Tag Archives: assistive technology

Nov 13 2012

fMRI used to communicate with man in presumed vegetative state.

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BBC News – Vegetative patient Scott Routley says ‘I’m not in pain’.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is fascinating. And tonight, it will be on Panorama here in the UK.

fMRI has been used to further investigate just how ‘vegetative’ patients are. One man who was presumed unaware and unresponsive for twelve years has communicated with doctors to say that he’s not in pain. fMRI isn’t anything new, really, but the applications for it are numerous. This particular use is quite important to me, as my first placement was working with people in minimally conscious or vegetative state, and I always wondered whether the people could hear and understand me when I spoke to them.

In fact, I was at the hospital featuring in tonight’s programme, which, by the way, was amazing. It was where I first encountered assistive technology and highly customised wheelchairs, and all the staff were wonderful at their jobs, and to me!

So tune in tonight if you can, or watch it on the BBC iPlayer when you have time. And, if you’re feeling generous, you can even support the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney by donating, buying Christmas cards and/or sponsoring someone’s time in the computer room so they can find ways to communicate.

Sep 2 2012

New CPD activity: learning from coursework feedback.

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During this phase of job-hunting, I’m spending a lot of time doing CPD-type activities. Well, so far I’ve printed out relevant blog entries to go into my portfolio and done some reading, but now I’m adding a new, more focused project to my to-do list. I’ve decided to type up an overview of each of my assignments from my degree and the feedback I received, highlighting the most important bits and italicising areas I can work on. I believe that the constructive feedback should be used as a guide for further learning, so for each assignment, I will set myself a goal.

As an example, I’ve already typed up an overview of my presentation from May on applying the HAAT (Human Activity Assistive Technology) model to assistive technology prescription. I’ve emboldened phrases like, “You speak clearly and confidently,” and, “You demonstrate good awareness of key issues that should be considered when planning AT/ECU prescription.” I’ve taken my marker’s advice to critically evaluate the usefulness of the HAAT model in practice, and I’ll be hunting down articles in which the authors have used or discussed the HAAT model. I might even make a trip back to the university library to do some textbook reading. Once I’ve gathered enough information, I’ll write a blog post to share what I find with everyone here.

So what do you think of this activity? Do you have any other ideas that I can try while I search for a job?

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