We have completed the adaptive technology (AT) lab at Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source department’s Longmont location. Alex Andrews, Chris Baumgart, and I have been working on our new AT lab for several months and it is finally complete. This lab is accessible to everyone at CORE/Labor Source, but it has been designed specifically for five individuals who are non-verbal, do not have communication devices, do not use body language cues to indicate their preferences, and have very limited mobility. We are excited to introduce these individuals to technology using adaptive computer games and switch-activated sensory items.
Let me take you on a tour of this new lab!
We have installed interactive cause-and-effect games (created by our own Stephanie Tilly) on five computers using Boardmaker Studio Player. These games teach the fundamentals of computer based cause-and-effect to students who have no prior experience with technology. (If a student presses a switch, something interesting happens on the computer screen.) Some games require only one switch, but as the students’ progress they can work up to four-switch differentiation. Each computer has at least eight of these games ready to go!
The lab also includes a variety of switch-activated sensory items set up to teach cause-and-effect. Some of these items are fairly simple, such as a small desk fan or a light-up disco ball. After connecting these items to a Powerlink, both can be turned on with the press of a switch. We also have more sophisticated cause-and-effect teaching tools, including several projects that University of Colorado Boulder’s engineering students have created for us.
I look forward to seeing how our student’s interact with this new lab, and I hope to report back with success stories very soon. Below are a few pictures of the lab.
Stay tuned!
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