Hi, I'm Charlotte and I'm Jared's mom.
Jared is an amazing young man.
He has a great sense of humor.
He loves spending time on the
computer and interacting with
people around the world and also
with us as a family at home.
Jared was born with cerebral palsy
and it effects him physically
but mentally and intellectually,
he's very smart.
Jared uses a sip and puff
to access his computer.
The sip and puff sends a
signal to Jared's environmental
control unit on his wheelchair,
which sends a signal to the Tash switch,
which sends a signal to the Intellikeys switch.
The Intellikeys sends a
wireless signal to Jared's computer
that controls a software program called
Switch XS. Switch XS allows
Jared to do anything on his computer
by choosing options from a pop up menu
that scans through several choices.
When he gets to the option he wants,
he then uses his sip and puff to
make the selection.
He can type, control the mouse,
and do anything on his computer.
When Jared was in elementary school,
we started working with the staff at
the school to find technology that
would help make him successful and
also provide a recreational outlet
for him in the computer field.
Jared's technology has changed overtime.
When Jared was in grade school,
he used the Leaf switch to
access the computer.
And then we changed when he was in
high school to a Jellybean switch,
which he would access by
hitting with his head.
And now he uses the sip and puff,
which has been the best for accuracy for him.
Because of his drive to do well,
he's able to do what he is today.