[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]San Diego, CA (PRWEB) May 23, 2012—Brighten Learning, creator of social learning software for children with autism, was voted the Most Likely to Succeed at The Software & Information Industry Ed Tech Summit on May 9, 2012. The company’s first autism education software program, The Social Express, took home the coveted SIIA Ed Tech Summit Innovation Incubator award. The 350 conference attendees also voted the company a Runner Up in the Most Innovative category.

“We’re honored to receive these awards from the SIIA Ed Tech Summit,” said Marc Zimmerman, Founder and CEO. “We value this recognition and the feedback from parents about how The Social Express has helped their children.” Zimmerman continued, “Moms have told us they credit The Social Express with helping their kids with autism to begin forming friendships with other children. That really makes it all worthwhile!”

Parents and teachers of autistic children have given The Social Express, a 16-lesson interactive video modeling program, high marks for focusing on the right social skills. They also value the high-quality, Hollywood-style animation that holds children’s attention without over stimulation and the scenes that reinforce the best choices for kids to make in social situations.

Children find the characters appearing in The Social Express really engaging and many kids ask to work with The Social Express everyday. Users of the program say that it increases social awareness and learning in students with autism and promotes both social interaction and play.

When Zimmerman’s 10-year-old identical twin autistic boys joined mainstream classes, he realized that social learning was going to be key to their ability to interact well with classmates. That was the catalyst for Zimmerman to recruit the expert team that developed The Social Express. The company was bootstrapped from its founding through development and rollout of the first product. The company recently received its first seed funding which will be used to develop additional social learning software products.

About Brighten Learning, Inc.

Brighten Learning, founded by parents of autistic twins in 2008, is a privately held company based in Encinitas, California. The company develops The Social Express™ and other interactive social learning software. The company’s mission is to help children with ADHD, Autism and Asperger’s to improve their lives by teaching social skills using video modeling. Visit the company at http://thesocialexpress.com/

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We were excited this week that our autism software for social learning received two education technology (ed tech) awards. The Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) Innovation Incubator Program recognized The Social Express with a first place honor as as being the Most Likely to Succeed. We also received second place for Most Innovative technology.

Below is the official SIIA news release:

For Immediate Release:
SIIA Communications Contact: Laura Greenback, 410.533.1943, lgreenback@siia.net
PR Contact: Charlene Blohm, C. Blohm & Associates, 608.216.7300, charlene@cblohm.com

SIIA Announces Top Innovators in Education Technology
Three technology solutions receive honors in SIIA’s Innovation Incubator Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 9, 2012) The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, this week recognized three ed tech solutions with five awards for their originality, innovation, and industry promise.

During SIIA’s bi-annual Innovation Incubator program held in connection with this week’s SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit, Language Express and Filament Games were voted by 350 conference attendees as being the Most Likely to Succeed (first place and runner-up, respectively). Filament Games and Language Express were also voted as the Most Innovative (first place and runner-up, respectively.)

The Innovation Incubator Program supports innovation in the education technology industry by raising the profile of promising new technologies while connecting these innovators with captains of industry for mentorship, expert advice, investment opportunities, and partnerships to support growth.

Overall, 73 applicants were assessed for the Innovation Incubator program on a broad range of criteria, including the education focus, end-user impact, market need for the innovation, representation of K-12/postsecondary market levels, and the level of originality and innovation. Ten finalists and two alternates were selected for the program and their participation was subsidized by program lead and co-sponsors Blackboard Partnerships and Texthelp Systems.

“It has been an incredible experience to see more than 100 presentations from the ten innovation incubator program cycles we have now hosted,” said Karen Billings, Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA. “The number of applicants increases every cycle. We are thrilled to support so many original and exciting products and, just as importantly, to provide SIIA members with early access to these technologies.”

In addition to the recognitions announced above, Blackboard Partnerships™ continued its tradition of identifying the Innovation Incubator most aligned with their own initiatives, providing Smart Science Education Inc. with a complimentary year-long membership as a Blackboard Building Blocks™ partner in the Blackboard Partnerships program. Among the many benefits, partners have access to the thousands of clients using the Blackboard Learn™ platform. Program membership also includes a developer copy of the Blackboard Learn software, a product listing on the Blackboard Extensions online directory, personalized guidance and mentorship on the partnership, and participation at members‐only events.

“We’re honored to have teamed up with SIIA for the sixth consecutive year to sponsor the Innovation Incubator Program at the Ed Tech Industry Summit,” said Ted Hopper, Vice President, Business Development at Blackboard. “Each participant showcased original developments aimed to enhance personalized learning, but we think the online labs developed by Smart Science Education Inc. best align with our continued efforts to enrich our content repository for K-12 and Higher Education. We’re excited to welcome Smart Science Education Inc. into the Blackboard Partnerships program.”

About SIIA
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) is the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education, and intellectual property protection to more than 500 leading software and information companies. The SIIA Education Division serves and represents more than 180 member companies that provide software, digital content and other technologies that address educational needs. The Division shapes and supports the industry by providing leadership, advocacy, business development opportunities and critical market information. For more information, visit www.siia.net/education. To learn more about the Innovation Incubator Program and the Ed Tech Industry Summit, visit http://www.siia.net/etis.

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