We have been collecting inspiring success stories from around Latin America to highlight several students who have benefited from our software. Please take a look at the Students with Disabilities page to learn about these amazing children and how AyudaTec software is improving their lives.

Claudia Marimon and her organization, ADAPTA, brought AyudaTec to a special project in Chile. They coordinated efforts with the National Disability Fund (Fonadis) to provide special support a facility run by the Sisters of the congregation Don Orione. This center for 58 adults and children with profound disabilities received a large set of vital materials for the clientele. The center received 15 computers, each pre-loaded with the AyudaTec software, Sonidos y Letras, and accompanied by an assortment of assistive technology access devices hand-selected by Dr. Marimon.

AyudaTec is thrilled to be aligned with this project, and honored to have the esteemed Dr. Marimon on our advisory board. With her close connection to our mission, and her deep understanding of AT and literacy, she is the perfect partner for AyudaTec.

Arjan Khalsa brought AyudaTec software to three elementary schools in Ecuador during a recent vacation. He met with two headmasters, one in Peguche and the other in Mindo, who both loved the software. The director of the Peguche school, shown in the photograph with his two sons, has installed the software on a number of computers and found that students enjoy practicing their reading and writing using the program. He recently sent us this email.

Arjan also met with one educational project director and a university professor who teaches computing and works with computer-using elementary teachers. Both received copies of the AyudaTec CD to pass along to colleges, along with literature about AyudaTec for follow-up and training as needed.

Teachers in Latin America have been asking for a new AyudaTec CD. They want children to learn to read and write with more letters of the alphabet, and with syllables. Now, we will be able to deliver!

Gabriela Berlanga has volunteered to create content. This is the ULTIMATE partner act, and she is eminently qualified given her great expertise in literacy and disability.

Jezra Lickter, who used to work at IntelliTools, will create at least one new “template.” This will make the software operate in a sophisticated way and will reduce development time and costs. Jezra is working as a consultant to AyudaTec.

David Robertshaw is working as Project Manager, consulting to the project for a few days each month to provide leadership and guidance. David is a superb developer who will keep the project on track.

AyudaTec, Inc. is making an impact in Latin America right now. We held a successful training for 25 teachers in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in March. In late April, close colleagues presented the AyudaTec software at a conference near Guanajuato, Mexico. Teachers love the software and want more. We have found a funding vehicle through Rotary, International that might offer future promise for training teachers. We are reaching out for more support to develop our next software program.

Our partner in Mexico City, Gabriela Berlanga, works with a client in her office in March. The photo was taken by Arjan Khalsa during his visit.

Gabriela Berlanga, shown in the section above with a young client, is Co-Director of CATIC, the leading literacy and disability organization in Mexico City, CATIC hosted 130 participants in a conference prompting literacy for students with disabilities on April 24-26. Many readers will recognize Dr. Caroline Musselwhite, Deanna Wagner, and Karen Casey on stage in the photo to the left presenting the software from AyudaTec. They used videos and examples from the software throughout the conference to illustrate important concepts. Afterwards, people lined up to purchase the software, made available at very low prices due to the support of people like you!

Estela Landeros and Arjan Khalsa provided a 3-hour training on the Sonidos y Letras software on March 23. Twenty-five eager and capable teachers assembled at Casa DANE, a center for people with disabilities in a large city in northern Mexico, San Luis Potosi. The Rotary Clubs of Washington, DC, and San Luis partnered to provide support for the teachers, who will eventually expand to a total of 125 AyudaTec software users! The results were profound. Teachers loved the software, and one teacher is planning to train 60 colleagues in the remote area of Huasteca, where 80,000 native inhabitants speak a pre-Spanish language.

Estela Landerson has spent years of her life promoting assistive technology and literacy in Latin America. Born in Mexico, she currently teaches at George Mason University in Virginia.She is a valued AyudaTec volunteer. Estela plans to return to our trainng group twice in the coming months, volunteering her time, with travel costs defrayed through the support of AyudaTec.

We have completed our first software program. Sonidos y Letras means sounds and letters. We worked with Doris Baker, Ph.D., and other Spanish literacy experts to develop this program that focuses on ten sounds and letters that comprise the essential starting point for literacy acquisition in children at risk for failure.

This program is delightful, and it is a beginning. Practically every teacher who sees it says, "This is great, now I need more." Right now, we are lining up the resources to create a second CD. Please consider a donation today to make this a reality. Donate Now. We have four partners in Mexico (see "Quick Links" below to visit two on web), and others in Guatemala, Chile, and Argentina. Through various arrangements, these partners donate software, sell it (creating sustainability for them and AyudaTec), and provide training support. With your support, we can create an entire software program for pennies on the dollar, compared to standard software costs, and we can quickly bring it to people in need throughout Latin America.

AyudaTec is very grateful to efforts made by volunteers who are spreading the word about raising literacy for students with special needs in Latin America.

Steve Rasmussen serves on our advisory board. He is CEO of Key Curriculum Press, a leading publisher of mathematics products for schools. Last year he took considerable time from a business trip in Monterey, Mexico to visit Nuevo Amanecer, a leading center for supporting people with disabilities. He encouraged them to partner with AyudaTec. In late April, two of their staff drove 8 hours to the CATIC conference, saw the presentations by Caroline Musselwhite and Deanna Wagner, and went home with 50 CD's to distribute to local teachers, along with training materials to replicate the support.

Harvey Pressman is a long-time colleague, author of numerous books on education for special students, and co-founder of the Central Coast Children's Foundation, a group dedicated to literacy support for students with special needs around the globe. Harvey supporting AyudaTec by weighing down his luggage with AyudaTec materials on his recent visit to Mexico where he and his colleagues, Sarah Blackstone, Ph.D., and Vicki Cassella, Ph.D., were all involved in the CATIC conference.

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Doris Baker, Ph.D., David Robertshaw, Philip Nittenberg, Rob McPherson, Estela Lanfderos, and so many more dedicated friends and colleagues, our software is now making an impact.

• CATIC- our partner in Mexico City - directed by Gabriela Berlanga
• Nuevo Amanecer - Our partner in Monterey, Mexico
• Central Coast Children's Foundation