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In Focus - Articles - Teaching Idea - Service Tip - Profile - Upcoming Events
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - PRC Donates a Vanguard for Kiernan
PRC was delighted to donate its industry-leading Vanguard device to the O'Donnell family. Read the Full Story (850 KB .PDF).
Literacy Through Unity
Literacy instruction together with AAC device instruction. Created by renowned experts Karen Erickson and Gretchen Hanser. See Literacy Through Unity in our E-Store.
Unity Reading Project
All instructions and visual supports needed for teaching core vocabulary for Unity 45 Full, Unity 84 Sequenced as used on the Vantage and Vanguard and for Unity 128 sequenced used in Pathfinder. See the Unity Reading Project in our E-Store.
New access options for PRC device users
www.SpeakShare.com: An On-line AAC Community
 We hope you enjoy reading and posting messages on this NEW online bulletin board. Our plan is to make Speak Share a place where you can ask questions, share answers, and communicate in general. We'd like to keep the tone friendly and up-beat because it is a public forum. As a community bulletin board, it can be viewed by anyone. Membership is free, and entitles you to post messages. This freedom comes with the responsibility of abiding by the few rules of the site.
Please feel free to share tips and tricks that you have learned about living with AAC. One Pathfinder user recently sent us an e-mail about a photography hobby that he has. His dad found a remote control camera and programmed the commands into an activity row on the Pathfinder. It is information like this that you can share that will be interesting and helpful to other members. If you just want to read, and not post a message, that's fine, too.
Unlike a list serve, no messages go into your e-mail box for you to read and/or delete every day. You log on to Speak Share as often or as little as you want. Go to Speak Share. Speak Share Contest: Favorite AAC Teacher
Speak Share announces the "AAC Teacher of the Month" contest. Students with AAC devices can nominate their favorite AAC teacher to receive an award. Write a post to Speak Share and tell about the person who inspires and helps you the most with your communication device. Every month one of the AAC teachers nominated will receive recognition in the PRC Newsletter and a gift from PRC. Unlike American Idol, there will be no auditions and no singing involved. There will be judges, but not Simon.
Here's how it works:
- Log on to Speak Share and post a note about your favorite AAC teacher. www.SpeakShare.com
- Your teacher does not have to be a public school teacher. The person can be a friend, a speech therapist, someone in your family, or anyone else who helps you with your communication.
- The post must be written by the student (the person with the AAC device.)
- Judges will look for originality and the amount of comments that actually describe the favorite teacher.
- Judges will not judge on the basis of grammar or spelling errors.
 - PRC will notify you if your teacher is the winner. You can send in a picture of your teacher if you want, and we will publish it with your letter in the next PRC newsletter.
- You don't have to be a public school student to nominate an AAC teacher.
A Seminar on AAC Strategies for Promoting the Development of Communication for Individuals with Autism Spectrum (.PDF 612 KB)
Staff Profile
Andrea Madeya, B.A., SLPA
PRC Regional Consultant - Florida
 Andrea Madeya, B.A., SLPA came to PRC in July 2006 from the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technologies, a regional demonstration center that is part of the Florida tech act project, where she was a Speech Language Pathology Assistant and also the Program Specialist for the assistive technology lab and augmentative communication program providing direct client services at Tampa General Hospital.
With PRC, Andrea specializes in group presentations and trainings, including AAC graduate classes at various universities. She is also an e-trainer for our online SpringBoard classes. If you are a professional needing to see the newest technology available, call Andrea for a presentation. "We are quite proud of Andrea's work in Florida to build AAC awareness and knowledge of PRC products and language. Andrea offers the highest standard of PRC customer service that people have come to know and expect," states Judith Meyer, National Manager Consultant Network Services. In addition, Andrea has a great sense of humor, which shines through in her contact with individuals in the Florida territory.
If you are the parent or caregiver of a child or adult with a need for an augmentative device, contact Andrea to arrange a consultation. Andrea has "advanced level" knowledge of PRC device features and can give you practical advice on the wide range of vocabulary software now available in PRC devices.
Andrea earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida, where she majored in communication sciences and disorders. She has also earned continuing education credits in areas focusing around developing opportunities for children through assistive technology and implementing augmentative communication in personal and professional environments for adults.
Contact Andrea by email at
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or by phone at (813) 486-6673.
Minor Mishap Leads to Major Miracle at ATIA
by Joel Roi Aronowitz, BA, ATP
On January 24, 2007, a miracle occurred. As with many miracles, this one seemed to go unnoticed, even though it occurred before an audience of about five hundred Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference attendees. What occurred was the miracle of Assistive Technology.
Just before the exhibit hall grand opening, an opening ceremony was held. The lively sounds of the musical group "Outta Sight" from the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind set a mood of expectation as people filtered into the Caribbean Ballroom. The stage was flanked by jumbo-sized video monitors displaying Phillip Hysong's closed-captioning of the proceedings into giant-font text.
Entering the hall, looking for my work colleagues from the Prentke Romich Company (PRC) I located PRC ambassador Faye Warren, seated in her power chair beside her mother Flora. Although we had never met, seeing someone with a Pathfinder provided a level of comfort and I sat with them. ATIA conference chairman Jeff Gardner (CEO of ViewPlus Technologies) began his introductory remarks and an assembly of speakers, most in wheelchairs, lined up across the stage. After a few words from co-sponsors Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, the keynote speaker Steven Tingus, Director of NIDRR (US Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research) spoke about the advancement of Assistive Technology and its ever increasing part in helping him and others overcome life and career obstacles.
Mr. Tingus then introduced the featured speakers, participants in ATIA's "Triumph Stories" program. This new program at ATIA is a presentation of inspiring stories by disabled individuals to raise awareness about "how assistive technologies help individuals with disabilities learn, work, and live independent and successful lives." Triumph Stories are available online at www.atia.org. The Triumph Stories shared this day were those of Faye Warren, Gregory Anderson, Rick Hohn, Kate May, Ray Peloquin, Sarah Pyska, Tasha Shoffner and Paul Schroeder.
One by one, each person briefly presented a prepared speech, several using their Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to do so. This in itself was a miracle but when it was Kate's turn, something happened. Like Faye, Kate is a PRC Pathfinder user and like the other speakers, she had taken time to prepare her statement. She delivered this speech sentence-by-sentence on the Pathfinder by selecting the "Speak Sentence" key. Suddenly she ran out of sentences! The remainder of her carefully crafted speech was gone!
The audience waited expectantly for Kate's next sentence but now she was doing something different. Instead of pressing the same key each time to speak a new sentence, she obviously was pressing other keys on the device.
"Oops!" she said, and the audience laughed. "T-e-c...technology...is...really...great...when...it...works."
Her words were no longer coming in a stream of complete sentences. They were coming slowly, word-by-word because she was composing her novel thoughts right then and there.
Concerned about maintaining interest and decorum, Jeff Gardner once again took the stage saying, "While Kate resets her device we are going to view a video that was created by Michael Phillips, who was unable to be here..."
But Kate was not resetting her device; she was utilizing assistive technology to field one of life's many unexpected curve balls before our eyes.
"I was...really...on...the...spot," she said later, using her Pathfinder.
Using a demo device, a PRC Vantage with the speech turned off, I "passed a note" to Faye's mom sitting beside me: "What...she is...doing...is...h-e-r...hero...heroic..."
At Kate's request, PRC's Florida consultant Andrea Madeya searched for the USB flash drive with Kate's speech saved, without success. Kate finished, saying in real time, "I...still...can't...locate...it...but...please...come...see...me...p-r...present...tomorrow...morning."
What Kate did was truly miraculous and heroic. Who, able-bodied or otherwise, could maintain such a level of composure and eloquence while public speaking before a large audience in an enormous hotel ballroom? When, at the end, the audience was prompted to applaud, I stood to give all a standing ovation, but especially Kate.
NOTE: Joel Roi Aronowitz, BA, ATP is the Prentke Romich Representative for the Greater NY-NJ Metropolitan Area.
Employment
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AAC Articles of Interest
Read articles of interest to the AAC Community!
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Trial Evaluation