OVERVIEW
POCKET DISCOVERY DESKTOP VISUAL ASSISTANT SCHEDULE ASSISTANT POCKET ACE ROCKET READER COMMUNITY INTEGRATION SUITE POCKET ENDEAVOR PLACE AN ORDER 
OVERVIEW
DISCOVERY DESKTOP WEB TREK CONNECT JOB QUEST WEB TREK VISUAL IMPACT SCHEDULE IMPACT COMPUTER & WEB ACCESS SUITE SMART LIVING SUITE PLACE AN ORDER  |
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Traveling in the car, taking the bus, time between classes, or maybe just a long lunch break… people all over are using handheld Pocket PCs to listen to audio e-books from online book stores like “Audible.com.” A wide variety of titles are available so whether someone is interested in current politics, historical events, or the latest New York Times best-seller, there is likely a book just for them waiting to be downloaded and listened to. Unfortunately, up to 20,000 million individuals in the United States are unable to access e-books due to cognitive disabilities, such as autism, intellectual disabilities, or other learning disabilities that make it difficult to use the traditional software programs that are available for listening to e-books. Following two years of research and development funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, AbleLink has created an e-book reader specifically targeted to individuals with significant cognitive disabilities. You can view an interactive demo of Rocket Reader 
In the initial research phase, researchers conducted a pilot study with 49 individuals with intellectual disabilities in collaboration with Colorado Springs School District #11, Goodwill Industries of Southern Colorado, and with support from Dr. Michael Wehmeyer of the Beach Center on Disability at the University of Kansas. The results of the testing demonstrated empirical support for the Rocket Reader system. 
In the study three times as many individuals with little or no reading ability were able to independently use the Rocket Reader system compared with the most popular audio book reading programs. 
The results of our initial research project will be published in an upcoming issue of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, a journal of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).