Biographical Information:

Lon Thornburg, BA. ME. Assistive Technology Coordinator

Lon graduated with a BA from George Fox University in 1981. He worked at Oregon Health Science University in an early childhood self-contained program doing research in milieu therapy for the emotionally disturbed child. He taught as an elementary teacher in grades 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in Nevada and Oregon. Lon worked as faculty dean and instructor for an international music school, The School of Music Ministries International out of Dallas, Texas . He taught in Cape Town, South Africa; Singapore, Malaysia, Budapest, Amsterdam, London, and Sydney. He received his ME in technology and education from Leslie University, Cambridge, Massachusetts and completed his school administrative program in 2007 through Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Currently, Lon works for Umatilla Morrow Educational Service District in Pendleton, Oregon. After serving in professional development and instructional resources for technology in the classroom, Lon was asked to be the coordinator for assistive technology services. Lon's services cover 12 districts in seven counties as well as his participating on the advisory council for the Oregon Technology Access Program (OTAP) and sharing skills in state-wide AT training workshops. As a member of the Oregon Traumatic Brain Injury Team, Lon is bringing his use of AT to the TBI team coordinating services for students in Eastern Oregon.

Lon has presented nationally at Closing the Gap on online applications for expanding AT services. Lon is the author of the No Limits to Learning blog, the editor of an online AT blog writer's forum- The Assistive Technology Blog Carnival, and maintains an online live stream talk show on Blog Talk Radio, No Limits 2 Learning Live. His writing and interviews have been featured on websites such as Blink Twice, Dynavox, The DAISY Consortium, Notescribe, Ezine Articles and several national special education news feeds. He has also contributed as guest writer for other special education online blogs. Lon's observations on successful advocacy have become a theme in much of his writing. He has spent time asking parents, teachers and administrators about advocacy and what they feel has worked and not worked. He has compiled a summary of this material in a report "Action Steps to Advocacy" which is available free on his blog and website, http://nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com or at www.nolimits2learning.com .

Designing Interactive Activities for Switch Access

A day course in SoftTouch Titles, PowerPoint, Creating Switch-access books, embedding video and sound.

Introduction to Interactive Activities Handout

Tutorial: Creating Interactive PowerPoint Projects

Tutorial: My Own Bookshelf

Tutorial: Test Me, Score Me

Interactive PowerPoint Projects:

You need MS PowerPoint to play these or download the free player from Microsoft

Alphabet

How Many Are There?

Silent e Game