I'm a 37-year old Navy-wife, mom, student, nonprofit manager, paraeducator, and advocate for all. I believe in impossible things. I have 4 kids: 15 & 12 year old daughters, an 11-year old step-son, and my forever 4-year old who died in 2012 due to a rare neurological condition called hydranencephaly. That diagnosis, made at his birth in 2008, brought me to where I am today with my passion. I founded a nonprofit organization called Global Hydranencephaly Foundation in 2011, in his honor, to offer individualized support, medical and educational advocacy services to families all across the globe. I also am a preschool paraeducator in a district level program for children transitioning from early intervention in to either general education kindergarten or a self-contained classroom setting, dependent upon the needs of the student. My husband's submariner career with the US Navy, since 2008, has allowed me to travel, meet new people, experience things I never would have otherwise, and have a better perspective on various lifestyles. I'm heavily involved in my local special needs community as my nonprofit is the fiscal sponsor for a local organization called Kitsap Accessible Family Events which arranges monthly and holiday events for families of children with varying degrees of ability and special need. I also worked to help build a local all-inclusive playground with an organization called Bremerton Beyond Accessible Play at the Evergreen Park in Bremerton, WA. In my "spare" time, I love to explore the amazing Pacific Northwest with my camera via hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, canoeing, beachcombing, whatever!

Essay: EagleEyes Communication Device

Developed at Boston College, EagleEyes is for individuals who have limited to no intentional muscular control but have control of their eye movement. Some of the diagnosis that fall into this category are: stroke, traumatic brain injury, Rett syndrome, neurological disorders, spinal muscular atrophy and severe cerebral palsy.

In many cases using EagleEyes is the first time these individuals have been able to establish cause and effect, communicate and act independently of anyone assisting them.

To expand on the details of the system - EageEyes enables communication and learning primarily with individuals who have congenital severe special needs. These individuals are most often non-verbal, paralyzed, and at most have a "Yes/No" method of communicating with those around them. Generally this is used with individuals whose only controlled muscular movement is their eyes.

EagleEyes is used for recreation, communication, education, cause and effect, revealing a user's true intelligence, eye strength training, focus training, and learning to use the eyes for communicating.

Basically the system works like this: a mouse pointer follows the location that the user is looking at on the screen. The eyes replace the mouse. Selection is made by looking at a small area of the screen for a short period of time, which causes a mouse click. Usable with any commercial software, EagleEyes is a general mouse replacement that is based on measuring a user's EOG or electro-oculographic potential. The EOG is a small electrical potential which indicates the position of the eye relative to the head. Surface electrodes are placed on the user's head, above and below one eye, and on each side of the head to the left and right of the eyes. The five electrodes are connected to a small battery-powered electrophysiological amplifier which is connected to a computer. A program in the computer translates the signals received from the electrodes into the position of the mouse pointer on the screen. When the user moves his or her eyes, the mouse pointer moves.

Because the electrodes are attached to the users face, they can use EagleEyes in any position that they are comfortable. A combination of eye and head movement can be used to move the mouse cursor so the user does not have to be perfectly still to use EagleEyes. In addition, a software setting can be adjusted for head angle so the user can be in a relaxed position during use. The electrodes are sensor receivers only and are safe on the user's face.

EagleEyes allows the user to free play with a computer mouse. They can play games, learn new things and ultimately progress towards meaningful communication. EagleEyes often times is a gateway device that can teach the user to graduate to a more advanced device or to learn to properly use their eyes for communication without being connected such as using eye gaze boards.