November is National Assistive Technology Awareness Month. What comes to mind at the phrase “assistive technology”? By formal definition, assistive technology is “any item, piece of equipment, or product system—whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized—that is used…
Happy Digital Inclusion Week (October 3–7 in 2022)! Since 2016, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) has been working to raise awareness of the digital divide and to promote digital literacy. What Is Digital Inclusion? For those new to the…
Read Time 4 Minutes Public attitudes toward disability have come a long way in the past few generations. From a topic that was rarely acknowledged in polite society, disabilities or “special needs” have evolved into an everyday concern that few…
Read Time 5 Minutes In 2020, as COVID-19 outbreaks forced education online, it became painfully obvious how heavily many families depended on in-person schooling. Among the federal assistance programs originated in 2020–21 were a number specifically designed to bridge the…
Read Time 2 Minutes As discussed in our recent post, “Library Hotspots and Lift Zones,” lack of reliable high-speed internet is an educational, economic, and vocational disadvantage. Fortunately, there are many options for getting advanced digital access on a limited…
Written By Katherine SwartsRead Time 3 Minutes In the United States, over 45,000 people die each year from suicide—the country’s twelfth leading cause of death. Many of these tragedies could be prevented if prompt diagnosis and treatment were available (and…
School-age children often look forward to summertime- watersports, playing outside, family vacations, and no school! It is great for children (and parents) to get a break from school routines and homework stress, but sometimes children can lose skills they learned…
By Katherine Swarts3 minute read To round off Mental Health Awareness Month and acknowledge Memorial Day, BridgingApps looks at veteran mental health. Bring up mental health and military veterans, and most people automatically think, “Oh, PTSD.” While post-traumatic stress disorder…
With the help of a speech therapist skilled in Augmentative and Alternative Communication or AAC, Russian and Ukrainian native speaker volunteers, physical and occupational therapists and mental health experts, we are creating free printable communication boards that can be downloaded.…
By: Daryn Ofczarzak, M.A., CCC-SLP Flashcards and worksheets are the traditional bread and butter for speech therapists, but an iPad is an incredible asset for pediatric therapists. Engaging and exciting for the kids, and all the tools you as a…
