Learning Begins with the Eyes

School is an important arena for children. They not only learn how to read and write, but also to interact with others, think independently, be creative and handle responsibilities.

Meet Ulrich

School is a springboard into the future, however, if a child is born with a disability that limits their ability to communicate, these important skills may take longer to develop. This was the fear of Jürgen and Margit, parents of 10-year-old Ulrich who was born with Infant Cerebral Palsy (ICP). They wanted to make sure their son was getting the most out of school. And after discovering eye-control as an input method from Tobii, they are convinced that Ulrich’s future is brighter than ever.

Meet Ulrich – a bright, open-minded and outgoing 10-year-old boy. Ulrich has a great sense of humor, loves a good joke, likes playing games and is comfortable being the center of attention. In fact, Ulrich has a lot in common with other boys his age except for one thing – speaking his mind verbally is difficult.

For years, Ulrich had been using a variety of switch button based communication devices designed to develop his communication skills, but found that day-to-day use at home and at school was complicated, frustrating and just took too long. Then, a few years ago Ulrich’s father was introduced to Tobii and its eye control technology and instantly knew he had found something that would benefit Ulrich and his family.

Development in the classroom

Ulrich’s first chance to use a Tobii eye control device was in the classroom. A Tobii P10 device was made available through a resource pool at Ulrich’s school and he was able to begin learning the basics of communication via eye control. The Tobii P10 and the accompanying software allowed Ulrich to communicate using text and symbols, to generate synthesized speech and to use a range of Windows applications. After a few months of practice at school, the impact on his development was obvious.

Early on, his mother was able to recognize considerable changes in his math skills. Ulrich used to only be able to calculate up to 20 or 30, but within only a few weeks on the P10 he was able to do addition with numbers up to 100.

“The advantage of working with an eye controlled AAC device is that now we can recognize much quicker whether Ulrich has understood something or not,” explains his mother. “You can see what he understands and we get instant feedback from him as he communicates with me through his device and speaks with the synthesized speech output. You can also immediately recognize the areas where you have underestimated him.”

Ulrich’s mother always felt that she was the only one who really understood what he could do. Now the Tobii P10 and the Tobii software can not only assist him in his communication, but also prove that he is developing.

Ulrich’s next step in eye-control

Not long after his introduction to the P10, Ulrich’s father was able to get a Tobii C12 device for use at home. The C12 takes the benefits of the P10 a step further by being more portable and powerful, just to mention a few things.

Ulrich attends a school for children with special needs that is incorporated into an ordinary secondary school – and he loves it. A good example of how he uses his Tobii C12 device for school is homework. Every day, Ulrich’s teacher provides assignments that Ulrich should practice at home. Upon arriving home, Ulrich’s mother prepares these exercises and uploads them to his Tobii C12 device. Ulrich can then carry out his school assignments and practice things like spelling, grammar, writing and word allocation – all through eye control.

With Tobii’s eye control technology, people with a variety of neuromotor disabilities can benefit from an improved access to curriculum. Often it is difficult to alter mainstream materials and software to make them accessible for people with physical disabilities. However, accessing mainstream materials through eye gaze is a more practical and efficient way to meet curriculum mandates. Tobii software and AAC devices offer quicker computer access, as eye control is a faster and a more efficient access method. This has easily been seen throughout Ulrich’s development since he started using eye control.

“Exercises and homework used to be very tedious when using his old 2 button switch device,” says his father. “But with eye control, learning has become easier and a lot more fun.”

Ulrich is very fortunate to have access to both the Tobii P10 and Tobii C12, which shares the same user interface and controls, however, when mounted on a wheelchair the Tobii C12 is much more portable and can be taken anywhere. 

Benefits outside of school

Outside of school, Ulrich uses his Tobii C12 to watch DVDs, control lights and for playing games. He also likes to take his Tobii C12 with him to events and on family vacations and gets a great deal of attention when people ask what it is. Ulrich is really proud of his device and is always eager to show people how it works.

Ulrich’s father has developed a pageset where Ulrich can introduce and present himself and also express feelings. Individual pages are linked together and an alphabet and numbers are also integrated. Using this, Ulrich can speak his mind and take part in conversations.

Improved body language

Besides communicating with his C12, Ulrich uses body language to communicate with his family. However, when Ulrich is out and about with his parents, he prefers using the pre-installed pagesets with emotions on his C12 to say “Hello”, “How are you?” and other things.

“He has many sentences that he can choose from and he really enjoys expressing himself with their help,” says his mother. “In general, Ulrich has improved his body language and control since using his C12 and now says what he wants with more purpose due to an increased vocabulary. It is easy to see that Ulrich has now reached a new stage in his communication development both at school and at home.“ 

A bright future

The Tobii P10 and C12 have helped Ulrich discover that he can communicate, express himself and learn things in a new way through eye control. With his Tobii products, Ulrich can better command symbol communication and he will soon be ready to become more literate. For the next step in Ulrich’s communication development, his father wants Ulrich to try out Sono Lexis and LiterAACy – two products in the Tobii content and language software suite. Ulrich is always finding new ways to use his Tobii devices and loves school more than ever. And as his mother puts it, “He doesn’t like school holidays because he finds them boring. Now, he is always glad when school begins again.”