Press RoomFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Don Johnston Shares African Schools Outreach at ATIA OrlandoMessage of Hope for Children with Disabilities Shared at ATIA Conference Evening Event
January 24, 2011—Volo, IL—
Don Johnston, developer of assistive technology accommodations that support children with special needs, will share a message of hope with 150 educators at an invitation-only event during the 2011 Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference in Orlando, FL. ATIA (January 27-29, 2011) draws educators from across the U.S. who specialize in technologies and services for children and adults with a wide range of disabilities and learning challenges.
Start-to-Finish books are uniquely written and formatted to engage struggling readers, build vocabulary and improve fluency and comprehension skills. Thousands of teachers use Don Johnston's books to support students who read below grade level and with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, autism, or cognitive impairments. The books are offered in paperback and computer book (CD) to support universal design for learning (UDL) instruction through a multi-modal (visual and audio) reading experience. Many titles are aligned to required core reading curricula and can be used in general education and Response to Intervention (RtI) classes. "In Kenya, students look out on the fields and make a choice between picking tea for 16 cents an hour and getting a good education," shared Johnston. "The things that struck me on my trip weren't just the obvious differences, but also the parallels between students in the U.S. and those in Kenya. Students in both countries have choices to make to stay in school and to work hard. The reality is that without education, they will not thrive in the real world. Our intention is to celebrate the work educators do to ensure that all students learn, especially those with disabilities. We must inspire them to seek out new learning strategies that will help students overcome learning barriers and provide technology accommodations that will lift children up to reach their true academic potential." Don Johnston owns and operates his special education company with his two sons, Ben and Kevin, and longtime friend and colleague, Ruth Ziolkowski, who began her career as an occupational therapist. Today, they offer over a dozen literacy programs and adaptive devices to break through the common learning barriers for individuals with physical, cognitive and learning disabilities. Thousands of U.S. districts use the company's Read:OutLoud text reader to deliver accessible instruction materials and Co:Writer, a software accommodation writing tool that improves literacy skills such as spelling, vocabulary and grammar. Learn more about Don Johnston at www.donjohnston.com, on his Blog, on Twitter and Facebook. At the ATIA conference, booth #704, educators can demo Read:OutLoud and Co:Writer and learn more about Start-to-Finish books. The company will also showcase the new Simply Works Switch System, along with SHIFT, an AT framework ‘free' to educators who want to learn more about tools and strategies to integrate assistive technology into daily instruction. Educators, who view demonstrations of these programs, including the Intel® Reader and the DAISYtoEPUB conversion tool, will also be eligible to win free products and get special discount pricing. Journalists may contact Valerie Chernek about Don Johnston's evening presentation, ‘Reach for the Stars' to be held on Thursday, January 27, at 6:30 p.m.###
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Mr.
Johnston and his wife, Cheryll, just returned from Kenya, Africa where
they visited local villages and helped to coordinate a microloan program
to stimulate economic development and education. The family also
distributed hundreds of their Start-to-Finish books to schools that
severely lack reading materials.