Yes/No by Simplified Touch

Good Day RettGirls!

This week at RettGirl.org we are featuring the Yes/No HD app for the iPad by Simplified Touch. This app and more can be found by clicking on our iPad review button on our home page or clicking here.

Below you will find a video demonstration of this incredible app and all its features!

Enjoy!

Terri V~For RettGirl

Say It With Symbols!

Good Day RettGirls!

This week at RettGirl.org we are featuring the website Say it With Symbols from the folks at Givinggreetings.com

You can find this incredible resource in our Websites and School Stuff!

This site actually came to our attention from a father of a nonverbal child who is currently working on branching out to help all nonverbal people - children and adults.

Say it with Symbols is a website full of products, symbols, tips and free stuff for nonverbal communicators.

I spent hours looking through everything they have and I don't think I touched on half of it.

We are pretty sure you can find just about anything here to help your girl express herself. I know many of you MORE CRAFTIER THAN I parents and caregivers spend hours trying to come up with books, gadgets and pages to help your girls at home, in the classroom and on the go. I am serious when I say, "It's all here. Right at your fingertips!"

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From the company website:

Communicating and Caring Using Picture Symbols:
Imagine not being able to ask for a tissue or say "I need you." For thousands of children and adults who struggle with speech, this is their daily reality. We can help them.

Say it with Symbols! is the first stop resource for families, caregivers and educators looking for affordable, easy-to-use augmentative communication aids that help people with speech disorders actively participate in daily living by communicating with pictures and symbols.

Browse our site to find portable augmentative communication aids, Boardmaker symbol software, pre-made communication books and more that help children and adults express their needs and wants at home, in the classroom, out in the community and in healthcare/rehab settings. Look for the Parent-Inspired Product symbol throughout our site to identify products designed and used by families and caregivers. Communicating is caring.

A resource for families, special education teachers, speech and language pathologists, AAC and assistive technology specialists, nurses and rehab specialists who use communication aids, visual supports, Mayer-Johnson Boardmaker™ Picture Communication Symbols, and PECS with children and adults with communication disorders resulting from autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Rett Syndrome, dyspraxia, apraxia, aphasia, Alzheimer's, dementia, stroke and traumatic brain injury

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We are sure you'll love it. Be sure to let us know what you think!

http://rettgirl.org/2011/02/say-it-with-symbols/

Have a great week!

Terri V~For RettGirl

EYE GAZE!

Good Day RettGirls!

After hearing tremendous stories from many of you about your eye gaze devices, journeys and hardships in getting them for your girls we decided to put together a page at RettGirl.org as a resource to help you find out what is out there and how to get it! You can find this all on our new EYE GAZE PAGE!

[An "eye gaze" device is a type of computer screen that uses infared technology to "read" where the user's eyes are looking -- the user can then use their eyes to control the mouse pointer and access software that "speaks" the words the user looks at.]

Some of us here at RettGirl are on our own journeys to get devices for our girls. After seeing the complete and total control one of our own daughters had when testing a device, we knew this was something we had to put together for everyone. When you see a RettGirl answer questions immediately with her eyes then hear a voice give the answer it is amazing! There is such a sense of relief and a giant urge to dance around the room screaming, "I told you so!"

We all struggle with Speech and Language Therapists, caseworkers, insurance companies and schools over communication, apraxia and our girls' hidden abilities to communicate.

We hope to ease this fight for all of us. Very soon. Please read through what we have and use it to your advantage.

As always, if you have any ideas or success stories we would love to hear about it so we can share them with other families.

Included on our new EYE GAZE PAGE:

• Links to four eye gaze systems
• Two Medical Necessity Letter examples
• NEW! Join our EYE GAZE GROUP HUB to share information with other Rett Syndrome families seeking or using an eye gaze device.

TIP! When speaking with insurance companies, use the term “SPEECH GENERATING DEVICE.”

Enjoy and Good Luck!

Terri V~For RettGirl