some students have real trouble getting the great ideas “in their heads” down on paper. Basically, the student creates a diagram of his or her ideas before writing an outline It helps a student who has trouble working in a purely text-based environment.

Speech Recognition It helps a student who has trouble working in a purely text-based environment.. Speech recognition systems may be most helpful to students whose oral language abilities are stronger than their written language abilities. Sophisticated systems allow a person to dictate from words a minutes. The systems eventually learn the phonetic characteristics of each person’s voice.

Review and Evaluation Technological advances have made remarkable improvements in the financial, employment, educational, social, and day-to- day living aspects of all individuals, including those with disabilities. Technology increases efficiency and makes many tasks easier. It is a powerful force in the shaping of lives. Assistive technology can ensure that individuals with a wide range of abilities can have meaningful access, be productive citizens, and participate in education, activities of daily living, and recreation and leisure. Assistive technology includes voice recorders, personal electronic organizers, augmentative communication devices, speech recognition software, voice output software, screen readers, onscreen calculators that provide voice output, various input devices, such as adapted keyboards and switches, and specially adapted computers.

Conclusion Technological advances have made remarkable improvements in the financial, employment, educational, social, and day-to-day living aspects of all individuals, including those with disabilities. Assistive technology is defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as "any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off-the-shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities.“ Click Me

References Franklin Products Palm handheld computers Via Voice by IBM 4.ibm.com/software/speechhttp://www- 4.ibm.com/software/speech iListen by MacSpeech Microsoft Office XP Click here for a sample of my paper using OCR software.Click Click her for a scanned image.Click