The acronym AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It basically is all the things that support communication when someone cannot always rely on their speech or language skills to express themselves. Just think about it, we use forms of AAC all the time. We may not realize how much we communicate without speaking, whether it is giving a head nod when you greet someone, a thumbs up to a friend from across the room, or even using a facial expression to convey an emotion.
AAC can play many roles in early communication development. It encourages more expressive and receptive language and also decreases frustration and challenging behaviors, especially when introduced early on. In 2019, I wrote a blog post about Celebrating Her Voice sharing how Bella’s communication has evolved to using an iPad as her main form of AAC.
What I’ve learned most about supporting Bella in her journey with communication is witnessing how the iPad continues to give her access and choice. Over the past year Bella has demonstrated spontaneous requests by using her iPad to communicate with us. She is a strong visual learner, and this skill has helped her develop advocacy skills with the use of her iPad. Once she saw me eating a spoonful of peanut butter and I saw her gazing at me. She then went to her iPad, navigated to the ‘food’ folder, and then pressed the ‘peanut butter’ image. Think about that level of processing: She sees what she wants, moves to her communication device, navigates to a specific folder that has many images, and then she makes a choice to press on the button that outputs what she wants to say. She continues to amaze me!
So, Bella's iPad is not just any iPad. This iPad requires a lot of customization when it comes to making sure that it addresses all of her needs. Bella has a cortical vision impairment, meaning her eyes themselves are healthy but her brain struggles to interpret the signals it receives, leading to difficulties with her sight. To accommodate her, we ensure that her iPad is always accessible in the space she is in. We make sure the space around her iPad is not cluttered to minimize the visual stimuli, and it is calibrated at her eye level to ensure that it is in her preferred visual field. As Bella continues to progress with her communication and her fine motor skills, we knew she was ready for an upgrade.
So out with the old... and in with Ideas for Independent Living!
Ideas for Independent Living is a company devoted to helping people overcome obstacles in day-to-day life through well designed products and problem solving. They are masterminds in designing new devices, attachments, mounting systems to meet the needs of each unique user. I’m excited to share my platform with Vince who is a staff at Ideas for Independent Living, as he designed and built Bella’s ACC custom case and keyguard.
Mom Behind the Label: What is your role at Ideas for Independent Living?
Vince: My role at Ideas for Independent Living is to design and build custom assistive devices and mounts so suit our clients’ needs. I started my career as a machinist after enrolling in the tool & die program at George Brown college. From there, I was able to secure an internship with Bill Johnson at Holland Bloorview in the research department. Eventually I was hired as a technician aiding in the manufacturing of prototypes and research and development of many other custom projects. Once Ideas for Independent Living was opened I was brought on as a machinist in 2010. Since then designing and manufacturing custom parts have been my main focus. Projects have ranged from very simple switch mounts to complex prosthetics.
Mom Behind the Label: What do you enjoy most about your job at Ideas for Independent Living? What is unique about your job that you’d like people to know?
Vince: I enjoy coming up with ideas, I enjoy making something that didn’t exist before. And most of all I love that the things I create help people and enrich their lives. We use a variety of tools and machinery in the shop to build and fabricate our products: grinders, welders, conventional mills and lathe, as well as computer numerical control milling machines and lathes.
Mom Behind the Label: Share some features that you had to create for Bella’s iPad case and custom keyguard.
Vince: The process for designing Bella’s key guard or any key guard is tailored to the needs of the client. It’s all based on how the device can be accessed or touched. How does the keyguard attach to the device? Does the device need to be mounted to a desk or chair? What materials would suit best? What should the cell shape and size for the buttons be? The parameters for each custom part help me narrow down the best process for design and manufacturing. Once I have determined those factors then I could start drawing something up in 2D or 3D depending on the level of details needed. Bella’s keyguard was designed to fit into a commercial ipad case which was able to hold it into place very easily and not adding any additional size to the case. I did modify the kickstand on the case to match the style of the previous custom case Bella had so the new one could be familiar and function the same way.
Thank you so much to Ideas for Independent Living, and most importantly to Vince for taking the time to learn about what Bella needs to ensure that her ACC sets her up for success. Your attention to detail and ability to design a durable and quality product has given Bella the ability to communicate independently and manage daily tasks.
If you are a parent, caregiver or educator who is looking for a company who can customize devices or mounting systems that are compatible with wheelchairs, beds, desks, and even outdoor equipment check out Ideas for Independent Living! They are Mom Behind the Label approved :)
