Mayer-Johnson Products for People with Disabilities

advertisement

Main Digest

Mayer-Johnson is a company that provides symbol-adapted special education software used to help people with disabilities with speech, language and learning challenges. The company also provides speech generating devices.

The solutions Mayer-Johnson has are designed to assist people who experience complex communication and learning needs with participation in their home, community, and classrooms. The speech generating devices the company has give a voice to people who do not have the ability to speak due to severe physical and cognitive limitations associated with ALS, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other forms of disabilities.

Mayer-Johnson's Board-maker special education software products are used as publishing and editing tools for the creation of symbol-based educational activities that are interactive, as well as symbol-based items for students who have limited reading skills. The company's Picture Communication Symbols can be used along with Board-maker software and the Dynavox speech generating devices that are available.

Mayer-Johnson works to enable people to realize their full educational and communication potential through development of software, devices and content. The company works to provide services and support while assisting people, their family members, as well as professionals via a wide support organization and centralized technical and reimbursement support.

Mayer-Johnson has products for:

• Adults
• Infants and Toddlers
• Pre-school Age Children
• Elementary School Children
• Middle and High School Children

The products Mayer-Johnson has are simply wonderful. They have an incredible variety of products that can help people with disabilities in many different ways. Let me give you just a few examples of these items.

The GoTalk One

Tabletop communicator that includes a high-quality message talker with a large picture display. The product is something people can take with them anywhere. It is thin and lightweight weighing a mere 1.6 ounces. You can use it to record a message and play it back in just a few seconds.

All you have to do to use the GoTalk One is put a picture into the covered frame and slide the, 'Record,' switch. Then press the, 'Play,' button and talk for up to ten seconds. After you are done, slide the switch back to the Play setting and you are good to go.

Easy Push Talking Pocket

Has a large and easy to use push plate, not a button. It is a great communication device for students and is made of two parts. The first part is, 'Voice-Over, which is a voice over output device with a ten second recording time capability. The second part is a pocket that is designed to hold the Voice Over in place.

You can use the Easy Push Talking Pocket to record and share messages by pushing the button on the Voice Over. You can add your own picture, image, or photograph, or your own PCS. Just put the Voice Over into the Pocket and its ready to use.

TalkBook Four

It has a folder with see-through pocket that hold four GoTalk One's. With the TalkBook Four you can change the pre-recorded messages you want to use and swap the GoTalk One's with other devices.

Magic Touch Screen

Because I still have a computer that is not touch-screen enabled. Magic Touch Screen is an add-on touch screen kit solution people can use anywhere a user-friendly input device is needed. You can use Magic Touch Screen on a laptop monitor and use it with a mouse-driven application using a stylus, or just your own finger!

The Boardmaker Series

By Mayer-Johnson is the product line the company is perhaps best known for. 'Boardmaker Player for Windows,' appeals to teachers who use the Microsoft Windows operating system. Boardmaker Player software helps teachers to reach all of their students through interactive activities that are fully accessible and created with Boardmaker Plus!, Boardmaker Studio, and Boardmaker with Speaking Dynamically Pro.

Using Boardmaker Player for Windows, teachers can play Boardmaker activities in classrooms, computer labs, and other places where computers are available. Teachers can create activities, load them onto a computer with Boardmaker Player!, and reach every single student with screen activities that are totally accessible and suited to their particular needs.

Boardmaker Studio

Brings fun into creating lessons. Boardmaker Studio is an incredible classroom resource; it has hundreds of templates, tools, and gadgets. It is designed for use with Windows and gives teachers the ability to save time while creating lessons through Picture Communication Symbols (PCS), templates, and all of the features of the Boardmaker family of products.

With Boardmaker Studio, students themselves have the ability to record and play back their own audio recordings from activities. The ability to do this helps them with pronunciation, articulation, and fluency. There are a dozen templates that focus on language instruction strategies for English Language Learners (ELL). The templates are for:

• Creation of visual scenes for building vocabulary
• Building sentences to work on syntax and grammar
• Recording and playing back speech to practice pronunciation and articulation

Tech/Speak

One that I think would be indispensable for many people with disabilities. It is a lightweight and portable augmentative and alternative communication device that helps people to communicate through direct selection. There are varieties of the Tech/Speak product; each version has a different number of cells and levels for people with various abilities. Each of the devices is durable, high-quality, has speech playback capability, is shatterproof, waterproof, and has a high-impact case.

The Tech/Speak 6X32, for example, has 6 recording levels and 32 message cells that are 1.25 inches each. The cells let people record up to 192 messages of 2.25 seconds in length. Tech/Speak has recording jacks, a low battery indicator light, and an external speaker. All of this and it only weighs two pounds.

The products created by Mayer-Johnson are helping teachers and People with Disabilities of all ages in many ways. The company is dedicated to the creation of products for this very purpose and I highly recommend them. Many people continue to benefit from the efforts of this incredible company.

Author Credentials:

Thomas C. Weiss is a researcher and editor for Disabled World. Thomas attended college and university courses earning a Masters, Bachelors and two Associate degrees, as well as pursing Disability Studies. As a Nursing Assistant Thomas has assisted people from a variety of racial, religious, gender, class, and age groups by providing care for people with all forms of disabilities from Multiple Sclerosis to Parkinson's; para and quadriplegia to Spina Bifida.

advertisement

Discover Related Topics ▶

Share This Information To:
𝕏.com Facebook Reddit

Disabled World provides general information only. Materials presented are never meant to substitute for qualified professional medical care. Any 3rd party offering or advertising does not constitute an endorsement.