Amazing Success Stories and Products

While I was looking on the Dynavox website which is www.dynavoxtech.com, I came across some of the other products that the company is making to help assist people who have difficulties in communication. The company that created the Dynavox series is called Mayer-Johnson. Another device is the Dynavox Xpress is really small and light for traveling and reducing the weight for children.
I also really liked the Eyemax, which is for people who cannot use the touch screen because of the difficulties with the physical motion. The Eyemax is made to be sensitive to the eyes of the user. The sensor is made so that if the student blinks actions will occur as if he or she was touching a button. If the user also stares at one section of the screen long enough, the button will also active like it has been pressed. The EyeMax uses the eyes instead of hands to trigger the buttons.
While reading on the Dynavox website, I found an article about an event called Chatterbox Fun Fair which takes place in Fairfax county of Springfield, Virginia within the public school system. The event takes place one day a year and is for ages preschool through sixth grade who attend Fairfax County Public Schools. These students must all receive some type of Assistive Technology. The families are also invited, and the event lasts from 10 o’clock am until 1 o’clock pm. This is an opportunity for the children to meet other children with assistive technology, play games using the technology, feel important because of the technology, and celebrate who they are as people. The parents take this day to see what other types of assistive technology are available within their school system, to network with other parents of children who also use assistive technology, and to enjoy a day of fun with the family. Some of the entertainment of the day includes a clown, police department, fire trucks, and rescue dogs. This event has been a large success in the community.
Anther amazing story I found on the website was about a group called The Techno Troupe. This group of people who use Assistive Technology met at an AAC workshop at The Center for Creative Play in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The group then began to meet up once a month to work on putting together the play, The Shoemaker and the Elves under the direction of a speech language pathologist. In the play, there were eight players who used Dynavox devices to speak their lines. The project had been in the works for over a year with lots of hard work by the players, parents, and the director. There were also assistants who rolled wheelchairs across the stage when needed in the play. Because the players were using Dynavox devices, the voices could be programmed to match the characters and changed from the student’s normal speaking voices. Jokes could also be programmed into the devices to bring laughter from the audience. The opportunity for these students to be able to not only speak but to use their voices to pretend, create art, and speak in front of people is priceless. An amazing advantage to this production was that the students were under the direction of a speech language pathologist who knew how to help and what to work on with the players individually in terms of using their own Dynavox devices for communication. The players gained self-confidence, practice in public speaking, and an opportunity to feel special through being a part of this production.

(4 hrs)