Vol. 8, No. 2 Spring 2000	Previous Issues Subscribe to AT Messenger Download PDF Viewer
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DATI Equipment Inventory Gets Big Boost

One of the DATI's most important tasks is to educate people as consumers of assistive technology (AT) products and services. For this purpose we established the Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC) network. These centers, located in each of Delaware's counties, house inventories of all types of AT. The ATRCs are open to everyone-people with disabilities, service providers, employers and others-and offer equipment demonstration, short-term loan of equipment for trial use, and technical assistance.

No-cost Loans of AT Equipment

The ATRCs do not charge fees for any of these services. There are no eligibility requirements other than Delaware residency. DATI serves very young children, school-age children and youth, working-age adults, and older persons. Since the DATI ATRCs became operational in 1992, we have made no-cost loans of more than 6,000 pieces of assistive technology. This represents a unique service to Delawareans that is duplicated by no other agency or organization.

Updating Is a Constant Challenge

One of the greatest challenges we face is maintaining a "state-of-the-art" equipment inventory. As we all know, technology is evolving at an incredible rate. For the field of AT, this often means that new developments may be less expensive than older devices while offering much greater functionality. As the federal funding for DATI decreases, however, we have to look to other sources to help us replenish the inventory.

Two State Agencies Provide Vital Support

In the last year, two state agencies have seen to it that their constituents have access to "the latest and greatest" by investing in new equipment to be added to the DATI inventory. The Delaware Department of Education awarded DATI $20,000 for the purchase of educationally-relevant technologies. These funds were used to acquire several screen reading systems (that speak the text on the computer screen for the benefit of those with visual limitations or reading difficulties), several keyboard alternatives, devices supporting spoken and written communication, and lots of educational software. A complete listing of new equipment can be found at the end of this article.

The Division of Mental Retardation, part of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, provided $50,000 to enable us to upgrade our inventory of communication devices, switches for alternate access, environmental control units, alternate keyboards, and educational and life skills software. With DMR's support, we were able to purchase IntelliKeys keyboards and software packages and AlphaSmart keyboards for each county. Among the new communication devices are the Dynavox 3100 and the DynaMyte from Dynavox Systems; the Vanguard, DeltaTalker, AlphaTalker 2, T-TAM, and Sidekick from Prentke Romich Company; One-Step and Step-by-Step Communicators from Ablenet; the Link from Assistive Technologies; and the Tech/Talk and Hand Held Voice from Mayer Johnson. Please check page 7 for the complete list.

We are very grateful to the Department of Education and the Division of Mental Retardation for their support of our inventory enhancement efforts. Our collaboration represented a real "win-win" scenario: the agencies have invested in a system that helps their constituents determine those tools that best meet their needs (avoiding costly mistakes), and the DATI has a modernized inventory that helps us be more responsive to the needs of all Delawareans.

We are also grateful for the cooperation of the many companies that provided discounts or free merchandise to us. With the cooperation of the vendors, we were able to parlay $70,000 in funding into more than $83,000 in products.

Do You Have Suggestions for New Equipment?

We maintain a "wish list" of products based on our knowledge of new products and the requests that we receive from our constituents. Please let us know if there is something that you would like to try that we do not have. We will continue to seek funds from public and private sources so that we can replenish the inventory on a regular basis.

text only of new inventory items

Product (# of units)	Manufacturer/Distributor
AirLink Cordless Switch	Ablenet, Inc.
AlphaSmart 2000 (3)	AlphaSmart, Inc./Ed. Resources
AlphaTalker II	Prentke Romich Company
Beetles (Win)	Semerc/ACCI
Build It	Semerc/ACCI
ClearView 17"	Optelec/Chesapeak Low Vision
Clicker 3 (Win)	Crick Software/ACCI
Co:Writer & Write:Outloud (Win) (3)	Don Johnston, Inc./ACCI
Dazzle	Semerc/ACCI
DECTalk Express	Blazie Engineering
DeltaTalker	Prentke Romich Company
Discover: Screen	Don Johnston, Inc./ACCI
Discover:Switch (Win) (3)	Don Johnston, Inc./ACCI
DynaMyte (3)	Dynavox Systems
Dynavox 3100 (2)	Dynavox Systems
eReader	CAST
Flip It and Slider	Semerc/ACCI
Gateway Software for Dynavox	Dynavox Systems
Hand Held Voice	Mayer Johnson
HeadMouse	Origin Instruments
Hyperstudio (Win) (3)	Knowledge Adventure/Ed. Resources
IntelliKeys Access Pac (w/keyboard) (3)	IntelliTools
IntelliKeys Keyguard Bundle (3)	IntelliTools
Kaleidoscope	Semerc/ACCI
KidDesk (Mac/Win) (3)	Educational Resources
KidPhonix 1 (Mac/Win) (2)	Educational Resources
KidPhonix 2 (Mac/Win)	Educational Resources
Knockout and Reveal	Semerc/ACCI
Kurzweil 3000 (3)	Kurzweil Ed. Resources/HumanWare
JAWS 3.3 for Win95	Hentor Joyce
Link	Assistive Technology, Inc.
Listen Here 1	Semerc/ACCI
Living Books Library (3)	Broderbund/Educational Resources
Look Here 1	Semerc/ACCI
Magic Touch (touch window) (3)	Educational Resources
MathPad	IntelliTools
Microsoft EasyBall	Don Johnston/Educational Resources
Money Challenge (Mac/Win) (2)	Educational Resources
One-Step Communicator (3)	Ablenet, Inc.
Picture Switcher	Semerc/ACCI
Powerlink 3 Control Unit	Ablenet, Inc.
SideKick and accessories	Prentke Romich Company
Smart Alex (Win)	Semerc/ACCI
SofType (Win)	Origin Instruments
Speak Up	Semerc/ACCI
Splatter	Semerc/ACCI
Step-by-Step Communicator (6)	Ablenet, Inc.
Storytime Revised w/CD (3)	Creative Communicating
Switch It! Bundle	IntelliTools
Tech Talk	Mayer Johnson
Thinking Things Collection 1 (3)	Edmark/Ed. Resources
Thinking Things Collection 2 (3)	Edmark/Ed. Resources
Thinking Things Collection 3 (3)	Edmark/Ed. Resources
Touch Here	Semerc/ACCI
T-TAM	Prenke Romich Company
TV/VCR Remote	Ablenet, Inc.
Typing Tutor 99 (Mac/Win) (2)	Educational Resources
ULTimate Reader (3)	Universal Learning Technology
Vanguard	Prentke Romich Company
VisAbility (3)	AI Squared
Words Around Me (Mac/Win) (2)	Educational Resources