We are speechless. Completely without words. Doors are opening for our little girl and because of an incredible act of kindness, they are opening even faster.
Yesterday we had a trial for the Tobii Eye Gaze Communication Device. This “computer” is able to detect and follow Gwendolyn's eyes and how she moves them. Using her eyes she is able to scan and pause over an image on the computer screen to select it causing the computer to “speak” for her. Basically, it allows her to use her eyes as a computer mouse. There are endless options and possibilities with this — expressing her needs, wants, feelings; playing games; learning new things; allowing for independence; and eventually, with literacy and maturity, she can write and send emails with it. Wow! I'm all throat lumpy thinking about what is possible.
And Gwendolyn took to it all right away. She was so patient with the set up and so motivated, tapping her finger excitedly while everything was getting ironed out and calibrated. Once the positioning was right, the rep showed us everything and asked Gwendolyn to look at an image on the screen — and off she went. She started with selecting between two images and that was a breeze for her. The four options were simple. And the six options made her so excited to do more. With every step tasks were asked of her and she passed with flying colors, loving every second of it! We then moved on to a game of Memory (having to match letters underneath cards on the screen) and she loved it — especially when she won a trophy at the end of each game 