Neil Squire’s in-house team of occupational therapists and assistive technology specialists remain on the cutting edge of assistive technology.
For Jody Dickerson, an assistive technology trainer, AI tools have both made communicating with clients — allowing her to tailor responses to participants with different language comprehension levels and abilities to focus — and lesson planning more efficient and tailored to a participant’s needs.
“I can better tailor information to them,” she shares.
Free, online AI tools are often helpful for participants with ADHD and other executive functioning disabilities, allowing users to generate to-do lists that make tasks more manageable by breaking it into small parts, to edit the tone in their emails, and more. However, as with all AI tools, Jody cautions that it still has to be your work, and to always read through it.
“The idea that I took from worldwide experts at an assistive technology conference is let it do the work for you, not the thinking,” says Jody. “So, you can let it make your checklist, but you need to think whether that checklist makes any sense. And there’s things where AI just gets completely wrong. But this is one of the tools that can be really helpful for people and it’s just there, it’s free, it’s an easy one to introduce people to.”
Assistive technology training offered through Solutions (new window) and WorkBC Assistive Technology Services (new window) plays a big part in helping people both maintain employment and find employment. Useful for people with a wide range of disabilities ranging from spinal cord injuries to repetitive stress injuries, Dragon, a dictation program that allows people to navigate their computer without using a mouse and keyboard, is one of the most common solutions that people need on their way to employment.
“A lot of people come in, are in job search and they’re often not even sure what kind of job they might be getting. So often I’m teaching just general computer access — how to do everything you need on a computer using Dragon,” explains Jody, who also often guides participants through using macros — combining multiple different functions into one easy-to-use function — to make using Dragon much more convenient.
With many different specialties working under the same roof, participants are ensured to get well-rounded service.
“The main thing is that you can’t ignore that it’s a person doing the thing. So, I might help them do the thing on the computer, but they need the OT who makes sure that they can reach the mouse in the first place and can sit comfortably and do it, and they’re not going to get injured,” Jody says.
This article originally appeared in our 2024-2025 Annual Report.