Rationale

Some people may ask “What is assistive technology?” and “Why do we have it?” Have you ever been around an individual that is unable to walk? Are they usually just lying on the ground? No! They are usually in a wheel chair. This is a simple example that we see in our everyday lives of assistive technology. Assistive technology is ANY type of technology that can be used in order to allow someone with a disability to have more of a practical, working independence. Assistive technology is a growing field that will ever change the life of individuals who may have at one point, seen life as a frustrating place where they were built to fail.

People with disabilities may have a hard time accomplishing tasks that others would think is simple, or menial. Assistive technology is continuously redefining what is possible for individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities. Assistive technology are things that have been created in order to help those individuals overcome the challenges that they face daily making their lives more independent and enjoyable. Assistive technology allows people with disabilities to be able to have more equality with others in the game of life!

Assistive technology can range from a single pencil grip to an automated van lift for a wheel chair. It includes such things as a single magnifying glass for an individual to be able to see better but also includes augmentative communication devices that speaks for individuals who cannot do so for themselves.

Knowing what assistive technology is, it seems so silly to even ask why we have it. As you can see it can change someones academic career with something so simple as a pencil grip or increase someone’s employment possibilities from little or none to endless possibilities. Assistive technology allows these individuals to be able to fully engage in everyday life activities.

This technology is making it possible for children with disibilities to start at an early age to do more for themselves. Some examples would include enabling these individuals to be able to be mobile and travel - while they may not have the physical capacity to do so - by the access of wheelchairs, scooters and walkers. There are also adapted car seats as well as wheel chair restraints for vehicles to allow safe travel. Ramps, automatic door openers, grab bars, and wider doorways are being built all over to allow fewer barriers to employment places and community spaces allowing individuals to lead more of a regular life. For a child unable to get into the bathtub, there are devices that will safely lift them in and out of the tub. An individual that is unable to operate a computer with their hands can now operate one with a switch.

We have assistive technology because it refines life for those who may have otherwise not been able to function in mainstream society. Assistive technology enables individuals to be more independent, productive, and self-confident.

SETT Framework

http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/Assessment/sett.php

Knowing what to address in an AT Assessment is similar to other assessments that are done. We'd like to share with you a helpful framework for team-based AT assessment. It's called the SETT framework and is a guideline for gathering data to make effective AT decisions. You always begin by collecting information about the student.

S for the Student

E for the Environment

T for the Tasks

T for the Tools needed for the student to address the tasks.

Dexterity and Mobility

• Hardware and Software Companies
• Neil Squire Society

http://www.neilsquire.ca/

The Neil Squire Society is a national not-for-profit organization that has for over twenty-five years empowered people with physical disabilities through the use of computer-based assistive technologies, research and development, and various employment programs. Neil Squire helps clients remove barriers so that they can live independent lives and become active members of the workplace and our society. Specializing in education and workplace empowerment, the Society has served over 20,000 people since 1984.

• MadenTec

http://www.madentec.com/products/

Madentec Limited is a leading supplier of assistive technology for people with physical disabilities. Products include solutions for accessing and controlling a computer or communication device 100% hands-free by using Tracker products as well as an alternate keyboard or scanning access through the Discover product line. The products are ideally suited to people with severe physical disabilities, including: quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, ALS and muscular dystrophy.

• Solutions
• The Sip/Puff Solution

The Sip/Puff solutions are ideal for people who have limited or no motor capability enabling them to operate switch activated devices, including computers, augmentative communication devices, adapted toys, environmental control systems and devices accessed or controlled by scanning. Sip/Puff technology is also popular for wheel chair navigation.

For people effected with severe motor disabilities, manipulating a standard switch can be difficult, tiring and in some cases impossible. With Origin Instruments Sip/Puff offerings users can easily activate and have control over devices through a simple "sip" and/or "puff" into a mouth tube.

http://orin.com/access/sip_puff/index.htm




• Touch screen

Pointing at something you want is a natural way to communicate. Young children often point accurately and with understanding long before they can react in other ways. Bright, noisy computer programs can provide the stimulus needed by children and people with special needs. However, a mouse may require too much motor skill and switches may be too indirect. Touch monitors operate with standard mouse operated programs and provide the most direct input method of all. The user watches the screen and uses it as an input method. There is a direct connection between action and result.




http://abilitynet.wetpaint.com/page/Touchscreens+and+Tablet+PCs

Learning

• Hardware and Software Companies
• Design science

http://www.dessci.com/en/

Design Science (DSI) is the worldwide leader in developing, marketing and supporting software for scientific and technical communication. The MathType, MathFlow, and MathPlayer software products are used by scientists, engineers, educators and publishing professionals, for authoring and publishing mathematical notation in print and online documents, and for building web pages with interactive math content.

• Text Help

http://www.texthelp.com/

Texthelp Systems is the worldwide leader in providing literacy software solutions. The company develops innovative software to help struggling readers and writers, those with literacy difficulties, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, mild visual impairments, and where English is a second language. Software products improve users reading, writing and research skills at school, in the workplace, and at home. Texthelp has three core business divisions: Education & the Workplace solutions, Publishing, and Speech Services.

• Solutions
• Tape Recorders Students with reading problems can work around their problems by listening to recorded text (books, journals, newspapers) rather than reading it. Most public libraries and many bookstores sell books-on-tape. Not all audiotapes work on all tape recorders; they may have varying speeds and formats. Tape recorders can be used to capture spoken information, such as a teacher’s instructions or a classroom lecture. This permanent record allows people to refer back to an oral presentation. People who have difficulty processing, understanding or remembering what they hear may find this helpful. Variable speech control (VSC) tape recorders enable the listener to play audiotaped text faster or slower than it was originally recorded, without losing the actual sounds of the words. Some students understand spoken language better at a slower pace and others find that they can review material faster by speeding up the tape.

http://www.sc.edu/scatp/ld.htm#tape

• Spell checkers are also available as stand-alone desktop and pocketsize tools. Stand-alone spell checkers require users to enter the word (the way they think it is spelled) on a small keyboard. Some devices will simply verify and correct the spelling on a small screen; others offer a complete dictionary and thesaurus. Other devices actually “speak” the words with a speech synthesizer, so the word can be heard as well as seen. These devices are particularly valuable because they change phonetic spelling into correctly spelled words with more accuracy spell checking software.

http://www.sc.edu/scatp/ld.htm#tape

Language and Communication

• Hardware and Software Companies
• Gus Communication

http://gusinc.com/2010/Home.html

Gus Communication Devices (GCD) has been developing speech/AAC software solutions for people with speech and language impairments since 1992. Currently, GCD offers the internet's largest selection of speech/AAC software and devices.

• Solutions
• Speech Recognition Software is software that allows an individual to dictate text to the computer and/or control the computer by voice. Speech recognition software is appropriate for individuals who have limited use of their hands as well as individuals with learning disabilities. A user needs at least a 10 year cognitive level to be able to use this software.




http://www.labresources-assistivetechnology.com/Speech-Recognition.html




• Speech Synthesizers receive information going to the screen in the form of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, and then "speak" it out loud. Often referred to as text-to-speech (TTS), the voice of the computer is synthesized speech—a distinctive, sometimes monotone voice that is the joining together of preprogrammed letters and words. Using speech synthesizers allows blind users to review their input as they type. Speech synthesizers are also used by people with language and learning impairments, for example, those who are unable to communicate orally.




http://dawn.thot.net/cd/4.html

Visually Impaired

• Hardware and Software Companies
• BAUM Retec

http://www.baum.de/cms/en/

BAUM Retec is a German based company with branch offices in Switzerland and Austria specializing in products and services for the blind and visually impaired. Products are cutting edge technology and succeed through their usability and outstanding industrial design. As the most innovative company in our industry we offer a wide selection of products for almost any customer need. Well-designed user interfaces provide flexibility and efficiency. The modular concept allows users to build their ideal product combination.

• Serotek's

http://www.serotek.com/aboutus

Serotek's mission is accessibility anywhere for blind and visually impaired people around the globe. Serotek develops innovatitive, affordable and easy-to-use technology access products, and utilizing Universal Design principles.

• Low Vision International

http://www.lvi.se/CM.php?PageID=38581

Low Vision International designs and develops products with high standards for reliability, simplicity and serviceability. LVI is recognized as one of the world´s leading manufacturers of equipment for visually impaired people.

• Solutions
• Thunder

http://www.screenreader.net/

Thunder is a free screenreader talking software for people with little or no sight. It works well with Windows 7, Vista or XP. Thunder is available all over the world in 8 languages and it really is absolutely free.




• Refreshable Braille Displays

http://www.afb.org/ProdBrowseCatResults.asp?CatID=43

Braille displays provide access to information on a computer screen by electronically raising and lowering different combinations of pins in braille cells. A braille display can show up to 80 characters from the screen and is refreshable—that is, it changes continuously as the user moves the cursor around on the screen, using either the command keys, cursor routing keys, or Windows and screen reader commands. The braille display sits on the user’s desk, often underneath the computer keyboard. The advantages of braille displays over synthetic speech are that it provides direct access to information; allows the user to check format, spacing, and spelling; and is quiet.

Speech

• Harware and Software companies
• Acapela

http://www.acapela-group.com/

Invents text-to- speech solutions to give your content a voice in up to 25 languages. Speech solutions allow you to turn any written text into natural speech files, using any of the 50 High Quality standard voices or your own synthesised voice talent.

• Solutions
• Phrase Maker Communicator

http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/assistive_technology_devices_used_in_education/communication-builders/phrase-maker-communicator

The device allows the user to combine up to 15 of your pre-recorded words or short phrases to create their own unique sentences.

7 levels

40 seconds of recording time per level

• Hip/Talk Plus

http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/assistive_technology_devices_used_in_education/hip-talkers/hip-talk-plusaccessories

Is a portable talking devise you ware around your waste. It features:

•300 seconds of recording time

•Incredible sound quality

•Auditory cueing

•Magnetic snap-on frames for easy icon changing

•New soft Neoprene carrying bag

•Contoured for the waist

•Adjustable waist strap to fit most

•Sleep mode to save battery life

•Volume control

Hearing

• Hardware and software companies
• iCommunicator

http://www.icommunicator.com/

iCommunicator's uses computer software and hardware to interface with the user's hearing aids, cochlear implant speech processor, or FM system positions the product squarely within the guidelines of the federal regulations mandating the delivery of assistive or accessible technology by our public school systems, as well as every other federal or state government agency nationwide. iCommunicator is a breakthrough technology solution to the issues surrounding education of persons with special communication needs as well as their accessibility into the today's competitive business world.

Today, the iCommunicator is being used in K-12 education, post-secondary institutions, government, healthcare, and corporate settings across the United States and Canada.

• Solutions:
• TTY

http://www.captions.com/tty.html

This device 'rings' via flashing light or the more recent vibrating wrist band that resembles a watch. The TTY consists of a keyboard, which hold somewhere from 20 to 30 character keys, a display screen, and a modem. The letters that the TTY usre types into the machine are turned into electrical signals that can travel over regular telephone lines. When the signals reach their destination (in this case another TTY) they are converted back into letters which appear on a display screen, are printed out on paper or both. Some of the newer TTYs are even equipped with answering machines.

• Alerting devises

http://www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2003/dodds.htm

For a person who cannot hear, common household gadgets that rely on sound are useless. People who are deaf need an alternative method for being awakened in the morning, realizing someone is at the door, being alerted to the possibility of a fire, knowing the phone (or TTY) needs to be answered, and being alerted to their baby’s crying.

The term "alerting devices" is used to describe gadgets that can signal your attention and/or indicate the presence of sounds in the environment through one of three ways: providing a louder sound (for people who are hard of hearing), providing a light flash, or causing a tactile vibration. I experimented with the following alerting devices on my visit to the Assistive Device Demonstration Center: