Last week we took a field trip to SPOTS (Special Programs in Occupational Therapy Services) on Houston Street. One of the therapists showed us around and taught us a little bit about Sensory Integration. I found some additional helpful background information online here.
posted by Amanda @ 11:27 AM,
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Adaptive play device - an alternative to rolling dice. Using an Arduino and three switches. The user in this scenario can use any one of three switches to spin a wheel that will pick a number for him/her. We created it with Chutes and Ladders in mind, but it can be used with any game that requires the player to play a certain number. In this instance the spinner goes up to the number 5, but it can be adapted to go up to any number. It could also potentially be adapted for other games that don't involve numbers. For example, in the case of Candy Land, the user needs to be given a color as a result of his play - the spinning plate could have colors on it instead of numbers.
posted by Amanda @ 1:10 PM,
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We had our third Assistive Tech class this week.. we went over the switches that we created and spent some time looking at different technologies existing today (the iBot for example), and the ways in which they make differences for people living with disabilities.
posted by Amanda @ 7:30 PM,
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Our first assignment was to create a homemade 'custom switch that uses a technique covered in the lab during class.'
The OTs and I made a switch that would be closed when the forefinger and thumb are touching. We used conductive material and several mono jacks to create it.
We set up the Arduino using a pushbutton switch to test our circuit.
Once we knew that that worked, we moved on to creating our own switch.
We sewed the conductive fabric, attached to the wires, into the finger tips of a glove with the wires coming down the length of the fingers. We went ahead and added a second glove to cover the wiring and improve the appearance of the switch.
We then replaced the pushbutton switch in our circuit with the homemade one.. it worked to turn an LED on and off as a momentary switch. We then used the program that incorporated a 5000 milisecond delay -- this kept the LED on for five seconds when the switch was closed.
posted by Amanda @ 1:26 PM,
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This week in class we spent the first half of the session at the OT school. We watched a video produced by Anita and Marianne Petit about a woman living with a disabling condition that affects her hands. We talked about how much she was actually able to accomplish, given her condition, even though she has no use of her hands. We also spent some time trying to navigate in wheelchairs to the vending machines and bathrooms of the OT building, to get a sense of how accessible, or inaccessible the space is.
The second half of the class was spent at ITP doing a lab. We used mono jacks, a battery interrupt and switch enabled device to look at creating adaptive switches and making them modular.
posted by Amanda @ 12:53 PM,
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