Community

Join us October 18-21 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington, MN for Closing the Gap.  Be sure to drop by booth 414 to see the redesigned Nova Chat 5 and all of our new vocabulary files! 

Don't miss these awesome sessions:

Simplifying AAC in the Classroom to Develop Early Literacy Skills (Two Block Session)

Date: Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: Atrium 1
Presenters: Meghan Conover, Gretchen Storm

Description:
But my student can't talk- how can we expect them to read and write?! Can an AAC device really assist in developing literacy? Communication and literacy are directly connected. By increasing the skills for one, we enhance the learning for the other skill. In this presentation, learn about strategies you can use to increase communication, gain new skills to incorporate an AAC device in the classroom and walk away with some tools used successfully in the classroom.

WordPower and the Early Language Project: A New AAC Vocabulary Designed for Early Language Users and Beyond (TouchChat, NOVA Chat, Chat Fusion)

Date: Friday, October 21, 2016 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Atrium 7
Presenters: Rena Carney, Nancy Inman

Description: 
This session provides an in-depth overview of the new WordPower60 Basic and WordPower42 Basic vocabularies for the TouchChat app and Saltillo devices, designed for young, emerging and basic AAC communicators. New features have been incorporated into these vocabularies, such as inclusion of core vocabulary within the category pages, a Page Lock feature that allows the user to turn off the page Visit feature with a single hit, new literacy supports, including a basic spelling page and Phonics pages, and pages built around several well-known children's books. Manual communication boards were constructed in order to support these vocabularies that can be easily adapted and printed out for individual use.

The 2.5.0 Chat Software Update is now available here for your device and for Chat Editor.  Simply find your device and click on the appropriate language under Downloads next to your device.  You can also watch this video to see "What's New".

New Features:

• Take a photo - a camera action that can be added to a button
• Auditory Prompt Volume being spoken through the speaker, can now have a seperate volume from the speaking volume
• A Basic Spanish Vocabulary file has been added to the Spanish systems. 
• WordPower48 Español Basico is a new addition to the WordPower Español vocabularies.  It was designed with early language learners in mind, providing ample picture support and novel structures to facilitate expressive language development.  Core vocabulary is embedded within the category and activity pages, allowing easy generation of language from the main core page as well as within tropic-based pages.  Core words remain consistent in terms of placement and access, providing a natural bridge between core and fringe words. 
• A 108 w/keyboard WordPower file has been added.
• WordPower108 with Keyboard is a vocabulary consisting of high frequency core words, spelling and word prediction.  With the keyboard on the main page, the communicator moves seamlessly between words and spelling, thus minimizing keystrokes and the need for navigation.  Common core words are embedded within the category pages in order to assist in bridging the gap between core and fringe vocabulary.
• Advanced Grammar Actions for Pre-morphing
• Dynamic Labels
• Apply Grammar Property
• Apply Grammar State
• Clear Grammar State

Chat 2.5.0 Update addresses:

• "more" and "that" symbols corrected in WordPower 60 Basic file
• Core Word Page link is corrected in the Basic Scan file
• Profile names no longer have character restrictions

To download the Chat 2.5.0 Software Update, go to Menu > Help > Check for Updates on your device to initiate an automatic update.  You can also go to Support & Training > Support Home > Scroll down to find your device and choose your language under Downloads to download the appropriate Chat Software Update to manually copy to your device.