Whilst most people might take a new piece of technology for granted, for Ben, it’s a fresh chance to develop his speech.
Last month, two of our services – Malvern and The Maltings – won Amazon Echo Dots in a tech roadshow organised by our Assistive Technologist, Carrie Sant. And these new gadgets have already made a hugely positive impact on the people we support.
Speaking to Louise Hutchings, Malvern’s Service Manager, she said: “Ben, who we have supported at Malvern for around 10 years, actually pulled his own name out of the hat to win the Echo Dot!
“Recently Ben has been using more assisted technology and has his own laptop which he can use to email his mum and play games. However, Ben’s speech isn’t very good, so when he won the Echo Dot we did think how much this will benefit him in being able to communicate verbally.
“Ben’s mum is brilliant at encouraging him to speak, so we try to use her techniques, and we thought it would be a good idea to use his new Echo Dot to help develop his speech further. His understanding of the technology is absolutely brilliant, he knows he needs to talk in short sentences to make it work.”
Louise continued to say that whilst Ben has been the only resident to use the Echo Dot, it has made them think about buying more for other residents.
“From our side we can see the technology is getting him to speak more,” Louise added. “Ben loves to make other people smile, and he can see that by talking more he is making everyone happy. It’s helping to open up another side of communication to him.
“It’s amazing how much assistive technology has opened up the world to everyone we support. We have one resident who is non-verbal who can keep in contact with his mum over Skype regularly, which is ideal because she is in her 80s and can’t travel to see him in person all the time.”
Kerensa Palmer, Service Manager at The Maltings, has also seen a positive response from the Echo Dots.
She said: “It has taken a few weeks for the members to get used to the Echo Dot and to understand how to use it, but the majority seem to enjoy it.
“The members use it to gain knowledge and ask it questions, one of The Maltings’ volunteers Andrew will ask what the weather is every morning and then will tell the people we support.”
Assistive Technologist, Carrie Sant, said: “The Amazon Echo devices have given some of the people we support the opportunity to interact with technology using their voices, teaching them new skills and confidence in trying new things. We hope that in the future this will help the people we support to access other technology such as environmental controls, giving them greater independence, choice and control in their daily lives”
“It is amazing to hear that the technology has had such a great response.”
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- This article was written by the Karten Centre
- Featured in the Karten Autumn 2019 Newsletter
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