Technology Tuesday

Welcome to “Technology Tuesday.” Imagine!’s SmartHomes team has moved fully into the second phase of our project, where we are using the SmartHomes technology in unique ways, taking it into other settings, and sharing it with clients beyond just those living in the homes. We want to share those stories with you. 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 SmartHomes.

Here’s a story about what “Jeremy” has been working on in the Cause and Effect class.

In the Cause and Effect class, Imagine! staff members work on the basics of communication by having the participants master pressing a switch to activate a preferred activity. When Jeremy first came into the Cause and Effect Class he wasn’t pressing the switch at all. Staff tried many different reinforcers and many different switch placements. After some time working with Jeremy, staff discovered that he was most successful in pressing a switch if it was placed in his hand. He started to press the switch to turn on a fan. As long as he continued to press the switch the fan would stay on. Staff also worked on having Jeremy press a switch to activate 30 second video clips. Jeremy would press the switch and the video would play and then after 30 seconds it would stop. The computer would prompt Jeremy to press the switch again and he would press it to start another video clip. Finally staff put one switch in each hand. The switch connected to the fan needed to be held down to keep the fan going while the switch connected to the computer needed to be pressed and released to start the videos every 30 seconds or so. Jeremy is now able to keep the fan going while watching videos on the computer! Yay Jeremy and yay adaptive technology!