Speech therapy is a social process chosen explicitly for patients with swallowing troubles to develop their ability to communicate or eat. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are the ones who provide this treatment, and they are well-trained for the job. Speech therapy can remedy various disorders, ranging from impaired speech to the inability to swallow. Whether it […]

We provide speech & autism therapy in Oviedo. We guide as well, our speech therapists for adults can help you with details on the course.

Babies are born communicating. Their cries and coos speak volumes. However, much-anticipated first words do not appear until 12 months later. By 18 months, the average child says about 50 words. By the…

Colors Interactive Book with Sign Language Cards and AAC Core Vocabulary. A great resource for parents, speech therapists, and early intervention specialists. Helpful for children with speech delay, expressive language impairment, Down syndrome, autism, and complex communication needs. Check out int

Tecla enables users with limited upper body mobility to launch and play their favourite apps on smart devices. We’ve compiled a list of our favourite accessibility applications that make it easier to communicate with the world around you! 1. SayIt! Who it’s for: people with ALS, cerebral palsy, autism, traumatic brain injury, stroke or Parkinson's disease or other diagnoses that impair the ability to communicate. SayIt! is an iOS application that helps disabled people speak. The current...

Differentiate disability from disorder by understanding common developmental milestones.

Schlüsselbund- Kommunikationskarten sollen den Menschen helfen, grundlegende Bedürfnisse / Wünsche zu kommunizieren und Frustration abzubauen. Ideal für Autismus, besondere Bedürfnisse, Sprachbehinderung, nicht verbal und / oder Sprache verzögert. Das Set enthält 36 auf Karton gedruckte Bildkarten, ungefähr 5,5 cm groß, laminiert und an einem Bindering befestigt. Die Schlüsselbund-Kommunikatonen sind klein genug, um sie überall hin mitzunehmen und an einem Lieblingsschlüsselbund oder Schlüsselband zu befestigen. PKS: ja, nein, stopp, los, bitte, danke, leid, helfen, alles erledigt, mehr, wollen, Toilette, weh, essen, trinken, mögen, nicht mögen, gut, schlecht, krank, müde, laut, kalt, ich brauche eine Pause, ich liebe dich, Moment mal, darf ich?, spielen, ruhige Hände, ich weiß nicht, wer, was, wann, wo, warum, wie. Falls mehr oder andere Karten benötigt werden, gerne melden! Schlüsselbund Kommunikationskarten sind auch als digitaler Download erhältlich, besuchen Sie unseren Shop, AvaHasAutism. ALLE Produkte sind NUR für den persönlichen Gebrauch bestimmt und NICHT zum Wiederverkauf bestimmt. KS® by Tobii Dynavox® Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Verwendet mit Genehmigung. ETS® und Boardmaker by Tobii Dynavox® Alle Rechte vorbehalten. Verwendet mit Genehmigung. Erfahre mehr über diesen Artikel

APHASIA ✨ - Aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write. References: De Lisa, 2010. #Aphasias #PhysicalTherapy #PTknows #PTstudygram #MedicalFacts #Studygram #PTreviews #Medicine

Discover the cutting-edge suite of apps from Smarty Ears, designed to revolutionize speech, language, communication, and learning. Our tools cater to a wide range of needs, including Speech & Articulation, AAC & Visual Support, Literacy, Screenings and Assessments, Rehabilitation, and Language and Grammar. Whether you're a speech-language pathologist, educator, caregiver, or an individual seeking growth, our apps offer personalized solutions to empower voices and enhance education. Explore our innovative applications that are making a profound impact across various fields and age groups. Join us on a journey to a more connected and inclusive world with Smarty Ears.

Enhance articulation therapy with our speech sound cue cards. Perfect for SLPs, these cards offer diverse lip shades for precise sound cueing.

This is a bundle of school based communication visuals for autism and non verbal students. Use pictures, visual icons, images and symbols to communicate school directives and behavior expectations to help students with receptive language deficits. Students with autism or auditory processing disorders often find it difficult to accurately and fluently process and follow verbal directives. The use of visuals helps assist these students to understand and follow both teacher directives and recess time behavioral expectations. ***Purchase this product along with other visual/communication supports in one of my bundles. Click on the link to check this bundle out:*** BUNDLE: School communication visuals. Pictures, cue cards and schedules. These can also be purchased individually within my store. 115 Art class portable communication visual cues 85 Recess portable communication visual cues 121 School Based Portable Visual Cues

Smarty Ears Technologies: Technology Solutions for Speech Therapy, Special Education Support and Services

As a speech language pathologist, I am often asked what toys or activities I recommend for speech and language development for speech or language impaired children ages 2-5. In my previous Blog Post I talked about toy selection. These are toys and links that I use in my therapy sessions and that I

Communication Boards are helpful tools for individuals with autism, speech impairment, apraxia, learning delays or disabilities, speech delay, and/or intellectual disabilities. Use in special education, speech therapy, and/or occupational therapy. Our communication board uses simple and recognizable pictures to express needs and wants, asking and answering questions, and offers choices. Useful visual aid that helps students communicate effectively. The Pain Communication Board includes: My, head, ear, throat, neck, shoulder, arm, hand, chest, stomach, back, leg, ankle, foot, hurts. And a Pain Scale from 1 to 6, color coded faces green to red, 1 feeling the best and 6 feeling the worst. Communicating Pain is crucial for determining sickness, emergencies, health and well-being, and for visiting the doctor. This Communication Board is a must-have! This product is a DIGITAL DOWNOAD only. You will receive an instant pdf file after purchase. Materials you will need: (not included in purchase) • Printer (preferably color) • Laminator • Laminating sheets Digital Downloads are NON-Refundable. ALL products are for personal use ONLY and NOT for re-sale PCS® by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission. PCS® and Boardmaker by Tobii Dynavox® All rights reserved. Used with permission.

If you are just starting your career in Early Intervention or have been working with these itty bitties for a long time, you will LOVE these toys. I admit it. I am a shopaholic for toys to use in ear

While I have done many posts on communication in the classroom, I use many different sources, so today I'd like to combine all of these sources into one post to share with you! 1. PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) Probably one of the most popular communication supports used in classrooms with these special needs children is PECS. Pictures can be easily made using the software, "Boardmaker," or from the web-based program "Symbolstix." Both must be purchased. Pictures are typically stored in an individualized binder or folder that the student can easily access, and are categorized and/or color coded. Now don't expect to just hand all of these pictures to a student just learning this system. It has to be explicitly taught (check your district or with your SLP for possible trainings) and pictures are introduced gradually! Students will begin with 1-2 pictures. While I have both Boardmaker and Symbolstix, personally, I prefer real life pictures like you see above. I feel that my students respond better to real life photos and I've noticed that one thing all non-verbal children seem to have in common is that they LOVE looking at real life pictures! I'm gradually converting my entire classroom to real life photos for my rules, centers, token system, everything! 2. GO Talk I currently use the Go Talk with one student. As you can see, it comes in many different sizes, and even larger than shown. My current student uses the 9+. You can program it for up to 5 different inserts. She currently has only 3 in use; one for coin naming, number naming, and requests. Now, one important thing I must stress with this and really any communication device.....is DO NOT ALLOW THE DEVICE TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THEIR WORDS!!! IF THEY CAN SPEAK, REQUIRE THEM TO SAY THE WORD SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH PRESSING THE BUTTON, GRABBING THE PICTURE, WHATEVER. AND.....don't use pictures or supports for ANY word that they can say intelligibly!!! If they can say the word intelligibly, they don't need a picture! 3. Proloquo 2Go App/iPad I was very fortunate to get this for two of my students two years ago! To me, it is the most powerful communication device out there for the non-verbal student (other than not having real life photos :-)). The sky is the limit with this app! But unfortunately it was not for these two students! One of the students was so tech-savvy that she would somehow manage to wipe it out almost daily. She would get into the settings and mess all kinds of things up! It became a nightmare. On the other hand, the other student just simply refused to use it, because he didn't see himself as different. He didn't get that people couldn't understand him. 4. Picture Wallets I currently use these with the same two students mentioned above and they love them! They each have two; one for home and one for school. They have been very successful with this support! These each hold 24 photos, but I'm sure you can get them to hold more! These seem to work well with the older boys especially, as they feel important having their own wallet! 5. Communication Scripts For communicating with my students that have the ability to speak intelligibly, but just don't know how, I use communication scripts. These typically work well with Autism students that do not know how to express themselves or engage in dialogue. This is a script that I use with my student Zoe every morning. She is now able to greet me without the script, so we are working on changing it up. This is important as she only knows what to say if the person speaking to her says, "How's it going?" If they say, "How are you?" she doesn't know what to say. This support introduces them to dialogue exchange and the nature of back and forth conversation, while also decreasing the verbal prompting. This child has a binder with scripts for just about everything. You can read on this in greater detail by visiting this blogpost. 6. Knock Knock Jokes Yes, you read right! Knock Knock jokes are a fabulous way to engage students in dialogue! I introduce a new Knock Knock joke every Monday in my classroom and then we practice it each day that week and take turns doing each part! If you have a subscription to News-2-You, they provide a new knock knock joke each week that coincides with the weekly theme. 7. Question of the Day I started "Question of the Day" just this year and I'm loving the results! Each day I post a question on the board. For example, it may be "What did you have for dinner last night?" I start! I choose a student and I ask them the question. They must answer me back in a complete sentence in a clear and sound appropriate manner. They practice good speaking skills by keeping their hands away from their mouths, sitting up straight, and so on. So they would say, "I had _______ for dinner last night." Then they get to choose a classmate to ask the question to and we go around until everyone has had a chance. Students may create their own question if they like. Students that are non-verbal, participate with prompting or by using one of the communication device/supports that I discussed above. I also use many of Super Duper's games and fun decks to engage my students in communication. They have some really great communication resources! 8. Sign Language Now....I saved sign language for last! Why?? When I first started teaching in my current classroom, sign language was heavily used. I quickly ran out and purchased the book and began teaching myself all the signs! I was also teaching new words to my students daily. Then, I received a visit from our area Assistive Technology rep and began to inquire with her about sign language training. She immediately replied, "Oh, our district doesn't support sign language in SDC classrooms." I immediately thought, "WHAT? That's not right!" But then she explained it....and it made sense...and has now changed my opinion of using sign language for my students! What she said is that while we understand sign language in the classroom....do their parents and family members at home? And while I said, "Yes, I've sent home the signs we learn each week. I've taught them." She then said, "What about the community? Will McDonald's know sign language? Will Walmart know sign language? Will their local grocery store understand sign language?" I was speechless for a moment, but then realized how right she was! I was enabling my students! While some of my students still use signing in my room because they previously learned it....I no longer teach it or use it myself to communicate with my students. As for communication in the classroom, there is no "one size fits all." As you can see, some students may take off with a system, while another student wants nothing to do with it. It's all about finding what engages each student and individualizing it to meet their needs. What supports have been the most meaningful means of communication in your classroom?

How many times have you had this problem? You have worked hard on requesting with a student who is using an AAC device or picture communication book, and they are requesting up a storm! Not a problem really, right? Well, what if they could do even more with their communication? How about the next step which would be commenting! How great is it to give a child a way to comment on their world, and not just request in it? A friend of mine posted this video in an AAC group, and I thought it was great. This You Tube channel called TheDadLab has so many great ideas for exploring with young children! My initial thought was, "I see blue water all over the floor!" These little cuties are having a great time exploring a small area, and I can really see how this would be great, but I also saw a huge mess of blue water on my carpet thanks to some of my more enthusiastic friends. I decided to try something similar, but using beans. I know that this could still cause a mess, but vacuuming up a few beans is much easier than cleaning up a big blue stain on the carpet in my office! I took a clear glass baking dish and poured enough beans inside to cover the entire bottom. I then took a piece of paper with pictures printed on it and placed it under the glass dish. I then took a clear plastic cup that I cut down in size and cleared a space in the beans for the cup. My students were able to move the cup around and see what was hiding underneath the beans! Using books is a great way to work on "I see..." Board books work well when focusing on commenting. They are durable and will withstand use from my most enthusiastic friends. I like to pull out an activity page with icons that represent pictures in the book. I found this picture viewer when I moved into my speech room years ago. It is great for going through a bunch of pictures, and engages my students more than just flipping through the pictures with our hands. They love pulling down the tray to change the pictures! One more way I like to work on "I see" is with an iPad app called Peekaboo Barn. This app is really cute and engaging! I made visual icons to represent everything that pops up in the app. The students tap on the barn door to reveal who is behind the doors (look for a later post on how to use this for "I hear"). I should also say that even though the "I see" icon looks like it is always present on my sentence strip, I actually move it back to the same spot in their books every time they make an exchange. I keep it on the same page as their "I want" icons, so they do have to learn some discrimination for these tasks. I hope you can use some of these tips and work on commenting with your students!

Hearing loss intervention in speech therapy! Use the auditory sandwich strategy as a language tool for auditory processing.

Using AAC for communication in the classroom can be overwhelming. Here are my tips for using AAC to support students in the classroom.

No Print Digital Activity for Speech Therapy AAC Core Vocabulary targets I and See. A great resource for parents, speech therapists, and early intervention specialists. Helpful for children with speech delay, expressive language impairment, Down syndrome, autism, and complex communication needs. Che

Great Ideas for Teaching is at it again! They have three new materials that I'll be sharing my review of over the next few days. First up, is Language Stimulation Activities! This material can be used to "provide structured, repetitious activities that will assist students in fully learning very important language terms...". It is intended for children in preK through 2nd grade. Each concept pair includes two student worksheets and two instructor worksheets. The student sheet includes four pictures - two to demonstrate each concept. The pages below show the concepts of hot and cold. The instructor's sheet for the first worksheet includes questions and directions such as: - "Is ice cream hot or cold?" - "Point to a picture that shows cold weather." - "Are frozen things hot or cold?" - "If the hot sun shines on a snowman, what will happen to it?" - "When it snows, is the weather hot or cold?" - "Is the word chilly more like hot or cold?" - "On a cold day, does a coat keep you warm or cold?" In all, there are 20 questions on this first instructor worksheet that can be used and/or tailored to the individual needs of students. The second student worksheet includes six concept pairs. According to the instructor's worksheet, students must circle, underline, or mark the picture in another way to appropriately follow the directions that are given. Additional questions are asked as well, such as "Circle the one that has flames. Is it hot or cold?" What I love about this material: - It targets lots of different concepts - hot/cold, happy/sad, wet/dry, new/old, open/closed, inside/outside, front/back, high/low, top/bottom, through/around, big/little, long/short, narrow/wide, fast/slow, push/pull - to name just a few! - It provides tons of practice with the same concept. Often, I feel as though students with language impairments don't receive enough exposure to targeted goals. In this case, students can repeatedly work on the same concept area. - The pictures represent the concept they are portraying very well, so as not to confuse young children. You can find this awesome material to target concept acquisition in a variety of ways for $29.50 HERE! Disclaimer: This item was given to me for review. No other compensation was provided. The opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Speech Impaired diagnosis comes… now what do I do?? The speech impaired definition is - a disorder ... As a parent...

A screen reader is an assistive technology, primarily used by people with vision impairments. It converts text, buttons, images and other screen elements into speech or braille. Let's go through what a screen reader is, how it works and see blind people in action! Screen reader basics I use

Let’s talk about creating and using tactile schedules in the classroom. If you have a Teacher of the Visually Impaired that works with you, they may provide you with a kit or schedule pieces from the library of the blind. Here is a link to my local library. Check with your state and see if you […]

(click any pic for larger image) Read all of this. You'll be a more informed person ;-) My iPad VO (VoiceOver) Controller connects to an i-device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), through Bluetooth (a wireless technology), through an Accessibility feature that Apple generously included in the iOS (the iPhone Operating System on all iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches) for blind people, VoiceOver. Apple designed VO so that people could move their finger around on their touchscreen and hear what was under their finger. Double-tap anywhere on the screen to activate (like pressing Enter on a computer keyboard)... My Tall Tablet Stand holding my iPad 2, inside my Carry Case/Bumper Case Combo, showing my Point To Pictures app, operated by my iPad VO Controller's arrow and Select buttons. ...Apple soon found out that blind people prefer using a keyboard to control a "screenreader" to hear the screen rather than see it. They built in many VO keyboard shortcuts so that blind persons could use a Bluetooth (BT) keyboard to control VO. They then added a function within VO called QuickNav, which allows navigating through any VO-compatible apps with left/right arrows, and simultaneous up/down key as Enter (like double-tap described above). There are keyboard shortcuts for your Home button, and toggling QuickNav mode on/off (between having arrow keystrokes move a text cursor within a text field, and moving between things on the screen). So IF you can build a switch interface, or controller/button-box that 'emulates' (pretends to be) a BT keyboard, and 'types' these shortcuts, you can, in theory, 'globally' control any app that is compatible with VO, on an iOS device. And that's what I've done here with my iPad... ...VO Controller. The pictures above clearly shows what each button does, and the YouTube video below shows an actual demo of how it works. This method of 'global' iPad control is how several switch interfaces from other companies work. And I'll be creating my own version of a iPad Switch VO Interface by early 2013. But in between 'direct select' (directly touching the iPad screen) and switch 'scanning', I created my iPad VO Controller for you! It's a good pretty good compromise (nothing is perfect in this world of AT ;-) Now some caveats: You can only move to the 'next' screen object (button, field, list item, etc.) with the right arrow, or 'back' an object with the left arrow. There is no up/down, so you must go through everything on the screen many times to get to the bottom right of the screen. If you have long lists, it could take a loooonnngg time to make it through with a switch interface. This is especially noticeable with the iOS keyboard. Currently, with my Controller, there is no hold-down mode (auto-repeat). I will be adding this option early in 2013 so the user will be able to hold down one of my buttons to move through multiple screen objects. Not all apps are VO-compatible, even Apple's. When other companies claim "all iPad apps", that must be taken 'with a grain of salt' ;-) (No, I can't keep track of all apps that are VO-compatible. That would be in the thousands) Even AAC apps (of which there are now TOO many!) may not be VO-compatible. To find out, simply turn on VoiceOver (Settings, General, Accessibility, VoiceOver, On, and remember that you have to double-tap after you've highlighted something to actually *do* that something). Now go into your app and move your finger around. Do you hear things as you move over them? Do they highlight? If you select a text field, the iOS turns QuickNav off, assuming you want to use your left/right arrows to move around *within* the text field. To get back to moving around between on-screen objects, you must press my Type/Move button to turn QuickNav back on. I don't believe the existing switch interfaces address this very important issue. And click here for an email I sent about VO efficacy. And there you have the true story. Purchase H-87 - iPad VO Controller.....$199 Order Hello to my RJ 'fans' (yes, I say that with all false modesty aside! 29 years doing this? I've earned a few 'fans' The truth about 'global' iPad access There is a myth, or gossip, or misunderstanding about some new devices that claim they can control all, most, or even some iPad apps by special needs devices. I'm here to tell you that this is just not true. There are 'considerations' which you *must* understand in order to have people that can NOT *functionally* touch the iPad's screen, operate apps that have not been specifically programmed for 'alternative access'. First, an app programmer *can* program in some special access. I can email you, upon your request, for a list of 'switch-friendly' apps that are compatible with my, and other company's, switch devices. But this discussion is not for those VERY few apps. This discussion here is for those apps that do *not* have any special programming. This discussion is for most apps in the App Store, that is, those apps that don't know anything about 'alternative access' devices. Here we go... There are several Bluetooth switch interfaces, an iPad case *with* switch interface, a joystick going through a Bluetooth interface, and even my own VoiceOver Controller... http://rjcooper.com/ipad-vo-controller ...that claim some sort of 'global' access to *all* iPad apps. In other words, they claim that apps that have no idea about switches or special needs can be accessed with/through their device. Don't get me wrong. Their devices are very nice and in fact, *I* am even reselling one of them: http://rjcooper.com/switch2scan But the bottom line is that all of these type of devices attempt to access non-switch apps through a 'back door' that Apple has provided called VoiceOver ("VO," actually meant for blind persons), Apple's only allowance of 'global' access to all apps. Well, that was the *plan*, but I'm here to tell you that reality is much different First, just believe me that all these devices are dependent upon an app being 'VO-compliant,' meaning that the app will highlight and speak aloud anything your finger moves over. If the app is not VO-compliant, then these devices do nothing. And I'm here to tell you that even I am surprised how few apps are VO-compliant. Test *your* desired app. Go into Settings, General, Accessibility, and turn on VoiceOver. Move your finger around slowly. Note how things get highlighted and spoken. To activate what is highlighted, double tap *anywhere* on the screen. Now press your Home button, navigate to your desired app, double tap, and see if moving around within your app highlights and speaks items. I'm finding it's even a harder 'sell' to approach developers and convince them to make their apps VO-compliant as it has been to get them 'switch-friendly'. So here I am struggling, for 2 years now, to convince special needs app developers to make their apps 'switch-friendly', that is, working with devices and interfaces that 'type' specific keystrokes to the ipad, and only getting just a few to add that capability. In other words, all apps should work with all devices, and vice versa. But, even at a recent special needs touch technology conference, where I was a main speaker for in St. Louis last week, as I traveled between app booths, none of them was fully VO-compliant. Darn! As for 'regular' apps, same deal. Very few are VO-compliant. BUT, thankfully, some are, most importantly, Apple's own apps on your i-device: Camera Email Photos (to some extent) Music iBooks All text-oriented apps that can use the Apple's built-in keyboard And as for 'regular' apps, 'forget about it' OK, let's talk about what this means to you. Let's say you have someone physically 'involved' enough so that *functionally* controlling the iPad is challenging *at all* (and I mean that *literally*), then you should consider alternative control methods. BUT...Apple doesn't allow for alternative control methods like a PC or Mac does (such an example of global alternative control is my CrossScanner at (http://rjcooper.com/cross-scanner)). What types of alternative control methods *do* exist? The only ones that I can *truthfully* recommend are my own! Capacitive HeadPointer Conductive HandPointer That's it! No eyegaze. No head tracking. No trackball or other mouse-type device. The primary reason? No cursor! Secondary reason? Apple doesn't allow it! So other than 'direct select' using somone's fine motor finger/'knuckle control, or one of my offerings (or something similar from some other source), what would we *want* that even *might* be possible? Switch scanning (auto or step) Joystick Buttons Keyboard And now we get to the 'meat of the matter'. Can these methods *really* 'globally' access all, or most, or even some of iPad apps? The answer is "some." But even that must be taken with a 'grain of salt'. I have to go into more detail to properly explain the situation. If you want to use an ipad with/for someone and they have physical limitations, you *should* read on... Once Apple added VoiceOver to Macs and then i-devices, they found out that, for the most part, blind people don't use 'graphic interfaces' via a mouse-device or their fingertip. That is, they use keyboards, via a software package such as the ubiquitous JAWS, a "screenreader" program that reads aloud what people with vision see. A comprehensive list of keyboard "shortcuts", combination of keys, gives complete readback and control over PC's. Similarly, through VO, Apple added keyboard shortcuts to Macs and i-devices. Apple then added a feature within VO called QuickNav, which lets the left/right arrows of a keyboard to move between screen 'objects' (paragraphs, buttons, list items, etc.), but ONLY left/right (previous/next). And that's how the above devices operate, by 'typing' the appropriate VO keyboard/QuickNav shortcuts. BUT...keep in mind that if the app is not VO-compliant, that is, does *not* respond to VO keystrokes, then no device/method in the world is going to access that app, unless it has been made switch-friendly, or joystick-friendly, meaning *specifically* programmed to look for these devices. And even if the app is VO-compliant, keep in mind that VO only goes previous/next, left/right. This means *no* up/down. And that means you must sequentially move through all available objects left to right, top to bottom. OUCH when it comes to any screens that have a lot of things on them, like an AAC board with 16 or more buttons, or multi-paned lists, or web pages (they *all* have *lots* of 'objects' on them). Worse yet is the i-device's onscreen keyboard. Want an "N"? You'd have to turn QuickNav off, and right-arrow (or scan) all the way from upper left of the on-screen Apple keyboard, across and down, across and down, and across again to get the "N" OUCH! And there is *no* row-column scanning; it's all sequential! That's because an app can't actually 'tell' if it's being controlled by VO and adjust itself. Only when the app is specifically programmed for row/column can it occur. So VO control is funky! It's possible, and it does give *some* access to non-alternative-device-friendly apps, but it's what we in engineering would call a "kluge." It's pretty much a 'let the buy beware' issue because it seems that several AT companies may not be telling the whole story. It's up to *you* to understand the above and apply it to your choice of control device and, actually of a device in general, iPad, Android or PC tablet, or Mac or PC computer. And don't be mis-led by *any* company's claim of 'global access'. However, even with all these limitations, you *must* consider *any* option that Apple allows. Because of this fact, *I* make a BIG button VO-Controller, and *I* resell a VO-compatible switch interface (*I* will be making my own within a few months), and NEW is my LARGE key, colored-rows keyboard specifically for iPad (ask for details if interested in any of these). I do I wish I could have given you better news than above, but the above is the truth, with little or no exception. I thought this would be good information for you, and create realistic expectations when purchasing one of *my* VO controllers. RJ :-)

Avalanche Fruit Stand - Comes with jumbo tweezers and LOTS of fruit. Avalanche Fruit Stand is a fruity tweezer game from Learning Resources. I like Learning Resources because the games are well constructed and made to last. With that being said, I had trouble with one of the sets of tweezers in this game. They would not open wide enough to pick up the fruit and they are made of such hard plastic that I could not pull them apart. It's good to always check that tweezers open wider than the pieces that they are meant to pick up so the pieces can easily fall out when you want to drop them. These tweezers have two depressions for finger placement on one side and one depression on the other side for the thumb placement. I emailed Amazon about the trouble with the set of tweezers and they promptly replaced it. However, I have the same trouble with the new game. One pair of tweezers isn't opened quite wide enough. You can push it down on top of the fruit and it will wedge in the tweezers, but you need to be able to release pressure on the tweezers for the item to drop out. With these tweezers, the fruit will not drop out. I move my middle finger to the inside of the tweezers and push the sides apart and the fruit falls out. Not a perfect solution. The fruit is hard but rubbery, so it will not slip in the hard tweezers. There are five different kinds of fruit - apple, orange, grapes, banana, strawberry - and eight of each type of fruit. The fruit stand is made of heavy cardboard material, not plastic. There are two small Velcro dots on the back of the board that allow you to adjust the angle of the board for three levels of difficulty by making the stand more or less slanted. The instructions are on the back of the fruit stand game board. You might want to read them before loading up the stand with fruit. Object: Be the first to remove one piece of each different kind of fruit. Set up: To set up the game, stand the fruit stand up as shown above. Stack all the fruit in a single layer on the fruit stand. Place the spinner and tweezers close by. Play: Players take turns spinning the spinner and following the directions: Color - Use the tweezers to pick one piece of fruit of that color off the stand and put it in your pile. 2 - Use the tweezers to pick any two pieces of fruit off the stand and put them in your pile. 3 - Use the tweezers to pick any three pieces of fruit and put them in your pile. Star - Take a piece of fruit from another player. If there is an avalanche (fruit pieces fall off the fruit stand) while you are playing, you must put any and all fruit pieces you have collected back onto the fruit stand. That is according to the instructions. I often do not follow the "penalty" portion of the instructions. It depends on the person playing, the frustration level, the cognitive level, the skills being practiced, etc. Apply clinical reasoning. Depending on what the goal is, I may just grab the fruit and put it back on the stand. Or if it seems too difficult, I might grab it and place it in the box. The box says there is an activity guide included. I did not get one unless they just meant the directions. To see a list of other games that include tweezers or tongs, click here. Try this: Practice opposing thumb to index finger and creating a nice rounded web space before flicking the arrow on the spinner. Ask the individual to cup one hand and then place the fruit into it, one piece at a time, with the other hand. How many pieces can the individual hold before dropping any? Switch hands and try again. Set up the game board by picking up two pieces of fruit in the dominant hand. Bring them to the fingertips, one at a time, and place them on the fruit stand. Use the tweezers to set up the fruit stand and pick the fruit off with the fingers. Hold the spinner in the non-dominant hand and spin with the dominant. Play until all the pieces are removed. Winner has the most fruit. Stack fruit only two or three high until the player gets used to taking the fruit off without making others fall. Add more fruit gradually. Sort all the fruit by color. Put fruit away by spinning the spinner. If it lands on a number, try to pick up that many pieces, one at a time, and squirreling them into the palm without dropping. Dump them into the box. Stack the fruit in the stand. Try to take out all of one type of fruit without causing an avalanche. Lay the fruit stand flat on the table for set up. Put all the fruit in and then stand it up. Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations/position in space, figure ground, eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity, pincer grasp, palmar arch development, thumb opposition, coordinated use of both hands, web space development, shoulder stability, executive functioning skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation In the box: 2 jumbo tweezers, 40 pieces of fruit, fruit stand game board, spinner, activity guide 

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