A First...

Please excuse the rubbish quality of the shot but it was taken very quickly and surreptitiously as I was trying by best to be very casual and not make a fuss of the situation; the situation being it was the first time Alan has had his eye-gaze communication system attached to his wheelchair whilst he has his dinner.  

He wasn't happy when Ed brought him to the kitchen and wanted it removed (I was listening from the safe distance of the living room) but Ed reminded him that he'd agreed to have it on his chair just to check it was working properly and that he (Ed) would remove it when he returned later in the evening.  Alan reluctantly agreed.

The eye-gaze system is still quite overwhelming at times for Alan and although he's more than happy to use it in certain situations, this is the first time it's been introduced during a mealtime, which can in itself cause him some sensory overload.   The outcome we were hoping for was that he would at least accept it being attached to his wheelchair during dinner, but there was no pressure on him or expectation for him to use it.

I played it very cool when I went into the kitchen and initially just ignored the fact the machine was there.   After a few minutes I just said "I see you've got your eye gaze with you.  Cool,"  and left it at that.   

This shot was taken just as I was about to mash his potatoes and as you can see, he had relaxed and was perfectly at ease at it being there (I love his casual legs crossed pose!  Hope there aren't any physios looking ;-))) 

The tablet was set at the page marked dinner and the phrases  he had to chose from included drink of milk please, I'm full up, I want chocolate now thanks and I'm going to burp (always cause for celebration in our house!  :-)

Despite trying really hard a few times to use it to tell me that he wanted a drink of milk, for some technical reason beyond me, the machine didn't work.  We made fun of it and I said Ed would check it over when he returned.

One dinner was over and Alan was leaving the kitchen I got a big smile as the machine informed me That was tasty mum, thank you!


i think you will know how happy that made me :-)))