Visible Letters Update

The Visible Letters app is now available on Google Play. Jack's reading has improved dramatically. Check out this video update.

Visible Letters - Working to teach Jack to read

I wrote an Android app to see if I could improve Jack's letter recognition. So far, the results have been impressive. I've been working with him for about five weeks, and we're halfway through the alphabet.

I can make this app available on the Play Store if there's interest.

Here's a video showing it in action.

Taking Switchamajig requests through Monday

Last chance to ask for a free Switchamajig! Send me email at info@switchamajig.com, and tell me what you'd do with one.

Two more weeks for the Switchamajig giveaway

We're halfway through August, so you've got about two more weeks to tell me what you'd do with a free Switchamajig.

I also just posted the second chapter of Able, which you can find here.

Free Switchamajigs and a new blog

'm giving away my remaining Switchamajig inventory: 7 Controllers and 3 IRs. If you want one, let me know (info@switchamajig.com) what you'd do with it before Aug 31st.

You can also check out my new fiction blog, Able, a technology-based thriller whose main character is an engineer who uses a power wheelchair.

This Year's Wheelchair-Based Halloween Costume

Another year, another costume. Last year we had the firetruck, with a Switchamajig Controller under the hood to control the lights and squirt gun. But this year, Jack wanted to be a pizza delivery truck. Jack has been fascinated by pizza delivery ever since he learned that there are phone numbers you can call that cause pizza to arrive at the front door.

I couldn't really think of a good way to integrate the iPad, but I figured I'd share the photo.

The Pizza sign is made from electroluminescent (EL) wire. You can't really see that in the photo, but at night it was pretty visible.

Construction is a wooden frame set on the chair with cardboard stapled to it and covered with shelf paper. The cab is a separate piece that we put on once we had the body of the truck in place.

Tablets and Technology in "Flipped" Classrooms

I was excited to reach The Economist’s section on Educational Technology (EdTech to those who insist on abbreviating everything.) I was really excited about the “flipped classroom” idea of students doing their learning at home with iPads, and working on problems in class while the teacher circulates and helps them along.

The model makes sense to me. Technology can track students’ progress individually, and allow them all to progress at their own pace. It brings the benefits of special education to everyone, and should make it much easier to practice inclusion. My son is extremely good with the iPad, so I pictured him fitting right in with his peers.

Sounds idyllic, doesn’t it.

I like idyllic. I wish I’d left it at idyllic. But I got excited. I Googled. I read. I thought.

Then the Luddite in me (who I feel guilty about - I work in tech, after all) started to ridicule the whole idea. “Pick up a book”, he said. “The children can take it home with them. They can read it at home, then work on problems in class. They can track their progress with a bookmark.”

I hate arguing with my Luddite. His opinions always sound so down-home sensible. But he dismissed smart phones as a stupid fad, so he’s not always right.

The companies selling EdTech, it seems to me, are doing what companies do. They are trying to make money. I respect that. I’m trying to make money too.

But companies sell what they know how to make, and that’s not always what people really need. Right now the technology industry is all excited about “Big Data”. That means that they store all sorts of information about you and they use fancy algorithms to figure out what to sell you. A few companies are trying to apply the same ideas to learn a lot about students and then figure out what to teach them.

But computer learning lacks common sense (which is why I sometimes get shown ads for feminine hygiene products,) so I have some reservations about trusting fancy algorithms to decide what a child should learn next.

“Big Data” also loves to show graphs. You can graph right answers, wrong answers, hints, knowledge maps, and even made-up things called “energy points.” But do teachers learn more from looking at lots of graphs than from looking at the work their students produce?

One geometry teacher commented on the article to explain how much technology had helped him. He created the video content himself, compared his (her?) students’ quiz scores with the previous years, and saw improvement. Obviously s/he is a really involved teacher who is striving to do better every year. I don’t think any amount of technology is going to make lousy teachers get similar results, though.

So I guess I end up where I usually do on technology. It’s a tool. Teachers still have to teach. Students still have to learn. Administrators need to support the process without getting in the way and/or wasting money. And a lot of money has been wasted over the years buying computers to avoid being “left behind” by the supposed revolution in education.

I think for my own son, computers are the only way to go. Hopefully this new supposed revolution will create lots of material he can access. Maybe it can even bring about the idyllic scene I like to picture as his future classroom.

But my Luddite has doubts.

Outline Font For Cortical Visual Impairment

I was talking to a guy at ATIA Orlando about Cortical Visual Impairment and how I'd heard at a talk by Dr. Christine Roman that outlining words in red could help children learn to recognize words. He thought for a moment and then said "what you need is a font."

Pure genius. I wish I'd thought of that.

I took me a few hours on fontstruct.com to create this font. I started with "easycode" and called mine "easycode_outline."

It's not perfect, but it's a start.

What you need to do is install the font. Then in a word processor, type whatever you want. Then change the font to "easycode_outline" and the color to whatever you like. Poof - you have an outline!

You can download the outline font from switchamajig.com:
http://www.switchamajig.com/fonts/easycode_outline.zip

The font I started with is here:
http://www.switchamajig.com/fonts/easycode.zip

[Update 2/16/2013: I got some feedback that the 'I' should be more distinct, so I cleaned up a handful of letters. You may want to re-download.]

Get a FREE Switchamajig EADL system

Happy Holidays!

Switchamajig IR and Insteon IRLinc Hiding in a Corner

My Switchamajig IR can learn commands to control Insteon lights and plugs, so I want to shoot a video showing how great it is to have control of so much of your world with an iPad.

If you're familiar with my videos, you know that my son Jackson typically stars in them. But for this video, I'd prefer to show an adult. If you want to be in the video, I'll meet with you to understand what will work best, install a basic system at your home, shoot the video, and leave the system behind.

I'm looking for teenagers, adults, and seniors who:
 - Live close to San Jose, California.
 - Are unable to access standard electrical switches, small appliances, and remote controls because of a motor impairment.
 - Own and are able to access an iPad, either directly or with scanning switches.
 - Are excited at the idea of controlling more of their daily lives with their iPad.
 - Are willing to sign a release that lets me use pictures and video of you and your home to market my products. In the video, I may need to explain something about your disability to show how my product helps you.

The Insteon Switch (Right) Fits Right In

Obviously I can only give away a couple of these systems, so I expect I'll have to turn people away. I apologize in advance if you're one of the people I have to turn down.


If you're interested, I need an email from you to freeir@paw-solutions.com. Please tell me how you meet the above criteria, and how great my video will be with you in it. Include a picture if you like, and I'll be in touch.

I feel like there should be some legal mumbo-jumbo associated with an offer like this. Since I'm not a lawyer, let's just say that nobody is entitled to anything as a result of my writing this post and that I alone will choose who I give free stuff to.

Oh, and I won't retain any personal information about you. Once I've got the video made, I'll delete the above email account along with everything I received for it.

I'm willing to open-source my switch-scanning code

I got my switch scanning feature working. I went with making the button grow when it is selected.

While I was writing the code, I realized that there's nothing really special about this feature. Everyone who is supporting switch scanning has similar-looking code, and there's really no reason for us all to implement this feature separately. It would be better for all of us to pool our efforts and create a standard library that can drop into any app to support scanning easily.

If anyone else is interested, I'll go first. I'm willing to release the source code for my scanning code (and the associated test code, which is actually bigger) under a relaxed open-source license.

I believe github.com will host open-source code for free, so the only real work for me will be to sort out what license I need, write some (limited) documentation, and adjust the copyright lines in my source files.

I use several open-source libraries in the Switchamajig app, and they have made my life tremendously easier. It would be great to give something back, even something as simple as the scanner. I may also end up with a better app if others want to spend some of the time they save improving the scanner.

Please leave a comment if you'd like the code. If nobody's interested, there's no reason for me to spend the time sharing it. In case you're curious, here's what the interface looks like:

enum {SCANNING_STYLE_NONE=0,SCANNING_STYLE_AUTO_SCAN=1,SCANNING_STYLE_STEP_SCAN=2};

@protocol SJUIExternalSwitchScannerDelegate <NSObject>
@required
- (void) SJUIExternalSwitchScannerItemWasSelected:(id)item;
- (void) SJUIExternalSwitchScannerItemWasActivated:(id)item;
@end
 
@interface SJUIExternalSwitchScanner : NSObject <UITextFieldDelegate>
@property (nonatomic) id<SJUIExternalSwitchScannerDelegate> delegate;
@property NSNumber *autoScanInterval;
- (void) addButtonToScan:(UIButton*)button withLabel:(UILabel*)label;
- (id) initWithSuperview:(UIView*)superview andScanType:(int)scanTypeInit;
- (UIButton*) currentlySelectedButton;
- (void) superviewDidAppear;
@end

What do you need in Switchamajig 2.2?

After running version 2.1 of my app at Closing The Gap and listening to feedback, I'm now working on Switchamajig version 2.2.

Planned improvements include:

1. Adding switch access, both auto-scan and step-scan
2. Improving the responsiveness when going back to the initial screen
3. Allowing a single button press to generate a sequence of IR codes
4. Enabling repeating IR codes

If you need items 3 & 4 sooner, let me know. The switch panels already support those features (and many more,) and there are ways to get at them using iTunes.

I'm also aware of a bug that crashes the app if you tap the IR learning selector before learning any IR codes. I have fixed that bug, but will wait for 2.2 to release it since it doesn't seem like a big deal. Please let me know if you find other problems.

I'm currently on the fence about a turn-taking feature. This is designed for children with autism, and it will allow only one iPad to play with a toy at a time. There will be a way for a child to ask for a turn, and to relinquish control. I need to work out the details, but I'm thinking that settings will let you specify how long each turn can be, etc.

One feature I'm planning to pass on for 2.2 is adding AAC symbols to the app. Several companies sell such symbols, so I won't be able to provide them for free. Instead they'll be an "in-app purchase." I'm thinking you'll need to enable the purchasing in the Settings so that my app doesn't keep popping up "buy this feature" dialog boxes.

I'm really interested to get feedback from you about whether or not I'm working on the right stuff. If you think I've got my priorities wrong, or I'm missing a feature you really need, please leave a comment or drop me an email.

Cool Stuff at Closing The Gap

Everything at Closing The Gap is great technology that helps people, so I feel a bit odd listing what really struck me at the show. Still, it's my blog, so here's what I thought was especially cool:





BeyondAdaptive This company makes iPad mounts and key guards. It was great meeting the family who runs the business, especially Brea (follow the link for a picture - I couldn't find one that fit). They can custom-cut keyguards, so if you've created your own Switchamajig panel and want a keyguard for it, contact either them or me and we'll get you set up.

Mount'nMover I've seen this company at several shows. They make mounts for iPads and other devices. The mounts are fairly expensive, but they are designed to take a lot of abuse and still be extremely easy to set up and move from one station to another. Dianne, who runs the company, has amazing product design skills and has a lot of assistive technology experience. If your iPad is a critical part of your life that you always want to have with you, the investment in her mounts could be well worth it.

ZipZac This is a wheelchair for really young children. It was created by an engineer with a connection to a child with spinal bifida, and it requires skills that my own son didn't have that the age the chair is designed for, but I loved seeing these tiny kids zipping around in wheelchairs.

Switchamajig IR Video - I want YOU in my videos!

Here's my latest video on the Switchamajig IR. I believe the IR will be a valuable tool for people who want independent control over items they use every day.

One concern I have is that the preschool-aged, white male with cerebral palsy demographic is a bit over-represented in my videos, and the IR in particular can work for a wide range of ages and conditions.

If you want to be in my video, let me know at info@paw-solutions.com. The intro scenes are about 10 seconds long each, and I'd love to show somebody else taking advantage of my products!

Switchamajig IR Now Available For Pre-order

I've mentioned the new Switchamajig IR before. Now I have them in inventory and will be ready to ship shortly (beta testing is progressing well.)

I'm excited about the IR. Just about everyone has a TV, so accessing it independently is important. TVs and other home theater equipment are also getting more and more capabilities, but those capabilities also mean that their have more buttons. And more buttons usually means smaller buttons.

Works like a universal remote

You can buy very inexpensive remotes with a few big buttons, but they offer access to just a few functions and can't be customized. The IR can control anything that came with an IR remote, and the iPad app has infinite possibilities for customization. You can put a lot of buttons on one screen to make a universal remote, or set up just two buttons to make it really easy to control. Even if you're just using two buttons, you can navigate among several panels to access a lot of functions. I've included several built-in panels that are super easy to set up, but you can change anything around to suit your own needs.

Jackson using two buttons to choose scenes in a DVD

The IR is very unobtrusive, so it can seem like magic. Ours lives in a plant in the corner of the room, but it's always on and ready to control the TV on the other side of the room. We just grab an iPad, start the app, and have full control over our TV, Tivo, and Blu Ray player.

Switchamjig IR
hiding in the (fake) plant

You can pre order the IR now, and we won't charge your card until we are ready to ship. That should be in a couple of weeks.

Check out the Switchamajig IR here!

Speech Therapy: Switchamajig - A Free AAC App

I just finished a video showing how to use the app for AAC, even if you don't have any Switchamajig hardware. There's a lot of capability for a free app, and it's probably all you need if you're just starting with AAC.

Switchamajig for Special Education

Switchamajig is a great platform that works in a lot of different contexts, so I'm adding some resources to my website for different caregivers who use Switchamajig. If you're in special education, I'd love to hear about how you use my product. I'm also looking for pictures and video of teachers and children Switchamajigging to post on my website (with permission for parents, of course.) Leave a comment or drop me an email if you have something to share!

Here's what I have for special ed teachers. What am I missing?

Are the children you work with unable to access toys that mainstream children take for granted? When was the last time a mainstream child asked one of your kids to share an adapted toy? The Switchamajig Controller opens up new possibilities for many students with special needs. It lets them use the iPad, the simplest (not to mention the coolest) user interface ever invented, to control toys like full-function remote controlled cars by touching one button at a time. And you can record different audio on each switch, so the iPad can tell the child that the car is going forward, or turning left, or whatever you want to reinforce. Driving around a vehicle is also a great way to improve spatial relations. But most importantly, you’ll emphasize inclusion. Everyone in the school will want to play with your kids and their toys.

Adapting Classrooms

If you haven't seen the movie Including Samuel, you should.

Dan Habib's documentary looks at how including children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms can enrich everyone's education.

One thing is clear, though. Including children with a wide range of abilities is work. Hard work. I applaud any teacher, but especially teachers who sign up to the challenge of including children with special needs.

I think technology is part of the solution. My daughter's class does cooking every two weeks. The teachers use a fun activity the children relate to as a way to sneak in lessons about math, science, nutrition, following directions, and all sorts of other subjects that could be dry when not drizzled with a raspberry glaze.

But part of cooking is interacting with the physical world. At www.switchamajig.com, there's a video of Jackson helping his sister make cupcakes. He uses the Switchamajig to control a mixer, blender, and can opener. But that's only part of cooking; what about measuring out the ingredients and pouring them into the bowl?

As children get older, the subjects get trickier. Cooking gives way to chemistry, which has a lot of things in common with it. Can we adapt chemistry class for the motor impaired, like what Cory Supalo does for people with visual impairments? I'm thinking tubes with switch-controlled solenoid valves.

What about other sciences, like biology and physics? What other classes do you think we should adapt?

Firetruck Video

Here's the video of Jackson in his fire truck.

Bringing A Fire Truck Costume To Life

We're getting Halloween costume catalogs in the mail, so we asked Jackson what he wanted to be this year.

"A fire fighter."

Who could blame him? San Jose Fire Station No. 15 is just down the street from our home, and they are always happy to see Jackson, who probably thinks that fire fighting involves spraying water from a big truck and handing out stickers.

I figured Jackson would be all set with a yellow raincoat and a plastic fire hat, but that didn't seem like much of a costume. A child in a wheelchair wearing a raincoat wouldn't look too much like a fire fighter.

Unless his wheelchair was a fire truck. Preferably, a working fire truck.

The whole family worked on the project. We found a big cardboard box and bought some spray paint, and in a day we had a fire truck. A pretty cute one, too.

I've seen some cool costumes that used a wheelchair - one of my favorites turned the chair into a Star Wars TIE fighter. But with a Switchamajig, Jackson's truck came to life.

I found some flashlights at Home Depot that can be white, red, or green. They were trickier to adapt than I expected - you're probably better off with single-color flashlight and a battery interrupter. I also bought a Nurf Super Soaker Thunderstorm, a battery-operated squirt gun, and adapted that with a battery interrupter.

Jackson Fires the Squirt Gun with the iPad 

We created a switch panel with the Switchamajig App 2.0 (now in beta.) We downloaded some pictures of a fire hose, siren, and lights, and recorded a siren and bell sound. Then we put the iPad in front of Jackson, and took him for a "drive" around the neighborhood.

We noticed several people doing double-takes while driving by. Jackson ran the siren and bell the whole time, and emptied his squirt gun in just a few seconds. I'll post a video on the Switchamajig web site.

Fire Truck Control Panel

I think there's a lot of potential to make some really amazing Halloween costumes with wheelchairs.
My daughter came up with a long list of ideas:
Submarine
UFO
Police Car
Race Car
Pirate Ship
Rocket
Batmobile

And of course, you can't go wrong with a Star Wars vehicle. No matter what you choose, you can add lights, action, and sound control with Switchamajig.

Send me your comments with your own ideas! Better yet, post your own videos of your costume in action! Let's Switchamajig Halloween!

Here are a few shots of the innards of the fire truck. I taped almost everything to the inside of the box. For the flashlights, I put 1/4" bolts through the cardboard with washers, and then taped the flashlights to the bolts.

Switch-Adapted Squirt Gun

Switch-Adapted Flashlight

Switchamajig Controlling
Lights and Squirt Gun

Using GoTalk Now With Switchamajig

My own app will soon function as a simple AAC app, but if you're looking for a full-featured app, GoTalk Now from Attainment Company is popular and reasonably priced. They even have a free version!

I'm partial to GoTalk Now because it's the only AAC app that supports the Switchamajig Controller. Just like you define buttons to speak, you can program them to activate switch-adapted toys and other equipment. Their support is only experimental right now, which means they reserve the right to change the way it works, but it's nice to have everything in one app.

To turn it on, you need to open their settings menu. Down toward the bottom you'll see the Switchamajig Support switch under Experimental Features. Turn it on.

Then when you're configuring a button, for Action you can choose Switchamajig. You then set which switches you want the button to toggle, and choose which Switchamajig Controller you want to talk to.

Then when you activate the panel, you can speak and control equipment on the same screen.

 Give it a try and tell me what you think. I have some ideas for ways Attainment can improve the support, but input from people using it is much more valuable than either their or my guess about what you want.

And I'm willing to support anyone who wants to add the same support to their AAC app. If you're a developer, email me. If you have a favorite app and want it Switchamajigged, point the people who wrote it at this post and tell them to get cracking!