Technology Archives - CreateAbility Inc

How Does Enabling Technology Improve the Value Propositions of Service Providers?

cciadmincca1 — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 19:43:58 +0000

We all know that enabling technology is helping to improve the quality of life for people with diverse abilities. By now, you’ve probably heard us talking about how it also lessens the workload today’s care providers are tasked with. But did you know that enabling technology can actually help the value proposition service providers off their clients and stakeholders? Let’s explore the possibilities!

1. Enhanced Communication: Enabling technology, such as communication apps and assistive devices, can improve communication between service providers and individuals with intellectual disabilities. This can help in understanding their needs, preferences, and goals, leading to more personalized and effective support.

2. Streamlined Documentation and Reporting: Technology solutions like electronic health records (EHR) and case management systems can automate and streamline documentation and reporting processes. This reduces administrative burden, improves accuracy, and allows providers to focus more on delivering quality care.

3. Remote Support and Telehealth: Enabling technology enables remote support and telehealth services, allowing providers to reach individuals in remote areas or those who have difficulty accessing in-person services. This expands the reach of services and improves convenience for individuals and their families.

4. Personalized Care Plans: Technology can facilitate the creation and management of personalized care plans for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Providers can leverage data and analytics to develop customized (and proactive) care plans and tailored interventions. They can continually track progress, and make data-driven decisions to improve outcomes.

5. Training and Professional Development: Technology-based training platforms and e-learning tools can enhance the skills and knowledge of service providers. This ensures they stay up-to-date with the latest research, best practices, and interventions, ultimately improving the quality of care provided.

6. Data Analysis and Insights: Enabling technology allows providers to collect and analyze data on various aspects of their service delivery. This can help identify trends, measure outcomes, and make data-driven improvements to service models which in turn, results in better outcomes for individuals served.

Overall, enabling technology empowers providers of intellectual disability services to deliver more personalized, efficient, and effective care, ultimately improving the value they provide to individuals and their families.

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Top 5 Ways Task Prompting Helps Minimize Stress and Anger for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Traumatic Brain Injuries

cciadmincca1 — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 13:38:28 +0000

Task prompting can be a helpful strategy to reduce anger and frustration in people with intellectual disabilities by providing clear and structured guidance.

Here’s how it can be beneficial:

1. Task Prompting provides clarity and structure:
Task prompting breaks down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps. This provides individuals with intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries clear understanding of what is expected from them, reducing confusion, frustration and overwhelm.

2. Task Prompting provides visual cues:
Supporting visuals are immensely helpful to people with IDDs and TBIs. These prompts can take on multiple formats such as pictures, symbols, written instructions, or video modeling. (A good task-prompting system should offer multiple formats to serve individuals with varying needs.) These cues help them understand and remember the steps involved in completing a task, reducing frustration caused by uncertainty.

3. Task Prompting provides positive reinforcement:
Task prompting can incorporate positive reinforcement techniques, such as praise or rewards, to motivate individuals and increase their engagement. This positive feedback can help reduce frustration and anger by creating a more positive and supportive environment.

4. Task Prompting promotes independence and empowerment:
By using task prompting, individuals with intellectual disabilities can develop a sense of independence and accomplishment. Breaking tasks into manageable steps allows them to complete tasks on their own, which can boost their self-esteem and reduce frustration caused by dependence on others.

5. Task Prompting can take an individualized approach:
Good task prompting systems can be tailored to meet the specific needs and abilities of each individual. By considering their unique strengths and challenges, task prompting can be personalized to ensure success and minimize frustration.

Here’s another bonus: A good task prompting system keeps the care provider/parent from conducting “helicopter supervision”; a way to monitor that generally brings stress and tension to both parties involved. Good task prompting can be a great buffer between the individual served and their provider and improve relationships!

Overall, task prompting provides structure, clarity, and support, which can significantly reduce anger and frustration in individuals with intellectual disabilities. It promotes independence, empowers individuals, and creates a positive and supportive environment for their growth and development.

If you’d like to try CreateAbility’s newest task prompting system, MeMinder 4.0, click here: https://info.createabilityinc.com/task-prompting-app-update-meminder

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What is an Enabling Technology Specialist and What Do They Do in a Provider Organization?

cciadmincca1 — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 13:57:40 +0000

As of late, we are seeing more and more provider organizations who are struggling with staffing shortages making the move to hire in-house Enabling Technology Specialists. There are a couple of driving factors behind this:

a.) Provider organizations are beginning to truly grasp the key role in which enabling technology plays in reducing costs;
b.) Provider organizations are utilizing it to help staff save time on a daily basis through automation;
c.) They are utilizing the ETS to help lighten the workload of in-home care coordinators/DSPs in a niche area of expertise.

So what does the role of the Enabling Technology Specialist look like within a provider agency?
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Enabling Technology Specialist Responsibilities

1.) Assessing the needs of the individual.
Often times, Enabling Technology Specialists sit in on meetings with the individual’s care team and technology vendors to listen in for challenges experienced by the individual that enabling technology can help them overcome. In reporting, they can work with the vendors to lay out the benefits and risks involved with different technologies to help the individual and team make informed decisions on which solution is best.

2.) Training, support and education.
Enabling Technology Specialists are generally trained by technology vendors on all solutions that are offered to the people they serve. While enabling tech providers should always be there to support the Enabling Technology Specialist, the Enabling Technology Specialist is the point person for the organization and relieves in-home coordinators and DSPs of the role of technology training, troubleshooting, and continuing education.

3.) Implementation of technology.
Enabling Technology Specialists oversee the implementation process to ensure that the individual served and their support staff understand the technology and fully adopt it through routine check-ins and usage assessments.

4.) Monitoring enabling technology usage and reporting to care team.
While sometimes DSPs and in-home coordinators monitor technology usage, often times organizations will utilize their Enabling Technology Specialist to monitor enabling technology dashboard data to analyze the individuals progress and/or setbacks. In these instances, the ETS will alert care team members of possible actions that need to be taken in regards to the individual served.

5.) Maintenance of the technology.
Technology typically evolves; therefore, leaving critical technology updates that need to be performed.
Enabling technologist are the point-of-contact for technology vendors’ update alerts. They gather necessary information from vendors to push out to those in need of updates.

Another key component to maintaining technology is to evaluate both current and new technologies on an annual basis; ensuring that the organization stays up-to-date with new solutions that serve the unique needs of the people they serve. This requires as ETS to actively attend events, research and request demos from new vendors and/or new solutions.

6.) Assessing the outcomes of enabling technology.
The Enabling Technology Specialist will regularly revisit the goals of the individual served and assess the effectiveness of the technology’s role in reaching their goals. They assess whether or not the technology is improving their quality of life and collect feedback from stakeholders to make necessary adjustments that will enhance outcomes.

With over 20 years of experience working with providers for people with intellectual disabilities, the CreateAbility team prides themselves in serving as your enabling technology partner. (Not just a technology vendor!) Whether you are new to enabling technology who needs assistance getting started – or a seasoned pro with a few niche questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (317) 728-6670 or emails us by clicking here.

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Putting the Person Back in Person Centered Planning

cciadmincca1 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 18:14:53 +0000

What exactly does a person centered planning app look like? How does it increase positive outcomes for the people you serve?

At CreateAbility, we believe that the power of enabling technology is best described in a real-life scenario of our solutions.

Here is the story of Jack (Provider) and Juanita (Individual Served) and an example of how the CreateAbility’s Flourish App transforms the lives of the individual served – and the quality of care provided by the provider.

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Jack is a QDDP at a large provider of IDD services. He was quiet familiar with the annual process of reviewing everyone’s person centered plan. He noticed that each year they use their standard review method, the plans would become more extensive. Jack and his colleagues seemed to spend less and less time verifying the plan with each person served by his agency. In simpler terms, as the plan became larger, the person’s involvement with their own plan became smaller.

Juanita never really felt like she was part of her plan until she started using her Flourish App 6 months ago. Now she can carry her plan in her pocket! As it serves as a talking vision board of sorts, Juanita feels more engaged with her plan each day. Flourish houses multiple places on the app where she conveys her likes, dislikes and goals. She can even store pictures of her family, friends, pets, or anything else that gives her joy and keeps her motivated to achieve her goals.

Just like everybody else, Juanita is thrilled that she can now create quick to-do items! Not only does she know what her near-term, mid-term and long-term goals are, she loves that she is prompted each day on exactly what steps she needs to do to work towards the accomplishment of her goals.

Jack and his colleagues like that they can track Juanita’s engagement with the app. The to-do items, as each task that she has accomplished are all presented via the dashboard. Jack takes a PDF snapshot of her plan and adds it to her electronic health record.

Positive outcomes for the individual served – positive outcomes for providers. (Win-Win!)

For more information about Flourish, click here.

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What is the Difference Between Assistive and Enabling Technology?

cciadmincca1 — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 13:09:58 +0000

Since the events surrounding 2020, there has been a significant rise in providers’ interest in remote monitoring. Further, there has been a broader acceptance and use of the term “enabling technology” when it comes to remote supports.

But what IS the difference between “assistive” and “enabling” technology?

Here is a brief explanation to help you understand the difference:

Enabling Technology
Enabling technology refers to any type of technology that enhances the overall capabilities of individuals, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not. The primary goal of enabling tech is to provide tools, systems, or devices that improve the quality of life, improve efficiency, and increase independence for its users. It aims to empower individuals to perform tasks more effectively/efficiently; increasing their productivity and access to information.

Examples of enabling technology include smartphones, tablets, wearables, apps and computer software and any other technology that can be used to enhance the lives of people with disabilities.

Assistive Technology
Assistive technology, on the other hand, specifically focuses on helping individuals with disabilities overcome functional limitations. The primary purpose of assistive technology is to address specific challenges faced by people with disabilities and make it easier for them to participate in daily life, recreation, education and work.

Assistive technologies include: mobility aids, screen readers, braille displays, hearing aids, adaptive keyboards, mouse alternatives and the like.

In summary, enabling technology is designed to benefit a broad user-base and improve overall capabilities, while assistive technology is specifically tailored to address the needs of individuals with disabilities and help them overcome barriers to participation.

Here at CreateAbility, we build enabling technology. We are so pleased to see many of our states here in the U.S. adopting the correct terms and developing waivers/funding terms that address an individual’s need for each type of technology.

Should you need enabling technology that address task prompting, career exploration and discovery, person-centered planning, behavioral health and health & wellbeing solutions, please use the chat function below to speak to a CreateAbility representative!

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How to Ensure Positive Outcomes for Grant Reporting

cciadmincca1 — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 16:04:28 +0000

For many providers, grant funding marks the beginning of large-scale enabling tech pilots. These pilots typically include reporting requirements that document the progress, successes and perhaps, setbacks in the onboarding, adoption and monitoring phases.

So, how providers ensure that they can provide positive results back to the grant providers?

Here are a few tips to follow as you receive your grant funding:

Purchase enabling technology solutions that cover an array of intellectual disabilities.
If enabling and assistive technology providers are telling you that 100% of the people served will adopt the technology…use caution! (We find that a more realistic number of 82% as reflected in our MeMinder pilot study with NIDDELR.)
Purchase enabling technology solutions that are able to monitor the feedback and provide reporting capabilities. You will need this functionality to simplify the grant reporting process.

Choose an enabling technology vendor that offers enabling technology solutions on a cafeteria style basis. This way you are not “stuck” with a huge (and expensive) technology platform that will overwhelm some of your staff members as well as the people you serve. In addition, cafeteria style technology enables you to remain true to an individual’s person-centered care plan.

Choose a technology provider that can partner with you to provide “back up plans” for those who do not “take” to the technology. For example, when our clients purchase MeMinder task-prompting, we expect that there will be a few folks who may not take to it. CreateAbility then provides our simpler, QR-code-driven task-prompting technology for those individuals.

When all levels of intellectual disabilities and personalities are covered – the odds for positive outcomes in your reporting increase dramatically!

Choose an enabling technology partner who provides evidence-based technology solutions. That’s important as it equates to third-party verification of outcomes. In most cases it also means that the development of the technology is partially covered by grants; decreasing some of the costs for providers.

CreateAbility has 20+ years of working with grant providers in the area of enabling and assistive technology. Should you have any questions on how to get the most out of your grant funding, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here!

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How Many Career Paths for People With Intellectual Disabilities Does Employment Pathfinder Examine?

cciadmincca1 — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:15:45 +0000

We get this question often. The current answer is 45! (And growing every day!)

Take a look at current offerings of the most recent version of Employment Pathfinder:

Introductory Jobs

Jobs in this area are a great way to learn basic skills that can prepare you for other jobs, while doing something important.

Typically, you would be asked to fold, sort, and insert paper products into envelopes.

Alternatively, you might be counting a specific number of parts and putting them in a box, and then binding the box.

Sometimes instead, you might be asked to put the items in a bag, and then tying a twist tie on the bag. Other jobs might be inserting pages into an envelope or folder.

Short video examples of:

Basic assembly
Counting
Sorting

Custodial, Janitorial and Cleaning

Many people take pride in their work and have long enjoyable careers in custodial departments.

These jobs vary from place to place, but they typically include the use of tools and products for cleaning.

The typical areas to be cleaned and maintained are: common areas, locker rooms, offices, bathrooms, and customer waiting areas.

Short video examples of:

Restrooms

Cleaning surfaces
Mopping and sweeping

Housekeeping

Working in a hotel and preparing rooms for the next guest is an important job that many people enjoy.

You would be responsible for cleaning rooms by yourself but would also be able to sometimes visit with other employees in the hallway.

You will make the beds with clean sheets and pillowcases, vacuum the floors, and clean up the bathroom.

Short video examples of:

Cleaning mirrors, sinks
Bed making
Fresh Linens and towels

Office

There is a wide variety of tasks that you may need to perform in an office. Some of the basic skills are filing folders, sorting mail and using tools such as staplers, pens, paper clips, etc.

Other jobs require the use of basic office machines, such as printers, copiers, sending faxes, and scanning documents. Many of these office machines jam after use, and you will need to figure out where the problem is and fix it.

Many times, office jobs require that you wear nicer clothing and working with people in a fast-paced environment.

If you like to work with people, and you have good social skills and communication skills, this may be a good match for you.

Short video examples of:

Phone, receptionist
Organizing
Copying, faxing

Computers

Employees in almost every industry may eventually require using a tablet or computer. This may simply require basic touch screen operations.

Other jobs, such as in offices may require basic skills in using a keyboard and mouse with a variety of programs and applications, such as for typing letters, reading email, and spreadsheets.

Jobs at this level require training in security issues. Check with your support personnel to make sure that you qualify. If you do, you may enjoy this type of work.

Short video examples of:

Cabling, configuring computers
Opening PCs and installing new hardware
Upgrading PCs
Troubleshooting and Component replacement

Food service / Restaurant

Restaurants are great places to work if you like meeting and coordinating with people.

There are many different types of restaurants, and the skills you will need to develop may be different in each one.

You will typically start with cleaning tables after people finish eating or helping with washing dishes in the kitchen.

You may also help take people food orders or using a point-of-sale touch screen terminal to help customers who want to pay their bill.

There are always things to clean and organize for the next customer.

Short video examples of:

Setting tables
Refilling drinks
Cleaning, bussing tables
Hostess
Taking food orders

Automotive technicians

This industry varies and may be great for people who enjoy working around cars.

Starting jobs might be in tire replacements, cleaning, and oil filter replacement.

Some can work their way into Brake replacement, and mechanical work under the hood, or under the vehicle.

Short video examples of:

Tire rotation, repair and replacement
Basic servicing
Troubleshooting and repair

Landscaping

If you enjoy caring for plants, gardening, removing garden waste, using hand tools, and using power tools to get these jobs done safely, then you might enjoy common landscaping and lawn maintenance jobs.

You will need to lift heavy items, and demonstrate that you can safely use hedge trimmers, edging tools, and spread fertilizers, pesticides to get rid of bugs, and operate lawn mowers.

Depending on where you live, you may need to use snow removal equipment in the winter months.

Short video examples of:

Mowing
Cleanup/Raking
Pesticides
Snow removal

General Tool Related Jobs

Some jobs require experience in safely using tools.

If you like using your hands, and you are careful with tools, this area might be for you. There are many tools, but some of the common ones that don’t have power are hammers, screwdrivers, plyers, and hand saws.

Powered equipment can be saws, drills, lathes and nail guns and sanders. Air tools can include special nut drivers in automotive settings, nail guns in construction, and jack hammers that break up flooring or concrete.

These jobs require your special attention to safety.

Short video examples of:

Using a power screwdriver
Plumbing
Drilling/power tools

Laundry

These positions typically involve washing clothes, uniforms, sheets, and other bedding.

You will learn how to check for stains how to sort items. Sorting is important because different materials get washed and dried in different ways.

You will also learn how to use some really cool washing machines and dryers, how to properly remove and fold items, and how to store them for use.

Short video examples of:

Sorting
Pickup and delivery
Using large washing machines and dryers

Retail and wholesale stores

The retail industry is a huge vocational area and might be great for people who like to work with people and do a lot of different things.

The most common types of stores tend to sell food, clothes, tools, and items for the home. For every worker you see in the main part of the store, you might have ethe skills to operate a point-of-sale terminal, help customers, bag items, or help take items to customer’s vehicles.

There are also a lot of jobs in the back room. These jobs involve skills such as stocking items, unpacking items, inventory control, receiving inventory, hanging out clothes, and many more.

Short video examples of:

Pricing and displaying items
Bagging and helping customers
Inventory control

Residential and Day Care support personnel

In this type of job, you would be helping to take care of older adults, children, or people with special needs.

This would typically be in a facility that is a day program, or this might be an activity center that is connected to apartments where people live.

This job might be for you if you like working with a wide variety of people, and you like taking care of others.

Part of your duties might be to help move, setup and operate recreational equipment, serve light meals or snacks, and assist people who use wheelchairs or walkers.

Short video examples of:

Helping residents with daily hygiene activities
Transporting residents

Food preparation

The kitchen in a restaurant is a very busy place. If you like preparing food and working as a team, and you can safely handle sharp objects, appliances and hot stoves – this job might be for you.

You will be expected to help with the planning, preparing, cooking and storing food in containers and the large refrigerators that are as big as a living room.

There are a lot of rules in how food can be handled, and safety while maintaining a fast pace is extremely important.

Short video examples of:

Preparing and inventorying food items
Baking
Dispensing portions into customer’s plates

Warehouse

If you can demonstrate safety and work independently in a large building, you may enjoy warehouse jobs.

You will be picking up packages, packing boxes, shipping packages, and finding the location of material in a large warehouse or storage facility.

Advanced job skills are required for inventory management and operating forklifts and power skids to move pallets of inventory.

Short video examples of:

What a warehouse looks like
Boxing items
Using bar code scanners and conveyors to prepare items to ship

Trades and construction

This is industry has a lot of variety and involves many people at all skill levels.

If you like working on a team, and working with your hands, this field might be interesting to you. Most tasks require lifting, carrying, general hand tool use, and power tool use.

The types of work can range from framing walls, installing insulation and drywall. If you like to paint, there are many opportunities, as well as installing roofing materials and carpeting.

You might be able to work your way up to plumbing and electrical work. Typically, you will start out with simple tasks, and then advance to harder tasks as you learn and grow your skills.

Short video examples of:

Painting
Drywall installation
Roofing

Interested in learning more about streamlining your vocational rehabilitation program with Employment Pathfinder assessments? Email us at info@createabilityinc.com for more details!

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Using MeMinder in a Residential Setting

cciadmincca1 — Tue, 31 May 2022 14:09:42 +0000

MeMinder, CreateAbility’s task prompting and instruction system for people with intellectual developmental disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injuries, is often purchased as part of our “Employment Suite” for vocational rehabilitation. For that reason, it often gets overlooked as being an ideal solution for people who are in that transitional phase and would like to experience more independence/less supervision while at home!

Let’s take a look at some of the things MeMinder can help with in the residential setting:

Personal hygiene:
From showering, to daily responsibilities of brushing hair and teeth, to handwashing and other sanitary practices to reduce virus transmission, MeMinder can help keep your clients/family members on track with putting their best face forward!

Household chores:
Managing daily tasks necessary for productive living is critical. MeMinder can provide alerts and instructions on daily chores. This keeps the person being served confident that they can do things on their own – and care providers from providing “helicopter” supervision. (You can even request a picture that the job was done/done correctly.)

Medication adherence:
No matter how many times a day, MeMinder can send alerts and instructions on which meds need to be taken and when, as well as how to take them. In addition, you can view their adherence/non-adherence in real-time!

Personal Appointments:
Busy day? Create custom tasks when an appointment reminder is needed and zip it down to the person you serve in real-time. Store regularly scheduled appointments in your library so you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” each time it occurs.

MeMinder is an effective technology solution for those who struggle with the challenges that come with lower executive functioning levels like time management, initiating and/or following through with tasks, sequencing, memory loss, attention deficit and more.

Should you have questions about MeMinder or would like to see a demo, please give us a call at 317.728.6670.

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CreateAbility Celebrates National Brain Injury Awareness Month

cciadmincca1 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:08:00 +0000

In support of Brain Injury Awareness Month, CreateAbility has compiled a list of brain injury facts that will shed light on this commonly misunderstood diagnosis.

Brain injuries are compartmentalized into two diagnoses: traumatic and non-traumatic.

Non-traumatic brain injuries might be from a stroke, while traumatic brain injuries are from a blow to the head, such as from falls, assaults, motor vehicle accidents, sports/recreation injuries, abusive head trauma, gunshot wounds, workplace injuries, child abuse, domestic violence, and military blast incidents.

Some interesting data on TBIs:

In 2018, there were approximately 223,050 TBI-related hospitalizations.

There were 60,611 TBI-related deaths in 2019.

3.2-5.3 million people in the U.S. live with a traumatic brain injury disability.

The highest number of TBI-related hospitalizations were from people 75 and older, which represents 32% of total hospitalizations.

Males were nearly two times more likely to be hospitalized and three times more likely to die from a TBI than females.

Falls are the #1 root cause of traumatic brain injuries at 35%.

3.2-5.3 million people in the U.S. live with a traumatic brain injury disability.

People with a TBI are 11 times more likely to die from Opioid misuse.

While no two brain injuries are alike and vary in severity, intensity, and length – outcomes for individuals suffering from brain injuries share some commonalities. Cognitive impairments are typically experienced by TBI patients and include:

memory and recall challenges
trouble focusing and paying attention
learning disabilities
coordination challenges
managing fatigue

These impairments are not only difficult/frustrating to deal with; they can make the process of returning to normal life activities frustrating for TBI patients and can ultimately take a toll on their energy and mental well-being.

Enabling technology can be a great way to overcome the challenges these impairments cause and speed up the recovery process by proving:

Task prompting/reminders
Task instruction in different formats dependent on severity of TBI
Health & wellbeing check ins to monitor critical factors in rehabilitation process (between visits)
Pre-employment screenings for return-to-work readiness, job interests and skills

CreateAbility has several technology solutions that assist in the rehabilitation of TBI patients. You can learn more about each by following this link: https://www.createabilityinc.com/supporting-people-with-brain-injuries/

Questions about enabling technology and how they can help you serve your TBI clients more effectively and optimize their person-centered care plan for better outcomes? Call us at 317.728.6670.

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CreateAbility Turns 20 in 2022: A Look Back at the Milestones

cciadmincca1 — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 20:04:28 +0000

This month, CreateAbility celebrates its 20th anniversary. And what would a 20th anniversary be without a nostalgic (and obligatory) moment to reminisce about how our company came to be – and take a look at where we are headed!
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Interview with Steve Sutter, President of CreateAbility Concepts, Inc., 1/06/2021

Q: Why did decide to start CreateAbility? What was the driving force behind it?

SS: I was working for Hewlett Packard, and really enjoyed it, but felt a growing need to do something more meaningful. I also had 15 years+ experience serving as a Special Olympics volunteer. One day I had a I would call a “divine experience” that resulted in the opportunity to combine my love for technology and my passion for helping those with disabilities. Thus, CreateAbility was born. (Side story: My 10-year-old son played a large role in naming the company. As I was brainstorming names, he asked, “Dad, aren’t you trying to create ability? So…”

Q: What was the first solution you created and why?

SS: CreateAbility’s first product was QwikClick.

Many of us appreciate the word completion features in our devices, but in 2001, that didn’t exist. Now imagine not having the use of your fingers to type. QwikClick helped people with spastic Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Cord injuries, and other people who must rely on a combination of single or dual switches and the “scanning” capability in QwikClick to help them type an average of 32 times faster.

Since then, we’ve produced 9 technology solutions for people with intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries and are doing business in 30+ states!

Q: What do you attribute growth of company to?

SS:
Our incredible team; each of which brings their own unique personalities and skillsets to each-and-every solution we offer.

Our amazing customers. Our customers are selfless givers who make a huge difference in the world we live in. It’s a sincere honor to serve people who serve people.

Q: What challenges have you overcome along the way?

SS: We’ve ridden the ebb and flow of sales cycles that coincide with varying economies, as do our clients and everyone else. But each time, we not only survived, we became stronger and more resilient.

Over the years I’ve learned to defer to the words that M. Scott Peck penned inThe Road Less Travelled:

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it, then life is no longer difficult.

This passage always helps me put things in perspective as I apply the concept equally to failure. Once we accept that failure is part of the process, we no longer fear it and can use it to propel us to greater outcomes.

Q: What are the top three things you have learned in this industry?

SS:
Sometimes providers get nervous when technology is implemented. Some tend to think it’s there to do what they do for their clients. We’ve learned to cater our approach to let them know that technology simply enhances their ability to serve their clients; but technology will never replace them.

Be humble, stay humble.

Be flexible because the only constant in life is change! NEED ONE MORE AS I MOVED THE BOOK PHRASE TO OTHER SECTION.

What is one of your most favorite success stories?

SS: Through the years, I have had the opportunity to witness how technology can change the lives of the people we build it for.

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting clients in their homes and seeing how our technology solutions helped them “come out of their shells” and give them more confidence around others. (Example: Brett, client with Autism Spectrum Disorder who was fascinated by all-things-trains.) I’ve visited employees on job sites and watched them use MeMinder to manage their tasks like a boss! And though it’s a sensitive subject, I have been grateful knowing that MyBrain technology has saved at least one person from self-harm and has minimized others’ exposure to COVID-19 by reducing the number of unnecessary ER visits within the IDD population.

Likewise, it’s so validating hearing stories of providers and job coaches that are able to handle their own responsibilities more efficiently with the use of technology.

What do you see in store for the company in the future?

More and more, people are searching for a remote, or virtual option in many aspects of their lives. Organizations are following suit. Additionally, the pandemic helped push the idea of “going remote” up the list of priorities. Now, and into the future, we will put more of our funding and support into solutions, features and enhancements that make it easer for providers to operate effectively on a remote basis.

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Continue the celebration with a CreateAbility *BOGO promotion on Employment Pathfinder and MeMinder now until 03/31/22. Click here to learn more!

*Cannot be combined with any other solution discount.

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