Since avatalk’s inception, it is being creatively utilized as a much broader method of communication than ever imagined. Here’s a look at how agencies and organizations are benefitting from avatalk over-and-above simple communications:

A Unique Platform to Inform the People You Serve 

Some long-term care facilities and group homes use avatalk to communicate important dates to their residents/clients. For example, Susan is a Community Activity Manager for her organization and hosts monthly activities and socials for her clients. Typically, she creates a bulletin board to make the announcement or hands out flyers. Many times, the announcements do not get seen by everyone and/or are thrown away; leaving clients uninformed and without reminders.

Today, Susan takes a picture of her bulletin board she created and sends it to her residents’ avatalk platform so that it will rotate through their daily picture show. She’s enjoyed the success of this platform so much that she also sends around fun messaging and inspirational messages!

Bridging Gaps in Remote Monitoring

There’s not a single remote monitoring system that surveys every aspect of your clients’ lives – nor would you want it to. With that, “gaps” are created that occasionally need addressed. For example, Debbie originally had 7 cameras installed but requested three of them be taken down as she felt they invaded her privacy. One of the cameras panned her bedroom. Her care provider noticed one morning that Debbie had not gotten out of bed so rather than being intrusive, the care provider quickly sent a message to Debbie and get the answer they need.

With avatalk, her care provider can quickly send out any question with up to 4 answers. In this instance, Debbie’s care provider asks, “Debbie, I noticed that you were still in bed today.  Are you feeling okay?”  Debbie doesn’t have to answer the phone; she can simply click on the “Yes” or “No” buttons and return to life-as-normal.

Staving Off Isolation (Especially in a Pandemic.)

Addressing isolation is key to staying mentally fit; but feeling “connected” is more challenging than ever. Long-term care facilities have all but ousted group activities and trips due to State mandates and to protect their clients.

avatalk’s picture show feature allows staff, family and friends the ability to take pictures anytime/anywhere of themselves, a special place, or something they’ve created and send it directly to their rolling picture show. People are getting creative with their submissions and clients are loving the connectedness they experience…even while inside their homes during the pandemic.

The versatility of the avatalk platform has afforded care providers the opportunity to utilize it over-and-above simple act of “checking in”.  They are using it to build relationships, communicate in their own voice, and reflect their own uniqueness and creativity.

How will YOU use avatalk?

Learn more about the multiple uses of avatalk here.

The post USE CASE: How Agencies are Utilizing avatalk Above-and-beyond Remote Communication appeared first on CreateAbility Inc.

As we phase back into “normal” life; I’ve become painfully aware of the constant noise and slew of distractions that every day holds.  I’ve also developed an edginess of sorts, that I can only imagine resembles the experiences that a person with autism feels every single day. YIKES. I get it now.

In addition to the new level of empathy of people with autism, I also began thinking about the role assistive technology plays in helping them lead their lives and lessen the “noise”.

How Assistive Technology helps people with autism:

Communication

According to data from the Mayo Clinic, nearly half people with autism are non-verbal, which means they have limited ability to use language in a normal way. For these individuals, assistive technology may be the only way to them to communicate their most basic needs to care providers.

For those with autism that have verbal skills, lack of understanding social cues during conversation is a challenge that can lead to frustration, anger, and overwhelm. Avatar-led communications like Evalu8NOW and avatalk provide a non-threatening platform that they can customize and interact with to communicate their feelings and needs. In these instances, assistive technology is utilized as a tool to continue to communicate even after they have reached their “limit” of face-to-face interaction; a go-to when they are done “peopling” for a time.

Avoiding Overwhelm and Maintaining Focus

Children who are on the spectrum are often misdiagnosed with ADHD as lack of attention are symptoms of both. As they grow older, it is also found that in many instances they are able to focus on something like a special interest –  even to the point of hyper-focus.

Assistive technology is an ideal “happy medium” that allows them to put on the headphones/cancel out the noise in life and focus on something without distraction. A good app that keeps them engaged while continuing to teach them the skills they need to live more independently is a win-win.

When life gets noisy – it gets overwhelming and no one learns and retains well when feeling overwhelmed.  Keeping their daily tasks and schedules on a device with the help of assistive technologies like MeMinder can help keep them on task and engaged with their daily responsibilities even when there are intrusive distractions.  It gives them a normal go-to source to help them re-focus and maintain normalcy in trying times while making them more independent.  

In either scenario, assistive technology can provide a constant, or a much-needed escape even, in what feels to be a chaotic environment. It offers help without judgment and encouragement without the need for feedback. While the intention of assistive tech is NOT to take the place of person-to-person contact; for people with autism, it provides a source of safety and quiet to block out the noise.

Until next time, find your mind’s peaceful place, stay safe, healthy – and rooted in the positive.

Kerri

References:
How Autism May Affect Sympathy and Empathy, By Lisa Jo Rudy
https://www.verywellhealth.com/do-people-with-autism-lack-empathy-259887

The post How the Pandemic Fostered My Empathy for People with Autism appeared first on CreateAbility Inc.

But what do clinicians utilize to measure the progress, setbacks and successes of the mental health and well-being care plan of the people they serve and why is it so important?

At CreateAbility, we have been arming clinicians these fields with avatar-led, web-based assessments and interventions, called Evalu8NOW, and afforded them the ability to collect real-time data on their clients’ health and emotional well-being between in-person/face-to-face visits.

Evalu8NOW’s data is yielding several valuable factors that organizations are utilizing to reshape the way they typically interacted with clients. Clients are responding well to Eval8Now’s convenient and neutral surveying environment and clinicians are both extracting honest feedback – and receiving high rates of participation. Here’s a few examples of how they are utilizing its data for the greater good of their clients, as well as their business:

The system is allowing them to check in on a person’s treatment plan at a much higher frequency than previously practical, yielding setbacks and successes that they otherwise were not transparent to them. This additional information allows them to:

• Verify efficacy of treatment plans and monitor what’s working and what’s not.
• Integrate care, additional communications, and/or services that optimize the treatment plan.
• Identify key indicators that help staff ward off client meltdowns; also providing avatar-led interventions to keep them calm until staff can reach  out to them.
• Help ward off unnecessary ER visits.
• Increase efficacy of treatment plan by optimizing person-centric customizations; often times shortening the length of rehabilitation or treatment process.
• Increasing customer/patient satisfaction.
• Simplifies documentation and reporting.

Consider the following questions:

How could you harness the power of data in your business?
What would you monitor if you had eyes in the home?
What would benefit your treatment plan to monitor between check-ins with your clients?

CreateAbility has several out-of-the-box assessments for easy-implementation and quick deployment or, you can utilize the Evalu8NOW platform to work with our team to create your own assessment. We’ve created technologies that support your initiatives for 20 years and would love the opportunity to bring your vision to light.

Contact us at info@createabilityinc.com to explore what Evalu8NOW can do for you or to chat about your organizational goals.

The post Why Measuring Clients’ Emotional Well-being is an Important Part of Their Treatment Plan appeared first on CreateAbility Inc.

Our team has been brainstorming very hard on how we can utilize the technology we’ve built to help you through the COVID-19 pandemic. We realize that operations are not likely to be “normal” right now and you may have new responsibilities and requirements for you to manage. For that reason, we are reaching out to you today to let you know of a few ways that we may be able to help ease the burden:

• Limited-time Loaner/free MeMinder apps to assist your clients with the prompts they need for COVID-19 mindfulness/tasks.
• Limited-time Loaner/free Evalu8NOW apps to help you check in on clients’ health and emotional well-being between in-person visits.
• By serving as your technology resource for the creation of ANY COVID-19 related solutions that would help you manage during this time.

This is by no means a time to be opportunistic; but an opportunity for CreateAbility to do its part in the COVID-19 efforts.

We appreciate you and would be humbled to serve you and can be reached by emailing info@createabilityinc.com. We are sensitive to the immediacy of your needs and will respond to all messages within one business day.

Sincerely,

The CreateAbility Team

The post COVID-19: Words of Encouragement and Complimentary Help from CreateAbility appeared first on CreateAbility Inc.

“The issue”, according to Steve Sutter, President of CreateAbility, “is that people in the circle of care typically prefer to text when they want to quickly check in with someone. But this may not work in situations where the reside has difficulty texting or reading, or they are concerned that the person-served now has their cell phone number.”

Avatalk automatically renders the text message into a talking avatar to present the question and up to six answers to the resident, then converts the resident’s answer back to text to the remote individual. The technology was designed to provide a natural, non-intrusive mode of checking in on clients that is both engaging and commands response – as well as a provide agency staff with a platform they can use to get specific feedback on an efficient basis from individuals with Down Syndrome, autism, survivors of a brain injury, or older adults with dementia

Typical examples where avatalk may be used are: verifying that the resident is ready for pickup, took their medications, showered, returned home safely, secure during a storm, etc. This flexibility bridges potential gaps in understanding the residents’ health, safety, and satisfaction with their situation. This can provide an immediate solution for stop-gap coverage of the person-served, or supplement remote monitoring technologies.

“In a time when agencies are spread thin and healthcare is pushing toward more person-centric care plans, care providers are tasked with more responsibilities than ever.” States CreateAbility, Inc. President, Steve Sutter. “Avatalk gives them a tool that will allow them to check in with the people they serve and get quicker responses that are honed in tightly to the information they need to retrieve in order to perform their care of the individual more efficiently.”

For the resident, avatalk’s interface provides a less intrusive communication style that allows them to respond simply and efficiently. When in use, the app runs a personal slide show of their favorite places and people. When someone on their circle of care sends a question to them via text, an avatar (in which they have previously selected) will appear, ask the question aloud, and provide answers for them to select from. The answer they select is wirelessly transmitted and conveyed back as text to the care provider.
Avatalk will be available directly from CreateAbility by the end of October for Windows 10 and Android devices and will be available in the Android and Apple app stores by the end of November. Pre-orders are being accepted now at a promotional price of $74.95. To see a demo and receive promotional pricing on avatalk, please email info@createabilityinc.com.

About CreateAbility, Inc.
CreateAbility strives to improve the dignity, security, and quality of life for people who are trying to maintain varying degrees of independence, but who need assistive technologies. Our mission is to create innovative products that help them flourish beyond their current capability. Our interactive health and safety monitoring software solutions help caregivers deliver an affordable blend of care, 24/7 that nurtures independence. We serve caregivers, agencies, and organizations devoted to helping older adults, people with intellectual disabilities, brain injuries, and behavioral health issues.

Contact:
Kerri Pinger
Marketing & Sales Support Administration
CreateAbility, Inc.
kerri@createabilityinc.com

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