The study employed a single-subject multiple baseline design to examine the ability of 9 individuals with severe Broca's aphasia or global aphasia to produce graphic symbol sentences of varying syntactical complexity using a software program that turns a computer into a speech output communication device. The sentences ranged in complexity from…

The current study examines how a computerized learning environment assists students with learning disabilities (LD) enrolled in a distance learning course at the Open University of Israel. The technology provides computer display of the text, synchronized with auditory output and accompanied by additional computerized study skill tools which…

The intelligibility of conversational speech produced by six children fitted with cochlear implants before age 3 years was measured longitudinally. Samples were obtained every 3 months during periods of 12-21 months. Intelligibility was measured using both an utterance-by-utterance approach and an approach to the sample as a whole. Statistically…

The findings presented in this paper are part of an independent evaluation study of the Communication Aids Project (CAP). The study was carried out between July 2003 and April 2004 and looked at the impact of CAP on children receiving communication aids and evaluated the CAP strategy of assessment and delivery. In this paper the views of education…

On October 25, 2004, President Bush signed into law the reauthorization of the Assistive Technology Act (AT Act). The new law provides a far more optimistic future for assistive technology (AT) and modifies the primary purpose of the previous law. The new AT Act provides "birth to death" legislation and is fundamentally different from…

An instrument for measuring and tracking changes in auditory skill development over time was developed for use with a group of children with profound deafness who received a MED-EL COMBI 40+ cochlear implant. The aim of this paper is to describe the use of this instrument, the "Checklist of Auditory Communication Skills", and to present results…

Changes in selection criteria have meant that children are being provided with cochlear implants (CI) at increasingly younger ages. However, there is a paucity of measures that are appropriate for testing complex listening skills--most tests are too cognitively complex for such young children. The Common Objects Token (COT) Test was developed as a…

This study investigates whether children give different questionnaire-assessed hearing aid benefit scores than their parents. Sixteen children (age seven to 11 years) who wear hearing aids completed the child version of the Listening Situations Questionnaire while their parents completed the parent version. The mean difference between parent and…

Two contrasting additions to the online audio market are reviewed: "iVocalize", a browser-based audio-conferencing software, and "Skype", a PC-to-PC Internet telephone tool. These products are selected for review on the basis of their success in gaining rapid popular attention and usage during 2003-04. The "iVocalize" review emphasizes the…

The City of Lisbon, Portugal, is working to better integrate children with disabilities at primary school level. It recently has undertaken an accessible school programme and has restored an historic building as part of this effort.

Assistive technologies (AT) give special needs students the ability to access computer resources. AT can be life-changing for kids with significant communication, mobility, literacy, visual, and hearing challenges. But implementing AT in schools is a complex issue. There are various categories of commercial and open-source products, each with…

This study examined the growth of expressive language skills in children who received cochlear implants (CIs) in infancy. Repeated language measures were gathered from 29 children who received CIs between 10 and 40 months of age. Both cross-sectional and growth curve analyses were used to assess the relationship between expressive language…

This article reports on the training of a blind foreign language teacher of sighted students and the designing of a substitute of the board. A composition of computer devices available today was provided to the blind teacher in order to get pieces of writing projected on a screen. This basic instrument was transformed through instrumental geneses…

In the present study, language development of Dutch children with a cochlear implant (CI) in a bilingual educational setting and Flemish children with a CI in a dominantly monolingual educational setting is compared. In addition, we compared the development of spoken language with the development of sign language in Dutch children. Eighteen…

This study examined the relative benefit of three interventions (i.e. physiological, behavioural, and pragmatic) designed to facilitate speech recognition software use. Participants were 15 adults with dysarthria associated with a variety of aetiological conditions, including cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and motor neuron disease. Results…