For the record I think that some of the A.T. providers out there have the best customer and support services of any type of company. (Too bad the phone company, for example, can't take their lead.) Today I had folks at both Dynavox and Ablenet spend copious amounts of time helping me figure out that the parts ordered and delivered for a student's switch and switch mount cannot work together. Which was a relief, in a way, because I was starting to think there was something wrong with me that I could not figure it out.
Followed by Ken at Ablenet (thanks Ken) helping me to figure out exactly what to do about it. Ken and I came up with a plan and in the end the SLP, parent and I (coordinated through multiple phone calls) decided that we will be returning the switch and mismatched mounting plate for a different switch with a matching mounting plate (things work better if all the parts match). Ken was kind enough to give me the item numbers so I can be sure when we re-order it is correct.
On more set of phone calls tomorrow to finalize the exchange with Dynavox and we will be in business. Finally. It took me weeks to find a three hour block in my schedule, during business hours, to make all these calls! (Tough to find time around all that darned teaching!)
Maybe the return will be ready to go in time for the student to mail it himself during community based education this week!
On an unrelated note today my order from Ablenet for a Jelly Beamer and the new Read, Write and Grow software came in! I played quite a bit with the Jelly Beamer. So cool! Wireless is definitely the way to go. I can't wait to do a math lesson I have planned tomorrow and not have to worry about how far the cord will reach when I pass around the switch! More on Read, Write and Grow soon.
I have to admit I've had good support from Ablenet too! I love the Jelly Beamer, it works from across the room, really gets rid of barriers.
ReplyDeleteI love love love our jelly beamers. The only thing they're not great for is "super clickers." I have a student who literally went through a set of batteries in one day (OK, maybe it was a few more days than that but definitely not more than a week) so we had to back off to a corded switch until he slowed things down a little (grin). They were perfect for one of my "cord obsessed" kids too, as well as all our group activities. Looking forward to hearing what you think of Read Write Grow.
ReplyDeleteAlicia
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