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Easterseals of SEPA Staff Attended & Presented at ATIA 2019

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by Sandy Masayko

Six staff members from Easterseals of SEPA traveled to Orlando to attend the Assistive Technology Industry Association meeting, January 30-February 2, 2019. For Laurie Spencer, Laura Slotkoff and Jo Booth, it was their first ATIA meeting; Marcia Leinweber, Laurie McGowan and Sandy Masayko were returning participants. This stimulating conference offered a wide array of learning opportunities in the field of AT, from workshops, to posters, to vendor demonstrations and networking.  All participants were very pleased with the conference.

Easterseals was well represented in the area of presentation. Laura S., Marcia and Sandy presented a popular poster session on using 3D printing and AT to promote student participation. Sandy also co-presented “Adapting Low Cost Kiddie Ride-on Cars for Early Mobility: Lessons Learned” with Mary Elizabeth McCulloch of Project Vive and AbleRacers. Laurie McGowan helped instruct people who participated in AT Maker Day.

Here are some of the comments our attendees made about their learning experiences at ATIA:

 

Marcia:

Wow, this is hard to narrow down!

My favorite was learning more about 3D printing tactile graphics and resources available for additional tactile graphics. I enjoyed learning a variety of topics and exploring current research topics. The AT Makers Day is always a favorite. I learn so much in such a short time. The creativity and enthusiasm are inspiring.

 

Jo:

My absolute favorite session was the one with Karen Kangas on positioning. She totally captivated us all with her wit and base of knowledge. She gave practical tips on how to assess by throwing everything you think you know – out the door. Her point was to have a fresh eye and focus on the person and their ability to function within their environment.

 

Laurie S:

I second Jo’s comments.

I loved all the practical sessions. I enjoyed getting more information and resources to help with coaching teachers and TAs in implementing AAC in the classroom.

 

Laura S:

It’s really hard to pick just one favorite part of the conference; I feel like I came away with so many practical tools and strategies! I really liked the presentation on adaptive art tools by Judith Schoonover. We’ve only been back at Easterseals for a week, yet I’ve already had the opportunity to make several adaptations to help students better participate in art and crafts.

 

Laurie M:

It is always difficult to choose what to go to, and just one class as a favorite. There are so many great offerings. This year I focused on computer accessibility and note taking. I discovered that the computer industry – both Mac and PC  – Google and Microsoft have really stepped up their game in accessibility for everyone.  And not only are they all free tools for everyone to use, many go across platforms. This is a  huge advantage for our transitioning students for OVR. I also enjoy the exhibit hall.  You get to talk directly with the developers and companies, ask questions and see all the new things they are working on.

 

Sandy:

Networking and sharing ideas at our poster session was really enjoyable. I learned that Easterseals of SEPA is really “cutting edge” with our introduction and use of 3D printing to make assistive technology.

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ATIA 2019 Easterseals of SEPA Participants, left to right: Marcia Leinweber, Laura Slotkoff, Laurie Spencer, Jo Booth, Sandy Masayko, Laurie McGowan

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Our poster session about 3D printed AT was very well received. The session included AT created by 3D printing for participants to inspect and try.

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The poster was created as an outcome of our Maker Space grant funded by Comcast and supported by other community partners such as Drexel, the Science Leadership Academy, Project Vive and MakerBot. Our poster will have its own blog post soon!

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Mary Elizabeth McCulloch of Project Vive and Sandy Masayko of Easterseals co-presented a session titled “Low Cost Adapted Toy Cars for Early Independent Mobility: Lessons Learned.” In January 2017 Project Vive partnered with Easterseals to provide a how-to workshop on car adaptations, and the ATIA presentation shared tips for effective car construction workshops.

Maker Spaces Launched at Easterseals SE PA with Workshops

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by Sandy Masayko

The Assistive Technology Department, working in collaboration with our grant funder Comcast and our community partners Science Leadership Academy, Drexel University, Project Vive and MakerBot, is excited to report that our development of Maker Spaces at Easterseals SE PA is well underway! This project consists of two parts: Education of Easterseals staff and local high school student education to provide the basis for creation of Assistive Technology (AT); and setting up maker spaces at each Easterseals SE PA approved private school. The maker spaces will be supplied with 3D printers, soldering kits, moldable plastics, tools, and more. But before anyone can use this new high tech equipment, they need to learn how to design solutions to meet needs and the basics of use of the tools. To meet this need, the AT Department organized two workshops in the fall.

Workshop 1 was held at Drexel University’s Westphal College of Design in September and focused on 3D printing. After a review of AT by Sandy Masayko and an overview of the multiple use of 3D printers by Laurie McGowan, Laura Slatkoff shared her personal experiences in discovering 3D printing and using it to make a customized keyguard for a student. Marcia Leinweber introduced step by step instructions for Computer Assisted Design. Mary Elizabeth McCulloch of Project Vive presented concepts to consider in the design process. The thirty participants then got to work on their shared computers to design the top of a switch. AT Staff members, assisted by Science Leadership Academy (SLA) students who were familiar with 3D design, coached the participants. During the workshop, the SLA students increased their knowledge of AT, and they also videoed and photographed the workshop. At the end of the workshop, Easterseals staff members had homework to complete over the two months before the next workshop: participants were asked to finish their designs and email them to Marcia for printing on the Makerbot 3D printer.

The next workshop, held at SLA in November, allowed the participants to complete their design by constructing a switch for AT. Switch assembly necessitated soldering and wiring of the switch, activities taught by Mary Elizabeth and Joey McCulloch from Project Vive. The participants also learned what tools were in the Maker Spaces and how to use them. Laurie McGowan led participants in creating battery interrupters that can be used to enable toys and devices to be activated with a switch. Sandy introduced how to use a moldable plastic that can be used to create adaptations. As with the first workshop, the SLA students proved to be great coaches to ES staff members as they learned to wire and solder.

Response by the staff to the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. In our pre and post testing for each workshop, the staff members indicated that they significantly increased their knowledge of AT, 3 D printing and tools for creating solutions for people with disabilities. The next phase of the project will be establishment of the Maker Spaces at each approved private school sites. We can’t wait to see what our staff will create!

Classroom space donated by Drexel University Westphal College provided an ideal location for participants to engage in education and design. (Workshop 1)
Occupational Therapist Laura Slotkoff displaying keyguards she created through 3D printing. (Workshop 1)
Participants collaborated on Computer Assisted Design following a guide developed by Marcia Leinweber. (Workshop 1)
SLA students and teachers provided coaching to Easterseals staff to design switch tops. (Workshop 1)
In Workshop 2 participants learned about materials that would be in their Maker Spaces.
Mary Elizabeth from Project Vive taught soldering and switch assembly to ES staff members in Workshop 2.
SLA students coached ES therapists.
Laurie McGowan taught participants how to make a battery interrupter in Workshop 2.
Therapists learned to use moldable plastic to adapt devices and handles.
Success! The battery interrupter and switch work!

Project Vive Repairs Easterseals GoBabyGo Cars

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by Sandy Masayko

Thanks to Project Vive, our wonderful volunteer partners from State College, Easterseals students will soon be driving their adapted vehicles again. After a year of hard use, the cars needed some repairs, and those repairs were beyond the abilities of our AT Team.

So Project Vive came to the rescue! Braving the perils of the Schuylkill Expressway at rush hour, Project Vive came by van in mid May to transport the adapted cars back to State College where the engineers at Project Vive could repair starters, switches and driving mechanisms. The engineers will be adapting some of the cars with new capabilities such as joystick control. The volunteers took a few other broken items with them as well as the cars.

Three cars have already been returned to the Yaffe Center. We are very grateful for the help we get from Project Vive staff.

We will be working with Project Vive to test out some of their unique augmentative/ alternative communication products. For more information about the exciting work that Project Vive is doing to design low cost augmentative communication, visit their website

Check out the pictures of the Project Vive volunteers loading up our kiddie cars into their van, and some of the refurbished cars upon return to Yaffe Center.

Sharing, Networking & Learning at ATIA 2018

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by Sandy Masayko

From presenting sessions to volunteering and networking, Easterseals of SEPA was an active presence at the Assistive Technology Industry Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida at the beginning of February.

Joy McGowan, Melissa Spada and Sandy Masayko presented “Eye Gaze Technology: Supporting Preschoolers in Participation, Play and Communication” to a standing-room-only crowd of over 60 people. The audience asked many questions and shared some of their experiences with the technology as well.  Laurie McGowan joined Susan Tachau of the PA AT Foundation and Kirby Smith of SunKirb to share “Smart Home Technology” to a group that included technicians who install this kind of technology as well as therapists and consumers.  Using easily acquired commercial devices has revolutionized home adaptations and has decreased costs significantly.  The presentation was well received.

As a volunteer, Marcia Leinweber assisted presenters in setting up their sessions and attendees in finding the workshops that they wanted to attend.  Sandy and Marcia also attended a workshop to develop the AT program at Easterseals.

Melissa Spada participated in a workshop where she learned to make adapted toys from low cost materials and picture symbols.  She even won a sample toy to bring back to Easterseals!

Networking was an important part of the conference too.  Our team caught up with Mary Elizabeth McCulloch of Project Vive, who shared her latest prototype of a low-cost speech-generating device.  Mary Elizabeth will be visiting Easterseals soon to explore some new switches and to pick up some of our adapted cars that need repair and additional adaptations.  Sandy visited with Lori Binko of LessonPix to hear about her experience of introducing adapted ride-on cars into her inclusive preschool class.  Easterseals of SEPA actually purchased one of the cars for her program several years ago for engineering students at University of Florida to use as a prototype when the students coached us on adapting the ride on cars.  We donated the completed car to Lori’s program, and it was gratifying to learn how the use of the cars increased her students’ abilities to move, socialize and develop cognitive skills.

Lori Binko of Lesson Pix with an adapted car that was funded by Easterseals
Melissa Spade with an adapted toy made from common materials and communication pictures
AT@ATIA From Left: Melissa Spade, Speech Pathologist; Laurie G. McGowan, AT Specialist; Sandy Masayko, Director of AT; Joy S. McGowan, Director of Augmentative Communication; Marcia Leinweber, AT Specialist

Engineers to the Rescue!

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by Sandy Masayko

Three amazing groups of volunteers have given Easter Seals of SEPA valuable service by repairing adapted electronic toys and speech generating devices for our students. Each repair saves Easter Seals at least $60 and, more importantly, puts the toys and equipment back where it belongs: in the hands of our students. The three groups that have helped us are the Senior Engineering Students at the Science Leadership Academy, a Philadelphia public high school; Dan Frank, graduate engineering student at the University of Florida, who has organized groups to help us at least three times in the past; and Project Vive, a non-profit under the direction of Mary Elizabeth McCulloch in State College. Here are the details about each group’s contribution:

After visiting Easter Seals to see the kinds of toys that our students need, the Science Leadership Academy students repaired toys in their lab at their high school. They returned them in December and then spent more time in the classrooms seeing how adaptations can promote participation. Their next project is to design toys and switches.

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Toy repairs completed by Science Leadership Academy

Dan Frank, a doctoral student in engineering at the University of Florida, has organized toy repair and ride-on car adaptations for Easter Seals in the past by recruiting his friends and fellow students. This December he came through for us again by spending a day of his vacation at our Bucks County Division repairing toys. Each year on the day before holiday break, Dan brings a few of his friend with him in what is becoming a yearly tradition for the AT Center at Bucks. This December, for the third year in a row, he came through for us again by spending a day of his vacation repairing toys with his sister Janelle and longtime friend from high school, Samantha.

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Volunteers Janelle Frank, Samantha Ahern and Dan Frank

Project Vive really came to the rescue! This organization, which is dedicated to designing low cost speech generating devices, took away broken items in October and returned at the end of January with 62 toys and speech generating devices. The toy delivery coincided with Project Vive’s leadership in conducting a workshop to switch-adapt commercially available electrically powered child sized ride on Jeeps for our students. Muchas Gracias to Project Vive! To learn more about Project Vive visit: http://www.projectvive.com

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Easter Seals AT Department was amazed by Project Vive’s delivery of 62 toys and speech generating devices on January 30, 2017.

Here are some photos of Project Vive in action repairing toys:

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Project Vive’s soldering, rewiring and TLC got these cows to moo and a bug to squeak.

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Elmo required thoracic surgery at the Project Vive hospital.

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Project Vive took responsibility for testing the repairs!

Thank you to all the engineers who helped repair our toys and speech devices!

Project Vive

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by Sandy Masayko

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Project Vive has partnered with us at Easter Seals to repair and adapt toys for children with disabilities.  Recently Mary Elizabeth McCulloch, an engineer and the founder of Project Vive, visited Easter Seals at Bucks County to see our AT Department and to get a feel for the kinds of toy adaptations we need.  She took back several large boxes filled with broken toys for her team to take apart, repair and adapt. We are very grateful for Project Vive’s assistance.  We are discussing whether Project Vive may be able to help us with adapting children’s ride-on cars to adapt mobility for children with disabilities.

To find out more about Project Vive, visit http://www.projectvive.com/