Spinal Cord Injury and Paralysis Community

Back in April, I met Adrienne Lauer from Nova Southeastern University at the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) conference in Philadelphia, PA. Adrienne was very kind when she approached the Reeve Foundation's Paralysis Resource Center booth.

She came up to say thank you for a recent Quality of Life Grant Nova had received to help SCI patients use iPads.

Here's an update about the grant:

The department, which is a part of NSU’s College of Allied Health and Nursing, is using a $13,000 grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to purchase 20 iPads to treat those individuals.

Because spinal cord injury victims have very limited mobility, using a desktop computer or laptop can be difficult for them. NSU researchers in occupational therapy believe that the iPad, with its lightweight, portability characteristics, as well as its touch screen, will help patients have greater access to the Internet, applications, social media outlets, music, games, GPS, and other functions.

Additionally, the iPad will make it much easier for them to read books and newspapers, which they would not have to pick up anymore.

Read the rest.

More about another grantee I met at AOTA.

Janelle

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Categories: Quality of Life, Paralysis Resource Center

Crispy: Here is a video I thought you would be interested in. Here is someone living with quadriplegia that found using the Ipad very useful.

http://bcove.me/6xmwlg1h
Celia: My son sustained a C4/C5 SCI on 2/1/2010, right before the iPad was released. I was thinking of applications for the iPad even when he was in ICU, because while he was intubated we made charts we could go through to guess his needs and an iPad would be ideal for such an application and could be used at different angles, such as upside down and sideways. While my son was still in the hospital his aunt and uncle gave him an iPad as soon as they were released to the public. He does EVERYTHING on it. He is now breathing on his own, doing great in rehab, has returned to high school and is taking honors level classes. He uses primarily two fingers on the iPad and reads books on it, does research on it, types papers on it, and of course, listens to music and watches movies. It is a brilliant device that does not require the effort of depressing keys and it is much more compact than a standard keyboard. I would love to see Apple partner up with some rehab centers, because the iPad can be life changing.
JLo: Celia that is awesome! Glad to hear your son is doing better and that the iPad was able to help with that. It's amazing how a simple piece of technology can make all the difference to him. I'm curious, are there any apps or programs in particular he likes best??
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