Contact: Pam Homsher, Director of Communications, phomsher@monarchtt.com

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Shaker Heights, Ohio, November 19, 2008 – Monarch Teaching Technologies, Inc. announced today the release of VizZle, an innovative web-based software for creating and displaying visual supports for children with autism. Visual language supports have been proven effective both at home and in the classroom and are one of the few treatments for autism with little or no controversy surrounding it.

“It’s unique–there is nothing like it currently available in the marketplace,” said Monarch Teaching Technologies CEO Terry Murphy. “Its web-based platform and user-friendly features makes it both convenient and easy to use.”

While widely acknowledged as very effective, the use of customized visual content has until now been severely limited by practical considerations. Creating the individualized materials needed was a time-consuming and expensive chore for teachers and parents involving multiple software programs, searches for appropriate art, and manual cutting, pasting and laminating of printed materials.

To solve this problem, VizZle gives users unlimited web access to three important components: a library full of searchable shared lesson content already proven effective in the classroom; a visual language lab with over 14,000 appropriate images and all the tools necessary for lesson creation or customization; and the means to play the finished product interactively on any computer or web-connected device (such as a Smartboard or touch screen) in addition to the traditional print option. The product has met with rave reviews by the special education teachers in both public and specialty schools who participated in the two years of development and testing prior to release.

Visual supports are the foundation of the “Monarch Model,” a multi-disciplinary curriculum developed at the Monarch School in conjunction with Howard Shane, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Communication Disorders at Childrens Hospital Boston. Researchers and educators alike agree that most autistic children’s primary cognitive processing mode is visual, and the Monarch Model builds on that strength. Dr. Shane documented the efficacy of the Monarch Model teaching methodology in his recently released book Visual Language in Autism (Plural Publishing, 2008) (http://www.pluralpublishing.com/publications_vlia.htm).

For additional information on this new technology, please contact Pam Homsher at Monarch Teaching Technologies at (440) 773-5910 or phomsher@monarchteachtech.com.

Monarch Teaching Technologies, Inc. (monarchteachtech.com) was founded in 2005 by CEO Terry Murphy and Wingspan Care Group, a 501c(3) corporation which includes Bellefaire JCB (bellefairejcb.org), the parent organization of The Monarch School for Children With Autism. In 2007, MTT exclusively licensed intellectual property from Bellefaire JCB and Childrens Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School in order to develop and market proprietary software for the treatment of children with Autism and other communication disorders.