“Assistive Technology”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Assistive_Technology
is an area that I hold in high regard as the parent of a child who is on the autism spectrum. I have used some of the tools available to help him with his struggles and have seen hands-on how technology can assist in making tasks easier and more productive for people with disabilities.

In 2013 Small Dog became the only company authorized to sell iPads in Vermont with Medicaid accepted as payment. These orders come in the form of authorizations from Medicaid as prescribed by speech and language pathologists (SLP) across the state. For right now the iPad is only approved by Medicaid as a speaking device, however; there are programs in place looking to expand the uses to other people with disabilities, these include blind and vision impaired, hearing impaired, autism spectrum and more.

In addition to Medicaid we also work closely with Vermont Assistive Technology (VAT), which is a state government agency tasked with cataloging all the items that fall in this very broad category. They provide consulting, information, demonstration and a 30-day trial period to the public. As of today they have catalogued over 21,000 items.

VAT recently reached out to me and asked if Small Dog would take on a role to offer more products and support services in this area as they do not have the resources or budget to do so. Naturally, we said YES! This is a great opportunity for Small Dog Electronics to expand into this field and offer some unique products that truly can change the end-users lives considerably. Having worked with Medicaid for the last several years we have found that procuring the items needed is very difficult. There is no central distribution for these products as many are manufactured by small businesses that specialize in very specific areas. Working with VAT we will strive to offer as many of these products and services that are attainable and make sense.

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Some examples of products we have recently sold are the **RJ Cooper Magic Arm.** This is a wheelchair or desk-mounted iPad solution that allows a nonverbal person to communicate their needs through the iPad. The App we used for this solution is
“**Proloquo2go**.”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/proloquo2go-symbol-based-aac/id308368164?mt=8

The “**Tecla Shield**”:http://gettecla.com/products/tecla-shield gives those with limited upper body mobility (due to disability or disease) access to their touchscreen devices. Tecla makes it possible to use iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as computers. All are accessible via assistive buttons, switches or wheelchair driving controls. You can see a video of this “**here**”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn41GhTDe4M

With VAT listing over 21,000 products there is a vast array of products offered to assist people with all sorts of disabilities. Examples of some of the devices available are large print keyboards for the visually impaired, antimicrobial cases for hospitals and caregivers, computer, tablet and display mounts, rugged cases with built in speakers, keyguards for iPads, smart pens for dictation, head pointers, cameras that replace the need for a mouse and more. Another area of focus will be Apple’s Home Kit. The hardware and software taking advantage of this solution are a perfect fit for those with limited mobility and control. We will be able to design a home setting that reacts to the end users needs without having to move around more then needed.

Small Dog Electronics has identified assistive technology as an important area for our company to refine and specialize our offerings. Don has asked me to head up this initiative for the company and I am thrilled to be able to find tools that will make life easier for so many people. This is really a situation where new technology can make a real difference in these lives. If you want more information or have suggestions, I urge you to write me directly, “**Rob@smalldog.com**.”:mailto:rob@smalldog.com

Back in high school we used to always get assigned summer reading that we had to do before classes started up in the fall. One summer, before my senior year, there were three assigned books. I only remember one of them: Crime and Punishment. I remembering thinking it was a “crime” that they were making me read such a long book over the summer and that it was “punishment” for something I didn’t remember doing. Actually, I really enjoyed the book once I got into it.

I don’t remember if e-readers were a thing back then. If they were, they probably weren’t a big deal. I remember every summer it was impossible to get the summer reading books from the library, so you often had to just buy them. That summer though, I used “**Project Gutenberg**”:http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page. I had been downloading and reading free, out of copyright, books from them for a while at that point. They offered many classics in several formats including plain text. At the time, I would load the plain text onto my Palm Pilot and read books that way. It actually worked better for me because I could read a little bit anywhere I was even if just for a few minutes, and I didn’t have to carry around a huge book like Crime and Punishment.

For one reason or another, I don’t read quite that much these days. When I do, I tend to prefer physical books only because I find it easier on my eyes. That being said, there are lots of options for reading books on iPads or iPhones. Obviously, you can use the iBooks app, but you can also download the Kindle app. A lot of the things I end up reading these days are PDFs of academic articles or copies of old magazines. Did you know that iBooks can open those too? You can simply drag PDFs you want to read to your iCloud Drive and then they’ll show up in both iCloud Drive and in iBooks.

I don’t think I have a preference between the iBooks and Kindle apps. There have been a few books I wanted to buy that weren’t in iBooks, so I had to buy them in Kindle, and there have been others that were cheaper in iBooks. Both apps work about the same and have similar features. I haven’t gotten to try either of them since the new Night Shift feature was added to iOS. I wonder if that will make them easier on the eyes.

Of course, with both iBooks and Kindle, there are OS X equivalents if you just have to read whatever you’re reading on your Mac. I tried it briefly with one book I bought, but it really doesn’t work that well for me. The form factor of the iPad Air/Pro is really great for reading in my opinion.

I’ll probably still continue to prefer physical books over e-books in most situations, but I have to admit, I enjoy the convenience factor when it comes to e-books.

Grace and I went out to celebrate our oldest daughter Zoey’s birthday. It was her 48th and well, at first, we were just marveling at where time had gone but soon the memories and laughter became ageless.

Our vegetable garden seems to shrink each year. We used to have huge gardens and would freeze and can a lot of produce for the year. Now with just Grace and I to feed and with us spending half the year in Key West, we have shrunk the garden a bit and our choice of veggies has changed. Grace doesn’t much like Bok Choy but I have developed a taste for baby Bok Choy so she is growing some for me this year.

The black flies are out if full force, I hope the frogs, bats and baby birds hurry up and grow up so they can eat ’em all!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Emily, Hadley, Amy & Rob_