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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Dr Catherine Rose, Sr. Product Manager for Phillips Light Aide www.lightaide.com
Take our survey: www.EasterSealsTech.com/feedback
Nonprofit Creating Jobs For 100,000 People With Autism http://buff.ly/1rmCY6Z
The Internet of Things Could Empower People with Disabilities http://buff.ly/1rZqopM
Back to School with Dyslexia: Five Tips for Parents and Students – Learning Ally http://buff.ly/1rZoFRi
Free U.S. Currency Readers for Blind and Visually Impaired | Coin News http://buff.ly/1rZnktU
Set a Keyboard Shortcut for “Save as PDF” in Mac OS X http://buff.ly/1rZlMQu
Over 175 Presentation and Hands-On Lab Hours | Closing The Gap http://buff.ly/1rmyGMI
App: Avaz www.BridgingApps.org
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CATHERINE ROSE: Hi, this is Catherine Rose and I’m the senior product manager at Philips Light Aide, and this is your Assistive Technology Update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology, designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Welcome to episode number 169 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on August 22 of 2014.
Today I’m excited about my interview with Dr. Catherine Rose. She’s the senior product manager for Philips Light Aide and she’s going to teach us about something that reminded me of a lite Brite from years ago but it’s pretty cool in helping kids with different kinds of disabilities.
Also we have a story about a group that wants to create 100,000 jobs for people with autism; how the Internet of things might empower people with disabilities; some tips for your tunes with dyslexia who are heading back to school this fall; a way for people who are blind or visually impaired to get a free iBill money reader to stick in their pocket and tell their currency denominations apart; a way to make your Mac print in PDF automatically; and the sessions that are coming out from Closing the Gap. We have a BridgingApps session on an app called Avaz, we hope that you’ll enjoy the show.
Also come at check out our website at www.eastersealstech.com. Shoot us a note on Twitter at INDATA Project, or call our listener line. Give us some feedback or ask a question. That number is 317-721-7124.
>> We work with companies. They come up with job profiles. We go out with our partners. We work with NTO’s who are used to working in the disability space, like The Ark. They have a huge network. They work with states, vocational rehabilitation, and other sources.
WADE WINGLER: What you’re hearing is an excerpt from an interview with Thorkil Sonne, who is originally from Denmark and is starting a new program here in the United States called Specialisterne USA. The headline reads he’s going to create 100,000 jobs for people with autism. This is an interesting project because just last week, we interviewed Chris Tidmarsh from Greenbridge Growers about how they are working with people who have autism to create these specialized employment experiences.
It seems that the folks from Denmark are doing something very similar although they are focusing more on IT jobs. Now, this isn’t new, but the challenge of 100,000 jobs for people with autism is remarkable. I’m going to pop a link in the show notes. You can read Devin Thorpe’s article from Forbes about this initiative and you can also watch the interview. It lasts around 20 minutes or so where Mr. Sonne talks about Specialisterne USA and what’s going to happen with that. I’ll pop a link in the show notes. Check it out.
More and more, I see the term and hear the term, “The Internet of things.” I’ve come to know that the Internet of things talks about all these connected devices: wearable technologies, thermostats that are connected to the Internet. Well, there’s an article here from Dana Blouin on CMS wire that talks about how the Internet of things might empower people with disabilities. She talks about the fact that sensors are becoming more ubiquitous. My wife just got a fit bit for example. She’s wearing a fit bit all the time that talks about her motion and helps her monitor her health care sort of information.
All kinds of sensors are becoming available. The article here talks about thermostat, telephones, window shutters that adjust depending on how much lighting is coming through the windows, RFID devices that let us know when people or things pass through certain places. The article warns that as developers are creating this technology, they need to make sure that the technology has a good user interface, because if the user interface is not well done, then it’s not going to be useful to anybody let alone people with disabilities.
They call out a couple of specific technologies. They talk about connected insoles in shoes that help people with navigation. They also talk about the promising technology,
i-Beacons, which might help folks who are visually impaired navigate things that they come in close proximity to as they are shopping or navigating their environment in general. It’s an interesting concept thinking about the Internet of things and how that specifically is going to impact people with disabilities. I think it’s a good conversation. I’ll pop a link in the show notes. You can read more about this article from Dana at CMS Wire about the Internet of things and what this might mean for folks with disabilities.
It’s back-to-school time, and lots of kids with dyslexia are going to school. Well, I found an interesting article on learning allies website. It’s called, “The five tips that parents and students should have,” as kids with dyslexia are going back to school. These are some tips by a Tennessee-based Dr. Chester Goad who is somebody who is a disability advocate, a university administrator, and former school principal. He has five tips that parents and students with dyslexia should be keeping in mind.
The first one is opening the lines of communication. Parents, make sure that you know your students teachers and the folks at school were going to be providing that support role throughout the year. Talk to those folks, get to know them, it’ll make it easier when some challenges may come up later in the year. Also, make sure that the evaluations and other information is up to date. If there’s been testing done, if there’s an IEP, make sure that all the information that’s available to people working on behalf of the student is up to date. Also, make plans and outlets for de-stressing. There’s school, but there is also relaxation. Make sure that, if available, your child has access to things like sports, dance, clubs, church, or other kinds of activities that gives them a place to decompress after a stressful day of school. Tip number four talks about building your dyslexia technology toolbox. Lots of apps and smart pens, different things that are helpful to students who have dyslexia. Make sure that before school starts, those things are in hand, available, and the student has already learned how to use the devices. You don’t want to be at school with tools you don’t know how to use. Lastly, number five, instill confidence. Make sure that your kid knows the school can be fun and they can do this. Be reassuring and be positive. Help them to be confident.
If you want to read more details about the stuff that he suggest to make sure that your school experience for a student with disabilities or dyslexia is more positive, check our show notes. I’ll pop a link right there.
We see lots of apps these days that will help somebody who is blind and visually impaired figure out whether or not that bill in their pocket is a one or a five or ten or a twenty, etc. Not everybody has an iPhone or android device and not everybody want to use an app for that. Well, the national Bureau of Engraving and Printing is working on a giveaway program. They’ve partnered with Orbit Research to give away the iBill currency reader. Starting on September 1, if you are a patron of the National Library Service, you can get a free iBill money reader. What you’re going to do is give a call 1-888-NLS-READ. If you’re in an NLS member, you can call that number and talk with them about getting a free iBill reader. There’s no trick here. They are also having another phase of the program starting in January for people who aren’t NLS members. They can also submit an application to get one of these readers. It’s a handy little device that fits in your pocket and will let you know whether that bill is a one or a five or a ten or $100 bill. I’m going to pop a link in the show notes over to the coinnews.net article and you can learn more about this cool initiative. Check our show notes.
A couple of interesting things about the way I work. One, I use a Mac almost all the time for everything. Two, I’m moving more and more to a paperless office. I’m trying to avoid paper in my world. What that means is I spend a lot of time printing PDF files to keep track of stuff on my hard drive. Did you know that on a Mac, you can set up a keystroke so that a file will automatically save as a PDF if you head control and then the P key twice? I’ve got an article here from the OS 10 daily. It was written by David Sparks of Mac sparky fame, and he gives you the step-by-step instructions where on a Mac you can set up a keystroke to save as a PDF. Very handy, very easy, only works on a Mac. I’ll pop a link in the show notes and you can learn how to save as a PDF on your Mac with a simple keystroke.
As we start moving into the fall, I start thinking about assistive technology conferences. One of the ones that I have attended many times is Closing the Gap. It’s held this year on October 15-17 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have some preconference workshops happening October 13 and 14th. Just this week, they’ve announced the sessions. There are 18 preconference workshops. There will be an exhibit floor.
The presentation topics are going to include things like iPads as assistive technology, access strategies, assessment, augmentative communication, autism, Rett syndrome, mastering the cloud , apps for special education, and lots more. If you want to head on over to www.closing thegap.com/conference, you’ll find all the information there including a place where you can register. I’ll pop a link in the show notes and maybe see you this fall at Closing the Gap.
Each week, one of our partners tells us what’s happening in the ever-changing world of apps, so here’s an app worth mentioning.
>> This is Amy Barry with BridgingApps and this is an app worth mentioning. Today’s app is called Avaz. Avaz is a full-featured AAC app for both iOS and Android. This app has been developed for children who are nonverbal or who have difficulty speaking.
Avaz has been designed with a vision of making every voice heard. It offers four different voice options in US English and one Indian female voice option. It is fully customizable and uses board maker like pictures, or you can access your personal pictures stored on your mobile device for any of the picture fields. The picture vocabulary is laid out with a core vocabulary learning as it’s center so the user might work on development of core vocabulary as well as use preprogrammed phrases and single words for message formulation.
Avaz can also be customized to be extremely minimal, down to just one picture with or without a message box. It can go all the way up to 15 picture fields on the screen using either the downloaded pictures or the pictures on the device’s camera roll.
Avaz is user-friendly and can quickly be programmed by a familiar programmer. It can also be simplified for lower-level users and advance all the way to users who require word prediction or who are working on more functional literacy skills.
Although definitely more appropriate for the pediatric population, with significant customization, Avaz can be utilized for the adolescent or lower-level adults. Given the right user, this app can be used by one user for an extended time for many purposes as their skills and understanding of both language and their use of AAC advance.
Avaz is $99.99 at the iTunes and Google play stores. It can be used on iOS devices and android. For more information on this app and others like it, visit BridgingApps.org.
WADE WINGLER: A friend of a friend recently introduced me to something that I found fascinating. I was looking at a website at a product called Philips Light Aide. I have to say I was a little bit harkened back to my childhood when I had a device that I played with called the light bright. It was a box with some lights on it that I thought I could do anything in the world with. And then I found out that I could be connected with Dr. Catherine Rose who is a senior product manager for this product, Philips Light Aide, and I have her on Skype. Dr. Rose, are you there?
CATHERINE ROSE: I’m here.
WADE WINGLER: Good. Catherine, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day and talking with me a little bit about Light Aide and the work you’re doing with Philips. I’m excited about this. I want to know a little bit about how you got interested in technology for folks with disabilities and then we’re going to talk all about Light Aide. Can you give us a little backend about yourself?
CATHERINE ROSE: So I actually am an engineer by training, so I got my PhD in mechanical engineering and then I did my MBA. But where I got most interested in the use of technology for children and others with challenges is basically through my daughter. So I have a daughter who is medically complex. She has been two and a half months in an incubator and she has basically something wrong with every single organ system of her body including combined hearing and vision loss.
WADE WINGLER: Wow. So that was your original foray into the field of assistive technology than, is through your daughter?
CATHERINE ROSE: Yes. Definitely the trial by fire.
WADE WINGLER: And were you working at Philips at the time?
CATHERINE ROSE: Actually I was working for Alcatel Lucent, a telecommunications company. I changed my job to come to work for Philips both to help with healthcare technology and innovations that I could make in healthcare as well as sort of stumbled into the capabilities that Phillips had for lighting.
WADE WINGLER: And that’s interesting stuff. I think that’s kind of the genesis of Light Aide, right?
CATHERINE ROSE: Yes. I was actually in a training class at Phillips in the showroom of the Philips color kinetics facility here in Burlington, Massachusetts. I was basically dazzled and bedazzled by the lights that were in the show room. I sat there the entire training seminar thinking to myself, my daughter would be fascinated by this but even more than just being fascinated, she could actually use this for learning.
WADE WINGLER: So tell me a little bit about how that idea turned into the development of Light Aide?
CATHERINE ROSE: Everything starts with asking a question. I was a little question asker when I was a kid. I said why constantly. When Alexis came along, I realized that being her patient advocate and sort of advocating for her medical needs also made me sort of have this belief that why can’t this be possible. In this case, Philips had the technology. We help these kids survive their experiences in the incubator and survive hospital stays. Shouldn’t we also come up with a way to help them as well with progressing in learning and being able to contribute in society? I actually sent an email and asked can you make this product, and after asking the right people I got the support to make it into a commercial product.
WADE WINGLER: That’s pretty cool. It’s great when a parent happens to have technical skills and be in a position where they can take a gem of an idea and actually take it all the way through commercialization. That’s pretty cool. So since we are an audio show, I don’t have the ability to show videos but I’m going to ask you to tell us where we can go and see some of those. Tell me a little bit about the physical format of the product and how it works and what it does. Because so far I’ve described it as kind of a lite Brite sort of thing which is what I thought of when I saw the product online originally. Give us a description of what it is and what it does and how it works.
CATHERINE ROSE: So it’s a standalone product that’s about the size of a normal computer display. It has 224 color changing LEDs so it can be 16 million different color combinations. Lots of arrays of colors. Unlike the light bright , it actually doesn’t have any pieces for the LED lights. Unlike normal incandescent or typical bulbs, it doesn’t get hot to the touch. So you can lay on it, touch it, be really close and there’s very little heat generated from the product. That’s really great. My daughter actually chooses to put a lot of items in her mouth or be in very close proximity to sort of engage with products so I really wanted to make it safe for her to be involved with it.
It’s switch access, so it uses up to five different switches for different activities. So it has things like turn taking, it has some color programming in it so that you can teach about colors, you can teach color matching, some very early literacy activities. Sort of the genesis of most of those activities was my other daughter would come home with worksheets from school for homework and I would say, “Oh, can I figure out how to do this same sort of activity that my typical daughter is doing in a format that my deaf/blind daughter can do?: So it was that balance of pushing the envelope for engineering technology but also a product that can teach Alexis what she needs to know and engaged with her world.
WADE WINGLER: And you described how it works for Alexis a little bit as somebody who is deaf/blind. Tell me about kids or people in general regardless of age, tell me about other kinds of disabilities that might be addressed by Light Aide.
CATHERINE ROSE: So there’s actually a lady in Australia that bought one for her sister who had a vision impairment. So her sister is 35 years old and has never seen the shape or information of letters. But with the brightness of the LEDs that we are using on the Light Aide, this 35-year-old can actually use the Light Aide and see the shape and formation of letters which is really exciting as a braille user and interacts with the world and engages with the family, but didn’t have the ability until the Light Aide to see the shape of letters and numbers and engage in that way.
We’ve used it as well sort of as a product for calming or for visual interest in PT or OT settings. So for therapy, it’s very motivating. It’s actually really hard not to look at the lights. So we’ve had it with a really small kid that we used it with who was supposed to be sitting in circle time. I think he got up like eight or nine times in the three minutes that I was in the room without the Light Aide turned on. Eventually I sat down and I turned on the Light Aide and he came over and sat for 45 minutes. The teachers were actually running out of the room to ask other people that worked with the child to come in the room to see that he had been there for that long. I’m not saying to sit a kid in front of the Light Aide, but it’s definitely if he’s that motivated to say, what else can we do with this. If he’s that motivated to engage with this, how do we move him from engaging with the Light Aide to engaging with other technology and of assistive technology to open up his world.
So Alexis actually uses it a lot for physical therapy, so it motivates her because it’s something that she can see down a long hallway. So it sort of a destination endpoint of information giving her cues to where things are in her environment.
WADE WINGLER: It’s interesting that it seems like it’s a pretty broad spectrum device in terms of the kinds of challenges that it might address and the kinds of disabilities. When I was looking online at the website, I watched some of the videos about how it works. I saw young kids using a couple of switches to do things like determine a happy face versus a sad face or work on those pre-literacy skills of tracking things from left to right and top to bottom and that kind of thing. Can you give me an example of a scenario that might work for Alexis or somebody else. When you sit down in front of the device, what’s it like? You turn it on, there’s one or two switches, what with the experience be like from the child’s perspective?
CATHERINE ROSE: So typically we’ve done it with a lot of children and we’ve had sales already which show how promising it is for kids. The typical experience is that the child and teacher sit down at the device with two or three switches plugged in. Most activities, it’s helpful to have two. You can do some activities with just one switch. There’s a teacher switch that sort of allows the teacher to move, sort of imagine it as a fast-forward button on your VCR or the skip ahead button on your DVR. It allows the teacher to move from activity to activity. And then the student or child would use the other switch. Most of the activities of the very first impression is sort of — the reaction that the engineers got the very first activities they created for Alexis, they were like, you can see her eyes tracking the lights. It’s that effect. You very clearly see the focus in the intent of the student trying to engage in seeing the effort they are putting an. We have one activity that we call lava lamp. It basically looks like an old-fashioned lava lamp. We had a set of parents that actually worked on it with their daughter and you can see the daughter trying to track the different colors of lava as it moves around. You can see the motor planning that’s going on between the daughter and the device. You see what she’s engaging with. We had an OT that used the Light Aide with a child that was nine months old and the OT wasn’t planning to introduce which is until the kid was 18 months old, and the OT was like, this kid gets switches. They’re doing cause and effect. They’re looking one place, they’re hitting the switch summer else. We have to start doing this with this kid. They understand this concept. So for me, it shows the potential of learning and it really shows that the kids and even adults are really in there. Their cognitive capability is there. I finally came up with a good analogy for my aid. I probably don’t describe it appropriately, but with a Lexuses hearing impairment, we give for hearing aids, but with Alexis’s vision impairment, we give her glasses to get her almost so far to what we think is normal. But even in a dark restaurant with glasses on, she’s frightened because it’s too dark. So clearly we don’t understand how her brain’s processing that information and so I really feel like we’re not helping these kids. We’re not giving the equivalent of hearing aids for their vision. We’re giving them glasses and we’re giving them as best we know, but I really feel like the Light Aide is the much brighter flashlight. We do lots of things with flashlights, but unless you have an LED flashlight, it’s really not all that bright. Are you really sure that you’re helping the kids?
WADE WINGLER: That makes sense. A couple of nuts and bolts questions. This device uses standard audio jack switches, the regular 8 inch switches?
CATHERINE ROSE: Yes. Any switch that most of the kids already have or schools have, you can plug-in.
WADE WINGLER: And you talked about the programming. You call them activity sheets? Is that right? Those of the activities they can load on the device?
CATHERINE ROSE: Yes.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. And you can get more of those, and they are upgradable, and you’re coming out with new ones at the plant?
CATHERINE ROSE: Yes. We have lots of ideas and we welcome other feedback on suggestions and you have a website that’s www.lightaide.com. You can go on and find out more about Light Aide as well as if you register, you can get information on how to download the additional activities. They are grouped by learning milestone or curriculum frameworks.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. What does a cost and how do you get one?
CATHERINE ROSE: So the base unit that comes with 10 activities, I think we call it the starter set, is available for purchase through Perkins products. It’s affiliated with Perkins school for the blind in Watertown, messages. So the current price for that is $999.00. The add on activities range from $75-$125, but you get sets of activities that are sort of focused on different aspects so you can cater the unit to the specific need that you have for either one child or a classroom of children or a whole school or for your child at home.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. The website for Light Aide again is?
CATHERINE ROSE: www.lightaide.com
WADE WINGLER: Dr. Catherine Rose is a senior product manager for Philips Light Aide. Catherine, thank you so much for taking some time out of your day and talking with us.
CATHERINE ROSE: Thank you so much.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Looking for show notes from today’s show? Head on over to EasterSealstech.com. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.
Is there anywhere to buy a new or used LightAide?