Case Study 1 – Lauren
Lauren has been working on switching through ‘cause and effect’, simple message devices, simple 4 message scanning devices, for many years, and now, at 15 years old uses her Mobi2 via single switch autoscanning with auditory prompts and enlarged cell. Lauren has quadriplegic cerebral palsy with high muscle tone, epilepsy and severe visual cortical impairment. She activates a jellybean switch with her hand or if she has very high or low tone, the switch is repositioned and she activates it with her head. Lauren has a very simple individualised communication programme in Mind Express with 5 choices + ‘stop’ on each page. However within this Lauren is making independent choices of activities (things to do), places to go and people to see! She can play her own music, choose and watch a dvd, control two televisions and access BBC iPlayer. Lauren can give simple instructions to make her Speech and Language Therapist a cup of tea (!), tidy her room or read her own self created stories using photos that she has taken using her Mobi2. Lauren’s diagnosis is PMLD but with intensive, repetitive, highly motivating switch and communication work, she is now able to access a complex communication system set out in a simple logical way, giving her independence, control and a better quality of life. However, the loveliest part of working with Lauren has been watching her personality and sense of humour develop with her interaction and communication skills.
Case Study 2 – Cake Therapy with Maria
Maria is 10 years old and such fun to work with! She is highly motivated to use her Mobi2 with Tobii eye gaze to ask questions, guessing which cake has been made and brought to her Speech and Language Therapy session, make comments on the cake made, choose the next cake to be made, or give instructions to make her own cakes! Not surprisingly, Maria would like to be a chef one day!
Maria has a lively, friendly personality, attends a mainstream school where she has many friends, and somehow persuades everyone around her to get involved and work very hard to support her in a way that doesn’t feel like work. Maria is learning how to create long and complex sentences following a structured expressive language programme. Her eye gaze skills are amazing to watch as she uses a highly personalised 144 Picture Word Power. Maria has some internalised language skills and can be very pedantic about including all the ‘little words’ in her sentences. She has two sessions of individual S< a week and many extra hours of programming have been, and are still required. Maria received her Mobi2 in January 2014 and we have downloaded many of the Mind Express activity bundles and linked them to PWP. Maria enjoys these different activities to support her learning and playing with the fun pages created for her such as an eye gaze keyboard, drums and playing the recorder.
The extra features of the Mobi2 are being used on a daily basis as Maria takes photos, sends texts, controls the televisions in her kitchen and lounge, watches DVDs, listens to music and accesses the internet. She has even talked about mounting the Mobi2 over her bed so she can lie there and still chat to anyone who will listen!
