This resource guide lists organizations that provide information, referral, and/or direct services to adults with disabilities. The organizations are grouped by the main focus of their activities, including: employment issues (9); postsecondary education (3); recreation (6); independent living (5); assistive technology (4); and other (3…

This issue brief examines the knowledge and skills teachers need in order to teach in an environment of accountability and standards-based reform. The Education Policy Reform Research Institute (EPRRI) conducted a national symposium that resulted in the identification and validation of essential knowledge and key skills that all educators need to…

This article discusses future directions for wireless cell phones, including personal computer capabilities, multiple input and output modalities, and open source platforms, and the benefits for people with visual impairments. The use of cell phones for increased accessibility of the Internet and for electronic books is also discussed. (Contains…

This article describes the Miniguide, a new electronic travel device that assists people in moving about in a range of environments. The Miniguide is held in the palm and is used to scan left to right when walking. It provides vibratory feedback to the hand when it detects an obstacle. (Contains 5 references.) (CR)

This article describes five organizational Web sites that are good resources in selecting and using software with children who have special needs. The sites represent the DO-IT project, the Trace Research and Development Center, Special Needs Opportunity Windows, the Family Center on Technology and Disability, and the National Center for…

This article presents and discusses the position statement of the National Joint Committee for the Communication Needs of Persons with Severe Disabilities, which addresses concerns about inappropriate eligibility criteria in providing access to necessary communication supports and services. It discusses elements of the position statement, its…

Children with profound deafness are at risk for serious reading difficulties. Multiple factors affect their development of reading skills, including use of cochlear implants. Further, multiple factors influence the overall success that children experience with their cochlear implants. These factors include the age at which they receive an implant,…

Previous research studies examining the effects of spelling and reading interventions on the spelling outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD) are synthesized. An extensive search of the professional literature between 1995 and 2003 yielded a total of 19 intervention studies that provided spelling and reading interventions to students…

The author of this article, a disability columnist, attended the Seventh Annual Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) Conference, which was held in Orlando, Florida in January 2006. The author shares his impressions from the conference, and highlights new products and innovations that will help improve quality of life for people with…

Organization and word processing software programs empower students with disabilities to become more independent in their writing. In this article, the authors describe techniques for incorporating organizational programs and word processing features into the writing process. Beneficial features include word prediction, voice output, spell…

The appropriateness of a consumer's seating and mobility system varies considerably depending on the competence, proficiency, and experience of the professionals assisting the user. At present, there is a scarcity of skilled and knowledgeable therapists to evaluate and recommend seating and mobility devices. There is also a lack of measurement…

This article addresses three emerging problems in special education: (a) new learning environments with different teaching styles, (b) equity in access to assistive technology (AT), and (c) an on-going infusion of new AT opportunities within special educational environments. Instructions for designing and creating concept maps are presented as a…

In this study the influence of prosodic foot structure on the processing of weak syllables in children with cochlear implants (CI) was investigated. A battery of tests investigating processing of weak syllables in single and multiword utterances was carried out on four groups of children: 15 children with CI developing spoken language as expected…

Three secondary age students with moderate intellectual disabilities learned to use the system of least prompts, a self-operated picture prompting system, and a self-operated auditory prompting system to use a copy machine and a debit machine. Both the effectiveness and efficiency of these prompting systems were compared. Additionally, student…

The present study assessed the compensatory effectiveness of four assistive software tools (speech synthesis, spellchecker, homophone tool, and dictionary) on literacy. Secondary-level students (N = 93) with reading difficulties completed computer-based tests of literacy skills. Training on their respective software followed for those assigned to…