Music at Your Fingertips: Radios, Switches and TBI

I was heading to a home visit on a long highway through wheatfields, making my way to a small country town. Turning off the highway, I passed an old feed store and headed down what used to be a frontier brick and stone building -lined main street. If you dumped truck-loads of dirt on the street to cover it up and threw in a few cowboys on horses, you would think you were on the set of a western movie.
When I arrived at the house, using a Powerlink 2 from Ablenet, a Big Red switch on a universal mount, a radio and an lamp that looks like an aquarium, I set up a cause and effect activity for a non-verbal 4 year-old girl in a wheelchair who had a traumatic brain injury when less than a year old. The doctors said she would never be able to do anything, but the 2 aunties who care for her and love her have worked hard to get her to respond and clue in on what is going on around her.
Since her arm was hanging down off the side of her chair, we mounted the switch so it sat under her fingertips. I moved her fingertips slightly so she could get the feel of flexing them a little to make the switch trigger the radio station and the aquarium lamp on, timed for 3 seconds. As soon as the music started she rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, but when the music and lights stopped, she didn't try to get it going again. We verbally encouraged and coaxed, and finally I moved her fingertips and started the music and lights again.
"When we say funny things, she laughs," shared one aunt. "Not too long ago when we were talking about my sister having to be gone part of the day and a sitter needing to be here, she started to cry. We think she knows what is going on."
"I am sure she does. If she can move her fingertips to make the music play and gets the idea that she can have control over it, it will give her some power, and the stimulus will get those synapses' firing and we can build another block in the foundation," I encouraged.
We moved out to the back step of the house and continued to visit when suddenly from the living room we heard the country music station we had the radio set on, begin blaring through the house.
"She did it by herself!" cried one of the aunts.
I watched as the other aunt with me, began to tear up, her eyes showing the excitement of what she was hearing. "We know there is alot going on in her head and we want to see her world open up."
"She is just like any other typical kid inside," I said. "She will trigger the switch and do what she wants on her timetable, not ours." It seemed like when we were staring at her and waiting for her to do it, she wasn't going to. But as soon as I was out of the room...there it went!
I shared a few strategies with them on how to use the timer on the Powerlink and left them to experiment and play.
What a lucky girl to have 2 aunts that care so much. She is just starting to expand her abilities and there is so much ahead.

All the best to you!

Lon



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Adventures in Juice-making and Routine Building Using Assistive Technology

"This is HUGE!" exclaimed the parents of a middle school boy last Friday as we sat and watched a video of their son using a Big Red switch, Ablenet Powerlink 3 and and a juicer to make pear juice.

The SLP, assistants and myself have been working on getting this boy to be able to learn routines and he gets it! The motivating factor is that he can access practical activities that motivate him. We had to find out what would make him want to follow a routine or use a switch and the first experiment was with music. If you are a regular reader, you may recall my post a few months ago where we had hit a hot button for this boy when he made the connection to use the switch to control a radio and music.

Now after several months, he has learned how to wash hands, wash and dry fruit for a juicer, use a butter knife to cut up the fruit with hand over hand guidance from an adult. He then can put the pieces in the juicer top, press the switch to make the juicer run and push down the pestel pusher on the top of the juicer to feed the fruit through - all at the same time!

As we sat on chairs in front of the media cart in an alcove at the middle school, the parents watched the process. They were thrilled to see him make such progress over the past months. He is moving to a new residential community next month that is associated with a local university special ed program. He will receive top notch care and guided activities. The staff wants a video of his work and the tools we are using so they can continue building on this new skill set being developed. We are sending this student on into good hands!

It is so great when you feel that success of seeing AT and practical application take hold and make a difference for kids.

All the best to you!

Lon

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Resources for Adapting Toys and Using Switches

Toys at Christmas are a big part of what makes Christmas what it is. If there isn't something to play with, even for adults, then something is missing. Imagine the children with disabilities who would love to have a switch hooked up to a toy so they could make it go themsleves. I have tried to give folks some information on this so they could go out and get what they need to do just that.

Electric Toys and Powerlink Units:

I shared a blog post, linked here, on some toys and devices that work with a Powerlink control unit. This unit, available from Ablenet, allows you to plug in appliances, radios and electronic toys to control the power to it via a switch. It can run fans, juicers, popcorn poppers, Lite Brites, etc. You use the switches you can get from Ablenet, Enabling Devices, etc.

I had recommended a slot car race track to use with a Powerlink, and later found it was battery operated. I edited the post to show a new electric race track set that would work with a Powerlink and let folks know I had not seen the tiny words on the box saying "runs with batteries" until I had zoomed in on it on a second visit.

This brought up a discussion with a fellow blogger who had gotten excited about using the race set. We discussed how you can use a battery interruptor and rig your own switch access to the battery operated set as well. I thought I could compare the two methods and share a little more on the battery type of switch access.

Battery operated toys and switch access:

If you have a toy that has a simple on/off switch to run it, you can put a battery interrupter inside between the positive end of the battery and the metal end plate in the compartment that holds the battery. The interrupter is a small copper disc that has a wire welded on each side for positive and negative. When you plug a switch into a jack on the end of the interruptor cord, and hold the switch down, the curcuit is closed and the battery juice goes on in. When you let up on the switch, the circuit is now open and the power stops. If you turn the toy on before you use the switch, it is ready to be operated by the switch - does that make sense? If the toy isn't on first, then obviously it won't "go" whether you have the switch pressed down or not.

The trick to adapting toys like this is that if you don't have a simple on/off switch on the toy - let's say it has multiple actions and there is a control unit up inside, sometimes using the battery interrupter won't get it to do the thing you want.

I bought a Curious George train engine once that tooted and ran in a circle, but you had a middle switch setting for off and a sound switch setting and a run the train setting. There was a brain up inside the toy and I would have had to tear it apart to get to it to bypass the other switch and get it to do what I wanted. To do this would have called for hard wiring. I have included a site with directions on how to do surgery on an Elmo to get to the brain up inside and adapt it that illustrates this hard wiring.

So when it comes to that race car set I told you about, you would definitely have to look at it up close first and see how it works before you would know how to adapt it. That's one thing I like about Enabling Devices. They do all the work for you so the toys are ready to play with. Whether you use a Powerlink Unit, a battery interrupter, do it yourself or buy a pre-made model, switch activated toys are great for kids with disabilities.

Let's get to playing!

Links to tutorials and supplies you might find helpful:

1. Link to purchase battery interrupters and other supplies.

2. How to install a battery interrupter.

3. Converting a toy via hardwiring - WARNING: Shows graphic pictures of Elmo in surgery!

4. Article on a non profit - RePlay for Kids which adapts recycled toys to give away - great idea.

5. Tutorials on Switch Adapted Toys - including how to make your own switch.

6. Adapted play and switch toys, shares on the importance of adapted play.

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Assistive Technology Holiday Gift Idea:Switch and Powerlink for Electrical Toys

Electric toys like a Light Brite, slot car race track or a train set, can be fun at Christmas, but how fun would it be if children with orthopedic diabilities could use a switch to run them? Don't skip these toys because a child can't access them...here's how!
Enter the Powerlink 3. These are what we have in my equipment center for trials. I am going to explain how to use electrical toys using a switch, without having to adapt or modify the toy or use any wires.
The Powerlink 3 has two plug receptacles that allow you to plug in electrical devices and operate them with a switch. The switch (or switches when using 2 toys) is plugged into the Powerlink 3 and then the toy is plugged in. By pressing the switch, the child allows power to pass to the toy. If the toy is already turned on to run, the switch will make it go.

The Powerlink has 4 modes: (Described off the Ablenet website)
Direct: Keeps appliances ON as long as the switch is activated.
Timed Seconds: Runs appliance from 1 to 60 seconds with each switch activation.
Timed Minutes: Runs appliance from 1 to 60 minutes with each switch activation.
Latch: First switch activation turns appliance ON; second activation turns it OFF.

We have been using one of these to teach cause and effect in order to develop switch access communication down the road. Activities have included a Lite Brite and a juicer to make fresh apple juice. The Powerlink can be a way to link electric devices that help teach strategies that will be used in life skills, but besides that they are just plain fun when hooked up for kids that normally can't access toys. It is a thrill for them. If you want a memorable Christmas, hook up one of these and a special toy and watch what kids do - if it is the first time they have had control over a toy like this, the excitement is worth it all.

Ablenet, has a holiday gift ideas page. They are announcing 20% off on selected items in the holiday buyers guide area. They have the "Twist" which is a jelly bean switch with changeable colored tops. Check it out on the their gift page as well.

Some toys that will operate with a switch and a Powelink. I found them at Amazon.com:

Slot car race set - I found one on Amazon for $34.99 (I found it is battery powered and won't work for the Powerlink so here is another one! -Carrera Go Mario Kart - $66.10 on Amazon. I like this one better anyway. It says it has a transformer so to me that means it plugs in.

Portable Radio - I found that a small portable radio makes a great music source. If it has a cassette and you have some old tapes, it works best. A DVD or CD doesn't work with the power interrupting because you have to start it again and have to press the play button to go again. $19.99

North Pole Christmas Express Train set - $44.99

Lite Brite - a whole bunch of them...I didn't know there were that many options!

Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper - Kids love to watch the wire kernel pusher go and turn around. There switch can control it. Around $30.

There are a few electrical toys and items to get you started. I am surprised how more things are going to computerized toys with batteries. There don't seem to be as many plugged in toys as I remember as a kid, but they are still out there with a little searching. Happy Holidays!

All the best to you!

Lon

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