Thanks everyone for your suggestions regarding switches!   Also thanks Margaret as I hadn’t even thought about mounting.

Victoria

I wanted to share a switch solutions that I was a little proud of:

(It’s at 1:38 into the video)

http://lowtechsolutions.org/pages/home/connie2.html

For a long time, Connie activated her switch adapted call button with a pillow switch, using her head.  Her head movement became more limited, and it wasn’t feasible for her anymore.  I ended up velcroing a microlight switch inside of her AFO- she activated it with her toe.

Some clever ones that my clients came up with-

1.       A client who was quadriplegic, but still had good head movement. He would wear a bandana around his neck, and his wife pinned a pillow switch to it. He activated it with his chin.

2.       I had a client who had almost no hand movement.  He put wallet under the palm of his hand (to raise it up), and a pillow switch under the pad/wrist of his hand.  I ended up using this combination with a number of other clients. (I think I have a video of this somewhere, I’ll see if I can find it.)

Alisa, if ALSA doesn’t have a website where we could post pictures, I’d be happy to put up a little area on my website that only people on the listserv can access. I could post pictures there….

Margaret
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Margaret Cotts
Low Tech Solutions
phone: (510) 681-3639  |  email: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
lowtechsolutions.org  |  store.lowtechsolutions.org

Hi Victoria-

When I worked with people with ALS, the 2 switches I used the most frequently were spec switches and pillow switches.  (There are 2 kinds of switches called a pillow switch. The one I found useful was the gray one, not the green one.).  Another switch that I used frequently was the Tash microlight.

 

I especially found the pillow switch useful for people who very limited fine motor skills, but still had some gross motor function.

 

(It would be great if we had a thread on all the really creative ways our clients have used switches… I had some clients come up with some really clever solutions on their own… I had a few creative switch placements that I was proud of….  I always thought it would be great to have a website, showing photographs of different examples of switch placement, and giving instructions for how to do a switch assessment.)

 

P.S. If you are going to have a loan library, it would be useful to have switch mounts also.

 

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Margaret Cotts
Low Tech Solutions
phone: (510) 681-3639  |  email: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
lowtechsolutions.org  |  store.lowtechsolutions.org

 

 

 

 

From: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Edwards, Victoria
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 2:51 AM
To: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Switches

 

HI all,

I am in the process of trying to set up a loan bank of switches at our MND clinic in Cambridge.  I was wondering what switches would be top of your list (taking into consideration how frequently you would provide them to patients) if you had to set up a collection.

Thanks!

Victoria

 

 

Victoria Edwards

Advanced Specialist Speech & Language Therapist

Speech & Language Therapy Department

Box 198

Addenbrooke's Hospital

Hills Road

Cambridge

CB2 0QQ

01223 216200

 

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