IExpress II
| Focus | Assistive devices for people with multiple disabilities and visual impairment |
| Funding programme | European Union: Erasmus+ |
| Project coördinator | Royal Dutch Visio |
| Partners | Hungary: Budapest School for the Blind Iceland: National Institute for the Blind Spain: ASAPYM |
| Total funding | €271,897 |
| Duration | September 2018 – February 2021 |
| Website | http://www.iexpressmyself.com/ |
Both iExpress Myself II and the previous iExpress Myself project focused on using information technology and assistive devices to help children with MDVI (multiple disabilities and visual impairment).
iExpress Myself developed a screening tool to assess the skills of MDVI children and their ability to use assistive technologies. As a follow up, iExpress II created a complete toolkit for professionals to map the children’s skills and help them develop further.
Teachers and other professionals can use the toolkit to measure their students’ ICT skills and capabilities to use assistive devices, and to train them in areas where improvement is possible. It can greatly improve the student’s well-being in many areas of life.
The toolkit is useful in various situations:
- For children and adults with MDVI with a developmental age of 0-4 years
- For children and adults with the same developmental age but no visual impairment
- For MDVI children and adults with moderate to severe motor disabilities, but with a higher developmental age
- For young children (calendar age between 0 and 8) with severe motor disabilities and severe visual impairment or other physical impairments, but without intellectual disabilities
- For adults in residential care and day-care facilities.
Once it is known what the learner can do, it is possible to design ways to help them. For example, someone with a severe disability may be able to press a switch to turn music on and off, or to use a hairdryer. This gives them a degree of control and independence in their daily lives.
The toolkit also helps professionals in their work. They can screen clients in a more objective way, plan interventions and monitor their progress more easily. Professionals and parents now can use the toolkit to work towards the same objectives.
“He has severe motor, speech and visual problems, but his cognitive skills are probably better than we know. With the ICT options we can now find out better what he really understands and wants to tell us.” – MDVI specialist
The project won a European Innovative Teaching Award in 2023.