Empower
Ability
Inspire Advocate
Special
Needs
Potential Thri
Growth Strategies
The use of technology has become
a part of daily life for everyone. Walk-
ing down a street, you often see people
with headphones talking into the air or si-
lently listening to something. In a coffee
shop, you also see folks scrolling through
screens on phones, tablets, and computers.
While traveling in a car with someone,
you may hear turn by turn directions that
get you safely to an unfamiliar location.
Assistive Technology Opens
A World of Opportunities
Is meal time a struggle at your house? The term assistive technology is a term
used to describe both a “tool” that helps a
person with a task and a “service” which in-
cludes an evaluation of needs, the selection
of the most appropriate item, and training
in how to use it. If a piece of technology is
purchased and given to an individual to use
without guidance and training in how, when,
and where to use it, the results can lead to
failure, frustration, and lost opportunity.
Summit’s Pediatric Feeding Clinic can HELP! Assistive Technology (AT) is generally
divided into two groups:
For many, these tools are a conve-
nience or may increase productivity. For
people with disabilities, technology opens
doors to a world of opportunities they
could not otherwise experience. When
technology is used to address a challenge
caused by a disability of any kind it is
called assistive or adaptive technology.
For students receiving special education
services, it is a requirement under the In-
dividuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA).
Warning Signs that may indicate a feeding disorder:
End The
Family
Food Fight!
n Food refusal
n Food selectivity
n Gagging, vomiting,
difficulty swallowing,
and/or choking during meals
n Continuously spitting out
food or holding food in the
mouth
n Failure to eat
age-appropriate textures
n Concern about aversive
Accepting
NEW
PATIENTS
Most insurance plans
accepted.
consequences of eating
n Failure to meet
nutritional/energy needs
n Feeding tube dependency
Call 629-3400 for more information and to schedule an appointment.
www.TheSummitCenter.org
36 WNY Family November 2018
Low-Tech – devices or equipment that
don’t require much training and may be less
expensive. Examples include adapted scis-
sors, hand held magnifiers, and reachers/
grabbers.
High-Tech – A complex, specialized
system or device. Examples include voice to
text software (you speak – it types), software
and apps, communication boards, power
wheelchairs and large button switches.
Information must be gathered about
the child/adult seeking ways to be more ef-
ficient, productive, or independent. Consider
all areas of life… living, learning, working
and playing. Talk with them about their
dreams, their future goals, and what keeps
them from success. Help them understand
their disability and to use the words to de-
scribe it to others. This teaches them to
speak up for themselves and advocate for
what they need to those who make decisions
about funding, and to people in their daily
life who may not understand but could if
given the opportunity.
Imagine what might happen if your