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This article, from a website about learning disabilities, provides ideas and suggestions for families looking for fund assistive technology devices. One of the suggested ways to get assistive technology equipment included on the website is by getting used equipment. This is a more affordable way for families and school districts to afford the devices their child/student needs. The website mentions three of the more popular online resources for finding used equipment.

trishamk94

This is a good website that was found by Julia. I think it is important for families to know that if they could not receive the technology needed for school that they have other options, or where they can purchase the devices from. This also works well for the schools, because it has devices that fit the students needs and they can purchase it for a reasonable price if not provided by the state. Just informing parents of websites like this can help them through their needs of trying to help their child. Assistive technology is not always cheap, and this website does a great job of listing organizations that can lead them to purchasing their child’s assistive technology at a reasonable price.

Unit 4

I found this blog through my pinterest account and thought it was very insightful. This is a blog specifically for people who have a disability and assistive technology that can help. However, this particular post is specifically for school aged children who have difficulties with handwriting. It also promotes occupational therapy and how the therapist was so AWESOME! This post was very nice at explaining the app that was created to help the student with his handwriting. The app that was created is called SnapType, it is for free, and can be used for anyone. Both the post and the blog is worth looking at, and is very insightful to the population of assistive technology and disabilities.

Unit 4

This is a helpful website for people who are looking to purchase assistive technology. If they have insurance that declines their claim for AT, or if they need additional help purchasing an expensive piece of equipment, this website gives a list of people/places/organizations ect. to help pay for the devices they need. I think this is a good list because it does have both specific diagnoses and also broad diagnosis. One grant is from the MS society, while others are for disabled children. In general, this allows for people with a disability in need for technology to look for other ways to help fund their needs from many different organizations.

ahill1-blog

At the American Occupational Therapy Association's Checking the Pulse blog. you will find news about occupational therapy, current health news, and more. I regularly blog about apps that clinicians can use in practice, autism issues, managing chronic conditions, wounded warriors, and more. We share relevant and interesting news, videos, blogs, and more. I read hundreds of articles about health, wellness, and policy every week to find the most engaging and enlightening content for you. Blog readers can stay in the know, go beyond the news, and find out how the latest health news affect occupational therapy.

As a soon to be new grad (low on cash) stumbling upon an article like this is pure gold. After reading through the list I found some suggestions more useful than others. Though I didn’t necessarily like some of the options it got me thinking and prompted new ideas. I think this showed me that as an OT we’re always going to be modifying existing ideas. There is no ONE right way. I think this list gives us as students a good look in to the simpler side of possible activities we could utilize.

katiewecke

Great find, Allie! There were some nice ideas in this article, but I definitely agree that some of the suggestions were more useful than others. You make a good point when you said there is no one right way to do an intervention or use certain tools. This article is a great example of that, and is also a useful “jumping off” point for when I want to think of my own ideas or think of ways to modify what is already listed.

trishamk94

Unit 3 This is such a good article to read. It gave many different options that could be used during treatment sessions and the best thing is that they are all low cost. I agree with Allie and Katie that even though you may not like one of the options, they gave plenty of other options that can be used, and there is no one option. Occupational therapy is all about finding different options to complete a task and this article embraces that and gives great examples of what could be used during the different interventions.

Unit 3 This article was about a little boy who has a hearing problem, and started getting bullied by another boy in his grade. He already hated wearing his hearing aids, but the bullying did not help him either. To help overcome the bullying and make the little boy more comfortable with his hearing aids, his mom came up with the idea to make attachable covers to attach to his hearing aids. The covers were all characters from his favorite Disney characters. He began to love wearing his hearing aids, and his classmates all loved his different characters. This is such an amazing story and how a mothers support to a child's disability can improve his QOL and let him accept his disability that he was once ashamed of and bullied for.

Submitted for the White House Student Film Festival 2014. A student with athetoid cerebral palsy shares her Assistive Technology skills and demonstrates the ...

Unit 3

This video was created by a 17 year old girl who showed how assistive technology helped her throughout her life and during school. She has CP and has been using assistive technology in school from the age of 9 and learning new ways to use it when she moves to college. Her class became so involved with her and how to use assistive technology that they were able to go to a conference and teach others about assitive technology. With her assistive technology, she is able to learn Spanish, and create art. Her art work she is able to complete with her AT is incredible. This is a great video to show how much assistive technology influences a students life in school, and how she is able to do just as much as an able-bodied student during class.

Unit 3 October is international AAC awareness month! As we learn more about AAC it is our responsibilities to spread our knowledge to everybody! This blog site gives you a list of Do's and Don't for using AAC. As we move through this unit it can also be helpful to us to look back on.

Unit 2 I found this website on Pinterest. This is an app that lets people customize their iPad keyboards to their needs and wants. You can customize the key colors, keys, speech, and prediction. This can be used for both children and adults which is a big bonus. Being able to customize they keyboard, a person can change it to fit their needs and wants. This can be useful for students who use iPads in school and for adults using an iPad for fun.

Unit 2 I found this on my Zite assistive technology page. This article gives you reinforcement on how beneficial assistive technology can be for people with special needs. Within this article it talks about a little girl who expresses her needs and wants and anything else using a communication device. We have learned in class how to use AT and heard stories from Mr. C on his clients, but this expresses the positive side even more. The people who they talk about are not from America, but the Middle East. I think it's supper awesome that even in the Middle East they are using assistive technology to help create independence and better the lives of people with special needs!

alappe1

Parents and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) children tested and reviewed three new watches that promise to grab your child's attention and teach them valuable lessons about schedules and responsibility.

While looking on Pinterest for types of assistive technology, I found this great article. Until I read it, I never would have thought of a watch as a type of assistive technology. Children with attention deficit disorders use a watch as an alarm to remind them of certain activities of daily living. Since individuals wear watches on a regular basis, a child doesn’t stand out while using this device. It can be programmed to go off multiple different times a day as reminders for whatever they may need. One of the parents set up their child’s watch to vibrate every 20 minutes saying “Pay Attention” while the child was in class. This vibration doesn’t disrupt other students, but gives a child with ADD or ADHD the extra reinforcement to focus. Another parent used the watch to remind their child to take their medicine throughout the day. These are just a few of many examples that an individual with attention deficits could benefit from using this device.

asteinbecker1-blog

This product is really interesting and the purpose behind its development makes sense! It gives children with ADHD a feeling of responsibility for their own actions, chores, medications, etc. I also like that because a watch is a common accessory, they don’t stand out from other children for having it on. I’d love to hear more personal testimonies from parents and children, as it seems there are a few issues some families have run into regarding set-up and adherence. However, maybe if they were assisted with set-up and the child was trained to use the device properly, this problem could be eliminated!

trishamk94

Unit 2:

This watch is very awesome and interesting. I have never heard of this watch or anything similar to this which makes me even more interested in the device. It is such a useful product for kids who have ADHD and trying to keep them on task. Since it is a watch, it is less noticeable and the vibrate for the alarm really keeps it less noticeable. For kids that need to set the watch to help them pay attention, it is great because it will not distract others with a loud noise. Being that it is a watch, other students will not think it is used for anything other than to tell the time. This is such a cool product that can be so beneficial for kids who have ADHD.

emmasotthings-blog

Tommy Edison, who has been blind since birth, shows us an app called TapTapSee that identifies objects for blind people. Examples in this video include a $20...

Unit 2:

This is a really cool video made by a guy who was born blind. He has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to showing the general public what blind people do. In this video he demonstrates an app called TapTapSee that allows a blind person to take a picture of an object, and the app will identify that object. In the video he has the app identify a $20 bill, a white Adidas ankle sock, and a can of Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup. Tommy said that he thinks the app is incredibly helpful for things like cooking and dressing, but it does take some practice to be the most successful. I am glad that he demonstrated that the app sometimes is inaccurate, like when he held the sock too close to the camera. It is important for us as therapists to know the positive AND negative aspects of the technology we are suggesting to our clients. This video was made in 2013, so the app may have made vast improvements and work even better. I was also happy that he demonstrated how he uses the voiceover feature to use his iPhone. It was interesting to play with it ourselves but I thought it was very beneficial to see someone use it who is actually visually impaired. Check out some more of his videos, like “Do Blind People Believe in Ghosts?” - he’s a funny guy!

trishamk94

Unit 2

This app is very cool and helpful for people with vision impairments! Knowing that this app is available and useful for people is extremely comforting. For a person who is blind, they do not always know what they are holding and being able to use this app to tell them what they are holding or the object in front of them is encouraging. This app will allow a person who is blind or severe vision impairments become more independent in their life. The only downfall toward this app is that a person will have to purchase a smartphone if they do not have one. If they do not have a smartphone, it could cause more trouble trying to learn how to operate the phone and getting the app to work correctly. For a person who has a phone and knows how to use it, this could be a great purchase to help increase independence!

megtat

In many communities, children in wheelchairs don't have the opportunity to enjoy the playground experience, like other kids. But that is no longer the case i...

This is probably one of the most innovative and extremely underrated inventions created. I do not know about you, but I personally overlooked children in wheelchairs and their inability to participate in play ground activities, or simply play on a jungle gym. It amazes me that this never occurred in my thought process and how the inability to participate in playing on a jungle gym was a huge limiter in social skills for children in wheel chairs. This truly handicapped accessible playground opens up a wide array of possibilities and new play milestones for disabled children. It brings us one step forward to increasing equality for all, disability or no disability.

trishamk94

This is such an exciting story to hear about. Children with disabilities and are wheelchair bound do not always get to participate in activities their peers are involved in, including playing on playgrounds. Having more disability accessible playgrounds will help kids grow in social participation and also other kids without disabilities be more accepting and helpful with others. Recently a playground from back home has opened up and it is also an accessibility playground. Knowing that more people are becoming aware of accessibility playgrounds and making it happen is such a positive contribution to our society. Letting all children play together on one playground is also such a beneficial factor for growing social skills as children get older.

Assistive technology types described including screen readers, magnifiers, alternative input, text-to-speech, speech recognition, braille readers

Unit 2

Microsoft has a webpage directed toward the assistive technology for computers. This is wonderful because it gives you descriptions of each products and how it is beneficial. It has a list of the latest window systems and office updates, and what accessibility it has to offer. This webpage will be very useful in the future when we are practicing clinicians. It can give us a guide as to what new windows accessibility is out there and also has a blog for us to follow for information about the accessibility.

Unit 2

AMDi is a website that sells all different types of assistive technology. It sells software that can help people make overlays for their devices. However, their is only two options for this kind of software, but it still allows for options. A benefit to AMDi is their loan program. The loan program allows for future customers to test a product for a maximum of 2 weeks and decide whether or not they liked the product. This is very beneficial for people who are decisive about products, or who would like to purchase the product but not 100% sold. Online they give you options for support and if you live in NY they have a training center you can go to and get access to all of their technology.

You can purchase the Switchamajig Controller and adapted toys from www.switchamajig.com.

Unit 2

During my AT presentation, I explained switchamajig and showed a brief video. This video above explains more about switchamajig and how it works. This is a very beneficial app and switch interface for children with upper extremity motor impairments. It allows them to play with toys that are switch adaptable. Downfall to this particular product however is that it can only be used with an iPad and it cannot be purchased whenever. Switchamajig was created by parents and they no longer sell the product. However, they do provide support for people who have the product and also they can help people set up their TV, lights and appliances to their iPads to control.

Resource for searching assisitive technology products.

This is a great website that allows you to look up an assistive device and find multiple items that are similar to your search. This website lets you search any kind of device you are looking for and you can pick from the selection. When you have the one you want, it will then give you the vendor who sells the device, price, the features it has, a description of the device, and also any requirements that are needed for the device to be used. It is another great source for us to compare devices to find the best fit for our clients. When you use the compare portion of the site, it then breaks down the products you want to compare in a table so it is easier for you to decide which one is the best. It is easy to navigate through and can really come in hand when trying to figure out which device has the best features for the best price for our client.

I found this website off Pinterest. It's full of different devices that help aid our future patients with their daily activities. So if a patient is having issues with multiple activities, this website allows them to explore multiple categories such as food preparation, bathroom aids, ect. The category I focused on was under daily living, weak hands. This portion was full of devices that will help make patients lives less difficult as their arthritis progresses, or hand injuries are improving. It is also very user friendly.

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