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Adaptive Equipment and Devices
Adaptive Equipment Lending Library
Through the SEDOL Foundation’s Adaptive Equipment Lending Library, various types of equipment and devices are leased or loaned to students and their families for use in both the classroom and at home.
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The Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana each generously donated $25,000 in 1996 for the purchase of adaptive equipment. Hundreds of children have benefited from these donations that in turn have provided these children with extraordinary gifts of communication, movement, freedom, and knowledge. And those are but a few of the enrichments derived by these special children from the benevolence of McDonald’s.
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Equipment used in the Adaptive Equipment Lending Library includes:
| Equipment |
Function |
Cost |
| Voice Navigator II |
Controls Macintosh applications by voice for keyboard and mouse |
$699 |
| Power Secretary |
Software that requires 68040 processor with a headset |
$2,495 |
| Infrared Pointing System |
Interfaces with computer or communication device to control lights and appliances
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$189 |
| Liberator Evaluation System |
Head Pointer with variety of switches benefits nonverbal students |
$10,800 |
| TouchTalker Evaluation System and Daessy Mounting System |
Benefits all disabled except visually impaired and severe cognitively impaired |
$5,995 |
| Scanner Software |
Scans text, then prints, collates, and provides output formation in Braille, voice "Language options" and adaptations for learning disabled; for the visually impaired and learning disabled |
$6,000
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| Words +System 2000 with multivoice and software |
 |
$6,390 |
| Neck Rest, Shoulder Pad, Halo Assembly, Mount |
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$3,295 |
| Head and Neck Support |
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$500 |
| ECU Board with Cable MCC-AC |
Provides access to computer from wheelchair |
$1,060
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| Digivox |
Provides auditory and visual scanning |
$2,500 |
| Oxygen Concentrators |
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$2,715 |
| Portable Nebulizers |
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$95 |
| Vacu-Aide |
Provides oral, nasal, and pulmonary aspiration |
$360 |
| Lightwriter SL35 |
Benefits ambulatory, nonverbal students |
$1,835 |
| Hydra Commode |
Provides lift for standard toilet |
$760 |
| Trackerball |
Benefits fine motor skills |
$400 |
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High Cost and Limited Availability
Unfortunately, the cost of some technological advances and medical aids is beyond the means of many individuals and often is not covered by insurance or other forms of public assistance. Despite the Lending Library, with thousands of special needs students, the SEDOL Foundation is limited in its ability to lend this type of equipment in the classroom for extended periods of time. Several students often use the equipment at different times of any given day. Our goal is to continue purchasing and maintaining these types of devices in the Adaptive Equipment Lending Library. This puts the equipment where it will be of greatest use, in the hands, homes, and everyday lives of the children.
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