AT Program News Blog

Are Your State Assistive Technology Regional Centers Listed at Proloquo2Go.com?

I just got off the phone with a new coordinator of an AT Regional Center in Boston. She told me this inspiring story that I thought I'd share. The Proloquo2Go Web site has a state-by-state resources page to identify places to go see this communication app on an iPad. A colleague at the Center noticed the local children's hospital was listed and thought they should be listed too. They submitted their information and since doing so, a short time ago, they've had close to a dozen calls from people who need AAC (augmentative and alternative communication).

Many of the people calling the ATRC have heard about the iPad and Proloquo2Go, but not about AAC in general. Some have seen the 60 Mins report (that failed to mention the long history of dedicated AAC devices that lay the groundwork for Proloquo2Go). One man's family went to the Proloquo2Go site because his doctor told him he needed an iPad. He has a fast moving progressive disease and his family knew nothing about assistive technology in general. Thanks to the listing on the Proloquo2Go Web site resources page, this family is now connected with an AT Regional Center operated by Easter Seals in Boston, and will learn about a full range of solutions, including the AAC solutions that can work for him as his needs change.

Are your state AT Regional Centers listed at Proloquo2Go?

Nebraska's AT4ALL (Does It All)

An overview of Nebraska's popular equipment reutilization platform from Program Coordinator Barbara Schultz

Our Web site address evokes our mission statement--assistive technology 4 all ages, disabilities, and locations in Nebraska--but our impact has gone beyond state lines. AT4ALL.com was developed in 2005 to help Nebraska achieve its statewide mission by providing an easy online tool for individuals with disabilities and others to learn about and locate assistive technology. Today 12 additional states have adopted the platform, customized for their own use.

AT4ALL's structure is popular because its database is integrated. The site allows users to search for equipment available for demonstration, short-term loan, or reuse (sale or donation) in just one step, utilizing one search box. Users may also list equipment to sell or give away, or they may post "want ads" for items they cannot find. Visitors exploring the site to learn about AT by category are also directed to find what is available to try from those pages. In short, the site quickly takes visitors from learning and exploration to the opportunity "try before they buy."

Benefits for consumers and professionals

• Visitors to the site can browse recent listings and search for equipment by name, category, zip code, price or whether an item is free, for sale, loan or demonstration. Photos and links to the manufacturers are included and items can be bookmarked for future reference. 
• Persons who do not have access to the internet can call for assistance to access the equipment available on the website. 
• In Nebraska, in-state partners utilize the site to share their equipment, including the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Centers for Independent Living, schools, and non-profit organizations.

Benefits for administrators

• Streamlines federal reporting. The site tracks inventory and activity (equipment loaned, reused, exchanged, as well as demonstrations), generates a variety of reports, and uses a federal auditing tool developed by Nebraska (to flag issues that need addressing). 
• Provides tools for managing site activity. This includes automatic email reminders/overdue equipment notices and a Loan Agreement Form. The form printed for transactions includes the device's Web site ID number, its value, and the borrower's information. Terms, a liability statement, and the user's signature are also included, along with the required federal satisfaction survey. 
• Includes a Quick Start Guide for users and a resource manual for managers.

Lessons learned

✓The database template is adaptable and expandable as states' needs change or federal reporting requirements shift.  

✓ Expanded usage across states assures usability with emerging technologies and 508 compliance.

For the states in this consortium, the relationship is "win-win." Each state program shares in the cost of hosting the Web site and votes on annual upgrades. Three additional states are considering the database to manage their program in 2012.

Interested? For more information contact me:
(402) 471-1301  barbara.schultz@nebraska.gov

PIAT Workshop: You CAN Take it With You--Transition and SGD Users

Amy Goldman, Program Director of Pennsylvania's Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT), says the need for this workshop has been emerging for a long time. For several years the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University (which houses PIAT) has been hearing from parents in a panic when they learn their students will soon lose services and even their communication equipment. "We're seeing huge gaps for students who should be preparing for adult services," Goldman acknowledges, "and for parents, the clock is ticking."

Indeed, careful transition planning for life after high school is critical for students with speech disabilities. Without it, the speech generating devices (SGDs) students have come to rely on frequently remain the property of their schools. Goldman reports, too, that even when a device does come home, it often ends up in a closet because its programmed vocabulary and communication strategies are no longer relevant to the young adult's life. Students, in effect, graduate to the couch.

PIAT created this workshop to provide families and professionals with strategies for effective transition planning, and to create awareness of transition barriers. "I'm an SLP [Speech Language Pathologist] by training," Goldman explains. "So I've sort of embraced this as a challenge for the profession."

PIAT's workshop, Goldman emphasizes, is for everyone: bottom up to top down. Here AAC users, family members, advocates, administrators, practitioners, and counselors will learn the importance of:

·    supporting users to build communication skills for success;
·    establishing productive cross-agency relationships for transition (including clearly defined roles and responsibilities);
·    incorporating how students use AAC into existing goals (spelled out in educational, vocational, and independent living plans);
·    documenting, building, and conveying each student's communication profile (for what works and what doesn't);
·    nurturing users' self-determination, operational competence with technology, and skills for self-advocacy;
·    continuously evaluating and updating users' communication inventories (to adapt new strategies, tools, and vocabulary for new environments).

In addition, attendees will come away with a transition planning tool to help guide discussion with students and service providers and help ensure accountability.

Ultimately, Goldman's message for this workshop is positive: AAC users ARE successfully attending college, obtaining employment, living independently, managing personal assistance, enjoying recreation, and developing meaningful relationships. But to do so users, family members, practitioners, school administrators and VR counselors must team up and coordinate services, information, and goals.

Interested? PIAT's workshop will take place on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at ATIA Orlando.

Vermont’s Assistive Technology School Swap Gains Traction

Vermont is taking a reuse approach to helping improve access to assistive technology (AT) in schools. Sharon Alderman, the VT AT Reuse Project Coordinator, now has 23 Vermont Supervisory Unions signed up to begin swapping, lending, and donating equipment to one another through the Vermont AT School Swap. The program began, Alderman reports, in response to a need articulated by school personnel: as a way to share equipment among schools and keep assistive technology in the hands of students who benefit from using it.

Vermont is one of several states working on the AT School Swap concept. A consortium of six New England states worked together to first create GetATStuff.com, the Assistive Technology Exchange of New England. That Craig's List-styled reuse website spurred the idea for a reuse site that might serve schools and districts, a web-based tool to help organize AT inventories (uploaded by schools), and advertise equipment needs as well as equipment available for loan, donation, or trade. "What we heard from educators and administrators," Alderman emphasizes, "is the need to keep devices in circulation once students graduate or move out of district, provide professional support--a way to learn from each other about how the equipment worked in a real classroom--and also a way to better afford expensive equipment to enhance the learning experience."

The states are sharing resources and ideas. Arlene Lugo, director of the Connecticut Tech Act project, took the lead with developing the concept and with creating an ATSS website prototype based on the GetATStuff platform. Now the Massachusetts AT Act program has received a Shapiro Foundation grant that will help fund improvements to this prototype for the Massachusetts context, improvements that will be made available to the other states.

"This kind of systems change takes time, but in Vermont ATSS is beginning to gain traction," Alderman says. She also likes to quote Liz Persaud, training and development coordinator at the Pass It On Center: "'Begin with the end in mind,' is what she always says. The reports that many students and professionals are getting devices they need is inspiring."

While the website is not yet fully functional, Alderman is signing up schools, registering users, and distributing a monthly email digest to school-based participants. The email includes a spread sheet of AT needs and AT that is currently available. It also motivates readers with a success vignette about a completed school exchange and the impact it is having for a student with a disability.

Attendees of ATIA Chicago 2010 can learn more about Vermont's ATSS and talk with Sharon Alderman. She will be part of a presentation with the Pass It On Center entitled, "Effective AT Reuse in School Systems" on October 29th. Her talk will focus on the pros and cons of beginning an exchange system for schools with a website component. 

Colorado's Device Loan Bank for Schools

In Colorado, the Department of Education funds a comprehensive short-term device loan program and partners with the state’s AT Act program at the University of Colorado Denver to run it. The program is a national model and distinguishes itself for providing access not only to device loans, but also to extensive professional development, technical assistance, and for marketing its services down to the level of the IEP team. In August, ATPN spoke with AT Partner’s Christina Perkins, MA CCC-SLP, and Sarah Barthel, MS, to learn about the Loan Bank: how it got started, how it operates, the case they are building for its cost-effectiveness, and what they have learned about getting the right equipment to school-aged students with disabilities statewide. The following was gleaned from that conversation.

SWAAAC History

The Loan Bank has grass roots origins. In the early 1980s a group of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) organized to convince the Colorado Department of Education to fund a statewide program to enable better services for students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).  Through word of mouth, the program soon attracted interest from therapists and educators working with students with all kinds of disabilities.  Originally known as SWAAC, SWAAAC now includes an extra “A” for “Statewide Assistive Technology and Augmentative and Alternative Communication.”

In 1986 SWAAAC team members convinced the Colorado Dept. of Education to invest in the Loan Bank. A device loan bank, they argued, would help them identify the right equipment for students, and help them demonstrate to schools why providing comprehensive AT evaluations is cost-effective. It would allow for trial and error as therapists work to “feature-match” devices to a student’s specific abilities and ensure that a device works well in all environments.  

Today the Loan Bank makes possible systematic device trials by SWAAAC team members in Colorado’s schools as well as Early Intervention specialists and participating Dept. of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors. In 1998 The Dept. of Education contracted with AT Partners at the University of Colorado Denver to manage the SWAAAC program.

Loan Bank Overview

• Approximately 1800 devices are available for loan.
• Devices are provided for 6 week terms (including 2 weeks for shipping) with an option for one extension if there is no waiting list.
• 88% of devices are stored, maintained, and shipped from AT Partners in Denver. 
• 12% are maintained in Grand Junction, one of AT Partners’ two regional satellites.
• The online loan bank inventory is available for browsing by anyone.
• The online “storefront” allows registered users to make loan requests (these include SWAAAC team coordinators, registered Early Intervention consultants, and registered Vocational Rehabilitation counselors).
• SWAAAC’s policies and procedures are reviewed and agreed to online with each loan request. This is known as the “Team Agreement.”
• Software licenses are also managed through this Team Agreement. Users agree to uninstall any software provided through the Loan Bank at the end of the loan term.

A Cost-Effective Shipping Partnership

A unique component of the Loan Bank’s operation is the shipping partnership SWAAAC has created with the Colorado Library Consortium. SWAAAC pays into the Consortium to use their book courier service (i.e. interlibrary loan) to ship devices. The Consortium agreed to the partnership because of its mission to help students access education. In Colorado, public libraries, community colleges, and schools make use of this service.

Advantages

• Cost: just a few hundred dollars per year for AT Partners.
• Statewide access: rural and mountain regions are accessible through the service. (Courier sites exist statewide including many public schools, local public libraries, and AT Partners’ satellite offices in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction.)
• Reliability: the courier provides three pickup days each week.

Disadvantages

• Participating schools must pay into the service to become a courier site. (Those that do not, however, may use their local public library or an AT Partners’ satellite office for pickup and return.)
• Devices are shipped uninsured. (However, AT Partners reports that the overall cost savings far outweigh the risks, and so far they’ve had very few problems.)
• Large devices cannot be shipped with the courier. (It was originally intended for books.)

Technical Assistance and Professional Development

From its inception SWAAAC was conceived to provide professional development in addition to statewide access to assistive technology. Currently SWAAAC provides:

•  “Just-in-time” technical assistance over the phone or online to problem-solve specific classroom/student or device situations.
•  A one hour monthly phone conference for school-based service providers.  Topics often include reviews of professional journal articles to support evidence based practice, hot topics in the field for example “apps,” and/or guest speakers.
• A two-day introductory (SWAAAC 101) training. The training is provided annually for new AT professionals and makes use of the University of Colorado Denver’s video conferencing system for distance learning.
• A two-day advanced training (SWAAAC 202) on specific focus such as AT to support literacy learning, AAC, and AT to support physical access.
• A two-day summer symposium on how to provide effective AT assessments with theme based content.  This year’s symposium will look at the implementation of AT across the curriculum.

Funding and Staffing

• The Colorado Dept. of Education funds 3 full-time employees to run the program (two full-time and two part-time staff including one student employee). It also funds the purchase and repair/replacement of equipment.
• Partners at the University of Colorado Denver provides facility space for storing the Loan Bank inventory as well as staff engineers for occasional device maintenance and repair.

Outreach to Build Local Capacity

SWAAAC’s goal is to build local capacity for AT expertise. To do so, it markets its services directly to classroom educators and therapists and not just regional special education coordinators. At the start of each year an AT Partners’ student employee spends 2-3 days researching and assembling an email list of all the therapists and special education providers on the rosters at individual school and school district websites statewide.

“There’s a lot of staff turnover and it takes time, but it’s worth it,” emphasizes SWAAAC Program Coordinator Chris Perkins. “Our approach has always been to build local capacity so that the knowledge and the expertise exists at the level of IEP teams.”

AT Partners uses the list to send announcements of trainings, learning labs, conference calls, and loan bank services.

Data Collection

AT Act reporting data is collected online. Registered users answer a questionnaire when they request a device loan and the information is aggregated. Outcomes data is collected through a short “check-in survey.” The response rate for this survey is lower than AT Partners would like (33% in 2009), and the program is working on policies to improve cooperation. At present, borrowers are emailed a link to the “check-in survey” once a device is returned.

The Case for Cost Savings to School Districts

•  Between 7/1/2009 and 6/29/2010 1,504 device loans were made to 70 different school districts or BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services).
• 74% of borrowers reported the device loans assisted them with deciding whether to purchase the device.
• 34% concluded that they should not make the purchase.
• AT Partners estimates this 34% represents a cost savings to school districts of $169,786 (the total value of the rejected devices trialed).

Lessons Learned

1. The importance of marketing SWAAAC services to build capacity on the local IEP team level. When classroom teachers, therapists, and parents are aware and make use of SWAAAC services, students with disabilities receive the most benefits.
2. The Loan bank is most effective when its services are used in combination with a comprehensive AT evaluation. Students with disabilities need to trial devices that are “feature-matched” to their capabilities and needs, and to do so in a variety of environments.
   
3. Ongoing professional development and technical assistance is necessary to help maximize the usefulness of Loan Bank trials.
4. Bi-yearly, in-person, meetings with district team coordinators help build community, communicate policies, and share ideas for device purchases for the Loan Bank.

Thanks Chris and Sarah for all of your insights!

Nebraska's Assistive Technology Partnership Holds Cognitive Solutions Training Event

Thanks to Nebraska's ATP for sending in this news...

The Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership (ATP) and Nebraska's Traumatic Brain Injury Implementation Partnership Grant are working together to increase the independence of individuals who experience a brain injury.

In June, the Brain Injury Grant sponsored a two-day training conducted by Tony Gentry, PhD, OTR/L, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, and Director, Assistive Technology for Cognition Laboratory, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. ATP Technology Specialists attended along with staff from several rehabilitation hospitals and Vocational Rehabilitation.

The event: Assistive Technology for Cognition for Improving the Functional Independence, Safety, and Self-Efficacy of People with Traumatic Brain Injury included an overview of emerging community-based themes in cognitive rehabilitation, techniques for assessing needs for consumer community supports, hands-on training, and small group labs. Cognitive tools explored included the basic Timex Data Link Watch and PDA's as Task Organizers. Attendees completed a case study that included planning, creating, and uploading a task-sequencing video to the iPod Touch. (It was also discussed how these solutions have been successful for consumers experiencing Autism.) Affordable Smart Home solutions for safety and independence in the home were also reviewed

Attendees reported that their knowledge of cognitive challenges and how solutions can be customized has increased. They also reported that the case studies "really helped with putting it all together for real life situations."

For more information contact ATP Director Leslie Novacek, Assistive Technology Partnership, Nebraska.

Chris Clasby and Kathleen Laurin on Creating Access to Wildlife Recreation

Thanks to MonTECH Program Coordinator Chris Clasby, MSW and Program Director Kathleen Laurin, Ph.D. for sharing the details on this unique recreational AT program, how it came together, and how it is and will be sustained.

 

Assistive technology (AT) devices can open the world of recreation to individuals with disabilities and those who are aging.   Unfortunately  access to recreation and leisure activities is sometimes not considered an important component of disability services and rehabilitation. The Montana Access To Outdoor Recreation (MATOR) project at the University of Montana Rural Institute-MonTECH recognizes that these activities are crucial to quality of life for each of us with or without a disability.  Consistent with Montana’s heritage of wildlife-associated recreation, MATOR strives to increase opportunities for individuals with disabilities to pursue wildlife viewing, fishing, hunting, and related activities. The project achieves this goal by providing more than just an equipment loan program; MATOR also provides high quality opportunities to see and try adapted recreational equipment in the natural environment; and it facilitates social supports (when requested) that ensure everyone enjoys their time outdoors.

 

MATOR began in 2008 with the receipt of a three-year recreational programs grant from the Rehabilitation Services Agency (RSA) of the US Department of Education. Seven new recreational program awards were made that year (based on the FFY2008 competition), ranging from $115,000 to $135,000 for the first year of funding. MATOR is unique for RSA’s recreational programs because it is the only one that focuses on wildlife-associated recreation (wildlife viewing, fishing, and hunting).  It is also unique because it is using recreational program funds to purchase AT.

 

RSA supports recreational programs because research shows that recreation provides benefits that enhance pathways to employment.  Individuals with disabilities who participate in recreational activities often experience increased independence, mobility, self-empowerment, and self-efficacy in addition to simple enjoyment.  Interpersonal and societal benefits include increased socialization and community involvement and belief in oneself as a social actor. These positive effects work together to increase the chances that an individual will try new things; they are also critical skills in gaining and maintaining employment.  MATOR participants have reported qualitative benefits gained from engaging in recreational pursuits and have also reported their participation resulted in increased confidence and was a catalyst for them to try other new activities.

 

MATOR’s Core Services:

Equipment Demonstration Events

 

RSA funds MATOR to provide recreational opportunities in integrated settings. However, MATOR has learned the importance of complementing those opportunities with organized demonstration events focused on access for people with disabilities. The events are held throughout northwestern Montana to provide hands-on opportunities for participants to try recreational AT in the natural environment. These events not only demonstrate available equipment, they also raise awareness for what is possible, and how individual participants with disabilities can accomplish it.

·         In June, for example, MATOR is participating in Fishing without Barriers—Fishing on Flathead Lake, a morning of awareness and demonstrations culminating in a noon fish fry. An example of an integrated event is two days later, in partnership with Fish, Wildlife, and Parks: Helena Outdoors Fest in celebration of National Get Outdoors Day.

 

Recreational AT Equipment Loan Program

 

RSA funding is making possible the purchase of a large inventory of recreational AT equipment for loan. The equipment is available to be checked out for free, online or over the phone, by Montanans for their own private recreational use.  Items available include: a variety of optics, adapted fishing and shooting equipment, camping equipment, ground blinds, trekking poles, outdoor wheelchairs, accessible tents, adaptive photography equipment, and a wide variety of adaptive mounting equipment. MATOR is shipping equipment at no charge to borrowers.

 

Volunteer Network

 

To provide assistance as well as learning experiences, MATOR recruits sportsmen and sportswomen who are willing to volunteer time to help individuals with disabilities pursue outdoor recreation and/or participate in MATOR demonstration events or other activities.  MATOR works to match participants who request social supports with volunteers.  Volunteers are also sought to offer access to private property and/or contribute equipment to the loan library.

 

MATOR’s Funding:

 

RSA is funding MATOR from FFY2009 to FFY2011.  MATOR must provide a twenty-five percent funding match in year two of the grant, a fifty percent funding match in year three, and the program must demonstrate it will be self-sustaining beyond the federal funding period. To do so, MATOR relies heavily on in-kind contributions from established partners.  

 

MATOR’s Partners:

 

MonTECH

 

MATOR’s primary partner is  MonTECH which includes the Montana Assistive Technology Program (MATP).  MATOR  receives in-kind benefits from MonTECH which include:

• access to the computer network and database which hosts the MATOR website and online equipment loan checkout program,
• staff,
• equipment storage,
• workspace and office equipment.  

 

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks

 

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks manages the state’s wildlife services and state parks divisions and has  been a strong MATOR partner, helping achieve program awareness and supporting demonstration activities.

 

The U.S. Forest Service

 

The US Forest Service has been a great partner working with MATOR on accessibility issues in national forests to increase access for all visitors.  

 

Montana Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living Centers

 

These agencies provide information dissemination for MATOR activities and services.

 

Recreational AT Vendors and Manufacturers

 

MATOR partners with members of the AT industry for discounts and other supports.

 

Private Individuals and Member Organizations

 

Private individuals and organizations donate and help fund equipment, provide storage space for large equipment, and volunteer hours to facilitate activities and assist consumers.  

 

MATOR’s success is attributable to the investment in time, interest, and effort made by its individual and organizational partners, and to the input it sought and received from potential and active participants at the start of its development and now midstream.  This input and feedback is extremely important for determining activities planned and the types of specific equipment purchased. In this way the program has been able to identify quality services and locations for activities. The program has also been able to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of individual MonTECH staff members who were familiar with a range of adaptive recreational equipment at the outset.

MATOR’s Future and Potential as a National Model:

 

MATOR will be self-sustaining beyond FFY2011 with the help of its partners, and principally, MonTECH and the MATP. In Montana, AT Act funding supports an AT program infrastructure that can maintain and continue a demo/loan program in recreational AT.  Alone, AT Act funds are inadaquate for the purchase of the adaptive recreational equipment needed to get such a program off the ground. For states with similar infrastructures, therefore, RSA’s three-year recreational programs grant may be an attractive source of seed funding, and RSA’s support for MATOR is an encouraging precedent.

 

For more information visit the MATOR website or email mator@ruralinstitute.umt.edu.

Also check out this Alliance for Technology Access webinar on AT for recreation.

Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute to ATPN? ATPN can work with you to make it happen. Contact ATPN.

Lessons from an AFP-AgrAbility Partnership

Back in 2007, Kevin Yasnowski became the first farmer to receive a financial loan through the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF). At the time, Mr. Yasnowski was working at a Nike shoe outlet, but he didn’t want to just sell shoes. He wanted to help with haying and raising heifers alongside his father on their family’s farm. To do so Yasnowski, who has Down Syndrome, needed safety equipment for a tractor. But because he was already employed, the Penn. Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) turned down his request for assistance. Indeed there was no program that could help with this equipment. That’s when PATF stepped in.

“It’s important to do what you love,” notes Executive Director Susan Tachau.

PATF learned of Yasnowski through a partnership it had just launched with AgrAbility and Penn State University. AgrAbility’s mission is to help farmers keep producing; the Pennsylvania AgrAbility program provides outreach to farmers with disabilities, assessments for equipment needs, and information and referral for funding. PATF, in turn, provides alternative financing, case management, and advocacy.

In Mr. Yasnowski’s case, PATF helped finance a seat belt to keep him in the operator’s chair and the roll over protective structure (ROPS) for protection should the tractor flip over. “What’s important about this story,” Tachau emphasizes, “is that no other program could help him. But he paid off his loan in about a year.”

Since 2007, PATF has made ten loans to farmers through its AgrAbility program, and learned some lessons about working with farmers and state agencies along the way. Recently ATPN spoke with Tachau about her experience with AgrAbility and gleaned the following lessons, surprises, and strategies to share with the AT program community:

1. Loans to farmers are not particularly risky.

PATF’s farmers have had a much higher debt to income ratio than its other loan recipients, yet so far none have defaulted or even gone delinquent. “A farmer’s debt to income looks higher because their assets are in the farm,” Tachau explains. “But farmers are committed to their family farms. It’s more than a job. We don’t put liens on cows to make these loans, and the farmers are paying them off.”

2. Farmers want all resources to go to the farm.

“Because farming is much more than a vocation, farmers put everything on the farm. So when AgrAbility’s OT comes back to them recommending, among other things, an ergonomic chair for the office, it’s a hard sell. Steps up to the tractor? Yes. Help converting to another product that is physically easier to make? Absolutely. The chair? Not so interested.”

3. Vocational Rehabilitation can’t cover everything.

At the time Yasnowski’s loan was made, PATF assumed financing farm equipment would prove to be unusual. AgrAbility would get the farm equipment from Vocational Rehabilitation, and PATF would finance the farmer’s non-vocational needs (i.e. home and vehicle modifications, hearing aids, and perhaps an ergonomic chair). Now, looking back, of the ten AgrAbility loans they’ve helped finance, every one has gone to purchase farm equipment.

4. It works best to complete a package for the farmer.

“Because there is a limit to what OVR can cover, we find that we’re completing packages for farmers. OVR will fund much of the adaptive equipment and we’ll try and finance the rest, including the vehicles.” In 2009, PATF worked with OVR to help a farmer with cervical and lumbar pain obtain new farm equipment that would simply be easier on his body. The needs were significant: an Ag-bag machine, a feeder wagon, a utility vehicle, an elevator lift system, upgrades to his tractor (new suspension seating, adapted shifting mechanism to engage the transmission and other gears), and a new truck that provides a smoother (and less painful) ride.  OVR paid for the new farm equipment as well as $1,200 for the adaptations to the tractor.  PATF guaranteed a loan for $19,300 (at 4.5%) so the farmer could pay the difference between the old tractor and the new one ($4,800) and the truck ($14,500). Monthly loan payments:  $306.37. Repayment period:  6 years.

5. Get creative when considering income.

PATF has learned that if anyone in the farm family is working off the farm, PATF may not have to guarantee the loan, which makes available a lot more money to work with to help a farmer.

6. Help OVR to “think outside the box” when it comes to AT.

As the example above illustrates, AT for farmers is not always adaptive equipment; sometimes it is just new or different farm equipment. “Of course we advocate for the farmers to OVR,” emphasizes Tachau, “and partner to help make it happen.”

7. Get to the policy table with multiple agencies.

An AT program can provide far reaching impact for people with disabilities by creating relationships with other state agencies, making sure AT is included in service definitions, and preventing program asset limits that threaten to exclude farm families and others from needed services. PATF is at the table with Medicaid as they craft their home and community based waiver (HSBS) service definitions and asset rules. It is also helping create the Pennsylvania State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL).  “Ultimately we are looking to create opportunities,” Tachau says, “to complete more packages for people with disabilities so they can get and afford the AT they need. Not just with OVR.”

8. Get to the kitchen table with farmers.

Outreach to farmers with disabilities is effective when the AgrAbility staff members are farmers themselves (or have a strong farming background). “It’s fascinating to me what we have learned, culturally,” Tachau muses. “Our AgrAbility people are farmers. They talk the language. When they visit a farm they know what is a priority and what is not a priority. I don’t step foot on a farm. I could, but they would know I don’t come from a farming background and that does make a difference.”

Learn more about creating an AgrAbility partnership; download this National Assistive Technology Technical Assistance Partnership (NATTAP) publication (rtf).

Tasha Shoffner Finds Her Calling as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Texas

In 2007, Tasha Shoffner completed her MBA with the help of a DynaWrite speech generating device. After graduation she was in pursuit of full-time employment when she learned of an opportunity to serve as an AmeriCorps volunteer at the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) Houston assistive technology (AT) demonstration center, a program of the Texas AT Act program. She couldn’t resist. Tasha had already been working part time as a consumer representative for Dynavox (a maker of alternative and augmentative communication devices) and had discovered the pleasure of helping others get empowered through assistive technology (and AAC in particular). Now here was an opportunity to light that fire for people with disabilities of all kinds; it was a chance to put her skills and life experience to work in a powerful and satisfying way, and learn about a lot of assistive technology in the process.

Shoffner’s own story with AAC did not begin until her junior year of college. She was contemplating switching majors to avoid the oral presentations necessary to complete her BA in social work when the Texas Rehabilitation Commission hooked her up with Dynavox software on a laptop. It changed her life. Shoffner, who has cerebral palsy, had discovered the power of AT. As she learned more, she settled on a DynaWrite—a keyboard-based device—because it allows her the greatest freedom of expression (Shoffner can type 20 words per minute with one hand). Finally speaking for herself, Shoffner completed her social work degree and later entered and completed the MBA program.

At UCP Houston, Shoffner has spent the last year and a half demonstrating all the AT equipment the center has to offer including JAWS screen reading software, Dragon Naturally Speaking (computer access for people with limited mobility), various alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) devices, as well as CCTVs and portable magnifiers for low vision.

“My favorite part of the job is watching the light go off in the client’s head when they realize what AT means to them,” Shoffner told ATPN in an email. “Every time a parent or teacher has come into the AT lab for the first time and realizes that there is help for their child or student, there has been an expression of relief and pure excitement of what the future may hold for them. That expression is all I need to know that I have had a positive impact on another person’s quality of life.”

Shoffner serves as an AmeriCorps Active Service Solutions for Economic Transitions (ASSET) Navigator, a program of UCP Texas. Congress expanded AmeriCorps funding in 2009, changes which include allowing volunteers to maintain their SSI benefits while earning their AmeriCorps monthly stipend. In addition, Shoffner will receive a Segal Americorps Education Award to put toward her student loans at the completion of the UCP assignment.

The Texas AT Act program (Texas TAP) funds an ASSET Navigator in each of six AT demonstration centers in the Texas TAP network.  For Texas TAP, the AmeriCorps partnership was an easy fit; it began when UCP Texas, already a Texas TAP partner, became an AmeriCorps subgrantee through the Texas One Star Foundation (which administers AmeriCorps State). Texas TAP Program Director Roger Levy says Americorps provides the centers with inexpensive and highly competent personnel, and so far over 50% have been people with disabilities.

Shoffner would like to stay on at UCP Houston, but her second and final Americorps term ends in August, and she will again be looking for full-time work (contact Tasha Shoffner). ATPN asked Christine Ellery, Shoffner’s supervisor at UCP Houston, about the turnover that is inevitable with AmeriCorps. After all the training time, was it worth it to have Tasha for just two years? Ellery was succinct, “I think any time you get the chance to have someone like Tasha serve you take it.”

Know someone interested in becoming an Americorps volunteer? They can explore all the programs of Americorps at this interactive program selector for individuals.

Mauricio Lizama on Puerto Rico's Low Cost Device Design and Development (LD3) Program

 A Different Approach to Alternative Financing for AT

PRATP is making AT accessible by actually making AT! Here Mauricio Lizama, Ph.D., ATP, describes their unique approach to a state financing activity and how it helps residents with disabilities in Puerto Rico and beyond. 

The Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program (PRATP) developed the  Low Cost Device  Design and Development (LD3) program in February 2007 as a State Financing Activity for the Assistive Technology State Grant Program. After previous attempts to implement low interest loans and other alternative financing programs in Puerto Rico, the LD3 program was created under the category of "state financing activities that allow consumers to obtain AT at reduced cost."

The LD3 program designs and develops low cost devices that mimic AT solutions on the market, and provides installation, configuration, and training for the end user. The AT user pays only for the materials needed for the construction of the device.

A consumer's device request qualifies for LD3 program assistance if it falls under one or more of the following scenarios:

1.    The desired AT device does not exist on the market: In this case, PRATP works with the consumer to fabricate an AT device to satisfy the particular needs of the individual with disabilities (i.e. develop a head-controlled videogame system for a quadriplegic child).
2.    The AT device exists, but it must be modified to make it usable by the consumer (i.e. adapt an electric feeder controller to be activated through a fiber-optic switch).

3.    The AT device exists, but it is too expensive to be obtained otherwise. In this case, the adaptation targets the functionality of the original device but with a different design, therefore preventing intellectual property issues (i.e. adapt a $45 mouth controlled joystick with sip-n-puff to provide the functionality of similar products available in the AT market for $1,500 and over).

To implement the LD3 program, PRATP assembled an AT Development Team (ATDT) which receives referrals of technology needs from consumers, family members, local AT evaluation centers and health related professionals statewide. The ATDT is comprised of volunteers from several fields including assistive technology, engineering, rehabilitation technology, electronics and human factors engineering. The LD3 program also leads design teams of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering students and faculty at local universities for the development of complex technologies that are beyond the design and manufacturing capabilities of the program.

To create the university partnerships, PRATP worked in direct collaboration with faculty in charge of existing engineering design courses and Capstone projects. Prior to PRATP's involvement, faculty members were using Capstone and engineering courses for researching and designing technologies in response to design competitions (i.e. battlebots and solar race cars). Most of these projects were never actually constructed. PRATP worked with faculty and students to redirect their efforts to an applied research and development track focused on AT for people with disabilities, projects that are actually constructed and have real-life impact.

Examples of some adapted devices built by the LD3 program are: electronic circular  scanning communicators, laser-based communication board systems, customized seating systems for school, computer-based dynamic communication systems, adapted shower seats, computer-based and voice activated bed control systems, computer switch interfaces, head controlled video game systems, single and multi-switch controlled electric ride on cars, low cost head tracking systems, environmental controls, mouth controlled joysticks  with sip-n-puff, electronic musical instrument tuners for the blind, switch adapted baseball pitching machines, adapted switches (pad, lever, tilt, sip-n-puff, string, cap switch, touch switch, etc.) among several other devices.   

PRATP compares the cost of each adapted device with the market version of its closest match (when available) in order to track the financial impact of the low cost solutions it provides. As of December 2009, consumers had invested $3,645 (since 2007) in order to obtain over $62,000 worth of AT devices through the LD3 program. For consumers, this translates into savings of over 94% in the acquisition of needed technologies in the areas of education, employment and community living. Cost to consumers includes only materials, since labor is provided by the LD3 team. However, even if labor is included in the cost comparison, the devices still represent over 70% savings over their closest AT match on the market.

Outside Puerto Rico, the LD3 program has also been able to provide context-sensitive solutions to consumers in Latin America particularly because of its emphasis on the design and development of “low cost high tech devices” and in technologies that address particular needs of Hispanics with disabilities. The car in the photo on the right was adapted by PRATP and then donated to a program in Mexico that provides services to children with disabilities. To learn more about the LD3 program visit PRATP’s web page.

Mauricio Lizama is the coordinator of the Assistive Technology Design, Evaluation and Development Unit at PRATP.

Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute to ATPN? ATPN can work with you to make it happen. Contact ATPN.

Partnership for Video Clips: how Peter G. is teaming up with MassMATCH

Peter G. joined the MassMATCH AT Advisory Council in January, 2009 to help raise awareness of the power of AT for people with disabilities. He is now active with a council subcommittee interested in embedding, and in some cases developing, fully accessible video clips to and for the MassMATCH website.

The subcommittee is partnering with professors and student interns of the Northeastern University Physical Therapy Department to produce accessible clips. Their ultimate goal is to provide YouTube videos of AT in action, clips that will help people browse the devices available to borrow, free of charge, from the MassMATCH short-term device loan library. "Seven years ago I acquired my Quartet Technology Environmental Control Unit sight unseen," Pete explains. "People with disabilities need a way to browse AT and help them determine which products to try out. Not everyone can make it to an AT demonstration center."

This post is a companion article to Success! The incredible true life adventure of one state AT Advisory Council member and his ATIA video contest victory

Fred Tchang on How to Choose An Equipment Loan Database

Looking for a better way to track equipment? Advancing Opportunities in New Jersey has recently completed a review of database options for its short-term device loan program. Here Fred Tchang, director of assistive technology services, draws on that experience to provide advice for how to go about making the right decision for your program.

At Advancing Opportunities, our statewide Technology Lending Center had been using a database that was 10 years old, designed using an older version of Microsoft Access.  We knew that we needed a new database to help us work more efficiently and effectively, and didn't want to design one from scratch. In the course of reviewing database options, we created a website wiki to record and share what we'd learned about the products used by different state programs (see www.atmanagement.wikispaces.com and click on Equipment Loan Databases). What the website doesn't provide, however, is the subject of this article: the process we used to consider our options.

Consider the SETT Framework

I was amazed at the diversity of database solutions, each designed to meet different needs.  I can truly say that there is no one best solution (don't we always say that?) To find one that's right for your program, I recommend reviewing (and adapting) the SETT framework. For those unfamiliar with it, this is the collaborative decision making tool developed by Special Educator Joy Zabala to help teams identify appropriate supports and services for students with disabilities.  

"S" stands for identifying your Strengths and abilities, "E" for the environment you are working in, "T" for the Tasks you are trying to perform, and "T" for the Tools that are available to you. Clarifying these points will help you make informed choices about the database options available.  Below are sample database issues that relate to each of the letters in SETT to help get you started. 

Strengths:  How much do you know about database design?  Do you know enough that you want the flexibility to create queries and reports yourself?  If so, then make sure to ask if you can customize things yourself, as you can with the ones designed in Filemaker Pro.  Do you have a very limited budget? Are you unable to hire a database developer to customize the database, or unable to purchase the software (such as Filemaker Pro) that runs the database?  Then consider a web-based solution, such as Nebraska's, which has no software to install, and a low annual maintenance fee.  

Environment:  Is there primarily just one person, or one office, that is tracking the equipment loans, or do you have several centers working together?  Having a web-based database (such as Nebraska AT4ALL's) makes it easy to access the information from anywhere.  Pennsylvania's was designed with this model in mind, though it will require purchasing Filemaker Pro software (including the server version for your central server), if you don't own it already.  Note that AT Tracker will be coming out in a web version in February 2010.  See the wiki for more details.

Tasks:  Do you have other services, besides just equipment loan, that you want to track?  Many of the databases allow for this, to differing degrees.  AT Tracker+ integrates equipment tracking with services tracking.  Are you also tracking equipment purchasing for consumers/students?  Ontario's database tracks this, as well as leasing and invoicing.  Do you want the public to see and search through the equipment on the web?  Nebraska's web-based database has this built-in; those built with Filemaker Pro can (with programming) have their information accessible through the web.  

Tools:  What database software is already available to you (Microsoft Access, Filemaker Pro)? If you need access from several sites, do you already have your own web server?  

We have installed our new database, and are very happy to be moving to a more efficient way of doing things (see the wiki for the one we chose).  My choice reflects my skills and experience with databases, and will not be the right one for everyone.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me:  FTchang@advopps.org.  

Fred Tchang, ATP, is the Director of Assistive Technology Services at Advancing Opportunities, a non-profit serving people of all disabilities throughout the state of New Jersey. 

Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute? ATPN can provide editing support. Contact ATPN.

Success! The incredible true life adventure of one state AT Advisory Council member and his ATIA video contest victory

For Peter G., assistive technology offers people with disabilities a game-winning Hail Mary pass; the problem is that more people need the chance to get in that end zone.

In 1988, Peter G. became disabled and had to withdraw from Bates College six weeks before his expected graduation. For the next eleven years, homebound and in bed, Pete relied on his parents for most of his needs, and experienced profound social isolation. As an avid sports fan, he said, "It felt like the game was over."
 
That was before he learned about assistive technology.
 
This past October, Pete won the AT Industry Association's AT video YouTube contest. His video, "My Assistive Technology (AT) Success Story," includes a reference to Doug Flutie throwing a Hail Mary pass from the 48 yard line. "This game is over," declares the announcer, before erupting, astonished, at Boston College's unexpected win. That moment, Pete explained in a recent phone interview, is a metaphor for his own experience. Learning about AT provided him that same transformative moment. Turns out it wasn't "game over" after all." I was looking for meal services, talking on the phone to MRC [the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission], when the man asked me, 'would you like a voice activated computer?' And I was, "Excuse me? Did you say 'voice activated'?!"
 
Today Pete uses multiple forms of voice activated technology. Pete has many of the limitations of someone who is quadriplegic and the technology helps him be independent on a level that had previously been impossible. A Quartet Technology Environmental Control Unit (ECU) allows him to manage his living environment (hospital bed, lights, television, drapes, computer monitor); the voice recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking provides him with comprehensive computer access. And computer access has enabled him to create a website for his family's business, write articles on AT for newsletters and magazines, and effectively tear down his social isolation.
 
"Before AT became a part of my life, I was merely existing," Pete calmly reports in his video. "Now, thanks to AT, I am truly living."
 
On the phone Pete admits that an important hurdle remains: finishing that Bates College degree. Until recently, Bates College didn't accept online course credits, his best bet for finishing those incompletes. "And until recently I didn't have the technology to follow through anyway."
 
His technology hurdle was a problem with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon is powerful software that enables Peter's computer to respond to customized voice commands, providing a hands free operation that is nearly as efficient as conventional computer access. Dragon's principal weakness, however, is its tendency to freeze up. It's a problem that required Peter to reboot multiple times a day, over a hundred times a month, each time requiring help from his parents. "Under those conditions I couldn't really imagine signing up for online college courses or taking online exams," he explains on the phone.   
 
In his video, Pete doesn't get personal. We don't learn much about his disability and he never mentions those unfinished college credits. "I didn't want to distract from the AT," he explained on the phone. "The AT is the point."
 
Indeed, the unique strength of his video is his demonstration of the innovative and pragmatic way he now gets around Dragon's weakness. Pete and his Easter Seals AT specialist, Eric Oddleifson, solved the problem by installing ViaVoice, back-up voice recognition software. Together they learned that ViaVoice can co-exist with Dragon in sleep mode when Dragon is operable. When Dragon freezes, Pete can wake up ViaVoice and use it, along with a HandiEye hands-free mouse emulator and a Logitech QuickCam, to reboot his computer and get Dragon moving again. "Now," he reports, "I need my parents, maybe, once a month."  And, "Yes," he confirms, "I am researching online college courses."
 
Pete's video won the ATIA's Grand Prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the ATIA 2009 Chicago Conference at the Renaissance Schaumberg Hotel and Conference Center. He also won the Member Physical Access/Mobility Special Interest Group Award: a $400.00 visa gift card. Pete was unable to attend the conference, but donated his conference winnings to the Easter Seals AT department.
 
The rewards for entering ATIA's contest go far beyond the prizes, however. Winning the competition was partially dependent on the number of views Pete could generate to his YouTube video. To help, Easter Seals spread the word, and the provider of his personal care attendant (PCA) sent an announcement on their listserv. Pete also got the word out through his Bates College e-zine, through Facebook to college friends, and through his father's fraternity brother network. "People were amazed by the technology. Many didn't know anything like that existed. I had over 300 hits from my college newsletter, and over 100 hits on the PCA network, all with similar comments. Even people working with people with disabilities didn't know much about AT."
 
Which, for the ATIA, is the whole point. "Since our inception 10 years ago," asserts Executive Director David Dikter in his press release, "the overarching goal of ATIA has been to educate and create awareness about assistive technology and the enhanced benefits and opportunities it brings to people with disabilities."
 
But for Pete, AT is really much more. It turns Game Over to a game-winning Hail Mary Pass. "It's what motivates me. To help more people achieve unexpected success." 

Learn more: Read Tips from Pete at the Easterseals-MA website. To view Pete's video as well as the 28 other video contest entries visit this ATIA video contest web page.

Have a success story you wish you had time to write? ATPN can draft a profile that your program's newsletter can use too. Contact ATPN and put "story idea" in the subject line.

How an AFP Helped the Woodburys Enjoy Halloween

This past Halloween, the neighbors on Lynn Street did a double-take when they saw two lions happily pedaling by in a shiny yellow tricycle built for two.

The tricyclists were Kriss Woodbury and her daughter Hannah, 8, out trick-or-treating in their matching lion costumes. They had just picked up Hannah’s new two-person tricycle and were taking it out for its very first spin.

Hannah has a number of disabilities and doesn’t have the strength, coordination or eyesight to ride a regular tricycle.  Kriss thought the two-person variety, that they could both pedal, would give Hannah’s legs some much-needed exercise and get her out into the sunshine.

But the tricycle cost more than Kriss, a single working mother, could afford.

So she turned to the Massachusetts Assistive Technology Loan Program (MATLP). The MATLP is an interest buy down and loan guarantee program enabling people with disabilities and families to access affordable credit to purchase AT. The program is administered by Easter Seals of Massachusetts, and Sovereign Bank is the program’s lending partner. Leo Tonevski, the loan program coordinator, helped her through the loan process. “Leo was just super,” she said.  “He went out of his way to help me.”

Hannah got to choose the tricycle’s color and picked her favorite – yellow.  On nice days, she loves peddling it on the flat road beside the beach near her house.

“The tricycle has made a huge difference in Hannah’s life,” Kriss says. “Without it she would have been cooped up in the house, bored out of her mind and very frustrated. It’s also exercising her legs . . . and it’s made me realize how out of shape I’ve gotten!”

Reprinted with permission from Easter Seals-MA

Have a success story you wish you had time to write? ATPN can draft a profile that your program's newsletter can use too. Contact ATPN and put "story idea" in the subject line.