Head Switch

I have had a few people ask me about the new contraption on Noah's wheelchair. He is trialling a new head switch. The aim is to teach him to knock it with his head, which will activate whatever it is plugged into - it could be a toy or any electronic device such as a CD player, computer mouse, fan, light box etc.

At school for 15 minutes every day his aide takes him for a session in a quiet room. If they do it in the classroom he is too distracted by all the noise and action going on around him to really concentrate (and they say he is different to other kids!?!).

At the moment his aide is doing everything - helping him turn his head to knock it and then stopping it, and starting it again, and again and again. They are hoping that eventually Noah will get the idea that he can actually activate things himself, by knocking it with his head. At the moment they are mainly working with is a light box and a CD player, since they are the two things that he responds to the most. Sometimes other things that are too far away or things that he can not really see well are too abstract for him, and he doesn't really know that he has even done something to activate it. Di was telling me that he really notices the green right next to his head and turns towards it to see it better.

I joked with his teacher the other day that if he doesn't get it by the end of this year then she should get the sack! :) We know it is a VERY long term goal and it may actually take years for it to happen but I'm excited that he has something to really work on at school that is going to be useful for him throughout his life.