Today was one of those days. I couldn’t stop asking myself, really? Seriously? Nathan’s nurse who has been an amazing friend and support, quit today. It was devastating to hear; I was reeling. Nathan and Izzy love her so much, it will be hard for them to have her gone. Fortunately Nathan’s previous wonderful nurse, [...]

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A wonderful writer who freelances for Dynavox wrote a piece about Nathan, and what the Dynavox means for him. She did a great job of conveying our excitement for this device. Read on, and send it on to others! Nathan’s success story

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As life settles down a big priority becomes obvious to me – Nathan’s dynavox. We were a bit on hiatus during the summer but now it’s time to pick back up again, with unparalleled enthusiasm. We spent the first 5 years of Nathan’s life trying to get him physically stronger. Now we will spend most [...]

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Nathan is definitely talking purposefully on the Dynavox. Writing this brings tears to my eyes. It’s a dream come true. I was away for most of Nathan’s session with Ronna today, and when I came in I found him on the “Needs” page. He kept saying over and over again, I am thirsty, I want [...]

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We have so much stuff going on right now I don’t even know where to start! The plates spin and spin as I watch them floating with fascination and wonder. Communication So much is moving forward in the field of Nathan’s communication. Dr. Sharon Rogers came over to meet and assess Nathan, and I am [...]

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This post probably won’t make much sense to anybody who is not familiar with an eye gaze communication device. If you have no idea what I’m talking about – sorry! But to anyone that DOES or is GOING to have one – this post is for you! Last week Nathan had 0 success with his [...]

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Recently I realized that it was time for me to start supplementing Nathan’s education at home. Nathan’s teacher is fabulous and I believe she is doing a great job with him. However, there are about 8 kids with severe disabilities in his class, meaning 8 unique IEP’s each with at least 5 goals (I’d imagine). [...]

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Above is a video taken today of Nathan using his Dynavox. For those who don’t know, it is controlled by his eye gaze – the computer reads his retina, and if he looks at something long enough, it makes a selection. You can’t really see in the video, but each screen is made up of [...]

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This is Daniel using his eye gaze system: Trial Eco Eyepoint Isn’t he amazing at it??!! This video kinda points out the issue with Nathan. He is a whiz at getting around the eye gaze system, he totally “gets it” and uses it the way he wants to use it. But when we try to [...]

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I made a mindmap of the pages we have on Nathan’s dynavox, and how I have them categorized. I thought I would share this here to see if anyone has suggestions on how to categorize this better? Or suggestions on new pages to add? I know it’s hard to understand this without seeing it – [...]

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I know this totally sucks but I can’t talk about our IEP meeting. Our lawyer asked me not to. I know I’m leaving you with the suspense and I’m sorry! I wish I had other news to share but I don’t. I am tired so I am off to bed. Good night!

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We continue working with Nathan on the Dynavox. I love that through the Dynavox we get glimpses of Nathan’s thoughts and true understanding of the world. I am going to share a few of these glimmers: (PS – the computer reads his retina, so all he has to do is look at something and hold [...]

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Nathan can now turn on the TV and change the channel! The dynavox has IR sensors, so I program it to function like a remote, so Nathan can turn on the TV and change the channel, turn up and down the volume, etc.  I wish I could’ve captured his face when he figured out he [...]

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It’s hard to imagine that the dynavox and buzz lightyear can fit together in one sentence. But they do. This is how: I’m loving this device more and more every day!

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I sit here listening to Nathan coughing and Belle whining. She’s had a fever for 3 days and is just miserable. I took her to see Nathan’s doctor today and got another talking to. She was furious that i haven’t vaccinated Belle and thinks I am putting her in danger. I asked her for a [...]

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This has been a very enlightening few days for me. It started with our XBOX contest. From all of the input I received I learned so much…primarily that there are a million ways to use the dynavox creatively to help Nathan learn to communicate. It also taught me that it was time for a paradigm [...]

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Today is the day! We will pick the winner for our XBOX with Kinect! We are so excited! You can submit entries all the way up until 5pm PST, when we will be doing the live stream. If anyone wants to watch as we pick a winner LIVE online here’s what you do: Go to [...]

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Hi everyone, I’ve decided to extend the giveaway until Monday Dec 20th. We’ve been so sick with a stomach bug that I haven’t had a chance to count all of the entries, create the entries, and set up the actual drawing. Good news for you though! More time to submit more entries! I can’t express [...]

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Well, Oprah doesn’t really have anything to do with our XBOX + Kinect giveaway. But even Oprah thinks the Kinect is cool so come on and join our contest! We’ve gotten some awesome ideas already and I am hoping for many more to come. If you think you just don’t know anything about a Dynavox [...]

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A video taken today after Nathan’s speech session with Mrs. Ronna: He does better with the dynavox when I’m not around so I left, but my plan is to install a nanny cam so we can catch him in real action in the future, not just an account of how he did. How cool is [...]

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Nathan is into cars lately. He loves looking at them, playing with them, making them go, making them crash: We’re on our way! He totally understands the concept of the eye gaze, and is doing great accessing two small squares…here we go!

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…and by gloves I mean, boxing gloves. I’ve tried hard to keep them off but enough is enough. Let me start by saying that we finally have Nathan’s dynavox with eyemax ready to go. It took us months and months but it’s now up and running. A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting [...]

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A few people have emailed asking what apps we are using for Nathan in the IPAD. Here’s our list (if you click on the pictures you’ll be taken to a page with a larger image so you can actually read the names): Nathan gets bored pretty fast so in one “playing” session he’ll typically go [...]

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Here is a list of apps that we are trialing for Nathan. I will write reviews about them soon. We the the adding applications on this site. Category:EducationBooksGamesEntertainmentUtilitiesMusicMedicalArtAssessment ToolsAssistive Technology and AccessibilityCommunicationPhotographyReference Application Name: Description: Cost $: Are you human? Added Applications 1Toddler Counting –$0.99 –Category: Education v1.2, Seller: Nat Brown (4+) If you are [...]

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I’m updating from nathan’s iPad. I’ve been geeking out! I realized you can downdload and watch movies on the iPad. This is great for Nathan! Once he learns how to navigate the Ipad, it means he will be able to select directly what he wants to watch! So after paying for a movie through iTunes [...]

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I work as an internet marketing consultant. I work every chance I have in between therapies and appointments. So when the IPAD came out I figured it was a great investment for me so I can work while at doctor’s appointments, while waiting for Nathan to finish his therapies, etc. Little did I know that [...]

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The wonderful Sarah, Alli’s mom, wrote a post on her blog regarding her journey/experiences teaching Alli how to use a communication method. While I have been running around focusing on Nathan’s physical skills, Sarah’s been very consistent and focused on helping Alli communicate. They are far ahead of us so I wanted to share a [...]

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A couple of days ago we saw Ronna, the lady who will be working with us on speech therapy. She evaluated Nathan by watching how he communicates, by using some of the switches we already have, and getting a sense for what he can and can’t do. She was excited to see how eager he [...]

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Amber, Brandon’s mom, posted about this AMAZING website: HelpKidzLearn I went to check it out today and LOVE it! It has all sorts of games that I know Nathan will love. For this to work for your child, you will need: – Switch interface – Switch What’s great about it, is it helps the child [...]

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Most of the time I talk about therapies that work on physical abilities, and you hear very little about “communication”. There are 2 reasons for this: 1. The whole “communication” field is daunting and overwhelming to me! 2. Kids develop physical skills before they develop communication. I wanted to focus on physical abilities and gross [...]

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How’s this for potential to unlock someone who’s “locked in” ? If you could read my mind I’m hoping that by the time this device is ready for the general market, Nathan won’t need it, but if he does – it’s there!!!

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What a terrible terrible thing to happen: Man in “coma” heard everything for 23 years It’s like having Locked In syndrome – you can receive everything, but have no output. Sometimes I think this is so similar to Nathan’s situation. So the challenge is mostly finding a method for “output”. Thus far I have focused [...]

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Here are a few videos of Nathan using the dynavox vmax with eyemax.

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A while ago I promised another parent that I would write a little bit about what I’ve learned regarding how to make computers accessible to young children with special needs. I don’t know too much as we haven’t spent too much time on this, but I though I’d write about what I know! Making Computers [...]

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