Let me tell you what led me to this idea ...
Since the beginning of my career in speech therapy, there are almost 30 years old ... my husband has always Pascal push-use technology ... Throughout the evolution of this technology, he accompanied me in without stopping renewed discovery of the new tools that came on the market; these computers and software have facilitated my work, in addition to make it attractive in the eyes of my customers-patients.
In 2010, so I was obviously in possession of an iPod and an iPhone for some time, and I sensed that applications we could find already had special potential for speech therapy. For example, a secondary school teacher dysorthographique saying Antidote on his iPhone enabled him to quickly and discreetly check the spelling of a word before writing it on the board ... Or some alternative communication applications that already existed English ... But this screen was really little, I had difficulty imagining myself sitting on this two (too) small screen.
Then, in summer 2010 I went for a replacement in French Polynesia ... My husband is still very "techno", he made the trip with his brand new iPad. Looking a little which was "there," I began by finding educational applications and leisure tickling neurons compared to speech therapy ... I had the idea that this application Crossword could perhaps please my aphasic patient (for my colleagues from Canada, Polynesia, as in France, speech therapists working in firms speech therapy are generalists: they receive all the pathologies, almost!). The aphasic patient immediately understood how to use the virtual keyboard on the iPad screen.
We were able to work from crosswords to his delight: he was a fan of crossword before his stroke, but it was no more, mainly because writing with her left hand was not easy, clear with an eraser was complicated ... with the iPad, these worries have disappeared ... The next day, I tried with a little girl BMI, a game of noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe). This little girl could not hold pin, due to spasticity of its senior members, has rediscovered the pleasure of playing and being able to participate by simply touching the screen. She laughed with happiness.
It was enough to encourage me to try with other patients. Even playing tic tac toe with aphasic lady, against whom I have had to fight for the louse ... always lose ... so she could demonstrate effective strategies. And still laughing! With a little boy very few minutes, discovery and exploration of animal sounds and their photos ... And then a lady with a paralysis of the tongue, exploring a speech application for it to be understood around him ... A young boy TBI with fine motor sequelae was delighted to stall his thumbs along the iPad to be able to type his homework on the virtual keyboard (not on a computer keyboard since outgrown her fingers), and send homework to the teacher by email.
Since I saw this kind of discoveries every day ... and the applications keep coming since 2010! I recommend some applications even in my reports since 2011 for my patients with the tablet. Now you know the story of my discovery of the tablet and applications ...
The great adventure training started when I shared my findings on professional networks (forums, mailing lists, social networks etc) ... after a few months I felt very lonely, training requests have arrived in my email and specific questions about applications. My husband created a web page, named apio, to allow free registration to the newsletter apio I was going to start sending. This newsletter can discover applications, receive links to free apps, links to articles etc. Then we set up our first training for speech therapists in Gatineau.Et gradually, given the demand, we have developed a level 2, specific training on the iPad as part learning disabilities, training for adult patients. The demand is there for occupational therapists, we have created this training as well as for teachers. These courses are given in Canada, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Polynesia. We also offer customized training to professional groups in insitutions or parent groups in associations.Nous working on the English side of the training ... and have all kinds of complémantaires projects.
We are now a team! You can get to know the trainers desous below. Others are members of the team behind the scenes: Sarah, Alice, (our daughters) who give a hand for the website and graphic design; Huguette, my mom, which helps for the Secretariat training in France. What a great adventure! And thank you for your trust from the beginning.