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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I learned today that the US Patent Office is so baekcd up that it takes years for patents to be issued. I suspect this is part of IBM’s decision to publish. Patents are a measure of our innovation and while the US remains ahead of other countries, our lead is closing significantly. This factor, combined with the growing commoditization of most markets that sends work overseas has hindered job creation significantly. The best thing that Obama can do is to pursue an innovation agenda:1. Far more money in basic research, which the government funds;2. Create incentives for companies to pool resources together (perhaps with Government match) to engage in development too expensive for any one company, but critical to our country’s future manufacturing;3. Fix our PK-12 schools;4. Allow the PhDs we educate and PhDs from other countries to reside here our economic security is far more of an issue than our physical security as far as I can read;5. Make a class in entrepreneurship and economics mandatory for every HS and College student. We’d change our culture within a generation;6. Make it more financially attractive to invest in start ups and early stage companies;7. Create a health care plan for start-ups so that lack of health care does not stop people from being entrepreurs;8. Create a Golden Globes for entrepreneurs with Steve Martin hosting.