TECH Tidbits from TASK
Team of Advocates for Special Kids' Assistive Technology E-Mail Newsletter 

April 2016

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Upcoming Assistive Technology Workshops
  
  
Appsolute Fun: iDevice Apps for Early Learning
Saturday, April 16
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles
Van Nuys
Please call Susan Baker at (818) 786-0001 for more information or to register for this workshop.    

Appsolute Fun: iDevice Apps for Early Learning
Thursday, April 21
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
TASK Anaheim
Please call (714) 533-8275 for more information or to register for this workshop.  
  
Assistive Technology Tools for Transition
Tuesday, April 26
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
TASK San Diego
Please call (619) 282-0846 for more information or to register.  
  
Getting to Know Proloquo2Go
Thursday, April 28
9:30 am - 11:30 pm
Family Focus Center
North Los Angeles Regional Center
Lancaster
Please call (661) 945-9598 for more information or to register.   

APPtastic Adventures: Fun and Educational Apps for Special Education
Wednesday, May 4
9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Westside Family Resource and Empowerment Center
Culver City
Please call Jennifer Hernandez at (310) 258-4243 for more information or to register.

  
For more workshops, including our workshops on special education and parental rights and responsibilities under the law, please visit the full workshop schedule on the TASK website.  
  
  
  
TASK Membership  
  
  
Please consider joining TASK as a member! Members receive the following benefits: 
  • Free TECH Labs
  • Bimonthly 28-page TASK newsletters 
  • Membership is tax-deductible
Membership is as low as $35.00 per year, per family. We need your support to continue to provide a central resource center for legal rights and responsibilities information and to continue providing TECH Center services. You can join online; visit the Membership page on our website for more information. 
  
  
 
Happy Spring! This month, I have some wonderful tools to share that assist with reading and writing as well as some other great tips and information. Also, since April is Autism Awareness Month, be sure to follow TASK on Facebook! We will be passing along discount information from vendors as soon as we become aware of them.

Writing Interventions, Tips and Tools:
  
Google Docs Voice Type!
Type, edit and format with your voice in Google Docs - no keyboard needed! Google Docs has launched Voice Typing
in Docs to help you capture ideas, compose a letter, or even write the next great novel-all without touching your keyboard. Starting today, you can also edit and format your documents with your voice. Click here for more info and a helpful video.

Do you ever need to read something that is just way too long? How about needing to cut down what you have written?

Rewordify!
Rewordify  is powerful, free, online software that improves reading, learning, and teaching. This site can:
  • Intelligently simplify English for faster comprehension
  • Effectively teach words for building a better vocabulary
  • Help teachers save time and produce engaging lessons
  • Help improve learning outcomes
Rewordify.com's amazing features have helped millions of people read billions of words more easily. The site is free and child-safe. Use it now; there's no software to install. Try the online demo and the first-time user guide.  There is also a browser with hundreds of free books which can all be "Rewordified!"

New Apple Notes Features You Need to Know About!
For those who haven't opened the Notes application since upgrading to iOS 9 or OS X El Capitan, it's time to explore! The new features in the Notes application have boosted the app from a simple place to type a quick memo to a one-stop place for organizing and archiving information, pictures, videos, ideas, and more. Best yet, all off the information collected is transferable across all Apple platforms FREE through iCloud. Read the rest of this article on the IPAT ND Assistive Technology Blog.
Reading Interventions, Tips and Tools:
  
Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children from in-need households. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Children from in-need families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often, whether in school, at libraries, or through other eBook reading  apps .

BeeLine Reader makes reading faster and easier by using a color gradient that guides your eyes from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. With BeeLine Reader, you can finish your work faster - and with less eyestrain. You can read websites, books, e-mail and other documents. Try it here.

One More Story is the online library of the best of children's illustrated books set to music and read aloud to you. Follow Benjamin D. Bookworm, Bendy, through your favorite books, or try the I Can Read It mode to read them yourself. ( Free trial/$44.99 per year subscription.)

Overdrive: Now you can download books from your local library for FREE. All you need is a library card! This technology is available on all platforms, including iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and 10, and Kindle Fire HD. You can change font size, margin, contrast and more to suit your style. Sync bookmarks and libraries across multiple Android, iOS, and Windows 8 phones and tablets. Easy-to-find menus make all app features, including your bookshelf, library websites, and bookmarks just a swipe or tap away. 

Free E-Books: Read independent, fresh authors anywhere you are with this FREE mobile app! Both iOS and Android devices are supported. Thousands of books in 50 categories to choose from. New books and authors added daily. If you don't have a membership, no worries; you can easily register for one on their website or directly within the app, for the membership type of your choice: 1) Download five eBooks for FREE with a standard (FREE) Membership each and every month or 2) Get UNLIMITED downloads with a VIP Membership.

Eye Can Learn: The purpose of this website is to provide parents with fun eye exercises to enhance their children's visual processing skills for better school performance and improved attention. If you know a child who struggles to read, learn, or remain on task, the underlying cause may be vision - even if the child has 20/20 eyesight.
TECH Center Product Spotlight:

TWO WONDERFUL TOOLS FROM OUR FRIENDS AT DON JOHNSTON!
 
Co:Writer Universal for Google Chrome uses grammar and vocabulary-smart word prediction to help students better express their ideas in writing across devices. And now built-in speech recognition adds an entirely new way of getting ideas out! Only Co:Writer Universal gives students access to the most powerful word prediction on their favorite devices (Chromebooks, iPads, and Mac/Windows desktops), over four million Topic Dictionaries, built-in speech recognition in Google Chrome, and incredible privacy-safe data collection. Whether on iPad, iPhone, Chromebook, or desktop, your students will have access to their favorite writing tool! Preferences and Dictionaries are stored in the cloud, so your students can access their personalized supports from anywhere, on any device - even offline.Co:Writer Universal also includes a keyboard for your iPads (iTouch and iPhones, too)! Use it anywhere you write, like e-mail, websites and Google Drive. It works just like Apple's stock keyboard, but the prediction is much better and it supports Topic Dictionaries and data collection.

Snap and Read Universal: This next-generation reading tool for Google Chrome covers the most diverse reading needs! This is truly a "game-changer!"
  • Reads accessible and inaccessible text aloud
  • Works across Google Drive, e-mail, websites, Kindle Cloud Reader and PDFs
  • Works offline
  • Dynamic text leveling
  • Study tools
  • Translation into over 100 languages
  • Data for reading level and usage
  • Bibliographer
Watch a quick demonstration video here or feel free to call and make an appointment to come in and try either of these truly amazing tools!
That's it for this month. As always, feel free to call (866) 828-8275 or e-mail [email protected] or call (714) 533-8275 and make an appointment to come in and try either of these truly amazing tools!

Happy APPing!
 
Laura Simmons-Martinez
Assistive Technology Program Manager
Team of Advocates for Special Kids

TASK is a nonprofit Parent Training and Information Center that serves all ages and all disabilities. TASK is funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education. The views expressed in this e-mail newsletter do not necessarily represent those of TASK, the U.S. Department of Education, the State of California or any other funding source, nor are they an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before congress. Advertisements or refernces to trade names, commercial products or organizations do not constitute endorsement by any of the above.