Branch of the Vine Software is a 501(c)(3) non-profit company dedicated to making God's Word accessible to individuals with cognitive disabilities. 

What We Believe:

We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God.  We believe in one God, Creator of all things, existing in 3 persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We believe Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; He died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father. We believe He sent the Holy Spirit to help and guide us as we walk with Jesus.

We believe that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of all believers.  The Lord said, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people." (Joel 2:28)  We believe that the Holy spirit does not need a human to have a certain level of intelligence in order for Him to work.  All have gifts to share. 

Our Response:

Branch of the Vine Software's mission is to create and distribute accessible gospel based software for all individuals including individuals with cognitive impairments and individuals with autism spectrum disorders. No prerequiste skills are required.  Our software presents basic truths from the Bible in a simple and visually appealing manner, making the gospel clear to individuals who may not be able to read and who may have difficulty attending church and understanding the Christian message when presented in the larger church assembly.

Why Assistive Technology?  

My name is Linda Baldwin.  My background is that I am a speech language pathologist.  In my regular work, I am involved in the sale and implementation of a large variety of assistive technology tools and in training the educators to use these tools with their students. I have seen the benefits of assistive technology in the field of regular education. I remember one young nonverbal student whom I saw during my work and the frustration of the teacher who was trying to reach him and help him, but the child didn't respond.  The teacher was concerned that the child was too severely impaired to respond.  I was invited to come to class and we tried some simple software that encouraged him to press a colorful switch attached to the computer to change the picture.  The little boy responded to this software, becoming very interested, and pressed the switch to change the screens - at the same time receiving language stimulation from the software.