ASSIST: Examples of Technology for Living Service Projects

Many of the projects we have done involve some small technical knowledge, although some are also purely community service. Projects include figuring out consumer electronics such as computers, helping to research/find products that aid in the clients daily functions such as bathroom and kitchen accessories, and mentoring/teaching basic computer skills etc. Some specific examples are listed below to give you a flavor of the things we've done.

  1. Fixed a toy that uses a battery interrupter device. Many of his toys were already fitted with a battery interrupters and attached to a timed switch, but one of the toys was particularly hard to fit with the interrupter. It was fixed by partially disassembling the toys battery casing, and placing the interrupter at the end of the battery case opposite of the usual place where it may be installed.
  2. Attempted to make a volume level device for an autistic client. The device used lights to indicate volume levels and consisted of a main body with the lights and a microphone cord extending from it. The client found it somewhat cumbersome to use and further research will be done to develop a better device using vibration as a signal of exceeding a critical volume level. As far as we could find no such product exist on the market although the technology is available to implement it.
  3. Help to record 4 track tape recording of client's musical pieces onto regular speed 2 track tapes so that he may play the music he recorded on a regular tape player and share them with friends. We read the instruction manuals and looked at their existing equipment to figure out that all that was needed was a cord to connect the output from one machine to the inputs of another. A visit to Radio Shack solved the problem. We were also given a free concert of the clients music at his home at the time of the visit.
  4. Set up a computer donated to the client. The client needed some help reassembling and configuring an old PC. We helped them set it up and organized some files and games. Also downloaded some free learning games for them to learn basic alphabets, math, etc.

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