In 2003 Rubén Velasco officially introduced the "Communicator for Autistic Children CPA" in the Special Education Days: Technology and Innovation for the Special Education Needs, the new challenges(Principality of Asturias / Spain )
http://www.educastur.princast.es/recursos/diversidad/jornadas/jueves.php
In 2004 the project obtained a Mention in the National Innovation in Education Awards from the Spanish Education Ministry. In this PDF link you can find more information, it's in Spanish but there are plenty of images to see the behaviour of the Communicator (Page 134 in the PDF).
http://www.mec.es/cide/espanol/publicaciones/colecciones/innovacion/colinn004/colinn004pc.pdf
BOE 314 de 30/12/2004 Sec 3 Pag 42543 a 42544
In 2005 we tried to get an e-learning award but we had no luck:
http://e-learning-teleformacion.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2005-11-06T22%3A08%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50
During the years 2004/2005 2005/2006 and with the Asturian Government collaboration the system was used in several schools. Fifteen autistic children used the CPA during those years. Another Spanish link, no significative images this time (sorry).
http://www.educastur.princast.es/sinbarreras/noticias/index.php?id=170
Unfortunately we didn't receive enough support from the Asturias Government, not in publicity neither in any other means or help or sponsoring, so now we are in stand-by, but with more than 10 children using the Communicator in Asturias and Cantabria (Spain). Nowaday the system is used in Asturias and in many schools in the rest of Spain and also by many children in South America.
In 2006 we uploaded a video to youtube with information about the Communicator. Thanks to this we have received a lot of feedback from various Autism Blogs and Web Sites.
Autismo Integral
Habla por mi dice Iago
Apanate (Asociación de Padres de Personas con Autismo de Tenerife)
Web de familia y de niños con Necesidades Especiales y Retraso Madurativo
In 2008 the project won an Information Society Award in Asturias . We are really proud of this Award as it meant a recognition of all the hours we have worked for free :-).
If you are not from Spain and are interested in this system please email me at danielmunozgarcia@gmail.com. We are open to any kind of collaboration and are willing to have the system translated to more languages.
If you want to test or use the system we are distributing it freely, don't hesitate in contacting us.
Thanks,
Daniel Muñoz
If you want to test or use the system we are distributing it freely, don't hesitate in contacting us.
Thanks,
Daniel Muñoz
