A school teacher Diana Prittinen from the Berrien County Intermediate School District, along with paraprofessionals Jane Wilson and Barbara Keech, has invented an activity table for the impaired students.

The table is wheelchair accessible. It has an activity board, with close to a dozen different objects which will stimulate audio, touch and visual senses. The height of the table can be adjusted.

The teachers used an Abilitations product Table Mate to build this product. They attached a vinyl peg board to the table, and then attached toys to the table. They had to drill holes in the toys to make this possible.
According to the teacher, “”It helps students become independent and also encourages their sensory skills and attention span and focuses on them being able to do these activities by themselves”. She should know, after working with kids between 12 and 20 years, most of them with multiple impairments, along with cerebral palsy.
Now, the teachers have signed a royalty agreement with the toy company Abilitations, to market Actitable. The product is expected to be in the market by 2007. Of course, the company will refine the product before bringing it out to the market.

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Interesting news from Turkey: it says two Turkish school kids (Omer and Yalcin Laloglu) have invented a gas leak detection device, which will also shut down the heating system to prevent accidents.

We do not know how the heating systems operate in Turkey, and so, do not have much details about how this device works. However, it does seem interesting.
The device costs around $10, according to the Ministry of National Education and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. You can check with them for more details.

One thing is clear: innovation does not have any boundaries!

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