WATI Materials - FREE!

OK, part of me is happy that we get INCREDIBLE materials for free, but a bigger part of me is very, very sad.

WATI, the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative, one of the motherships of Assistive Technology, has lost its grant funding. In the interest of brevity and lower blood pressure, I will not opine further...

The only bright shining light about this situation is that all of the amazing, incredible, outstanding, brilliant materials that WATI has put together over the years are now available to you for free. You heard me correctly, FREE!

Yes, "Assessing Students Needs for Assistive Technology" (4th ed.) is there. So is "How Do You Know It, How Can You Show It?" And so much more!!! You can download these materials as PDF documents by clicking here, or visiting the link below.

http://www.wati.org/?pageLoad=content/supports/free/index.php

A big "thank you" to WATI for their many years of serving students and teachers in Wisconsin and around the country. You will be missed :(

TechMatrix Research

A big hurdle that we've run up against in providing AT is the new mandate that the tools we select be based upon peer-reviewed research when practicable.

OK. Where do I even start?

How about TechMatrix.org?

If you've never been to TechMatrix.org, ya gotta go there. Whenever I've trained AT teams about Assessment, and we've walked through the SETT framework, and the team members just don't know what tools are available to fit the features that their students need.

On TechMatrix, you can search for AT, Reading, Writing, and Math tools. AND, you can generate a matrix of tools by feature. When you've generated your matrix, you will see your list of tools that offer those features across the top and a list of features on the left side.

If you click on the name of the tool at the top of the page, it will take you to another webpage that will give you additional information about the tool (webpage, price range, etc.) It will also give you a tab that lists features, and a third tab that lists... Research.

And the amazing thing is that the research is based on the features that the tool offers, not the tool itself.

I've tried to upload a Jing screencast of this tool and am currently wrestling with the size. I'll post it as soon as I win ;)

Dynavox's Implementation Toolkit

I am currently sitting in a presentation by Dynavox representative Bethany Diener about Dynavox's new training resource, the Implementation Toolkit.

All I can say is, "Wow!" Whether you use a Dynavox product or not, check out this site. There are so many incredible resources for assessing AAC needs, training users on their devices, training communication partners, where to even start, etc.

Please click here or the link below to visit this incredible site.

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/training/toolkit

Online Master's Degree with Specialization in Assistive Technology

Been wanting to pursue an advanced degree in Assistive Technology, but need the flexibility of an online environment? Bowling Green State University has an online Master's in Education, specializing in AT - and there's even a financial incentive!

Click here to learn more.

(Hat tip: Online College Blog)