Day 8: Eye Gazes and Switches Activity Day!

Today we got to demo a lot of the alternate access technology that we see students using in their everyday life. It was absolutely fantastic to actually try these technologies to see their advantages and their limitations for the various users.

Watching the video this morning really confirmed how you need an entire team to help a student with some challenges. Every person, from the teacher, to the SLP, to the OC, to the EA, and many more, have a key roll to play in every child's well-being and development. It is very important to have these students integrated in the classroom. No matter what is going on in the class, you can always have a role for the person with challenges. They can do something in the class, even if it isn't the same as the other kids as long as they are meeting their own goals set out by the team.

It is good to hear and reinforce how important the role of the classroom teacher is when it comes to the social development of a child with special needs. It is up to the teacher to model the behaviour that is wanted from the child's peers. The social part of kids learning is immense for any child, but it is especially difficult for a child with special needs.

Watching Michael, Todd, Justin, and Joy manage their day to day lives with assistive technology is quite remarkable. I can only imagine how far they would have advanced nowadays with the growing amount of AT that we have. Eye gaze would have been a wonderful tool for Joy. It's incredible to see how students are still using the same technology today that they were using 20-30 years ago.

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Station 7: High Impact Videos on Youtube

We chose this video with Mason who is visually impaired. He has a typewriter to write in braille. The technology actually speaks to him when he types so that he know if he chose the correct letter or number. It is really nice to see some AT for those who have visual impairments. Often we think of eye-gaze, or Proloquo2Go to assist students with special needs, not thinking of those who cannot use their eyes.

We chose the next video with Nick because he is an adult with his own lawn care business. He has managed to work around his impairments to drive, to run a successful business, and to live a normal life. He has switch technology in his vehicle on the headrest to help him signal. He seems to be a happy, well-adjusted adult.

Finally we chose Elle. Elle uses eye-gaze and Dynavox to communicate. She has a large vocabulary and is capable of communicative very well. Just because she has Cerebral Palsy, it does not mean that her cognitive abilities are diminished. She loves to write emails, go shopping at the mall, and spend time with friends. It was really amazing to watch her interview!

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Station 1: PowerLink and switches

Here we explored a variety of switches that students can use for daily activities. Each of these switches operate a bit differently, but a student would need to be able to grip the switch, move their head or limb to access the switch, or have some kind of motor skills to be able to use it. The student needs a cognitive level high enough to be able to understand instructions and situations where they need to use their switch.

Here are 10 activities that students can do with PowerLink and Switches:

1. Turn off or on mixers in Family Studies
2. Use the button to signal for driving
3. Turn on or off their laptop or iPad to control their own use of AT
4. Use it to communicate (i.e. want to go to bathroom, hungry, thirsty, etc.)
5. Control water flow to water plants, or help with cleaning or cooking
6. Use it to activate spinner for math class or art class
7. Use it to control time in a game and sound the buzzer
8. Use it to control the speed of an audio book and to pause it when needed
9. Participate in play (operate electronic toys and video games)
10. Be in charge of the electric pencil sharpener in the class

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Station 2: Onscreen Keyboard PC

There are three ways we can use an onscreen keyboard with students who have difficulties:

1. Direct input: Students with some fine motor skills as they are able to use the mouse to find the key they want and click to select that key. It is also nice that the keyboard can be expanded.

2. Hover with trackball: Students with very limited motor skills who have difficulty clicking would prefer this method as they only have to move the trackball or the mouse over the key they want to select. Then they can use the predictive text to type in their words.

3. Scanning through keys: Students with severe physical limitations who cannot move much can use the scanning method where they only need to click the space bar on the appropriate section.

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Station 3: iPad and Switch access via Bluetooth

Using bluetooth with the iPad is a great way for students to participate in games. The optimal user would be a person with physical disabilities who has difficulty with their motor skills. They are learning how to hold and let go, and it helps to develop students ease with switch technology. The advantages of offering this on the iPad are many fold: they are portable, they are new technology, and the user would not feel singled out by using this technology.

Here are 12 other switch accessible apps for the iPad:

1. Attainment Switch
2. "Dirty Duds" adapted play book
3. Catch the Cow
4. iSpeak Button
5. "Harry Hurry" adapted play book
6. "E-i-e-i-o" adapted play book
7."Peanut Butter" adapted play book
8. iSpeak sequences
9. Dexteria Fine Motor Skills
10. Learn Muscles Anatomy Reference
11. Naming Therapy: Word-Finding for Aphasia
12. SmallTalk Aphasia

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Station 4: Eye-Gaze

We found it difficult at first to calibrate the system especially without moving our heads. But once you've got it down, it is such an easy thing to use. It gives the user pretty much access to anything that is accessible on a computer. The opportunities are endless! Now that we have access to the internet via a computer, we can allow the user to do anything he or she would want. The supporting team members would be the EA, OT, LC staff, teacher, and parents. They would need some basic training on how to use the technology and what is compatible with the eye gaze tool.


Here are 10 activities a person could do using the eye-gaze technology:

1. Multiple choice assessments
2. Text to speech technology
3. Typing using an onscreen keyboard
4. Play educational games ( online or software loaded on computer)
5. Look to learn
6. Research online
7. Adult colouring book painting on iPad
8. Watching TV and changing the channel
9. Playing music with technology (iPad)
10. Giving directions during an activity with peers

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Station 6: Android

All of these accessibility options are available for students who have various needs and challenges: TalkBack, Switch Access, Captions, Magnification Gestures, large text, high contrast text, auto-rotate screen, speak passwords, touch and hold delay, colour inversion,  and colour correction. It's amazing how technology is already on the cutting edge of AT, especially for users who have limited mobility and vision problems.

Here are some apps on Google Play for users with various disabilities:

1. Mercury Screen Reader (reads icons)

2. Mercury Image Viewer (helps take pictures)

3. Mercury Page Reader 

4. Mercury Power Off (turns off device)

5. Autism AAC Speech 3D Symbols

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Station 5: Alternate Keyboard to Chromebook

There are many setting in this Chromebook that can help students access the device such as: large mouse cursor, high contrast mode, sticky keys, ChromeVox (spoken feedback), screen magnifier, onscreen keyboard, and auto click when mouse stops. 

I found using the keyboad a bit more difficult because I am not used to using these types of keyboards. But I can definitely see the benefit for students who have difficulty typing because of their fine motor skills. 

The R&W extension is great for students who have difficulty typing. They can speak to the app and have the app write for them. They also have a picture dictionary, regular dictionary, predictive text for students who have low cognitive abilities, and an ability to have the webpages read and translate to them. 

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This was a very busy class with a lot of new things to learn. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed!