No Limits to Life Blog

I read this post by Susabelle, on ATHENS blog today. I thought it would be a great topic for this blog…

“Eitan Glinert, an MIT graduate student in computer science, has developed a prototype game called AudiOdyssey. AudiOdyssey is a game strictly for visually impaired players, along the lines of Guitar Hero, or Rock Band, whose premise is that of a DJ who must layer up sounds to create music. The DJ keeps “alive” in the game by keeping his players on the dance floor with his riffing tunage.A short and tutorial introduces the player to the functions of the game, and can be played with either the arrow keys on a regular desktop keyboard or blue-tooth-enabled Nintendo Wii remote controller for motion play. All of the cues for the game are in audio, and no visual acuity is required to play the game.”

Go to the Gambit download area for Audiodyssey to check it out.

All the best to you!

Lon

While at a state meeting this past month, I heard that Microsoft was adding the DAISY format as an option in their “SAVE AS…” pull-down menu in MS Word. This means that the digital talking book standard is finally coming to the consumer in a widely used computer application. I am glad to hear that they are adding this option. It is much overdue. I did some research and found the actual release date to be May 7. It looks to be a plug-in that you can download to add this feature.

You can get the entire scoop at Microsoft at their release article and more in this article by NISO, “NISO Standard at the Heart of Microsoft Plug-in.” These articles share how this feature will convert Open XML-based word processed documents into DAISY formatted XML. This means that word processed XML files can be saved in the DAISY XML format and now opened on any device that reads a DAISY file. These files can also be read and converted into braille and large-print. Imagine what the impact will be on the visually impaired to have this tool more readily available.

The plug-in tool can be downloaded at this Open XML Community link. They are calling it the Open XML to DAISY XML Translator.

If you are someone that uses this format regularly and has been using the plug-in, your input and comments on this would be appreciated.

All the best to you!

Lon

I learned something new today. I do most everyday - and this one was important. If I am writing about disability and assistive technology, I need to support issues that move those with disabilities further forward.

I received a comment concerning the AT Blog Carnival we have started. I was so grateful to be made aware of the issue. The issue is this: CAPTCHA is the little widget that filters spam and lets sites know that the submission is a real person. You have used it - the curvy and wavy letters you decipher and type into the window? Well, a blind person can’t see that and if a site is dependent on the CAPTCHA tool for you to order anything or submit anything, a blind individual is just out of luck. There is a tool called RECAPTCHA that does the same thing, but it has a speaker icon on it so you can click on that to hear the code word and then type it in. The widget is free and open to anyone to imbed in their site. The site is here: recaptcha

My understanding is that several emails have been sent to the main blog carnival site asking them to fix this on their submission link process and no one has received a reply. I credit the site for sponsoring and starting the blog carnival idea, but they need to fix this issue. I have already taken the submission widget off my blog that had it. You can still submit through the service, but you can also submit through the email I have for the AT blog carnival at: lonthornburg@nolimits2learning.com

I am asking you to send an email to the blog carnival site asking them to support access for the blind and visually impaired. Ask them to use the RECAPTCHA tool, which will allow access by the blind. The email is: support@blogcarnival.com

All the best to you!

New Video is posted on Youtube and I have it here too. Learn to make your own communication boards using Audacity, a free open source recording software, and PowerPoint. If you don’t have MS Office you can download OpenOffice Suite for free and use their version of a slide show presentation software.

Use a microphone - not the internal mic in the computer, and with Audacity, record the voice message or command and then export it from Audacity as a wav file. You can put a picture on a PowerPoint slide, right-click it and then choose action  settings. Select sound and then scroll the menu to the bottom where it says “other sound…” Browse to where you saved the wav file and choose it and open. Your sound is embedded in the image now. When you play the slide, bu clicking on the picture you have your sound.

Check out the video below to see and hear how it is done:

All the best to you!
Lon

I have been working on my administrative license through Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I am in the home stretch and I have FINALLY gotten smart and used Dragon Naturally Speaking to write my reflection papers and reports. I wrote one last night (instead of writing to you, unfortunately) and used it to get done faster. Here has been my method:

First, I read through the required reading, underlining and making notes for prompts on what I want to say to write a reflection paper, report, etc.

Second, I try and make my notes easy to find in the margins so I can organize my thoughts much faster.

Third, I open a word document, set the font, spacing, etc. the way I want (you can do it with Dragon too by the way) and then dictate. I just “talk” my report and use quote and underline commands when I need to read a direct passage. Last night I wrote a 4-page paper on three articles in about 20-30 minutes. There was no substitute for the reading though, it took awhile. If anybody comes up with a fast way to transmit information into the brain off paper without reading it, let me know and then I’ll have this whole thing really sewed up!

You can buy the basic version for $99, the preferred version, which has custom command assignments for $199. The professional, medical and legal versions can be quite expensive, but if you are in that profession and do a lot of writing reports and documents it is worth it.

Dragon Naturally Speaking is put out by Nuance and they have a nice demo video on their home page HERE.

All the best to you!

I found a great little software that is a large calculator on the screen. It can scan through the numbers and signs to do calculations by switch access. It also talks. We are using this with one of our vision students who is legally blind but can see things enlarged on the computer.

If you are visually impaired or use switch access to use the computer, this might be worth a look. You can download the demo program free. It will run 7 times to check it out. Go to RJ Cooper’s Talk ‘n Scan Calculator.

All the best to you!

Try these free pointer cursors! Since I am an assistive technology specialist and learning what resources are online for various disabilities. is a major part of my job, I find some good resources.  Because I work in the schools, money is at a premium, so free is an important item when it comes to showing new things. I found a nice free cursor software on a UK site for the visually impaired that I thought I would show you. The site, ace centre, sells supportive software for education, but they have “Large Pointers 1.0, that is free. There is also an installation guide pdf to download.

All the best to you!

 Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro:

I had shared 2 posts ago about what happens when children with disabilities become adults. Here is a good example of someone transitioning into that situation. Maybe some of you can relate: 

Today I sat in a classroom with a boy with CP in a wheelchair. He is in high school and has the academic skills of someone in the fourth grade. The problem is that he has struggled with access to the curriculum over the years more than he has struggled with any cognitive issues. The issue has compounded because he wasn’t able to access the curriculum for pre-academic skills in elementary - until now in high school, he is so far behind he can’t read anything. He has visual tracking issues and he needs to access communication by scanning. His speech is very limited. He has a great advocate for a mom and he has a lot of caring people around him who are working for his best.

Our Speech pathologist that works with him is a veteran with years in hospital treatment. She is working hard to get him set up with a portable dynamic disaplay device by the time he exits from high school. He is a very sensitive boy and I believe he has huge potential. I believe if we could get his access issues resolved (they keep changing as his abilities change) he could be the one sharing this kind of material on a blog that he could write through access to a computer and a virtual keyboard with scanning capabilities. I keep saying that if there’s one thing someone in his situation has, it’s time to sit or lay and work with a laptop and scanning to get their thoughts out. He just needs to learn to read and write first! It is never impossible.

I worked with him today using Boardmaker and Speaking Dynamically Pro on his latop. We were able to use grant funds to purchase a Dell PC with Vista (still not sure what I think about that) and the Mayer Johnson Boardmaker with SDP. This program has power that I am still discovering. Let me tell you what I did with it today. I’m thinking about those of you in college, community courses or university that are looking for something that will let you take notes, yet have visuals and text to speech to help you listen to definitions, terminology, etc. This is a GREAT tool.

I opened a new board in Boardmaker w/ SDP. On the screen I made a large “button” that was half the page. I added a text block and began to write out a term and definition off the board. I also wrote some general notes that supported the main ideas.

After the note-taking, I double-clicked on the large button and opened the action settings. I chose “speak text” and then I copied and pasted the text off the page into the setting window for speak text. I tested it that it sounded right and hit “ok”.

When in use mode, the board becomes a large talking page with all my notes. Now here’s another cool thing: Underneath the large button, I made small rectangle buttons and typed a term on them with the text block. Then I double-clicked again and added a speak text command and pasted the definition. I made a button for each term. After I saved those and opened the page or board in use mode again, I had a “word wall” with the terms in front of me. I could drill from memory by looking and then click on the button and hear the definition to check if I had it or not.

If you have someone with auto scanning and switch access, the auto scan will cycle the notes area up above and each of the term buttons underneath. By hitting the switch on the one you want when it comes around, you can choose which definition you want to hear or the notes from class. I am going to try to do a video screen of it working and post it so you can see it work. It is pretty cool. Check back in a few days and maybe it will be up.

Even though this is an expensive program, (about $650), it is well worth it if you want to design custom communication and have a graphic tool with text to speech. It is pretty incredible.

I am hoping that as we work on this more, the assistant will be able to continue this on her own. I demonstrated this for her today and we are going to make this a goal to develop for the student. This is a way that the he can have more access to his curriculum and have a way to review notes, content, and do it under his own control.

If you are in school and have a disability or know someone who is, this might be an option to explore. If I would have had this in college, it could have supported me in many ways.

All the best to you!

Text to Speech has many uses and you can get it free. I have found text to speech to be a valuable tool for folks whether they have a disability or not. There are so many great uses for text to speech - especially if you work in education like I do. I have several cases where there are students that can write or type and having text to speech has been the difference in being able to communicate. For some, using a dynamic display communication device is too expensive, and all the image-based communication seems to be-little their abilities and intelligence. It’s Ok if they want something different.  There needs to be different tools for different needs.

Using a laptop for portability and “Read Please“, a free text to speech generator, a person can communicate whatever they want without having to try and talk or play “charades.” It is a great tool for reading text while multi-tasking. I copy and paste text into the reading pane and listen while I am doing other things. If reading text is too tiring but your vision allows you to see well enough to copy and paste, this is a way to hear your emails, articles off the Internet, etc. I love having the Odiogo on my blog to read for you - it is free also, but only for people to add to their code for use with their web pages.

Download the Read Please reader and install on your computer. Once installed there is a handy window to paste your text in. Just click on the buttons - same as a tape or CD player. There is speed adjustment and a slider that enlarges the font - that one is especially handy. I like to hear things I have read in it to give me a way to proof my text. You hear things that sound funny and don’t make sense in a way different than doing the writing and reading with your eyes. Project Gutenberg has public domain literary works in text file format that you can download for free, open, and copy and paste into the reading pane to have your own audio classics. You might want to explore that one too.

Screenshot of Read Please:

There are better voices available, but they are in the pay version. This version is just fine for being free! I have software programs that I use with clients that cost from $300 upwards to $1500. Believe me, this is a great deal! I hope you take advantage of it and give it a try. It would be fun to post a video of me using this to “talk” to you someday. I will have to play around with that idea. Maybe you’ll see it here down the road soon. Maybe I’ll video something that will make a good Youtube video at the same time - something thought provoking on disability.

All the best to you!

I am in Portland at the Oregon State-wide meetings  for assistive technology in education for 2 days. While here yesterday, we had a presentation on assistive listening and devices. I went online to look at some of the options and came across the “Exelia” by Phonak.

The Exelia pulls in an unprecedented set of technologies to make anyone want one! The ear pieces use Bluetooth and FM technology to receive media from all your Bluetooth enabled wireless toys, Mp3 player and phone. It broadcasts to you in stereo so you can get the full effect. Now you can live life like a sound surround theater if you choose!

The Exelia can be found on the Phonak website. Here is the link on their site to the Exelia where you can view video and read about it. I will be posting more on assisted listening for children and school on my No Limits to Learning blog so check that one out too.