Meet the Believers
Accessing life in a complicated body requires creativity and innovation. In Brene Brown’s book, Daring Greatly, Brene asked Kevin Surace, Inc.com’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2009, “What’s the most significant barrier to creativity and innovation?” He responded, “....the problem is that innovative ideas often sound crazy and failure and learning are part of revolution. Evolution and incremental change is important and we need it, but we’re desperate for real revolution and that requires a different type of courage and creativity....”
When creative solutions are needed, “no” cannot be in our vocabulary. We find ourselves often saying, “I don’t know YET”. We've entered home after home and school after school, with the hope that with a little piece of technology or a modification, these children and adults could gain independence. We continue to learn each day from everyone we meet.
These are their success stories.
When creative solutions are needed, “no” cannot be in our vocabulary. We find ourselves often saying, “I don’t know YET”. We've entered home after home and school after school, with the hope that with a little piece of technology or a modification, these children and adults could gain independence. We continue to learn each day from everyone we meet.
These are their success stories.
Nanie
Nanie and her twin were born healthy and enjoyed six months of neurotypical development until the day of her tragic accident. Nanie fell off her bed, experience a traumatic brain injury and was hospitalized for nearly a year. The result of this injury left her spasticity within her extremities which has led to contractures and no possibility of weight bearing through her legs. She can move her arms to reach for items, however keeps her hands in a fisted position, which limits her ability to perform any functional task. We met Nanie age 3 and began introducing assistive technology that would increase her independence. Using switch adapted toys, we learned that Nanie was able to touch and hold a switch with her right hand. We took this switch use ability and ran with it, moving her beyond toys and music and on to movement. We researched GoBaby and decided to collaborate with Seton High School’s robotics team to create mobility with power wheels operated with a switch. Once the car was adapted, we added a kickboard, PVC pipe and a couple pool noodles for her specialized seating system. Sometimes “redneck” is the only option in the budget. She was fearful to touch the switch so a heart sticker was placed on the switch and away she went.
For the first time in her life, she experienced independent mobility. Her twin was her passenger and she, quite literally, was in the drivers seat. She began to learn about her world in a whole new way. She bumped into things and realized how to lift off the switch before she crashed. She learned how to stop in order to stay safe. She participated in our first (now annual) Roller Derby with 8 other participants. Each year 8-10 children receive cars and previous participants return. 2017 was our biggest event yet and NBC news did an excellent job showing these amazing kids maneuver through an obstacle course. Once freshman, now seniors, worked with us for four years in a row to refine the technology and now the parents can even steer from an android phone. Nanie now drives her power wheels out in her neighborhood and participates in tag with friends on her street.
Meanwhile, Nanie received a Tobii Eye gaze device and began combining symbols to make requests, comment, ask questions and participate in social exchanges. But this fancy eye gaze device didn’t allow her to control music or videos on her iPad. We trailed two switch access with lockline mounting to each side of her head. We connected those switches to the Pretorian Applicator Bluetooth Interface and set up play/pause in iTunes. Recipes were created for other entertaining and educational apps on the iPad. Talk points (single message buttons) were also used to teach head movement for “yes” and ”no”. Nanie quickly learned subtle head movements to nod for “yes” and shake for “no” and now we could communicate on some level with no technology at all. Training was completed with family and school staff to provide continuity of care.
As excited as we are and continue to be about the power wheels cars, power wheelchairs were the next step as these kiddos began to grow out of the cars and the need for independent mobility within the school setting increased. So off we went to Adapted Switch Lab (ASL) in Austin to learn all about powered mobility. Are any of us physical therapists? No. As you have probably experienced, in the world of AT, the lines between professions blur as we all collaborate to creatively meet the needs. When you are looking for innovative solutions, all ideas are considered and letters after your name, don’t really matter. Arlene James did an excellent job at ASL honoring pioneers in this area by quoting Karen Kangas’ work. Kangas states (2003) “Optimum positioning of the human body is paramount to successful function, including mobility and cognitive alertness.” Arlene goes on to state “Mobility and Movement is the easiest way to find interest, intent and allow for self initiated, self driven and thus, an engaging activity for the person.”
What does the research say? “Mobility to explore your environment by any means will increase motor learning. As soon as you are reaching, as soon as you are walking, your cognition explodes.” (University of Delaware Study with Robotic Movement) “Lack of motor learning and experience causes a delay and secondary disabilities” (Tech for Tots Cal State Northridge, USC, and Los Angels Children’s Hospital). We came back from the ASL training not only with new hope and motivation, but the skill set to begin implementation. Power wheelchairs were donated to us and we started putting bright children and their complicated bodies in power wheelchairs.
Nanie pulled from her power wheels exposure and her two switching scanning on iPad and began using her head to drive a chair using the ATOM head array. She had hours of opportunities to drive outside in large spaces, inside in small spaces and practice crossing thresholds. We used the information on motivation to guide our mobility training. "Children learn and use mobility in familiar environments, and with familiar adults, and are particularly interested in the mobility not as a skill unto itself, but rather as a means to approach a person or object, leave a situation, explore an environment, and/or touch and obtain an object.” –Karen Kangas. We set up short trips with high interest items in our small gym and watched the magic happen.
In the State of Arizona, you have to take a “driving test” to qualify for a power chair. Most kiddos have never been in a chair and rarely pass a powered mobility test the first try. Knowing our uphill battle, we asked Adaptive Switch Lab to come out to Arizona to do a one-day training and educate assistive technologists and mobility evaluators. That’s right…we gathered all key players in the same room, hearing the same information, seeing the same successful videos and we got buy in. We returned to Austin with a team of therapists and wheelchair evaluators for in depth training.
Now we were ready to have our first client participate in a powered mobility evaluation. We were allowed to use a known motivator, Dory, to place targets around the area. Nanie was a rock star. She drove straight to a Dory and stopped and earned the Dory picture attached to a tongue depressor. Yep, less than 10 cents here, people. Then she scanned the room, located the next Dory on a stick and turned, drove and stopped at the next Dory stick. She crossed thresholds, managed curbs and stopped on command. An interesting thing happened while learning to drive and move independently, Nanie increased her repertoire of single phonemes and CVCV (consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel) from “mmmmm” to “mama’, “papa”, “Nana” (her name), “Tete” (sisters name), “op for “stop and “GO!” We looked at Nanie’s abilities, we asked “what is the next small increment of possibility,” we jerry-rigged the technology and one step at a time, one piece of technology at a time, we came up with assistive technology solutions to treat the whole child. Communication was motivation for movement and mobility and mobility created increased opportunities for communication. It’s all connected folks. In fall of 2016, Nanie became one of the youngest people in the State of Arizona to receive a powered wheel chair. She drives around her neighborhood and her school setting independently. She is now six years old and world is her oyster.
This whole process started by Nanie learning to activate a switch. Every November, Believe Beyond Ability gives away 50 adapted toys with a switch. For some this is their first experience towards independence. For others it means that they get to experience a new toy during the holiday season rather than a gift card or the ever so popular bubbles. We collaborate with Ben Ritchie and Anthon McLaws to learn how to adapt each years’ most popular toys. We can’t under estimate the power of a single switch.
We cannot be experts in all things. Whether you are an SLP collaborating on wheelchairs or a parent learning how to adapt toys, we need the expertise of others to treat the whole child.
For the first time in her life, she experienced independent mobility. Her twin was her passenger and she, quite literally, was in the drivers seat. She began to learn about her world in a whole new way. She bumped into things and realized how to lift off the switch before she crashed. She learned how to stop in order to stay safe. She participated in our first (now annual) Roller Derby with 8 other participants. Each year 8-10 children receive cars and previous participants return. 2017 was our biggest event yet and NBC news did an excellent job showing these amazing kids maneuver through an obstacle course. Once freshman, now seniors, worked with us for four years in a row to refine the technology and now the parents can even steer from an android phone. Nanie now drives her power wheels out in her neighborhood and participates in tag with friends on her street.
Meanwhile, Nanie received a Tobii Eye gaze device and began combining symbols to make requests, comment, ask questions and participate in social exchanges. But this fancy eye gaze device didn’t allow her to control music or videos on her iPad. We trailed two switch access with lockline mounting to each side of her head. We connected those switches to the Pretorian Applicator Bluetooth Interface and set up play/pause in iTunes. Recipes were created for other entertaining and educational apps on the iPad. Talk points (single message buttons) were also used to teach head movement for “yes” and ”no”. Nanie quickly learned subtle head movements to nod for “yes” and shake for “no” and now we could communicate on some level with no technology at all. Training was completed with family and school staff to provide continuity of care.
As excited as we are and continue to be about the power wheels cars, power wheelchairs were the next step as these kiddos began to grow out of the cars and the need for independent mobility within the school setting increased. So off we went to Adapted Switch Lab (ASL) in Austin to learn all about powered mobility. Are any of us physical therapists? No. As you have probably experienced, in the world of AT, the lines between professions blur as we all collaborate to creatively meet the needs. When you are looking for innovative solutions, all ideas are considered and letters after your name, don’t really matter. Arlene James did an excellent job at ASL honoring pioneers in this area by quoting Karen Kangas’ work. Kangas states (2003) “Optimum positioning of the human body is paramount to successful function, including mobility and cognitive alertness.” Arlene goes on to state “Mobility and Movement is the easiest way to find interest, intent and allow for self initiated, self driven and thus, an engaging activity for the person.”
What does the research say? “Mobility to explore your environment by any means will increase motor learning. As soon as you are reaching, as soon as you are walking, your cognition explodes.” (University of Delaware Study with Robotic Movement) “Lack of motor learning and experience causes a delay and secondary disabilities” (Tech for Tots Cal State Northridge, USC, and Los Angels Children’s Hospital). We came back from the ASL training not only with new hope and motivation, but the skill set to begin implementation. Power wheelchairs were donated to us and we started putting bright children and their complicated bodies in power wheelchairs.
Nanie pulled from her power wheels exposure and her two switching scanning on iPad and began using her head to drive a chair using the ATOM head array. She had hours of opportunities to drive outside in large spaces, inside in small spaces and practice crossing thresholds. We used the information on motivation to guide our mobility training. "Children learn and use mobility in familiar environments, and with familiar adults, and are particularly interested in the mobility not as a skill unto itself, but rather as a means to approach a person or object, leave a situation, explore an environment, and/or touch and obtain an object.” –Karen Kangas. We set up short trips with high interest items in our small gym and watched the magic happen.
In the State of Arizona, you have to take a “driving test” to qualify for a power chair. Most kiddos have never been in a chair and rarely pass a powered mobility test the first try. Knowing our uphill battle, we asked Adaptive Switch Lab to come out to Arizona to do a one-day training and educate assistive technologists and mobility evaluators. That’s right…we gathered all key players in the same room, hearing the same information, seeing the same successful videos and we got buy in. We returned to Austin with a team of therapists and wheelchair evaluators for in depth training.
Now we were ready to have our first client participate in a powered mobility evaluation. We were allowed to use a known motivator, Dory, to place targets around the area. Nanie was a rock star. She drove straight to a Dory and stopped and earned the Dory picture attached to a tongue depressor. Yep, less than 10 cents here, people. Then she scanned the room, located the next Dory on a stick and turned, drove and stopped at the next Dory stick. She crossed thresholds, managed curbs and stopped on command. An interesting thing happened while learning to drive and move independently, Nanie increased her repertoire of single phonemes and CVCV (consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel) from “mmmmm” to “mama’, “papa”, “Nana” (her name), “Tete” (sisters name), “op for “stop and “GO!” We looked at Nanie’s abilities, we asked “what is the next small increment of possibility,” we jerry-rigged the technology and one step at a time, one piece of technology at a time, we came up with assistive technology solutions to treat the whole child. Communication was motivation for movement and mobility and mobility created increased opportunities for communication. It’s all connected folks. In fall of 2016, Nanie became one of the youngest people in the State of Arizona to receive a powered wheel chair. She drives around her neighborhood and her school setting independently. She is now six years old and world is her oyster.
This whole process started by Nanie learning to activate a switch. Every November, Believe Beyond Ability gives away 50 adapted toys with a switch. For some this is their first experience towards independence. For others it means that they get to experience a new toy during the holiday season rather than a gift card or the ever so popular bubbles. We collaborate with Ben Ritchie and Anthon McLaws to learn how to adapt each years’ most popular toys. We can’t under estimate the power of a single switch.
We cannot be experts in all things. Whether you are an SLP collaborating on wheelchairs or a parent learning how to adapt toys, we need the expertise of others to treat the whole child.
Max
Max was born prematurely at 25 weeks gestation. His official diagnosis was Cerebral Palsy and as a result of his prematurity, he is completely blind due to retinopathy of prematurity. Max is now 14 and he is non-verbal. To his mom’s delight, he walks independently. When we met him he had a four choice tactile board with voice output. Period. Max has a sophisticated interest in music and a large repertoire of movement activities that he enjoys. He has a reliable “yes” and “no” and could answer questions on chapter books demonstrating strong cognition of language. One of mom’s biggest frustration, however, was that Max was on milk and baby food and did not chew or self feed. His body language suggested to us that feeding was not a favorite activity. He does not have a G-Tube so successful feeding attempts were required three times a day. His feeding positioning was literally curled up in a ball and that made it very difficult to feed him. One day, we were over at Max’s house and he was having a particularly difficult day. “Head up” was a common phrase, but no one was sure if that was meaningful to Max. They tried a variety of chairs, tomatoes chairs, stools, etc. and no chair did the trick. They had a collar to help him with optimal swallowing positioning but Max hated it. At this point we had a couple of options. We could have (possibly should have) minded our own business, reminded them that we are AAC specialist and stayed away from the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, it would have been heart felt and there would have been statements of compassion like “I see that this is difficult” and “You are amazing parents.” Instead, we addressed the problem with creativity, innovation and humor. It all started with….“Wouldn’t it be cool if he lifted his head, then his music would play and when he brought his head back down between his knees the music would go off?” Then comes the “I don’t know YET...but let’s try it”. We attempted this first by simulating the activity with no “real” technology. Each time he lifted his head, we played music on our phone and quickly selected “Pause” when his head began to lower. We tried to put a switch behind his head but as soon as he felt it, he reached back, grabbed the switch and threw it. The reclining position of that chair did not promote the use of Max core muscles to sit up straight so we changed the chair to more of a stool that required a more upright position. One day I causally mentioned to his dad that I wish I could set this up on a “break the beam” type switch. I explained about proximity switches and that all Max would have to do would be to break the bream. I explained that we (had previously) trialed proximity switches but they required Max to get so close that again, he could sense it was there, he would grab the switch and throw it. As I went down an extremely complicated road of how to make iPhone music switch activated with a break the beam switch and a recipe, the dad said “You mean Like a garage door?” As we looked at him in confusion he said “I used to put a beam across my bedroom door and my alarm clock would play when anyone “broke the beam” and entered in my room.” I looked at him in amazement. “Yeah…like a garage door.” “Let me see what I can do.” What?!?! Who if this wizard? A few weeks later, Max had a laser (but a flashlight could do) on a tripod and a receiver made out of a Cheeze-It box, plugged into an iPad running music off Pandora. When Max brought his head up, it broke the beam and the music started playing. No special $800 seating system, no verbal prompting of “head up,” no switches that triggered tactile defensiveness - just motivation. He could independently operate music if he kept his head in the proper positioning for feeding. (Later I found out that Max’s dad is in fact a rocket scientist – for real!) But here’s the thing about Believe Beyond Ability, in never just stops there. Once we have a break through, me meet the exact person who also needs that piece of technology. One of our kiddos with extremely low vision also was eating by mouth very poorly due to poor positioning. When we borrowed the laser beam and tried it with this boy, he also achieved proper positioning for safe swallowing. Neither child needed the laser beam music long term. Just long enough to understand how we need to sit when we eat to achieve safe swallowing.
Max currently has a low tech board of meaningful object, uses talk points (single message buttons) for location specific language like a button by the front door that says “I want to go outside.” He has an iPad with GoTalkNOW with auditory preview and a 16-button keyguard where he uses direct secret to access language. He uses this system at home and school because everyone involved in his car has been trained on the device. He can even command his Alexa to play specific music.
The key in this simple, yet life changing solution is that we enter the home with the intent to collaborate and team with caregivers and families. If we had set up an “expert/non expert “ relationship with Max’s parents, we never would have learned that with a little creative brainstorming, they possessed the tools and skills necessary to provide a way for their son to increase in independence. In the world of assistive technology, no idea is a bad idea. Often, it’s all about modifications and who better to brainstorm ideas than the parents. Don’t have a Rocket Scientist on your team – no problem. We have discovered time and time again that parents are creative and innovative and they also happen to be experts on their own children.
Max currently has a low tech board of meaningful object, uses talk points (single message buttons) for location specific language like a button by the front door that says “I want to go outside.” He has an iPad with GoTalkNOW with auditory preview and a 16-button keyguard where he uses direct secret to access language. He uses this system at home and school because everyone involved in his car has been trained on the device. He can even command his Alexa to play specific music.
The key in this simple, yet life changing solution is that we enter the home with the intent to collaborate and team with caregivers and families. If we had set up an “expert/non expert “ relationship with Max’s parents, we never would have learned that with a little creative brainstorming, they possessed the tools and skills necessary to provide a way for their son to increase in independence. In the world of assistive technology, no idea is a bad idea. Often, it’s all about modifications and who better to brainstorm ideas than the parents. Don’t have a Rocket Scientist on your team – no problem. We have discovered time and time again that parents are creative and innovative and they also happen to be experts on their own children.
Aidan
Aidan was born as a typical spunky, happy red headed boy. When he was nine he was in a car accident that left him in a very complicated body. Aidan had no volitional movement. However, his reflexes were intact and when something funny was said he smiled. When something sad was said, he created an audible moan. When someone walked into a room, Aidan could track them with his eyes. However, if you told him to look at something, he would freeze and have difficulty motor planning ocular movement. The eye gaze specialist reported this as “Ocular Motor Apraxia” – yep – it is a thing. Mom had Aidan evaluated for speech at 5 different agencies and they all said there was nothing they could do. She called the local Arizona Technology Access Program and told the specialist, Clayton Duffey, her son’s story. He recommended those “out of the box ladies” at Believe Beyond Ability. Due to his medical fragility, he was not in school, and since it was April, they had already exhausted they 30 visits a year on physical therapy. When we got involved, they had no insurance or resources for assistive technology. We did not say “no”, we said “We don’t know YET...but let’s try.”
Do to his ocular motor apraxia, it didn’t seem like eye gaze was going to be an option. We tried two eye gaze devices that could not even find his eyes. So we dove into looking for a switch site. We set him up on the iPad with the GoTalkNOW app on auditory preview and began looking at his body to see what it would do when he heard the auditory preview mention something of high interest. He was now 11 so “Five little monkeys” were out and The Regular Show, jokes, Peyton List and Katy Perry made the top four list of motivators. No mater where we placed the switch we ran into two issues – timing and release. It was difficult for Aidan to activate a switch within a timely manner once he heard what he really wanted. Release was almost impossible. Once he activated the switch, it would stay activated for minutes until he would finally moan and we would help him release the muscle. He would smile when he heard the one he wanted and he tried a variety of cheek options but the inability to release the switch made that site impossible. No mater where we put the switch we noticed that his would take a big breath prior to an attempt and initiating movement. So, we placed the switch on his rib cage and had some success. Problem – he has to breathe – even when he isn’t making a choice. For several months, we looked at switch sights and with that came a variety of “toys,” including switch adapted fart machines, life-size minions and extra cool remote control cars. Soldering wires and collaboration with local toy adaptors were all part of these switch access attempt.
Switches are unreliable. We continue to work on switches through head control using powered mobility. He can’t let go of a switch so lets put him in powered mobility – “yes!” Again we pulled from Adaptive Switch Lab in Austin where we learned about the motivation that independent mobility plays on those with little control and he continues to work on switch access to this day.
Through the Arizona Technology Access Program Lending Library, we were able to get pieces of technology on loan so we began to trial several unique systems. We decided to moved on to another epic failure – Eagle Eyes. Eagle Eyes is an innovative technology developed at Boston College that enables communication and learning primarily with individuals who have significant physical limitations. Surface electrodes are placed on the user's head, above and below one eye, and on each side of the head to the left and right of the eyes. The five electrodes are connected to a small battery-powered electrophysiological amplifier, which is connected to a computer. A program in the computer translates the signals received from the electrodes into the position of the mouse pointer on the screen. When the user moves his or her eyes, the mouse pointer moves.
There is nothing “wrong” with Eagle Eyes – it just didn’t work for Aidan. He would be asleep and the Eagle Eyes would detect small movement and draw lines on the computer screen. There was no way to prove there was any intent with this system. Crash and burn – yet they still let us in each week. Again, little miracles.
We slowly started working on eye movement up and down and side to side. We waited months for him to see a Neurologic Ophthalmologist to find out that he had lesions that prevented good ocular motor movement to his left, which was what we were seeing in therapy. Yes, somehow this is still speech and occupational therapy, but the beautiful thing about an Assistive Technology Non Profit is that you aren’t bound a domain. You just do what needs to be done and learn what you need to learn. The specialist prescribed a new eye glass prescription and we continued our highly unskilled vision therapy or “follow a highly desired item with your eyes” therapy. We presented single choices with only words and he responded. We continued to co-treat and used movement in a powered wheelchair to motivate switch use and he would drive to a low tech eye gaze selection area where things would get really crazy. He would drive to an area where he could hear jokes, and area of covered posters of favorite female artists, an area where he could watch a video, or listen to music. Slowly but surely, reliable movement crept in.
Almost a year to the day we met him, we tried eye gaze again and Aidan calibrated the ACCENT 1400 with a 5-point calibration. He moved his eyes to make selections form a field of 4, 8, 28 and even 45. It took us a YEAR, people.
Do to his ocular motor apraxia, it didn’t seem like eye gaze was going to be an option. We tried two eye gaze devices that could not even find his eyes. So we dove into looking for a switch site. We set him up on the iPad with the GoTalkNOW app on auditory preview and began looking at his body to see what it would do when he heard the auditory preview mention something of high interest. He was now 11 so “Five little monkeys” were out and The Regular Show, jokes, Peyton List and Katy Perry made the top four list of motivators. No mater where we placed the switch we ran into two issues – timing and release. It was difficult for Aidan to activate a switch within a timely manner once he heard what he really wanted. Release was almost impossible. Once he activated the switch, it would stay activated for minutes until he would finally moan and we would help him release the muscle. He would smile when he heard the one he wanted and he tried a variety of cheek options but the inability to release the switch made that site impossible. No mater where we put the switch we noticed that his would take a big breath prior to an attempt and initiating movement. So, we placed the switch on his rib cage and had some success. Problem – he has to breathe – even when he isn’t making a choice. For several months, we looked at switch sights and with that came a variety of “toys,” including switch adapted fart machines, life-size minions and extra cool remote control cars. Soldering wires and collaboration with local toy adaptors were all part of these switch access attempt.
Switches are unreliable. We continue to work on switches through head control using powered mobility. He can’t let go of a switch so lets put him in powered mobility – “yes!” Again we pulled from Adaptive Switch Lab in Austin where we learned about the motivation that independent mobility plays on those with little control and he continues to work on switch access to this day.
Through the Arizona Technology Access Program Lending Library, we were able to get pieces of technology on loan so we began to trial several unique systems. We decided to moved on to another epic failure – Eagle Eyes. Eagle Eyes is an innovative technology developed at Boston College that enables communication and learning primarily with individuals who have significant physical limitations. Surface electrodes are placed on the user's head, above and below one eye, and on each side of the head to the left and right of the eyes. The five electrodes are connected to a small battery-powered electrophysiological amplifier, which is connected to a computer. A program in the computer translates the signals received from the electrodes into the position of the mouse pointer on the screen. When the user moves his or her eyes, the mouse pointer moves.
There is nothing “wrong” with Eagle Eyes – it just didn’t work for Aidan. He would be asleep and the Eagle Eyes would detect small movement and draw lines on the computer screen. There was no way to prove there was any intent with this system. Crash and burn – yet they still let us in each week. Again, little miracles.
We slowly started working on eye movement up and down and side to side. We waited months for him to see a Neurologic Ophthalmologist to find out that he had lesions that prevented good ocular motor movement to his left, which was what we were seeing in therapy. Yes, somehow this is still speech and occupational therapy, but the beautiful thing about an Assistive Technology Non Profit is that you aren’t bound a domain. You just do what needs to be done and learn what you need to learn. The specialist prescribed a new eye glass prescription and we continued our highly unskilled vision therapy or “follow a highly desired item with your eyes” therapy. We presented single choices with only words and he responded. We continued to co-treat and used movement in a powered wheelchair to motivate switch use and he would drive to a low tech eye gaze selection area where things would get really crazy. He would drive to an area where he could hear jokes, and area of covered posters of favorite female artists, an area where he could watch a video, or listen to music. Slowly but surely, reliable movement crept in.
Almost a year to the day we met him, we tried eye gaze again and Aidan calibrated the ACCENT 1400 with a 5-point calibration. He moved his eyes to make selections form a field of 4, 8, 28 and even 45. It took us a YEAR, people.
Successful implementation of assistive technology takes time and money, something none of us have enough of. Parents are often anxious to see quick results. Teams will often “test” reliability before they have had time to learn something that can often produce a “false negative”. Trust with all of our clients and their family takes time. Time and presenting novel experiences helped reveal possibilities. Conversations and collaborations with others that know more about a particular area is absolutely essential. We don’t dare to call ourselves experts, as that would imply that we know it all and you simply can’t. This field changes daily. A new app comes out tomorrow. The world of gaming is changing technology as we write this. All we can do make the best decisions with the information we have at the time.
All of these AT solutions took creativity and innovation. We are in awe each day that all solutions came from a place of trying something that we have never done before, with people who didn’t know us, and with the understanding that failure was part of the process. On April 23rd 1910, Theodore Roosevelt said “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…” The pioneers in the field of Assistive Technology were those who Dared Greatly in the face of inevitable failures. As we grow up, we want to be just like them.
Until then, WE BELIEVE!
All of these AT solutions took creativity and innovation. We are in awe each day that all solutions came from a place of trying something that we have never done before, with people who didn’t know us, and with the understanding that failure was part of the process. On April 23rd 1910, Theodore Roosevelt said “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…” The pioneers in the field of Assistive Technology were those who Dared Greatly in the face of inevitable failures. As we grow up, we want to be just like them.
Until then, WE BELIEVE!
