Well….We are at the end of the 5 month trial with the Tobii Eye-Gaze system to help Raymond with communication. Today he has his last two appointments, one with his amazing speech therapist, who without her, none of this would have been possible. The other assessment appointment is connected to the ‘decision maker’, I guess you could say. This has been the most trying experience. I mentioned the “ups and downs” in my last post…and it really applies to this whole experience in our attempts to help Raymond communicate. I am going to keep this post quick….as it is also Ray’s last day of summer school and I promised to bring some goodies to the last day party. I do want to share some video progress that Raymond has made.
In the very beginning, we were told that we needed to show that Raymond could use this device with 75% accuracy. Some days are good and some days are rough. On some days Ray will start out in therapy really well, doing 50-70% accuracy for the first activity, then fatigue will hit and his accuracy will drop to 20-40%. He has to overcome all the complexities of his conditions also, like nystagmus and poor head control. Even for a typical person, try using your eyes to move the mouse around on the computer screen….it is not easy.
So here are some examples of what Ray has been able to do the past month. Just to explain, we judge accuracy by including a few choices that are desired and some that are “not” desired, which is why you will see on the screens a paper clip or a pen. I am sorry about adding so many videos, four of them are under 1 minute, the last one is the latest and it is just over 2 minutes.
Look at what Ray can do:
This amazed me. Look at Raymond! He is communicating. I'm so happy for him, and for you. He is working so hard and doing his part! What an amazing little guy you have. It must have meant so much to hear him tell you what he wants. Susan, keep doing what you're doing. This is good stuff. I think we should hold up a Patriot's jersey and a Bronco's jersey to see which one he likes more? :)
ReplyDeleteThe other video on here that made me smile from ear to ear was the one of him playing football with some guy in a red shirt. I loved, loved, loved how Raymond was laughing. Thanks for sharing all of Raymond's progress.