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Physical and Mobility Impairments
To accommodate mobility impairments, Donka uses a variety of assistive technology,
both software and hardware for a user to access a computer with independence.
They include voice activation software, alternative keyboards and key guards,
switch access, head mouse, on-screen keyboard, and mouse options like a
Kensington trackball or mouse keys.
Voice Activation (hands free): Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred
is a speech recognition software program that enables students, teachers, and other education professionals to create
documents and email, surf the web, navigate their desktop, and more---all by voice. It works with virtually all
Windows-based applications to make you work more productively than ever before. It includes ScanSoft RealSpeak
text-to-speech technology, which reads your documents back to you as a human sounding voice. Who benefits? Individuals,
secondary to adult, with physical disabilities. Must have the ability to read and spell with accuracy,
although it includes word prediction. For information on this product contact
Scansoft, Inc. at www.scansoft.com.
Head Mouse with On-Screen Keyboard: Headmaster Plus allows persons who cannot
use their hands to perform computer functions such as word processing. It
accomplished this by allowing the user’s head to control the mouse. A single model of Headmaster plus emulates
the three most popular mouse systems: PS/2, Microsoft Serial for PCs and Apple
Desktop Bus. The headset and control unit work together to measure the rotation of the user’s head and translate it
into cursor movements on the screen. The puff switch acts as a mouse button;
This works well with the on-screen keyboard software WiVik.
On-Screen keyboard; WiVik is a moveable, resizable
on-screen keyboard that enables the user to transparently enter text into
Windows applications with any pointing device, including mice, trackballs,
switch, and head mouse. Keys are selected by pointing and clicking, dragging and releasing, or by pointing and
“dwelling” with the headmouse. For information on this product contact Prentke Romich, Co. at www.prentrom.com.
Sensitive Switches:
BUBBLES Touch –Sensitive Switches for those who have
difficulty using ordinary switches. No force required (usually set so that only
the slightest touch is sufficient). The sensitivity can even be increased so that the hand just needs to pass near the
switch. For information on this product contact Equal Access Computer
Technology, Inc. at (978) 466-9191.
Talking Switch: Discover: Switch is the talking switch for
the classroom and it is the first smart switch with intelligence built-in! Hook it to the computer for fast and easy
access to all programs. Students with physical disabilities can use the same
software as their peers, and also surf the Internet. It comes with read-made files matching popular programs, talking
files for multi-sensory learning and a graphics library.
Writing solution with switch: CoWriter 4000 adds word prediction, grammar, and vocabulary support
capabilities o any word processor or e-mail program. This enables students with disabilities to produce quality,
content rich sentences. CoWriter includes topic dictionaries for curriculum specific vocabulary, FlexSpell to
translate phonetic spelling and grammar support. For information on these
products contact Don Johnston Incorporated at www.donjohnston.com.
Alternative Mouse: Kensington Mouse and Trackball. The
Kensington Mouse was designed for all shapes and sizes. The oversized,
easy-to-use click buttons means smaller fingers don’t have to reach when
clicking. The Trackball is also programmable and can be used for dragging,
clicking, cut and paste and is for left hand or right hand users.
For information on this product contact
Kensington Technology group at www.kensington.com
Talking Word Processor: is a word processor with magnified text and
speech output. Speech options and
auditory spell check reinforce letter and word recognition. Intellitalk can be
used best with Intellikeys
keyboard, and can also be used with switch access. Individuals with cognitive,
physical, visual, and speech impairments. Users at Donka include – Cerebral Palsy,
Muscular Dystrophy, Stroke, Head Injury, MS. For information on this product
contact Intellitools, Inc. at
www.intellitools.com
Enlarged keyboards: Intellikeys is a powerful, easy-to-use
alternative keyboard that plugs directly into the standard keyboard port and
runs any software that responds to keyboard commands. It comes with various
overlays including, arrows, alphabet, basic writing, numbers and QWERTY.
The keyboard overlays have features to adjust keyboard sensitivity, repeat rate,
and other options like mouse keys and sticky keys. Who benefits from
Intellitalk / Intellikeys? Children and adults,
developing readers, individuals with impaired motor involvement, speech
impairment, and vision impairment. For information on this product contact
Intellitools, Inc. at www.intellitools.com
Keyguards for Intellikeys. Lightweight keyguards snap into IntelliKeys on
top of a custom and/or standard overlays. Keyguards help the users make accurate choices.
This helps prevent users from making unintended keystrokes while also providing stability
and as an armrest and allowing users to keep their hands on the board without activating
any keys. For information on this product contact Intellitools, Inc. at www.intellitools.com
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