Carrie Communication Cards

Carrie Communication Cards are a new product coming out from Super Duper in December 2011. They are color-coded 2.5 x 2.25 inch plastic cards that use the SymbolStix Symbol Set.  They have a pre-punched hole for carrying on a key ring.  One side of the card has a color symbol and English word, the other a gray-scale symbol.

These cards will be useful for instruction, cueing, games and  more in the classroom.  They will be especially useful for working with students who are learning SymbolStix Based AAC Programs like a Tobii, Proloquo2Go, TouchChat or Saltillo's Chat Series.

My only wish (besides having 2 or 3 sets for my classroom) is that Super Duper add a "Core Vocabulary" set of cards to the 22 other sets that come in Carrie Communication Cards.  And maybe that the cards be magnetic.

Carrie Communication Cards will retail at $249.99.

(The information below is taken directly from the Super Duper page.)

The 22 card categories include:

Animals Around the Home Body Parts Calendar & Time Clothing Colors/Shapes/Numbers/Letters Descriptions Drinks

Food Grooming Money OT/PT Words People Places Safety School

Social Sports Toys Transportation Verbs Weather

Carrie Communication Cards includes:

• 740 color-coded cards (2"x 2¼")
• Instruction Booklet with ideas for use
• 5 key chains with rings
• Black briefcase for easy transportation

Symbolstix are Everywhere!

Over time the default picture symbol set used for curriculum support and communication in special education is becoming SymbolStix.  Originally designed for use in News-2-You, the current event based curriculum for special needs, SymbolStix are now available in many products.  Some special education programs are moving to SymbolStix instead of other picture symbols in order to offer a consistent symbol set across many materials and programs.

Here are some of the many places you can find SymbolStix being offered for curriculum and communication:

Curriculum and Software:

• Click to Read Life Skills Stories is a software program designed to teach core vocabulary and social skills as well as early literacy through stories and games, includes switch access $49
• Clicker5 and ClozePro multimedia authoring software allowing teachers, therapists and caregivers to design learning activities in all curriculum areas, SymbolStix are now available as an add-on package
• Environmental Print Program Levels One and Two are integrated language arts programs focusing on comprehension and instruction of safety/community signs, includes software $699
• PCI Reading Program is a researched reading program using sight word instruction for individuals with moderate to severe learning disabilities/special needs $629
• News-2-You is a current events program for students with special needs
• Unique Learning Program is a comprehensive and differentiated, standards aligned curriculum for students in elementary school through adult who have moderate to severe special needs $140 a classroom, a year
• SymWord is a talking word processor with symbol support and the ability for users to use grids of symbols to write, also works as an email program with symbol support and to create symbol supported materials.  Access includes switch scanning and mouse alternatives.  $195
• Word Problems for Non Readers is three levels of math story problems designed for students to address math skills without literacy, Banking for Non Readers is a continuation focusing on financial skills $49 a level

Communication:
Overlays and Manual Communication Boards:

• AMDi Overlay Designer Pro allows users to make custom overlays for AMDi mid-tech communication devices like the Tech/Talk and manual communication boards, it includes a flash disk burner for use with the AMDi Smart Series $258
• Go Talk Overlay Designer is sold by Attainment and can be used to make Overlays for the Go Talk series of mid-tech AAC devices as well as manual communication boards and books $79
• Matrix Maker is a communication board making software that had overlay templates for many mid-tech communication devices, worksheets, visual schedules and more $230
• Pogo Boards is an online communication board design program $69 a year
• Symbol Mate is a complete board making and curriculum materials solution from Tobii $200
• SymbolStix Online is a web based subscription that allows you to search all the available SymbolStix, including new ones that many not be in other software programs you use and download those symbols to use in other programs $99 a year

Dynamic Display Communication Software/Devices:

• Communicator from Tobii is a dynamic display AAC, environmental control and internet communications software program that comes standard on Tobii devices and is offered on other company's devices as well, SymbolStix is the default symbol set
• Cyrano is a handheld dynamic display device, SymbolStix are available as an add-on
• Saltillo makes the ChatPC and ALT-Chat series of dynamic display communication devices, these devices are small and rugged, SymbolStix is the default picture symbol set
• MindExpress is a dynamic display communication software program which now offers SymbolStix, you can find it on software like the AAC devices from Jabbla
• The Grid is a symbol and text based AAC system in addition to alternative computer control, it is offered on my communication devices, SymbolStix is an add on purchase

iPod/iPad Apps:

• ArtikPix is an app to assist with teaching articulation through flashcards and games $29.99
• iCommunicate is a visual cueing and choice making app $34.99-$49.99 
• Parlerai is a simple dynamic display solution offered along with other features on the Parlerai website $29.99 a month
• Proloquo2Go is a complete iPod/iPhone based dynamic display speech system $189
• TouchChat is Saltillo's AAC app, using the same researched vocabulary sets as their stand alone devices $140

Update May 2022 - Symbol Support Text has been proven not to prove much, if any, aid to comprehension and to be detrimental to learning to read.  This post is keep up for historical purposes.  Please don't use symbol supported text.

News-2-You Introduces SymbolStix Online

The folks who bring us News-2-You and Unique Learning Systems are now offering their symbols subscription style online for $99 (the price will rise to $129 eventually). SymbolStix are the Symbols used in the News-2-You papers, Unique Learning System, the Proloquo2Go iPhone/iPod Touch AAC App, the Tobii AAC products (the C Series), AMDi Overlay Designer Pro, Jabbla AAC devices, PCI Printed Books and also is among the symbols offered on Pogo Boards. More and more our students are becoming familiar with SymbolStix.

SymbolStix Online will allow subscribers to use a simple search to find and then download symbols in any of their choice of a variety of formats for import into other communication or board designing programs (Boardmaker, PhotoSYMS) or a regular office program.

The SymbolStix collection has 12,000 symbols and grows as News-2-You papers and Unique Learning System Units are produced. Currently SymbolStix are in six languages. If there isn't a symbol you need it can be requested online.

As a user of Unique Learning System, News-2-You and Proloquo2Go I am excited to get to stop taking screenshots of SymbolStix on PDFs and then cut them and paste them into Boardmaker to enlarge them for my students with low vision. This should substantially lower my work load.

I do wish there was a week long free trial to allow us to try before we buy, especially since we can get SymbolStix at PogoBoards if we wish.

Interesting News from News-2-You

The News-2-You folks made some big announcements today for all of their products: News-2-You, Unique Learning and SymbolStix.

News-2-You

• More activities at the Fun Site (and praise be to heavens Joey's Date and Weather Activity is back! My class was lost at the end of the year last year when it suddenly disappeared two weeks before school was over! Every day we would get to the part where you need to dress Joey and I make the same (tired and for that matter stolen from my former student teacher) joke, "Oh, no! Joey is NAKED! Quick! Put some pants on him!" I do hope Naked Joey never goes missing again!)
• More Level 3 Worksheets (that is the highest level)
• Weekly Power Point
• More links to pictures, websites and videos (less blogging for me!)
  
• More communication boards and AAC Device Overlays (Go Talks? Please say Go Talks!)
• More word strips for communication

Unique Learning

• Progress Monitoring (Pre/Post Checks, Content Monitoring)
• Guiding reading and leveled books
• One click download
• Further alignment and integration with News-2-You
• Dolch/Fry combined word lists for high frequency words

SymbolStix

• SymbolStix Online subscription service to download 12,000 SymbolStix Symbols available this fall for a starting price of $99 (I hope I get to try it out and review for this site)
• Tobii SymbolMate software to create printed materials using SymbolStix symbols (AAC boards, games, schedules, books, etc)

TLWMSN Comments
I am worried about content in News-2-You, but more so in Unique, for the learners with very significant disabilities here are some things I hope to see added:

• The addition of an Access Level/Sensory Level/Entry Level to all the grades that address things like cause and effect, sensory awareness, early cognitive development and other skills our learners may be working on
• Extremely relevant and concrete vocabulary, perhaps use of photos with SymbolStix to teach the symbols
  
• Links to online activities on this level
  
• Some way for teachers of those with more intensive special needs to share adapted materials; we know we will likely have to do the adapting ourselves, but it would be nice if we didn't also have to create the web spaces to share what we adapt.
• Activities on the cause/effect or simple 2-4 field choice making level made in Classroom Suite, Power Point, Switch It or Choose It (and if it is Classroom Suite it will need to come with Classroom Suite Player, the others have the players available for free)
  
• Perhaps some kind of partnership with a company like Aimee Solutions that addresses students with this level of need and offers things like error-free switch writing activities and repeating line books for use with a Big Mack switch (I will be using the Aimee Solutions My Country Software Set to supplement Unique's September government unit.)
  

Free Unique Summer Curriculum

Unique Learning System, the standards aligned special needs curriculum from the folks who bring us News-2-You and SymbolStix Symbols, are offering their summer curriculum for FREE! The unit is on science and is definitely worth checking out even if you aren't teaching this summer.

All you need to do is register and then you can download all the bands (grade levels).