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Available for download, the booklet and DVD 'GETTING STARTED!!! Using Visual Systems to Promote Communication'. These resources were produced with funding received by School for Parents from the Non Government Centre Support for Non School Organisations of Western Australia. The booklet has been written for parents and discusses a range of visual systems they can use at home to develop their child's communication skills. Along with the booklet is a DVD which demonstrates the use of the visual systems discussed in the booklet. Although this resource is for parents it will also be useful for early childhood educators, child care staff, teachers, therapists etc.

"we wired our home with microphones and cameras and started recording, with various carefully designed privacy protections in place. The goal was to capture all verbal and non-verbal interactions between him and his caregivers (my wife, our nanny and I) and understand the contextual environment around his language development."

Developed for three years at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia, the app is designed to enable children to express themselves more freely. But the app is not free -- it'll will set you back $189.99 at the iTunes Store.

OK, so they aren't in the US but it looks really cool! "We work together with special schools to help staff deliver the curriculum by Multi-sensory performance tours INSET and staff development ASD workshops "This superb company can hold the attention of all our young people and amaze, enchant, and entertain them in a way no other theatre group has ever done!""

"ewordify.com is powerful, free, online reading comprehension and vocabulary development software. It helps people understand difficult English faster, helps them learn words in new ways, and helps teachers create high-interest learning materials from any English text passage. See the yellow box at the top of the page? Just paste in a difficult English sentence, paragraph, or more, or enter a web page URL and click the button. You'll instantly see an easier version, for fast understanding now. No dictionary needed! Plus, the easier version is specially highlighted to help build vocabulary."

"The Accommodations Wheel is a resource educators can use to find and develop opportunities to provide students equal access to instruction and assessments"

Live and recorded webinars from Ablenet. Good stuff!

"The SimScientists program in WestEd's Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) program is comprised of a portfolio of research and development projects that focus on the roles that simulations can play in enriching science learning and assessment. The capabilities of technology allow modifications of simulation-based activities to offer accommodations for English learners and students with disabilities. Science simulations can be used in curriculum activities, as embedded, formative assessments, and as summative assessments."

" Drawing upon research and an extensive collection of evidence from multiple sources, the Common Core State Standards were developed to reflect the knowledge and skills that young people need for success in college and careers.  Those standards impact teachers in several ways, including to guide them "toward curricula and teaching strategies that will give students a deep understanding of the subject and the skills they need to apply their knowledge" (Common Core State Standards Initiative, FAQ section).  For many the standards require changes in how mathematics is taught, thus they will influence instructional strategies that educators use"

"The Social Express™ is engaging, educational software for children and young adults with social learning challenges. The software is designed to teach users how to think about and manage social situations, helping them to develop meaningful social relationships and succeed in life. The Social Express is based on best practices and programs that feature cognitive behavioral techniques and visual strategies including Social Stories (Gray, 2002), Comic Strip Conversations (Gray ,1994), the Alert Program(r) (Williams & Shellenberger, 1996), The Incredible 5 Point Scale (Buron & Curtis, 2003), and The Hidden Curriculum (Myles, Trautman and Schelvan, 2004).  The activities presented in the software adhere to  the ELA (English, Language, Arts) Common Core Standards. Some of the core concepts presented are based on the work of Michelle Garcia Winner and her Social Thinking® curriculum"

"using symbols to support a student's understanding of text is an approach that doesn't always achieve its intended outcome. It is also an approach that may have unintended consequences as it may also interfere with literacy development."

"For years, students with significant support needs (SSN) received little or no literacy instruction as their education programs focused on life skills, social skills, and vocational training. The little literacy instruction they did receive relied on teaching methods that we now know helped them learn simple component skills in isolation. For example, students matched upper and lower case letters or learned a limited set of sight words. Unfortunately, this instruction never helped students with SSN learn how to read or write to gain or convey meaning. A series of changes in education laws, along with the efforts of students, families, and educators, have raised expectations for academic achievement for students with SSN."

"The learning module practices were identified from a review of the research literature conducted by staff of the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC on ASD) in 2013-2014. These focused intervention practices were found to be efficacious for use with toddlers as well as with other age groups of children with ASD."

"The Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) develops and collects resources to help educators apply universal design to all aspects of the educational experience: instruction student services information technology, and physical spaces."

"SPARCC offers a variety of professional development training sessions, many of which are recorded for later viewing. See below for links to our recorded webinars and other trainings and meetings, by date and by topic."

"e initiatives include professional development, information dissemination and technical assistance. View the Minnesota Assistive Technology Manual.  Sign up for the AT listserv. Educators must consider assistive technology for all children with an Individualize Education Program  and provide assistive technology for students who require it. Assistive technology can be as simple as a pencil grip or as complex as a voice-activated computer."

"This site is a collection of links and resources that I use as a school based Occupational Therapist, as well as some resources I've developed. These resources are primarily in the following areas: Assistive Technology for students with physical disabilities; Assistive Technology for students with multiple disabilities; and Occupational Therapy support for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"This comprehensive resource provides detailed information and a range of templates to support the production and use of Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display (PODD) communication books. This resource provides practitioners with templates and guidelines to develop an appropriate communication book and also describes comprehensive strategies to enable the use of the system in the child`s daily life - at home, at school and in the community. "

"There is a lot of research and evidence to prove that social stories are an effective way to work with children diagnosed with Autistic spectrum disabilities. We want to use these methods and ideas to develop a website for all children with behavioral difficulties. We want to include stories based on the social story format, but geared towards specific behavioral issues that parents and teachers may be having with students. We would like to provide supports through suggested websites, links, tools for creating your own behavioral stories, and examples of stories we have used and found effective."

A whole field of technological research has developed around the idea of "natural user interfaces," which try to let people communicate with machines in the same ways they would interact with other people and with the real world.