Eyegaze

[joni51]

Bruce is on Hospice, we have a dynovox, but I was told if he is on hospice , ins. won't pay for the eyegaze. Anyone have any suggestions. He is going to need it soooner rather than later. He has no use of his right hand, and just two fingers barely working on the left.

 

[brooksea]

Joni, hospice will not pay for expensive items. Have you checked with the ALSA or the MDA? They might have a loaner. Also, he can go off hospice to obtain the equipment and then go back on. I don't know the procedure or the time line. Maybe someone else can explain that. I'm sorry it's getting down to that.

Will he be able to use the eyegaze, has he tried it?

 

[joni51]

CJ it is getting bad fast here.There is not alot he can do for himself anymore. I don't know if he will be able to use it, just really don't know how we will communicate with him when he can't move anything.

 

[BrianD]

I have not used it , but I've heard good things about speakbook, developed by a Pals. I second the loaner idea, or look for a used system.

 

[caldona]

Bruce is on Hospice, we have a dynovox, but I was told if he is on hospice , ins. won't pay for the eyegaze. Anyone have any suggestions. He is going to need it soooner rather than later. He has no use of his right hand, and just two fingers barely working on the left.

Call Dynavox a tech will help you set up his eyegaze for him. The Eyegaze is one of the features. But if he can move his head I think he would like the Mouse Pause best and easily set up. If he doesn't wear glasses I would buy the cheap pair and you stick a dot on it or put one on his forehead it works as your mouse. You just put it on the letter you want and it types for you. The Dots should have been included with your Dynavox.

 

[sadiemae]

Joni. The eyegaze takes a lot of work and patience and concentration. With his FTD It may not be feasible for him to learn it. Sorry.

 

[joni51]

You may be right Lori, just don't know what to do..How we would comunicate. Heck how could he even tell me if his head hurt, or he needed suctioning...Sigh I am just too tired to think.

 

[ghost_writer]

You can find a real simple spell board on: jasonbecker dot com > Personal Stuff > How I Communicate

 

[panguinjen]

Joni,

I'm so sorry, you must be exhausted! My thoughts and prayers are with you!

Jen

 

[rachelg]

Joni

A very very simple and basic way of communicating which we have used in the past for essential communicaton like suction, pain, toilet - is sheets of A4 paper with the words written on in bold marker pen - about 4 words per sheet.

I have stood infront of Mark and pointed to each word and he will raise his eyebrows when I get to the right word.

We have used this in situations such as when the eyegaze not on or Mark too tired to spell individuals letters out. Literally just covering the basics.

Someone mentioned Speakbook which can be downloaded and is excellent.

 

[momap53]

Prayers going out to you Joni. I hope the answers will come soon.

 

[HelenL]

Joni, this was posted a while ago and I copied it off... print this out and see if you can use it. If you laminate it you can probably put other phrases on it where he can answer immediate questions. (blink yes and no if nothing else)

There's also an app on the ipad that was developed for kids with autism and speech issues, you can download that and try it out. Sono flex is the name on the kin dle version. The lite version is free I think, and the full version was only about $10 or so.

The etriloquist is an eyegaze system that anyone can make with open software programs... check it out as well.

 

[MLOx]

my mom is in the same boat, we called the company that sold us the machine, they are bringing a loaner in until the one ordered comes in, perhaps dynavox has a loaner. We had just put the order in last week and then 5 days later she went onto hopsice. I have heard that eye gaze is challenging at first, I like some of these ideas about cards, even because it takes time to set the eye gaze up and for quick communication the cards seem like a great short cut. I wish you well!
Monica

 

[joni51]

Hmm kinda like the idea of a speakbook, looked at the one you downloaded helen...thanks. Lots of good suggestions

 

[HelenL]

Let us know what works best for Bruce... I'm taking notes for myself for the future you know!