Literacy Supports Workshop

There is still space available in the following free workshop:

Literacy Supports

Date: April 25, 2012

Time: 9:00 – 11:00am

Presenter: Valeska Gioia, SC Department of Education AT Specialist
Location:
SC Assistive Technology Resource Center
Poplar Building, Midlands Center
8301 Farrow Road
Columbia, SC

Cost: Free

Overview of various free aids that can facilitate learning in any classroom and how many students with and without disabilities can benefit by incorporating these study aids into the daily curriculum. Text-to-speech, free and low-cost digital books, speech recognition, colored overlay and concept mapping software will be demonstrated.

Register for the Literacy Supports workshop online

For information about other assistive technology workshops, go to the SCATP Training page http://www.sc.edu/scatp/trainingschedule.html

To read more about the Literacy Supports Workshop, please click on the above title.

To access the CDR Library Catalog, please click on this link.

AAC and Literacy

Presenter: Kenneth P. Whitley, President, Key Technologies, Inc.
Date: Friday, February 10, 2012
Time:8:30am-10:30am
Location: SC Assistive Technology Program
Poplar Building Conference Room
Midlands Center,
8301 Farrow Road,
Columbia, SC
Cost: Free, but pre-registration is required. This workshop is limited to 20 participants.
Description: A wide variety of AAC and Literacy devices will be shown. Typical users and practical features of the devices will be discussed. Participants will have opportunities for hands-on use and question-and-answer. The following AAC and Literacy devices will be demonstrated.

* Ablenet: QuickTalkers, Boost Video Magnifier, TalkTrac Wearable Communicator
* Attainment: GoTalk Express 32
* Freedom Scientific: WYNN 6
* Inclusive TLC: MyZone, Matrix Maker
* Jabbla: Mobi 2 w/Mind Express 4, Allora
* Saltillo: NOVA chat 7, SpeakOut
* Unlimiter: The VoicePen w/VoiceSymbol and VoiceInk
* Words+: Freedom Lite Convertible, Conversa Convertible
* Zygo: Zygo Voice Amplifier, Optimist-MMX-V2, DigiCom 2000

To register for this demonstration:
* Complete the online registration form

For questions, call Will McCain at (803) 935-5004 or Lydia Durham at (803) 935-5263 or 800-915-4522.

NOTE: To register online, click on the title above.
To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

AAC and Literacy

AAC and Literacy

Presenter: Kenneth P. Whitley, President, Key Technologies, Inc.

Date: Friday, February 10, 2012
Time:8:30am-10:30am
Location:
SC Assistive Technology Program
Poplar Building Conference Room
Midlands Center,
8301 Farrow Road,
Columbia, SC
Directions to the Conference Room
Cost: Free, but pre-registration is required.

This workshop is limited to 20 participants.

Description: A wide variety of AAC and Literacy devices will be shown. Typical users and practical features of the devices will be discussed. Participants will have opportunities for hands-on use and question-and-answer. The following AAC and Literacy devices will be demonstrated.

• Ablenet: QuickTalkers, Boost Video Magnifier, TalkTrac Wearable Communicator
• Attainment: GoTalk Express 32
• Freedom Scientific: WYNN 6
• Inclusive TLC: MyZone, Matrix Maker
• Jabbla: Mobi 2 w/Mind Express 4, Allora
• Saltillo: NOVA chat 7, SpeakOut
• Unlimiter: The VoicePen w/VoiceSymbol and VoiceInk
• Words+: Freedom Lite Convertible, Conversa Convertible
• Zygo: Zygo Voice Amplifier, Optimist-MMX-V2, DigiCom 2000

To register for this demonstration:

• Complete the online registration form

For questions, call Will McCain at (803) 935-5004 or Lydia Durham at (803) 935-5263 or 800-915-4522.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link

TV Found to Have Negative Impact On Parent-Child Communication and Early Literacy Compared to Books and Toys

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2011) — "Since the first television screens lit up our living rooms scientists have been studying its affect on young children. Now scientists in Ohio have compared mother-child communication while watching TV to reading books or playing with toys to reveal the impact on children's development. The results, published in Human Communication Research, show that watching TV can lead to less interaction between parents and children, with a detrimental impact on literacy and language skills.
The study, conducted by Amy Nathanson and Eric Rasmussen from Ohio State University, focused on 'maternal responsiveness' to reveal differences in the way mothers communicate with their children while engaged with books, toys, and TV.
"Maternal responsiveness describes the quality of responses that a mother provides to an infant when they interact," said Nathanson. "When a mother and child are focusing on the same object, be that a book, toy or TV show, the mother's response can have an important impact on their child's understanding and self perception."
By explaining and describing objects or new words and images, or by prompting conversation through questions, maternal responsiveness can help to engage a child with the activity. The parent can also provide positive feedback and encouragement to a child, or repeat what the child has said to help familiarize them with certain words or sights.
"Mothers who are responsive to their infant's communication promote a positive self-perception for the child as well as fostering trust in the parent. Positive responses help the child learn that they can affect their environment," said Nathanson. "However, if maternal responsiveness is absent, children learn that their environment is unpredictable and may become anxious, knowing that their bids for attention or help may be ignored."
The authors explored the interactions of 73 mother-child pairs. The average mother was married, in their early thirties and had a bachelor's degree, while half were not employed. The children ranged in age from 16 months to 6 years.
Pairs were randomly assigned to one of the three activities for ten minutes. A researcher then offered the pair all three activities and left them for a further twenty minutes. Parents were also asked to fill in questionnaires based on their child's language development while interviews were held to discuss preschooler's literacy levels.
The results demonstrated that who mothers co-read books communicated significantly more with their children than mothers watching TV. The amount of communication involved in reading was not significantly higher than playing with toys. However, the quality of maternal responsiveness was higher in books than toys."
NOTE: To read the entire article, click on the title above.