AnnG
New member
- Joined
- May 25, 2018
- Messages
- 4
- Reason
- Friend was DX
- Country
- Uni
- State
- Connecticut
- City
- North Haven
A special friend (David) of mine and my husbands is a 17-year survivor of ALS. David currently has a Tobii Dynavox I-15 (with eye gaze interaction – AAC device) speech generating device. His AAC device is calibrated to his eyes. David was able to communicate (with his wife and family, also with friends via email, and, on Facebook) with his Tobii device until about a year ago when movement in his eyes became increasingly restricted. David has had his current Tobii.. device for about 1.5 years. Medicare provides one communicating device every five years, so he won’t be eligible for another AAC device through Medicare for three more years.
Although David is unable to use his Tobii Dynavox with his eyes, he has movement in his mouth and is able to smile. We are trying to find out if there is another type of device/equipment that could work in the same way for David as the movement in Stephen Hawking’s (famous physicist who recently passed away) cheek made it possible for him to speak. Is there other technology/equipment that calibrated to the movement near his mouth (as he smiles), could help David regain the communication that is vital for his every day life?
We are appealing to anyone who might be able to help us discover what kinds of computer equipment/technology other ALS survivors use to communicate.
We will pass this information on to David and his family to try to give them some hope of information that could give David the ability to communicate again.
Thank you in advance for any advice/information you can provide.
Ann & Mark
Although David is unable to use his Tobii Dynavox with his eyes, he has movement in his mouth and is able to smile. We are trying to find out if there is another type of device/equipment that could work in the same way for David as the movement in Stephen Hawking’s (famous physicist who recently passed away) cheek made it possible for him to speak. Is there other technology/equipment that calibrated to the movement near his mouth (as he smiles), could help David regain the communication that is vital for his every day life?
We are appealing to anyone who might be able to help us discover what kinds of computer equipment/technology other ALS survivors use to communicate.
We will pass this information on to David and his family to try to give them some hope of information that could give David the ability to communicate again.
Thank you in advance for any advice/information you can provide.
Ann & Mark