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As an occupational therapist working in schools in Summerside, PEI, Anne-Marie Peters has a lot of experience with adaptive switches, and helping the children she works with to use them. So, when a colleague told her about a event in nearby Charlottetown where she could be making her own switches, her interest was piqued.

“When I heard participants at the Makers Making Change event would be learning how to make switches I was immediately intrigued as people with physical or cognitive challenges often benefit greatly from switches to provide more opportunities to interact with their environment,” she shares. “I could not pass up the chance to learn how to make a switch!”

Anne-Marie ended up taking part in Makers Making Change’s first build event on Prince Edward Island hosted with  earlier this year. And she brought a device of her own that she wanted to adapt.

“In the past, I have tried using a vibrating cushion with students, but it required a lot of pressure to activate, and some students could not activate it independently,” she explains. “I brought a vibrating cushion to the Makers Making Change event with the hope that it could become switch-adapted so that it would be easier to activate — requiring much less force.”

With the help of the Makers Making Change team on hand, Anne-Marie got to work on adapting the vibrating cushion and building a switch herself.

“I found the soldering piece a little intimidating at first, but the MMC staff were very helpful in guiding all the participants. I walked out having put together a 3D-printed switch and switch-activated vibrating cushion and was thrilled,” she says. “Makers Making Change staff were very friendly and eager to share their knowledge of the inner workings of toys and switches. It was a wonderful collaboration.”

She also received some 3D printed bases from the MMC team to hold spinning light-up globe toys for her students who enjoy the toy but can’t grasp it on their own.

The switch-adapted vibrating cushion has since become a hit with the children Anne-Marie works with.

“I now use the vibrating cushion with different students so that they can have that sensory-rich experience of vibration and also control when it starts and stops. There is a lot of learning and playing happening with the switch-activated vibrating cushion — students can learn cause and effect, they can have friends try out the cushion while they turn it on and off, they learn whether it is a sensation they enjoy (or not),” she says. “Being able to access something in an easier way is key to optimizing independence and autonomy.”

Anne-Marie says she would “a�����DZ��ܳٱ����” take part in another Makers Making Change build in the future, and would recommend it to other occupational therapists.

“OTs are creative problem-solvers and an event such as this adds to that skill set.”

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