Who Should Use Assistive Technology?

Historically, products classified as "assistive technology" have been limited to use by individuals who are qualified for accommodations under the umbrella of special education. Often due to exorbitant pricing, schools have typically only acquired sufficient licenses to help a small number of users. Unfortunately, in this context, the term "assistive" has the connotation that it is "intended only for" or "limited to" this targeted group of users.

Without straining anyone’s imagination, it is rapidly becoming obvious that assistive reading / writing technologies can clearly be beneficial to many users that would never have access under the narrowly-defined criteria of eligibility by which organizations have been governed. Government research indicates that 15-20% of the general population have some degree of reading / writing challenge…a far larger population than is being served by traditional special education. There are tremendous opportunities for individuals who are considered "At Risk" or who speak English as a Second Language to leverage reading technologies to aid their reading challenges. On an even larger scale, virtually any student in general education classes can benefit from the power and efficiency of reading tools to pore through the growing body of digital content available in electronic books and the Internet. With a broadene d audience of potential beneficiaries, we should correspondingly change the moniker of "assistive reading technologies" to be more properly labeled as "literacy tools".

Of course, none of this newfound potential is possible unless pricing and licensing of literacy tools is within the reach of ALL organizations and individuals AND can be easily delivered and deployed for their use. One of the many strengths of Premier Assistive is that we make it possible not only for any organization to affordably provide literacy tools to everyone, but for individual users to acquire these tools for their personal use as well.

In a world where availability of digital content is accelerating at a break-neck pace, EVERYONE is being EXPECTED to explore, find, evaluate, summarize and retain more information than ever before. It is quickly becoming difficult, if not impossible, to digest all the information that we face each day. Traditional methods of manually reading and reviewing hardcopy-based materials are no longer sufficient. Devices such as cell phones and GPS systems, new to many of us only a few short years ago, have become a required part of our daily lives because they've come to serve a need for mainstream civilization. In that same vein, in the next several years, you WILL see digital literacy tools move into that same mainstream role as they become integrated in our daily lives. Those tools will be everywhere: school, home and even the workplace. Look to Premier Assistive to play an integral role in developing and deliveri ng those technologies to you.

Respectfully,

Ken Grisham, President/CEO
Steve Timmer, Chairman

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Premier To Go

Premier To Go is a portable device that lets users bring literacy tools to any computer without installing software. Though not much larger than a pack of gum, Premier To Go includes a full suite of tools including real-time text-to-audio, integrated dictionary, information summarization tools and many more. Plus there's more than 1.5 GB of free space for your documents, e-books, notes and other files!

With Premier To Go, users can leap over barriers to access, including those caused by network security and software policies in libraries, at work and at school. The technical staff never needs to touch it! Our self-launching technology eliminates all IT overhead, and all products are Vista compliant!

Using Premier To Go technology is as easy as....

1. Plugging the Premier To Go USB drive into the computer of your choice.
2. Launching the Premier To Go floating toolbar.
3. Start using any of the 10 different literacy tools.

You get all 10 of the following applications on the portable Premier To Go drive:

• Universal Reader Plus: ideal for reading emails and web pages.
• E-Text Reader: a tremendous study tool that allows the user to summarize, highlight, bookmark, search and extract text from a document.
• A 250,000-word Ultimate Talking Dictionary with an integrated thesaurus with partial word look-up.
• Premier Predictor Pro: talking word prediction that works with every program where typing is required.
• Talking Word Processor: has an integrated dictionary and the world's most powerful talking grammar check.
• Scan and Read Pro: is compatible with most flat-bed scanners. Just place a book on the scanner and within a few seconds Scan and Read Pro can be reading it aloud.
• PDF Magic: is outstanding for converting inaccessible PDF files into more accessible formats.
• PDF Equalizer ML: can access, read, work with and supplement PDF files from ANY source. Includes multi-lingual support--dynamically change the user interface to the language of your choice in English, French, and Spanish.
• Text-To-Audio: will convert text files to MP3 format and store them on your personal player, allowing instant access while away from the computer.
• Talking Calculator: is an easy-to-use fully functional calculator that reads your calculations to you.

Order before January 15, 2008, and you can get a 10% discount on Premier To Go, with 10 literacy tools included. Mention promo code PTG2007.

RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS

Digital content, e-Books and More!

Premier is introducing this special section of the newsletter as a resource for teachers and students who are looking for digital content to use in the classroom or want to check out how technology is used to enhance today's world of digital learning. You'll find web sites that have been recommended by other educators with ideas on ways to engage and involve a new generation of students in this digital era. Most of the sites included are free or only have a nominal subscription charge. You can use Premier Assistive's tools to read content on many of these websites, include files in HTML, Word doc and PDF file formats.

We are rapidly finding that access to information is becoming more collaborative in form...peers and colleagues more easily and openly creating and sharing information like never before. Premier Assistive would like this section of the newsletter to be YOURS to share with others any sites that you have found to be helpful in your teaching. If you have favorite sites for digital content, new technologies, etc., please send us the links to those sites so that we can include them for other readers' benefit. E-mails can be sent to Ronda@readingmadeeasy.com.

NOTE: All sites included in this section should be reviewed by you prior to use. Premier Assistive’s listing of a site does not constitute its endorsement of the content of these sites or of their policies or products. Please use these at your discretion.

America's Story from America's Library
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/about/welcome.html
Website by Library of Congress that contains many non-book items such as letters, diaries, records and tapes, films, sheet music, maps, prints, photographs and digital materials. Stories about America's heritage are presented through a variety of subject areas.

Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Contains more than 20,000 web pages with activities for teachers and students on a large number of content areas for a variety of grade levels. Includes section on printable books (some are for young readers) in pdf format. Subscription for $20 per year.

The University of Adelaide Library (Australia)
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/
More than 1,000 e-books in html format.

Aesop's Fables
http://www.aesopfables.com/
Collection of over 655 online versions of Aesop's fables.

Bibliomania
http://www.bibliomania.com/
Over 2000 classic e-books. Site includes study guides (written by Oxford and Cambridge University graduates, and offer in-depth summaries, discussions and commentaries on the texts) and teacher resources for teaching English and English literature.

Fullbooks.com
http://www.fullbooks.com/
Thousands of e-books with full text.

Munseys
http://www.munseys.com/
More than 23,000 free e-text books available in many formats, including PDF and HTML. New books added to site daily.

Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
First producer of electronic books (e-books). More than 20,000 e-books with many others available through Project Gutenberg partners and affiliates.

Questia
http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp
Subscription service with access to more than 67,000 online books and 1.5 million scholarly articles. Includes journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles on the humanities and social sciences as well as productivity tools, lesson plans, etc. Valuable resource for research papers.

Association of American Publishers
http://www.publisherlookup.org/
Publisher lookup service that helps find appropriate contacts at publishing houses for requesting electronic formats for textbooks, scanning permissions, etc. Especially for college and university Disability Support Services.

Benetech Bookshare.org
http://www.bookshare.org
Gives print disabled people in the United States legal access to over 35,000 books and 150 periodicals that are converted to Braille, large print or text to speech audio files. Books and periodicals from Bookshare.org contain the full text of the publication (not pre-recorded audio) that can be read with the adaptive technology of the reader's choice. The books on the website are also available in digital Braille that can be read with refreshable Braille devices, or exported to an embosser. There's a $25 sign-up fee and $50 annual subscription fee. Must provide proof of disability to have access to copyrighted digital books. There are some public domain books available to the general public.

Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic
www.rfbd.org
Producer of accessible educational materials for students with disabilities such as visual impairment or dyslexia. Contains content from literature and history to math and the sciences, at all academic levels, from kindergarten through post-graduate and professional. Varying fees and levels of membership.

Schools without Books
www.schoolswithoutbooks.org
Approximately 75 free e-books in public domain are available for reading online.

Chem4kids!
http://www.chem4kids.com/
Basic chemistry information. Includes content on matter, atoms, elements, reactions, biochemistry, the periodic table, etc.

Cosmos4kids!
http://www.cosmos4kids.com/
Basic astronomy information site. Includes content on the solar system, universe, galaxies, stars, and exploration.

Biology4kids!
http://www.biology4kids.com/
Basic biology information site. Includes topics on plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, cells, microorganisms, and animal systems.

Geography4kids!
http://www.geography4kids.com/
Earth Science information. Includes topics such as atmosphere, hydrosphere, climates, earth structure, biosphere, biogeochemical cycles, and more.

Physics4kids!
http://www.physics4kids.com/
Basic Physics information. Includes topics such as heat and thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, motion and mechanics, nuclear physics, light and optics, and many more.

Numbernut.com
http://www.numbernut.com/
Covers basic math content such as counting, shapes, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. More advanced topics cover fractions, decimals, percentages, money, and ratios.

Webmath.com
http://www.webmath.com/
Math site that provides help solving various types of math problems. Provides explanations of steps and includes K-8 math, trigonometry, geometry, algebra, calculus, etc. Helpful for homework support.

Teacher Tube
http://www.teachertube.com/
Free site for viewing and posting videos generally created by teachers and students.

Sites for Teachers
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
Hundreds of educational web sites rated by popularity. Many links to teacher resources ranging from lesson plans, worksheets, and educational games to such things as songs and printable stickers.

Museumpods.com
http://www.museumpods.com/id33.html
Site for many freeware software downloads related to podcasting, blogging, aggregators and RSS feeds.

Magix
http://www.magix.com/us/free-downloads/trial-versions/all-trial-versions/
Free downloads and trials for photo management, movie editing, making podcasts, and music management.

PodcastBlaster
http://www.podcastblaster.com/
$39.95 for manual, podcast software, sounds files and website resource list.

Voicethread
http://www.voicethread.com
Online media album that allows people to make audio or text comments, and share them with anyone they wish. Allows an entire group's story to be told and collected in one place. Can add annotations and/or doodles.

Gliffy
http://gliffy.com
Draw and share diagrams, flowcharts, org charts, etc. online.

bubbl.us
http://bubbl.us
Online brainstorming tool allows you to create "mind maps" of the session.

GOOD NEWS FROM YOU - Our Premier Users

It is often difficult to perform some everyday tasks like paying bills when vision is limited. One user of Microsoft Works whose vision is substantially impaired was excited to find out that Premier Assistive's Universal Reader Plus would allow her to scan her personal bills and then have them read to her with just one software package. She downloaded Universal Reader Plus from the Premier Assistive website, confirmed the product would do what she needed, and then purchased it to permanently load on her computer.

"I really liked the Talking Dictionary. You don't have to know the word that you're trying to look up. If I know what I need to find is a type of person, I can type in 'person' and with Premier's Interlink technology, I can scroll through 'Types' and find the word related to the ethnic background that I was looking for and every word in the list can be read to me by just arrowing up and down through the list. It's pretty sweet!"

Not only are Premier Assistive's tools used in a number of school districts and homes across the U.S. and Canada, they also are becoming more widespread in the higher education space. One of Premier's grant recipients writes that "the beauty of these programs is that they are for people with or without disabilities and are available to everybody, including faculty...They provide support for students with disabilities, students with literacy challenges, and those that just want to study and use their time more efficiently. Students can use the tools to create MP3 audio files of their reading assignments so they can study when they're 'on the go'."

A high school student wrote that he uses the study features of Premier's E-Text Reader regularly as one of his study techniques. He's able to highlight text within digital documents with different colors and easily extract the highlighted text in an automated fashion to create notes to use to study for his tests. He noted that he can also place bookmarks in the digital document to easily skip from one section or important point to the next.

If you have a "Good News!" story about how Premier's software is being used or how it has helped you or someone you know, please send your story or comments to us. We'd love to include them in a future newsletter.

Please send your "Good News!" to Ronda@readingmadeeasy.com

NEWSLETTER SPECIALS

Premier To Go

Order before January 15, 2008, and you can get a 10% discount on our featured portable device, Premier To Go, with 10 literacy tools included.

Purchase Premier To Go (suggested retail price of $299.95) for $270.00 plus S&H.
Be sure to mention promo code PTG2007 when ordering.

VideoCast Studio

Don't forget that the October Newsletter special for Premier VideoCast Studio is good through December 31, 2007. You can take advantage of either of the following two offers:

Purchase Premier VideoCast Studio (suggested retail price of $199.95) for only $99.95 plus S&H.

Alternatively, purchase Premier Assistive's VPOD at the suggested retail price of $424.95 plus S&H, and you can receive a FREE copy of Premier VideoCast Studio.

Be sure to mention promo code VC2007 when ordering.