December 2008 E Newsletter www.arkansas-ican.org A program of Arkansas Department of Workforce Education - Division of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services INSIDE THIS ISSUE: - N E W E M P L O Y E E : R I C K A N D E R S O N - F U N C T I O N A L C A P A C I T Y E V A L U A T I O N W O R K S H O P - P O S I T I O N I N G A N D S E A T I N G W O R K S H O P - A T H E N - L A M P T R A I N I N G - N E W E Q U I P M E N T - H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S Rick Anderson, AT4ALL Clearinghouse Manager Rick Anderson joined the staff at ICAN November 1, 2008. He comes to ICAN with a wealth of information and experience. He worked for Alliance Medical for several years then took a job at Easter Seals. At Easter, Seals Rick worked for 7 years repairing and adapting their wheelchairs and working with the kids to enhance their lives. Rick was offered the job in SEAT (Successful Employment through Assistive Technology) in February 2008 as the Assistive Technology Technician. ICAN was fortunate to hire him in November to be in charge of the Technology Center and the AT4ALL program. We are very excited to have Rick working with us. We hope it will be a long and prosperous relationship for all of us. ICAN 26 Corporate Hill Dr. Little Rock, AR 72205 1-800-828-2799 Voice/TDD 501-666-8868 www.arkansas-ican.org Page 1
ICAN hosted the Functional Capacity Evaluation Workshop (FCE) on November 13-14, 2008. Seventeen people from around the state took advantage of this free training. Each person who attended earned valuable CEU s plus a wealth of information from the presenter Vic Zuccarello OTR/L, C.E.E.S., ABDA. Vic is a certified Ergonomics Evaluation Specialist and is certified as a Senior Disability Analyst and Diplomate through the American Board of Disability Analysts. Gaye Jones Washington, one of the participants wrote: I was one of the individual's fortunate enough to attend the FCE training. Attending the FCE training served as an asset to me as a rehabilitation counselor and has allowed me to better interpret results of a functional capacity evaluation. The training provided an inside view at how a clients' ability to work can be assessed. Being able to learn hands on was a great compliment to the training. Sally Roberts, OTR/L, ATP: Seating & Positioning On October 23-24, 2008, Sally Roberts presented to a group of about 15 participants on Positioning and Seating. It was full two days of hands-on of learning. The primary focus was on how to work with people who use wheelchairs. On day two, Matt Hall with Russellville Medical Company supplied us with several supplied us with wheelchairs and other equipment to use in the workshop. Participant Richard Loghry wrote: This was a high quality course which I applied to my current clients more than some courses I have paid for and this one was free! My only major issue with this course was why weren t there more therapists taking advantage of this opportunity. Page 2
Good morning! I wanted to share a resource with everyone as you may find it very helpful. ATHEN - Access Technology in Higher Education Network - has a wiki with some very useful info. Recently information regarding free and open source AT has been added to the wiki: http://www.athenpro.org/wiki/assistive_techn ology. I've found the information very beneficial to discuss various options with students regarding various technology that they may want to investigate for their personal use. If you are interested in finding out more about ATHEN, please check out the website: http://www.athenpro.org/ The official conference (at which we have our annual business meeting) is the Accessing Higher Ground Conference held in Boulder, CO each November. The ATHEN listserv is a tremendous resource to tap regarding AT expertise. As the membership is international, current members also get insight into what is going on in some other countries in regards to AT. The ATHEN annual dues for either professional or associates are only $50, and $100 for an institutional membership. I hope that your semester winds down smoothly and happy holidays to all! Heidi Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC Associate Director Center for Educational Access University of Arkansas John Halloran: LAMP Training John Halloran with Prentke Romich Company has work with ICAN for many years. John has recently team with ICAN to present Language Acquisition though Motor Planning (LAMP) in three different areas around the state of Arkansas. The first workshop on November 5, 2008 was at the University of Arkansas Drew Central School in Monticello. There were 12 people in attendance consisting of parents, speech therapists, case managers and teachers. On December 4, 2008 the North West Area Educational Coop was full of school speech therapists, parents, teachers and case managers to learn more about working with the Augmentative Communication Devices. A total headcount revealed there were 73 people listening to John speak and watching the videos of students with autism communicating with the people around them. December 15, 2008 was the final LAMP training schedule for this year. This meeting was originally scheduled for the Conference Room at Arkansas Rehablilitation Services. People began registering and because the demand was so overwhelming, it was moved to the Tornado Shelter at the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Approximately 40 people attended. Page 3
New Equipment in the ICAN Technology Center Easily adjust the two section of this keyboard to suit your individual needs. Embedded numeric keypad creates a smaller, space-saving footprint and brings the mouse inside your ergonomic comfort-zone. Full-size, full-travel keys with low-noise typing require less pressure. This is a loan item. Illuminated keyboard put the light only where it is needed- on the keyboard! This keyboard helps prevent eyestrain and makes the keys to see. In addition to improving night vision, it enhances your computing environment by creating a relaxed, ambient atmosphere. Compatible with windows 98SE/ME/2000XP/NT. This is Demo item. ErgoFlex Sections can be separated up to 7 feet apart, as each section is separated with a completely distinct base, which allows the ErgoFlex keyboard to conform to people's differing shoulder widths. Unlike the Comfort Original or ErgoMagic keyboards, the ErgoFlex is a FLAT design. This is a Demo item. Foot Mouse and Programmable Pedal. Model FT07-01 & FT07_02 Including Software CD & Big free Mouse Mat. Ergonomic slipper-shaped cursor controller. Complete mouse click buttons and roller. Do all entries and surfing by foot. Help and heal carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, or other hand injuries. Control multimedia device, and more. Compatible with most Windows and Mac OS x 10.3 and later. This item is Demo item. MoGo Mouse BT is the business-card-sized mouse that stores and charges inside your laptop computer s PC Card slot a must have for every laptop. Downloadable scrolling software makes reviewing important documents and Web sites on the go more convenient than ever before. The sleek, patented design of MoGo Mouse BT is reflective of its powerful practicality. Users of MoGo Mouse BT need not purchase expensive new batteries (unlike the majority of mice on the market) to get the benefit of liberating Bluetooth wireless performance and convenience. MoGo Mouse BT is compatible with laptop's that are equipped with PCMCIA slots, Type I/II slots and Cardbus's. This is a Demo item. Page 4
Merry Christmas from the ICAN Staff. We hope you have a safe and prosperous New Year!