Attainment Company is an
independent, family owned business based in
Verona, Wisconsin. Since 1979 Attainment Company has been dedicated to
helping people with
cognitive disabilities succeed at school, work and life. Don Bastian,
founder and CEO, created Attainment's first product when he was
a program coordinator at the Rock County Rehabilitation Services (now
called Kandu
Industries) in Beloit, Wisconsin. The Work Skill Development Program,
which used
a task analysis approach to teach work behaviors to young adults with
disabilities, is the foundation for our present
Work
Activity Packages.
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During a recent trip to Beijing, China, Don Bastian, Attainment's CEO, visits the Stars & Rain
Education Institute for Autism where he delivers several donated GoTalks and other Attainment communication devices.
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Soon after Attainment's inception, we began publishing
functional life skill
curricula. A picture-based cooking program called Look
n' Cook was
soon followed by Illustrated
Shopping Cards, Looking Good, Keeping House, Stepping Out, and Plan
Your Day. These unique programs were the
first to
combine picture cueing, story-based instructional video and structured
lesson plans. They have all been updated and are still popular
today.
Times change and so does Attainment. We created our
first assistive
technology device and instructional software in 1993. The Pocket
Talker was
known for its easy use, durability and value. These qualities
are still
inherent in the contemporary GoTalk line. The newest version
of our first software program, Dollars and Cents, anchors
the
Attainment
Workstation, an all-in-one touch screen computer preloaded
with 32 Attainment programs to
teach math, literacy, life and work skills.
In 2001 Attainment launched the IEP
Resources publishing
brand. Its premier publication, Writing Measurable IEP Goals
and Objectives, by
Barbara Bateman, has sold over 60,000 copies. IEP Resources
is now a leading publisher focusing
on critical issues in special education.
Attainment has a growing
older adult product line. Award-winners include Aerobics of
the Mind, Mind Your Mind and the
DVDs — What
Every Caregiver Needs to Know About Alzheimer's Disease and Straight
Talk About Dementia.
Recently, Attainment Company, in collaboration with
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, published the ground-breaking
Early
Literacy Skill Builders (ELSB).
ELSB is the only scientifically-based reading program for children with
significant developmental disabilities, including autism.
In 2008, Attainment continued its collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, to develop two interventions to teach academics aligned with general education curriculum to students with significant cognitive disabilities, focusing on secondary level content and performance standards: Teaching to Standards MATH and Teaching to Standards SCIENCE. To be released in early 2009, is a new GoTalk Pocket, a re-engineered upgrade of Attainment's first talker, the Pocket GoTalk.
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