Yesterday I was working with one of our SLP's who wanted to experiment with a radio and some cause and effect activities with a middle school boy. We plugged the radio into an Ablenet Powerlink 3 and had a Big Red Switch set up with a timer. It only took about three or four attempts and some music to play for this student to get the idea that when he hit the switch he would hear music.
We had it on a local country station and Toby Keith was singing as this boy rocked to the beat. As soon as the music would stop, he would hit the switch to start it again and laugh and look at us all with absolute delight - he was making something go on his own and he really liked it.
We worked with some cause and effect animations with switch interface on the computer as well, but the visual was too subtle for him at this point. We took him back to the radio and he was excited to try music some more.
The assistants and teacher said that this was the first time they had found something he could respond to and make some kind of choice for. We are working to lay a foundation to expand into simple communication switch commands for cause and effect activities. It will be fun to see where it leads.
For those of you who have experienced this, you know what I mean, but for those of you who haven't, it's hard to convey the thrill it is to see a student have the light dawn that they have some element of control over something they like for the first time. It is a revelation and it just makes me all the more determined to keep working for the development of more for these kids.
All the best to you!
Lon
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