Technology Tuesday

Welcome to the first edition of “Technology Tuesday.” The SmartHomes team has moved fully into the second phase of our project, where we are taking technology out of the SmartHomes and getting it in other settings and into the hands of other clients beyond just those living in the homes. We want to share those stories with you, hence the new feature. We hope these stories will be short and easy to read insights into how technology is changing the lives of everyone served by Imagine!, not just those living in the SmartHome.

Today’s Technology Tuesday is about “Sam,” an adult receiving services from Imagine!. Sam is verbal, but can’t read or write. We recently set Sam up with an iPad to overcome his illiteracy and increase his ability to communicate.

Sam can’t type, so he uses Siri (Apple’s voice recognition software) to enter voice texts. He uses an iPad reader function (which reads text on the iPad aloud) to read news and to research topics he is interested in, leading to personal growth. He also uses the reader function to read and send email.

Sam has also started to use the calendar function on the iPad to keep better track of his appointments, which has been a challenge for him in the past.