Oklahoma ABLE Tech Quarterly Newsletter 

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Oklahoma ABLE Tech Assistive Technology Small Changes…Big Differences Newsletter Fall 2009 Volume 9, Issue 4 PDF

Oklahoma’s Assistive Technology Act Program - Oklahoma ABLE Tech is a federal grant program located at Oklahoma State University at the Seretean Wellness Center, 1514 W. Hall of Fame Stillwater, OK 74078 Phone: 800-257-1705 VTDD 405-744-9748 VTDD  

Inside This Issue: 

Partner of the Year, New ABLE Tech Staff, Special Education Resolution Center, Oklahoma AT Center Locations, Oklahoma AT Center Spotlights, Section 508 IT Fall Conference , Success Story, Equipment Exchange, Resources and Events

Hearing Loss Association Receives Partner of the Year

Oklahoma ABLE Tech is fortunate to partner with a variety of agencies to provide Oklahomans with disabilities improved access to assistive technology (AT). Each partner offers an assistive technology center where individuals can try out assistive technology such as aids for daily living, hearing or vision loss, computer access hardware or software, or communication devices. Individuals receive specialized support from staff at each location and gain hands-on time comparing features of devices. Oklahomans can also borrow the equipment through a short-term loan program for use at home, work, or in education.

To recognize our partner’s efforts and quality of service, ABLE Tech presented our first Partner-of-the-Year Award to the Hearing Helpers Demonstration Room. The Hearing Helper Demo Room is a place where people can go to learn about devices made to help compensate for a hearing loss. The services are available to anyone with hearing loss, parents of children with hearing loss, relatives or friends seeking information about helpful devices or gift ideas. The room is staffed by trained volunteers of the Hearing Loss Association of Oklahoma City. ABLE Tech appreciates Nancy Landrum, Vernice Meade, and Larry Slaughter as well as all the other volunteers for their skill and customer service. Upon receiving the award, Mrs. Landrum shared the following: “As a profoundly hard of hearing person I was first introduced to assistive technology by my audiologist in 1996. For the next seven years I depended heavily on assistive technology (AT) devices in order to participate in the hearing world. I received so much help from AT that I jumped at the chance to share my knowledge and experience with others through the Hearing Loss Association of America and the Hearing Helpers Demonstration Room. Because of our volunteer, non-profit status, Hearing Helpers literally started out on a shoestring, staffed entirely by volunteers. After years of soliciting donations of equipment and funding, we were thrilled to become a partner with ABLE Tech a few years ago. We are able to stock our demonstration room with the latest technology in a wide variety of devices. It is such a pleasure to be able to acquaint our visitors with devices that can help them in education, employment, and everyday living as well as increase their overall quality of life. All of our Hearing Helpers volunteers are hard-of-hearing and have benefitted so much from the devices they demonstrate to our visitors. We truly believe in the ‘care and share’ philosophy.”

ABLE Tech AT Partners are: ABLE Tech at the OSU Seretean Wellness Center, the Oklahoma League for the Blind, Total Source for Hearing-loss and Access, Total Health, the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, the Department of Rehabilitation Services Visual Services Lab, the Mary K. Chapman Center for Communicative Disorders, the Hearing Helpers Demonstration Room and Developmental Disabilities Services Division (DDSD). To learn more about ABLE Tech’s AT locations visit http://okabletech.okstate.edu

New ABLE Tech Staff

Tessa Stinnett is ABLE Tech’s new Speech-Language Pathologist and AT Specialist. She has 14 years of experience working with individuals of all ages who have disabilities. Tessa specializes in augmentative communication and assistive technology solutions for people with a wide range of difficulties and needs. Tessa previously worked for Oklahoma Assistive Technology Center, teaches a university course about augmentative communication for speech pathology graduate students, and regularly provides trainings about assistive technology topics to Oklahoma public school staff, parents, therapists, and other interested parties.

Lindsey Davis accepted the position of AFP and ATF Loan Coordinator and Marketing Coordinator in May. She graduated in 2005 from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Communications and a minor in Agricultural Economics. Lindsey previously worked for Oklahoma Farm Bureau as a field representative and the National Reining Horse Association as the Youth Coordinator. She will be coordinating the efforts between BancFirst and ABLE Tech to help

Oklahoman’s with disabilities get bank loans for assistive technology. Lindsey also manages the applications for the guaranteed low interest loan program and speaks with potential clients about the low interest bank loan program and other funding options. She is ready to help with the purchase of any type of special equipment or technology.

Special Education Resolution Center

Jo Anne Blades from the Special Education Resolution Center (SERC) has been working on a national exemplar workgroup convened by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Consortium for Appropriate Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADRE). Oklahoma was selected as one of 4 exemplar dispute resolution programs from all 67 states and territories. Oklahoma will be sharing its processes and innovative programs and will assist other states desiring to make effective change to enhance their programs of dispute resolution in special education. SERC continues to provide innovative programs to assist parties in resolving disputes in special education at the earliest stage possible. Recently, SERC brought Art Cernosia, a national expert in special education, for annual training. The training was opened to agencies, attorneys, school districts and parents – all stakeholders with a continuing interest in the changes and updates in special education law.

Hearing Helpers Room - HLA Success Story 

The Hearing Helpers Room through the Hearing Loss of Association of OKC provides access to a variety of assistive technology to help people find ways to hear better, live more independently, and enjoy life more through improved hearing. Our ABLE Tech partners enjoy sharing personal success stories like this one from the Hearing Helpers Room: an 81- year- old Oklahoma City gentleman visited the demo room to try a variety of devices to aid in TV listening. He was pleased with the ability to try different models to see which device would best fit his needs. He preferred the Williams TV listening system and was able to take it home for a short-term loan of six weeks. He said, “besides allowing me to hear the TV clearly, it makes TV viewing with my family a more enjoyable experience.” To contact the Hearing Helpers Room call 405-717-9820 or visit the ABLE Tech website for a list of devices available. http://okabletech.okstate.edu.

Oklahoma AT Center Locations

Oklahoma ABLE Tech and partners operate assistive technology (AT) device demonstration and short-term loan programs to increase accessibility to AT. The assistive technology inventory is available and searchable online at http://oec.okstate.edu/loan/. Oklahoma ABLE Tech allows individuals to borrow devices for six weeks at no cost. Search the inventory: http://oec.okstate.edu/loan. Over 1400 Devices! 

CareerTech in Stillwater 405-743-5162
Mary K. Chapman Center for Communicative Disorders 918-631-2913 
Total Health Stillwater 405-624-6592 
Hearing Loss Association of OKC 405-717-9820
Developmental Disabilities Services Division, Tulsa, OK 918-794-7632 
DRS Visual Services Low Vision Clinic Oklahoma City 405-522-3442 
ABLE Tech in Stillwater, OK 800-257-1705 
Total Source for Hearing Loss & Access, Tulsa 918-832-8742
Oklahoma League for the Blind, Oklahoma City 405-232-4644

Oklahoma AT Center Highlights

Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, Stillwater

ODCTE has customized AT equipment focusing on resources needed in CareerTech programs across the state. The AT available can assist students with disabilities who are enrolled in specific trades and industry courses as well as students who need learning supports in a traditional classroom such as literacy software. ODCTE/ABLE Tech offers opportunities to explore the devices or software through a short-term loan program. Please contact the ODCTE/ABLE Tech Assistive Technology Center at: 405-743-6882. An example of software available is TestTalker, a software solution to help individuals be more successful with test taking, worksheet completion, and with study materials. It can also help people complete forms electronically. TestTalker provides a computerized version of a test, worksheet, or other form that can talk.

Oklahoma League for the Blind, Oklahoma City

OLB’s mission is to empower blind and vision impaired individuals to achieve their maximum level of personal independence through employment, rehabilitation, and community outreach. They offer individual or group exploration of one or more assistive technology devices to help facilitate informed decision making regarding device utilization and/or purchase. You can borrow devices like this large universal remote control, it has large and easy-to see remote features including lighted push-button controls, 3/4” buttons, and can control up to four electronic units.

Mary K. Chapman Center for Communicative Disorders, University of Tulsa

The Mary K. Chapman Center at the University of Tulsa provides professional audiology and speech-language pathology services to individuals of all ages. The demo program can offer guided experiences for individuals and small groups with a particular device to support effective usage. Vmax, the new generation AAC device from DynaVox, enables the user to access Microsoft Windows XP Home edition, so it can be used as a computer as well as a communication device.

Total Health, Stillwater

Total Health and ABLE Tech partner to provide Am Trykes, which are therapeutic tricycles suitable for children approximately three to nine years of age. Three trykes are available with either a bucket or a saddle seat and come with an appropriate helmet.

Section 508 Information Technology Accessibility Fall Conference

The State of Oklahoma passed a 508 law in 2004 for the provision of accessible electronic and information technology. The Fall Conference will focus on website accessibility, a primary goal of 508 laws and standards. It’s important to understand how people with disabilities use the web, the frustrations they feel when they cannot access the web and what you can do to make your site more accessible. ABLE Tech continually strives to bring 508 training classes to Oklahoma.

REGISTER NOW CLASS SIZES ARE LIMITED!

When: November 9-10, 2009
Where: Metro Tech Econ. Dev. Center 1700 Springlake Dr. Oklahoma City, OK 73111
Sponsored by: Oklahoma ABLE Tech, Metro Tech, and CareerTech 
Contact Info: Brenda Dawes, ABLE Tech 1-800-257-1705 
Register online at http://www.ok.gov/accessibility/Training/index.html

LUNCH: Included with each full-day registration.

Choose one class or all! Attend web accessibility standards 101; learn more about creating accessible websites with HTML and CSS; how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 to create accessible PDFs; become skilled at creating accessible forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer; use InDesign CS4 to create accessible publications; develop accessible Microsoft Excel 2007 documents; discover how to use Moodle to comply with 508 standards; and gain knowledge and decipher critical information about Oklahoma’s 508 law in the overview class (1 CEU).

TSHA Success Story

The loan program through TSHA allowed for the trial of a Redcat Class Amplifying System within the 3-year-old classroom at Freedom Elementary. Currently there are three
3-year-old boys with hearing loss in this classroom, and at times hearing aids would not be sufficient. The town of Sapulpa, Oklahoma has approximately 20,000 people. So, to have 3 boys the same age with hearing loss is a first for the school system. The loan program allowed the teacher to be able to evaluate the system before purchasing the equipment. She has a unique perspective because she is also the Assistive Technologies Professional for the Sapulpa School System.  The teacher saw the sound system help all the children participate better during group instruction time. When she allowed the children to use the microphone [to speak into], she had a significant increase in vocalizations in one of the non-hearing-impaired students. She is looking forward to trying the Sound System with an FM system as well.

Oklahoma Equipment Exchange

The Oklahoma Equipment Exchange is a free program to help Oklahomans with disabilities acquire affordable equipment. Log onto the Equipment Exchange website, ttp://oec.okstate.edu, or call ABLE Tech to list your devices or inquire about products at 888-885-5588. Below is a list of items currently for sale or FREE.

Daily Living:

All-In-One Commode - bucket missing
Bath chair & shower stand, Rifton
Bathtub Grab Bar, Attaches to side tub
CPAP - Price Reduced
CPAP – Devilbiss 9000
Deluxe Hand Held Shower, Portable
Electric Stair Lift, Battery power
Emergency Lifter Cushion, Mangar, 2007,
Feeder Tray - Electric Self-Feeder
Feeding pump - Zevex EnteraLite
Full Body Large Mesh Sling #1
Goose Neck Mount #1- FREE, Never Used
Goose Neck Mount #2- FREE, Never Used
Hospital Bed - Electric-Price Reduced
Hydraulic Lift - In-home lifting system
Ice chest w/elec pump for pain control, Polar Care
Key Holder for 2 keys – FREE
Liquid Level Indicator#2 – Never Used - FREE
Mattress - Demafloat Low Air Loss Bed Cushion
Offset Trapeze Bar - Octagon Tube
Padded Bed Boards - Never Used
Portable VacuAide Suction Machine
ResMed VPAP III machine for sleep disorders
Shower Chair
Shower set-up - portable (OBO), Never Used
Silverware - Fork- Lighweight - FREE
Silverware - Offset contoured Spoon Never Used – FREE
Standing Lift - for home use
Stimulator for pain control, Never Used - FREE
Suction cup brush #3 - FREE, Never Used
Swivel Clamp & Bracket, Invacare
Toilet Safety Rail
Trixie Lift w/extra large sling, Arjo, New
Utensil Hand Clip - (Discontinued) - FREE
Wanchik Writer #2 (Discontinued) Never Used - FREE

Environmental Adaptations:
Automatic Door Opener, Power Access 4300 Commercial

Mobility, Seating & Positioning:
Folding Chair - supports up to 250 lbs., Ti Lite XC
Gait Trainer Walker, Rifton, Size: Medium
Pediatric Manual Wheelchair - #1 (FREE), Seat width 12"
Pediatric Manual Wheelchair - #2 (FREE), for a child
Permobil Playman Robo Pediatric Power WC
Power Chair (Reduced Price!!), Jazzy Select
Power Chair - For small adult or teen, Premobil C300
Power Chair - Reclines & Tilts, Permobil C300-PS2
PowerChair, Jazzy 600 Series
Scooter - 3 wheeled w/basket
Scooter - 3 wheeled w/bicycle seat
Scooter - Pride 2006 Model, Pride Mobility Products
Vertical Wheelchair Lift (Elevator) - for wc or scooter
Wheelchair - Kid Kart, Kid Kart Express, Pediatric
Wheelchair - Elec Pronto M71 Reduced Price
Wheelchair - Electric -Pronto M51 w/SureStep
Wheelchair - Electric Jet III Ultra, Pride Jet III Ultra
Wheelchair - Power Tiger Pediatric - FREE
Wheelchair - Power Tilt, Permobil c-300
Wheelchair - Power Ultra, Pride Jet3, 2004
Wheelchair – Quickie IRIS
Wheelchair Recliner-Tracer
Wheelchair-Manual Tilt/Recline
Wheelchair-Tilt Recline (Power)

Speech Communication: Mercury II Speech Communicator, Never Used

Vehicle Modification and Transportation:

4 Q-Straint Vehicle Tie-Downs - FREE
Car Top Wheelchair Carrier, Braun Chair Topper FREE
Hand & Foot Controls for vehicle-for a quad - FREE
Turney Seat for mini/full size van or truck
Van - 1997 w/lift GMC Conversion, 87,000 miles
Van - 98 Ford E-150 w/lift, High-Top Con.103,000 miles
Van - w/lift 1998 GMC Savanna , GMC 121,000 mi.
Van - w/lift Hi Top 1995 Chevy
Wheelchair Lift (ONLY) Large for Full Size Van - FREE 

Vision:

Portable PDA Screen Magnifier - FREE
Spectrum SVGA Video Magnification # 1 System - FREE

Items People Need:

Front End Tractor w/bucket
Front End Tractor w/bucket
Large Tiller
Upright Stander
Cough Assist Machine
Large Lift Chair
AlphaSmart
Color cards of nouns and/or verbs for therapy use
Beach Wheelchair, must be lightweight
Kidwalk gait trainer-3 yr. old
Kidwalk, mobility device
Powerchair (Adult) Small
WALKER with SEAT
Wheelchair - Manual (Adult
Wheelchair - Power (LARGE)
Bath Sling - medium child sling
Swing frame, Seeking a swing frame for therapy use.
7 level comm., or higher
Lift for vehicle, 96 contour Ford
Van w/wheelchair lift & a sit to stand electric lift
Hand Controls for Vehicle
Wheelchair Ramp for Van
Wheelchair lift ONLY
Wheelchair lift or ramp for mini-van, large lift
CCTV Smartview 3000

Resources and Events

Oklahoma ABLE Tech AT Demo and Loan Program, http://okabletech.okstate.edu 
AT Equipment Exchange Program, http://oec.okstate.edu

Oct. 17 - Nov. 6 - Art Exhibit for People with Visual Impairments, Oklahoma City. They will have art available that can be “seen” through touching the exhibits. For more information call 405-232-6060 or www.iaogallery.org

Nov. 6-7 - Oklahoma State Autism Conference, Embassy Suites, Norman. More information available on their website at www.okautism.org

Nov. 9-10 - Section 508 Information Technology Accessibility Fall Conference Metro Tech Sprinklake Campus, Oklahoma City. To register contact Brenda Dawes, ABLE Tech 1-800-257-1705 or register online at http://www.ok.gov/accessibility/Training/index.html

Nov. 15 - Dec. 31 - Open enrollment for Medicare. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/openenrollment.asp 1-800-633-4227 TTY 1-877-486-2048

Dec. 8 - Assistive Technology Expo, Moore Norman Technology Center, Oklahoma City. Contact Oklahoma Assistive Technology Center at 405-271-3625 or www.theoatc.org

DISABOOM - premier source of disability information and resources. Find ideas, answers, solutions and stories to help you create your best life. Go to www.disaboom.com to learn more about this online community for people with disabilities.

Oklahoma ABLE Tech Staff

Robin Purdie, Director of OSU Seretean Wellness Center 
Oklahoma ABLE Tech:
Linda Jaco, Director of Sponsored Programs OSU Seretean Wellness Center
Milissa Gofourth, Program Manager
Brenda Dawes, AT Program Specialist and Web/Marketing Coordinator
Diana Sargent, Senior Administration Support Specialist
Shelby Sanders, AT Specialist
Tessa Stinnett, AT Specialist
Lindsey Davis, AFP Loan Coordinator & Marketing Coordinator
Sandra Stevenson, AgrAbility Program Manager
Stacy Bauter, AgrAbility Assistant
Jo Anne Pool-Blades, SERC Program Manager
Shannon Esmeyer, SERC Administrative Assistant

Location: 

Oklahoma ABLE Tech, Seretean Wellness Center, Oklahoma State University 1514 W. Hall of Fame Stillwater, OK 74078 Phone: 800-257-1705 VTDD 405-744-9748 VTDD Fax: 405-744-2487 INFO-Line: 888-885-5588.

We’re On the Web! http://okabletech.okstate.edu 

This publication is available in alternative formats; please call 1-800-257-1705 V/TTY for more information. The Oklahoma State University Seretean Wellness Center is the lead agency for Oklahoma ABLE Tech. The program is funded by the Rehabilitation Service Administration (RSA) of the U.S. Department of Education. Grant #H224A050036. This publication does not necessarily reflect the position of the policy of RSA/ED, and no official endorsement of the material should be inferred.