Re-Post from the Bridge School |
| Link to the Bride School website, HERE for video examples of students using eye gaze |
What They Are
An eye gaze communication board (also known as an e-tran) is a vertically held/mounted board, made of plexiglass or sturdy paper with a window cut in the middle, that enables children with severe speech and orthopedic impairments (i.e. children who are unable to speak or use their hands to point out pictures or symbols on a communication display) to communicate by focusing their gaze on selected items displayed on the board. Again, this strategy, if a match for a student’s needs, skills and existing strategies, can further expand a multi-modal communication system.(The Eye-Talks from Enabling Devices is a relatively inexpensive example at 22.95)
What They're Not
Limited to the four quadrants! Items can be displayed in any configuration and can be encoded to provide more choices on each board.How They Work
When the eye gaze board is held up at eye level to the child, the child and his/her communication partner should be able to make eye contact through the open window.Several steps may be involved in the training process, including:
- Learning to scan the items available on the board
- Learning to fixate eye gaze on the desired item
- Learning to look back at the communication partner to confirm the selection
- Elle looks at all her choices and then makes a selection by looking at the word and then looking back at the teacher. She confirms her choices by saying ‘yeah’.
- Courtney uses a generic eye-gaze communication board to answer multiple choice questions about 8th grade literature. For students who are able to use four symbols to represent multiple meanings, this method provides some nice flexibility – especially for testing and spontaneous discussions.
DIY Eye Gaze Flip Frame: This is a great flip frame you can make right at home. You can have different pages for different things - for instance one for snacks, one for activities and one for needs. Don't spend too much time putting this together because it's easy to over think things and then procrastinate. You can use boardmaker or other symbols - ask your Rett Girl's school if they could print you some extra ones if you don't have a program, or check out this website with FREE symbols. You can also just take pictures of objects, food, etc. and print them off on your own printer. It doesn't have to be fancy to be functional. If you don't have the time to do this on your own you can also buy them HERE.
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| From T/TAC Online, Link HERE |
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