Riverside Foundation uses technology to give autistic residents a voice
By RONNIE WACHTER rwachter@pioneerlocal.com January 31, 2012 2:40PM
Eugene Kuranda (center) is happy he won a game of Connect 4 on the iPad as he played with Michael Bernstein (left). Both are residents of Riverside Foundation in Lincolnshire. | Michael Schmidt~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:09AM
(An earlier version of this story misstated the nature of both men’s disabilities and mischaracterized an aspect of autistic patients. The Review regrets the error)
The past few months, Eugene Kuranda has had a new world open to him that remained closed for the first 45 years of his life.
With the help of the latest technology, Kuranda can order a hamburger, with pickles on the side, on his own. He no longer needs someone else’s help.
Kuranda is an intellectually disabled man living at The Riverside Foundation in Lincolnshire, and the software on his iPad is helping him communicate with the world for the first time. He and a few other Riverside residents are finding their voice — sometimes by typing out an email, sometimes by pushing a button on the touch-screen that triggers a programmed voice to come through the computer’s speakers — thanks to public donations and the staff’s discovery of the new programs.
“He lights up when he can show someone what he can do,” Riverside Executive Director Deborah Rogers said. “They are intelligent, but they are just unable to communicate.”
The Riverside Foundation trains 120 adults with developmental disabilities for as much independent living as they can handle. Autism is one of the group’s largest challenges. It manifests itself as soon as a child should begin showing development, can hinder its sufferers from speaking or making eye contact, and has few treatments.
About six months ago, Riverside Assistant Technology Specialist Monika Rejowski approached Rogers with reports about Proloquo To Go, a new software package built to assist autistic adults. Designed for the iPad — itself an emerging technology — Proloquo To Go presents an array of information as buttons on the screen that one can push to communicate. When he is confused about something, Riverside’s Michael Bernstein can scroll through the menu to the “mood” section, then click on a cartoonish drawing of a round, vexed face; when he is hungry, Kuranda can scroll to the “food” section, choose from among his favorite restaurants, then choose a menu item.
Even getting his pickles on the side. When he pushes that button, a smooth, clear male voice inside the iPad announces his preference.
Riverside is training 30 clients to use email, but Rejowski and Rogers said the iPad presents opportunities and responsibilities unheard of before. The results are obvious, they said. For instance, Bernstein was aggressive and uncooperative most of his life, until he found a voice.
“Michael got his iPad when he was 44 years old, and it’s changed his personality unbelievably,” Rejowski said while Bernstein, sitting next to her, hunted and pecked on the keyboard, typing out a Valentine’s Day card for one of the Riverside staff.
“And now, he’s is everywhere,” she said.
Riverside has five tablets, all purchased thanks to donations from members of the Riverside Auxiliary, the non-profit’s fund-raising arm. The staff allows Bernstein to keep his tablet at all times. Kuranda has enough capability to use one, but staffers must carry it for him, fearing he will forget and lose it somewhere.
The method is imperfect. Both Kuranda and Bernstein frequently hit the same key multiple times, miss the button they meant to touch or simply do not know what to do next. Long conversations are not on the horizon.
The staff helps each user populate his tablet with the markings of his own personality. Bernstein’s is full of photographs of roses, much like the ones he helps plant in Riverside’s garden, and includes a button that plays WGN’s radio signal through the speakers. Kuranda has fewer options.
“Eugene doesn’t have as many buttons as Michael has, and some of our other residents are even lower-functioning,” Rejowski said. “But it’s a step.”
Both men can tell when their WiFi signal is in a dead spot. If their screen is loading slowly, they act out on the urge that everyone in that situations feels: they whack their tablets, which are well-padded.
As the technology becomes more accessible, Riverside will likely have an easier time getting it into its clients hands. Old-fashioned communication devices for autistic adults cost more than $4,000, Rejowski said. An iPad is around $500, and Proloquo To Go is $200.
Both she and Rogers said they are excited to see what else Bernstein, Kuranda and their other clients can be capable of, when given the right tools.
As he sat, Kuranda flipped through the options on his screen. He had a visitor that afternoon, and wanted to introduce himself.
He pressed a button on the screen.
“I am almost 46 years old,” the voice says.
Kuranda flipped through the menu again, heading to the “feelings” section.
“I feel...” the voice began.
It waited for an instruction. Kuranda’s finger hovered a quarter inch over the screen for a second. Then he hit a button, several times — either a mistake, or an emphasis.
“Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy.”
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