Yes, and I was told to not expect them to work together.   So, I was quite excited when I had a few minutes of communicating with custom voice bank and message bank AND driving. I immediately texted the developer!   It was so disappointing when it stopped.   BUT, everyone is in this to create something really functional and I suspect (hope) this is growing pains!

 

Exciting stuff!    We have two pediatric patients in seventh heaven driving with their eyes and people with ALS feeling very hopeful!

 

John

 

 

From: <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com> on behalf of Lisa Bruening <xxxxxx@alsaohio.org>
Reply-To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 10:30 AM
To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>
Subject: Re: Independence drive [EXTERNAL]

 

Hi John, 

 

We had Kristen with Evergreen Circuits with us lie during our delivery along with representatives from Quantum and Tobii when we did the device delivery.

 

When Kristen was on with us via facetime, the same thing happened- the system froze and had to be rebooted.

 

Kristen believes that the windows gaze control that operates the iDrive program was "fighting" with the windows control that operates the mouse clicks- much as the dwell from the headmouse used to interfere with the dwell settings in communication in the "old" days.

 

 

 

On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 9:57 AM Costello, John (Otolaryngology) <xxxxxx@childrens.harvard.edu> wrote:

I also need to explore the integrated feature with communication more along with the developer as I was able to switch between Communicator and typing and then minimize and use Independence drive and the go back to communication.    This then abruptly stopped working but I would like to understand if there is a fix or a macro we can create to allow them to work together.

 

John

 

From: <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com> on behalf of pamela mathy <xxxxxx@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 9:37 AM
To: "xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@alsa.simplelists.com>
Subject: Re: Independence drive [EXTERNAL]

 

Hi John,

 

Thank you for this demo--very cool. The device (looks like an EM-12) was mounted rather low for best view for driving the chair and the eye-tracking was working well for the directional arrow buttons which are larger targets than would be needed for eye tracking communication for someone with ALS. Does the mount need to be moved up for optimal eye-tracking communication?

 

Thank you again for sharing. I am going to send this video to the wheelchair vendor reps who cover our ALS clinic here at the University of Utah Health.

 

Best,

 

Pam Mathy

Director of Clinical Education and Director of the University of Utah Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic

University of Utah

 

On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 11:48 AM Costello, John (Otolaryngology) <xxxxxx@childrens.harvard.edu> wrote:

Like any first-time driver, I was a bit unsure as this really WAS my first attempt but this was still quite easy, integrated into a Surface Pro.

 

The video is edited and sound cut out as this was filmed in a busy clinic and patient faces and voices were deleted.

 

While our ALS – AAC Program will not do any wheelchair/seating work, we will integrate this system with as many different AAC technologies as possible and make our patients aware of the strategy and local resources to further investigate/formally assess.

 

https://youtu.be/K0LB6X1SZSw

 

 

Cool stuff and major hope for our patients.

 

 

John

 

 

John M. Costello

Director, Augmentative Communication Program and 

ALS Augmentative Communication Program

Boston Children's Hospital

781.216.2220

                                   @costello_j

 

 


 

--

 

 

Lisa Bruening, M.S., CCC-SLP

Director of Care Services

The ALS Association Northern Ohio Chapter

 

p:  216-592-2572  d:  216-867-1262   m: 440-399-7096 

a:  6155 Rockside Rd, Suite 403, Independence, OH 44131

www.alsaohio.org    xxxxxx@alsaohio.org

 

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Did you know that The ALS Association Northern Ohio Chapter is totally self-funded and provides support to over 300 local persons with ALS and their family members each year? We count on YOUR support to provide caregiver breaks and grants to assist with the costs of care.

The National ALS Registry is the LARGEST research programs which allows person with ALS to participate in research from the comfort of their own home.

 

go to https://www.cdc.gov/als/  to learn more!