Torrelavega (EFE).- It is called TOBII I-16 and, although it is a state-of-the-art electronic device, as of today it is the best friend of fifty children with intellectual disabilities from the Fernando Arce school in Torrelavega, because it allows them to overcome their isolation and being able to communicate with others.
TOBII I-16 is a communicator 15.6-inch (tablet) for eye controlindicated for people who cannot speak or have speech difficulties, which helps them increase the possibilities of interaction and communication, since it is even capable of generating a voice with the user’s instructions.
This is an instrumental project promoted by the Doctor Fernando Arce Special Education Center which, due to its high economic cost, reaches the institution thanks to a donation made by the company Bondalti Cantabriafor use by the speech therapy service.
In the TOBII I-16 award ceremony, the center’s speech therapist, Natalia Díaz Fontdevila, explained to EFE that the main objective of this gaze-controlled voice generator is to intervene on the communication needs of a certain group of recipients.
It would be almost fifty students who present intellectual disability of different degrees of severity, in some cases, together with other types of associated disorders, such as infantile cerebral palsy or encephalopathies, although in all cases their difficulty in communicating isolates them from the rest.
They are children, adolescents and young people between the ages of 3 and 21 with functional diversity, who currently receive care at this Torrelaveguense center, which after a speech therapy assessment will determine which cases can benefit from this system, as well as relatives of the students or professionals who They intervene with the boys.
A means of expressing feelings
According to the speech therapist, future users of TOBII I-16 will be able to use it as a means of expressing not only needs, but also feelings and ideas, which will help them foster their autonomy in all the contexts in which their daily lives unfold. , as well as develop basic communication skills.
The device will allow them to internalize something as everyday for other people as the basic functions of language, among other things to ask for food or refuse actions.
In addition, it is possible to carry out sensory activities with this tablet, such as painting on the screen or playing games with targets, together with communicating through symbols or text, and at the same time having access to a conventional computer given its connection capacity.
Natalia Díaz recalls that people with comprehension and communication difficulties still face daily cognitively inaccessible environments characterized by the presence of technical and environmental barriers, barriers of an environment that are under the full control of society.
Accessibility is a prerequisite for people with disabilities, men and women, to be able to live independently and fully participate in society on equal terms.
As highlighted, the human being needs to communicate and relate to his peers, since he is a social being by nature, for this reason information and communication must be available in easy-to-read and alternative formats for people with disabilities who cannot use other formats, modes or methods.
Javier G. Paradelo