Assistive Technology and More!

1. Assistive Technology and More!

2. What Assistive Technology Can Look Like • Anything that can aid a person with a disability in everyday tasks. • Low Tech: • Pencil Grip • High Tech • iPad apps such as TalkTablet • Examples: • Alternative keyboards with larger keys and keyboards that can be used with one hand • Joysticks: an alternative to a mouse, used to control a cursor

3. How to Transition Clients • Finding the right device: • Get evaluated through a formal assistive technology evaluation which is performed by a certified professional • Visit an assistive technology demonstration center to view the different options available. • www.watap.org • What we can do in the office: • Start using our devices • Start noticing whether or not your client can benefit from A.T. • Slowly implementing more A.T. in our work to interest our clients (if it can benefit them somehow)

4. What Would You Do? A 19-year-old male with a hearing impairment is completing a special education program at his school.  The program focuses on his workplace skills.  As part of the program, the young man works at a local convenience store.  His supervisor is very happy with the young man’s performance as a cashier, although the supervisor mentioned to the young man’s job coach that sometimes he is not able to tell when new clients are entering the store.  This may cause safety issues for him and other customers in the store.  Recently, the young man’s work at the convenience store became jeopardized because of a reduction in the “job coaching hours” available to him.  His job coach assisted him, with tasks such as prompting him when a customer is entering or leaving the store.  It became clear that without coaching support, the young man would not be able to maintain his job. http://www.atconnects.com/resources/at-for-employers/accommodations-solutions

5. The Solution After some meetings with the young man’s school staff, VR personnel, and his current employer, a low tech assistive technology device helped him to perform his job independently.  The assistive technology solution used is an alert system, which consists of a light bulb that blinks every time a customer enters or exits the store.  This low cost and simple visual solution allows the young man to acknowledge the presence of a customer in the store.  With the support of this assistive technology device, the young man was able to remain at his job, his job coach was able to reduce his role, and the young man is able to complete his job tasks independently. http://www.atconnects.com/resources/at-for-employers/accommodations-solutions

6. What Would You Do? A woman with a severe developmental disability worked in an envelope manufacturing facility, operating a machine that stacked boxes. She needed to stack 20 boxes at a time, but could not keep a mental count past 10. Solution: The employer installed a punch counter and trained the woman to include punching in her routine-tape, stack, punch; tape, stack, punch. As the woman's productivity soared, the employer realized that keeping count is difficult for many people and decided to install counters at other machines. http://www.atconnects.com/resources/at-for-employers/accommodations-solutions

7. Barriers to A.T. Lack of staff training Negative attitudes towards A.T. Inadequate assessments Insufficient Funding Difficulty procuring and managing equipment http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15771212

8. “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds”-Temple Grandin http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds.html?quote=653