SmartHome Artists Work On Display Nationally

Imagine!’s Dream Rocket quilt, created by artists in Imagine!'s CORE/Labor Source art classes (including people living in Imagine!’s SmartHomes), has been on the move again, having been displayed at the Sump Memorial Library Show in Papillion, Nebraska. 28 pieces of art were chosen for the show, which ran from June 1 – July 31.

Pictured with Imagine!’s Dream Rocket Quilt below are SmartHome residents Rebecca and Gerald.

Below is a list of other locations that the quilt has been on display since it was completed in December, 2009.

• Great Explorations Children’s Museum Exhibit in St. Petersburg, Florida, from May 1- August 1, 2010
• Warren County Public Library in Bowling Green, Kentucky, from August 1 - October 1, 2010
• Randolph School Exhibit in Huntsville, Alabama, from November 1, 2010 - January 1, 2011
• Tallahassee Museum Show in Tallahassee, Florida from February 1 – April 3, 2011
• Atlanta-Fulton Public Library in Atlanta, Georgia from August 1 - September 30, 2011
• 2012 National Art Education Association Conference, at the Hilton Hotel, New York City from March 1 – 4, 2012

Jennifer Marsh, the Director of the International Fiber Collaborative, wrote that as of July, 2012, there have been 1,018 pieces of art sent to the Dream Rocket Project, with art sent in from 515 cities, 49 states, and 12 countries. The monumental project is scheduled to wrap a 37-story Saturn V Moon Rocket at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, with one of the world’s largest quilts, in May, 2014. Learn more about Imagine!’s Dream Rocket quilt by visiting the Dream Rocket Project’s website.

Guess Who’s Touring The SmartHomes

On Wednesday, August 22, senior staff members from our good friends at Developmental Pathways are scheduled to tour the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont. 

Developmental Pathways is one of Colorado's 20 Community Centered Boards (CCB) serving Arapahoe and Douglas Counties and the City of Aurora. As a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, we serve thousands of people with developmental disabilities and their families in a variety of settings and services, depending on need.

Developmental Pathways is a Colorado non-profit agency created to serve persons with developmental disabilities and their families. It was established in 1964 as a community-based alternative to institutional care. Since that time, Pathways has developed a broad array of services based on the principle that full inclusion and participation in community life is attainable for every individual with a developmental disability. Developmental Pathways serves citizens of Arapahoe and Douglas Counties, and the portion of Adams County within the City of Aurora city limits.

We’re looking forward to it!

Check Out The Latest SmartHome Newsletter

Imagine!’s latest SmartHome newsletter is available online. Take a look.

University of Wyoming SmartHome Tour

Yesterday, representatives from the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities toured the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder. Here’s a couple of pictures from their visit.

Greg Wellems gives the story of the SmartHomes.

CaraSolva's Geoff Cooper discusses online medication prompting and tracking systems.

Guess Who’s Touring The SmartHomes

The SmartHome team is excited to be spending the day with many representatives from the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, discussing technology use in serving individuals with developmental disabilities and exploring opportunities for collaboration. Thanks to Sandy Root-Elledge from the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities for helping to coordinate the meeting.

The visit will include a comprehensive tour of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder, lunch at The Hungry Toad (a longtime employer of individuals served by Imagine!), and then breakout discussions on topics including remote monitoring, tele-health, online learning systems, and other technologies that have the potential to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of services.

Welcome to our neighbors from the north! We’re pleased to have you here.

SmartHome Residents Testing Prompting Systems

Several residents of Imagine!'s Bob and Judy SmartHome (and others served by Imagine!) are helping to test some task prompting systems that may assist individuals with developmental disabilities in gaining and keeping meaningful employment. The residents have teamed with the engineering team at Assistive Technology Partners (AT Partners) to test an innovative project funded by the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) as part of the RERC-Workplace Accommodations Grant. This project is exploring the use of two different task prompting systems that could aid an individual with a disability in successfully performing assembly line tasks. Task prompting is similar to creating a check list to make sure the proper steps are being performed in the correct order for a given task. In this video, Michael Melonis from AT Partners and Dr. Alex Mihailidis from the University of Toronto explain the process in further detail.



Can’t see the video? Click here.

Gardening SmartHome Style

Residents of the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont are doing some of their own gardening. They are growing tomatoes and herbs. Check out this picture of Sarah in action!