“I wish my own kids worked as hard as she does,” said Jenny Fink, Lianna’s full-time aide. “She is about the hardest working student I have ever seen.”
In previous years, instructors would test Lianna by asking her to identify words they were holding on oversized cards in front of her. She now takes multiple-choice exams through her Tobii that are closer to the level of her peers.
“These people are making me work too hard, geez,” the 9-year-old said wryly.
Lianna controls the device with her eyes. A built-in camera follows the reflection of her cornea, allowing her to choose buttons like clicking a mouse, producing audible statements and responses from a home screen displayed on a computer monitor in front of her.
Lianna uses an eye-controlled keyboard to take her tests.
“When I give her a spelling test, she uses her Tobii and she’s spelling the word,” said Sheryl Tye, intervention specialist. “When I give her a math problem, she has a calculator and can put the numbers into it and she’s able to do the problems other kids are doing.”
Eye tracking started with the military, but it’s relationship with augmenting and assisting communication is fairly recent.
Lianna, who is said to be notoriously ornery, often speaks of her cat, Elliot.
“He is really crazy,” Lianna said. “Sometimes he goes nuts and runs through the house.”
Her mother, Utawna Leap, said the last three months have been among Lianna’s most progressive.
“This is opening up lots of opportunities to see what’s inside that brain, for her to learn independently,” Leap said.
Lianna’s Tobii is a $17,000 device which Lianna’s family had approved by Medicaid in 2009.
For more information about the device, visit tobii.com. More information regarding augmentative communication can be acquired by calling the Perlman Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, (513) 636-4601.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or asedlak@coxohio.com.
About the Author