technology | SMAHeadlines.com

Roxbury kindergartner learning ABCs at home via computer connection

December 15, 2010

Roxbury kindergartner learning ABCs at home via computer connection

thedailystar.com | December 15, 2010 | By Mark Boshnack

ROXBURY — Video technology is providing a Grand Gorge boy with a long-term illness with an opportunity for a richer education, several involved with the effort said.

Five-year-old Dylan Utter is unable to attend kindergarten at Roxbury Central School because of the effects of a disease, spinal muscular atrophy, his mother Erica Utter said. He was diagnosed with it when he was 15 months old.

Click HERE or on the image below to read more…

Leave a Comment » | Education, New York, Technology, United States | Tagged: education, new york, technology, united states | Permalink
Posted by stronwi

Berkeley Bionics: Introducing eLEGS

November 24, 2010

Berkeley Bionics: Introducing eLEGS

Not specifically SMA related, but I thought this technology was so incredible and this video was so inspiring that it was worth sharing…

On Oct. 7, 2010, Berkeley Bionics unveiled eLEGS, an exoskeleton for wheelchair users who are committed to living life to its fullest. It powers you up to get you standing and walking.

Leave a Comment » | Equipment, Inspiration, Technology | Tagged: equipment, inspiration, technology | Permalink
Posted by stronwi

Staying Connected At A Distance

November 19, 2010

Staying Connected At A Distance

Rosemount Town Pages | November 19, 2010 | By Nathan Hansen

On Monday morning, Mary Kate Bigelow and her third-grade classmates were hard at work unscrambling words. But while Mary Kate could see the other students and hear the chatter of the classroom, she couldn’t turn and whisper with a friend. Couldn’t ask for help or share a joke.

Mary Kate was miles away from the rest of the students, sitting in front of a small white laptop computer in her Rosemount home.

For the next few months, a webcam and a microphone will be Mary Kate’s primary connection to her classmates at Red Pine Elementary School. Diagnosed at 6 months of age with spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that causes a wasting of her muscles, Mary Kate is particularly at risk to illness. That makes cold and flu season is a dangerous time for her to be around large groups of potentially sick kids. So, while friends deal with sniffles and sneezes this winter Mary Kate will stay at home. When the days turns warmer in the spring and the risk of illness fades, she’ll head back to school.

Leave a Comment » | Education, Minnesota, Technology | Tagged: education, minnesota, technology | Permalink
Posted by stronwi

iPad Opens World to a Disabled Boy | New York Times

October 29, 2010

iPad Opens World to a Disabled Boy

New York Times | October 29, 2010 | By Emily B. Hager

OWEN CAIN depends on a respirator and struggles to make even the slightest movements — he has had a debilitating motor-neuron disease since infancy.

Owen, 7, does not have the strength to maneuver a computer mouse, but when a nurse propped her boyfriend’s iPad within reach in June, he did something his mother had never seen before.