For the new folks just arriving to the
email loop, you might want to get acquainted with this technology. Check
out their website. They have free shareware that has been created by parents
and special educators. (You
just need to download a player from their
website to run the Intellipics activities).
There is a search engine so that you can
select activities within age level or subject
level. If you wanted to teach your child
colors there might be an Intellipics shareware that will pop up colored
objects while saying the color and with
a click of the mouse you can flip to next
page like turning pages in a book. You can get switches so that your child
can
simply hit a switch and 'TURN THE PAGES'
by themselves. You can get programs that you can create virtually anything
at
any level.
One of the sheets that comes with the
Intellikeys is a larger alphabetized keyboard. By combining it with the
Intellitalk program, we can work on typing in a word and then hitting the
space bar and the Intellitalk reads the
typed word.
You can then replace the
Keyboard sheet with a number sheet
(the numbers are roughly the size of quarters). Your child could then sit
and
type math equations. Intellitalk will read
each number (and plus, equals or minus
sign) as the space bar it hit.
Our daughter uses the Intellikeys board
with lots of different sheets that I have
created. And then she uses a separate
switch that we plug into the keyboard
for advancing the Intellipics pages, the
same way someone else would turn pages in a book.
One of the sheets for the Intellikeys keyboard that I have created to operate
a program that I have designed through
the Intellipics program, might consist of
four, three inch by three inch keys designed onto the sheet (via the overlay
maker program by Intellitools).
Imagine
the first key showing the word "This", the
second key saying "is", the third key saying "a" and the fourth key saying
"cat".
Now Evan can sit and hit each key and
make a corresponding picture appear on the computer screen (such as the word
on the key or a picture of a cat, however you choose to design it). You can
add sounds and movement as well.
We've created skip counting pages, fraction pages (with colored fourths, halfs
and so), reading sentences and simple books and just goofy stuff.
This magical tool is roughly in the $800 dollar range.
Not bad for all you can accomplish.
We've had much more pleasure from it than anything else we could have spent
that money on.
Seek funding (our Early Intervention program helped out some, but you have
to ask for it).
I truly think it will open up a whole world to Evan, especially she has
started with it so early in her life.
Sincerely,
Joan