Creator of "The Missing Doughnut Hole in Special Education" Appearing in Hartford, Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 20, in Hartford, Connecticut, New England Assistive Technology (NEAT) is hosting its annual "Tools for Schools" special education event, featuring "A Day with Phyl Macomber & The Power of T.H.E. P.A.C.T." for the keynote presentation.

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NEAT's mission is to provide information, services, and access to equipment and devices that can change the lives of people of all ages, with all types of disabilities, both temporary and permanent. NEAT's "Tools for Schools" special education conference is an event for administrators, educators, related service professionals, and students with disabilities and their families. Attendees can view the latest in assistive technologies and talk with experts, company representatives, and professionals in the special education field.

Since completing a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital's Kennedy-Krieger Institute in 1988, Phyl T. Macomber, Curriculum Strategist and Assistive Technology Specialist, has become an award-winning national speaker, author, and trainer on topics of adapted curriculum and teaching, augmentative communication, collaborative team building, and specialized software.

T.H.E. P.A.C.T. – an acronym for "Technology Helps Easy & Practical Adapted Curriculum Teaching" – is a four-step, color-coded adapted curriculum framework that outlines how to design "Learn About, Read About, Write About, and Talk About" modules for teaching academics, life skills, and social communication content to learners with disabilities of any age.

T.H.E. P.A.C.T. has been called "The Missing Doughnut Hole in Special Education" by Barry Gardin, Board President of San Francisco Bay Area's United Cerebral Palsy Association.

According to Gardin, "There is a hole in special education - like one you see in a doughnut - that has been there for awhile. And that hole is the integration of our kids and their technology into any curriculum. But, T.H.E. P.A.C.T., well...It is the missing doughnut hole!"

In addition to teaching how T.H.E. P.A.C.T. framework can be used to design and implement both simple and sophisticated technology supports for learners with disabilities, including apps and free Web 2.0 tools, Phyl Macomber will be also be premiering the soon-to-be-released template collection called T.H.E. P.A.C.T. Power Tools for Clicker 5. This easy-to-use template collection is designed in Crick Software's noted Clicker 5 interactive learning program and provides time-efficient strategies to build instructional lessons in minutes using Clicker 5.

Fio Quinn, a longstanding special needs software developer, is the Content Developer on the Power Tools Team for T.H.E. P.A.C.T. and will be part of this presentation. Quinn and Macomber will explain how this language-scaffolded resource can be used to teach vocabulary, adapt literacy-based activities, provide scaffolded writing instruction, and set up communication activities.

Macomber will also be joined by Yuichi Tamano, Senior Content Developer from the Mayer-Johnson Company, another leading company in the special needs industry, to discuss how to integrate T.H.E. P.A.C.T. framework with the broad array of his firm's Boardmaker Studio Starter Templates. Macomber and Tamano will review and distribute a customized Quick Start Guide in the form of an Instruction-At-A-Glance Matrix for Boardmaker Studio for use when linking receptive and expressive language learning objectives to this software tool.

The $25 registration fee for this special education conference includes lunch, with CEUs also provided to attendees. The event runs from 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM, with additional details available at neatmarketplace.org on NEAT's Web site.

About Phyl T. Macomber

Phyl T. Macomber is the President of Make A Difference, Inc. and Practical Assistive Technology Solutions. She is also authoring the PracticalATSolutions.com Book Series, with the initial book in the series titled, The Power of T.H.E. P.A.C.T. Macomber is donating 50% of the book series' profits to fund ovarian cancer research in honor of her mother, who passed away from this disease in 2007. Phyl's volunteer work includes having collaborated with the television crew of ABC Extreme Makeover:Home Edition for a special needs learner and family.

Additional information about Phyl T. Macomber and T.H.E. P.A.C.T., including a video of her being interviewed by New York Times bestselling author Peggy McColl, as well as video clips from Macomber teaching a 1-day course, can be found at AboutTHEPACT.com and PracticalATSolutions.com or by contacting her directly at [email protected] or 802-484-3537.

SOURCE Make A Difference, Inc.