The following article was written by Dr. Tina Taylor Dyches, Associate Professor of Special Education at the McKay School of Education at Brigham Young University:

On May 10, 2007, Debbie Inkley and Ron Williams from the Opportunity Foundation of America gifted a second EagleEyes system to Brigham Young University. Present at this reception were the Dean of the BYU McKay School of Education, K. Richard Young; professors from other departments at BYU, including the Communication Disorders Department; engineer Lon Adams; and a class of 27 students who are training to be teachers of students with severe disabilities.

After the gifting, Linda Eller, a teacher from Jordan Valley School in Salt Lake City, demonstrated how to use EagleEyes. With Ron and Lon’s help, all of the teacher candidates were able to practice using the technology themselves and also facilitating its use with another teacher candidate. All teacher candidates were able to effectively use EagleEyes with the Paint and Aliens program. One teacher candidate was even proficient enough to access the Internet after only a few minutes of training.

The teacher candidates were extremely excited to learn about EagleEyes technology. Kay Thomas-Perkins said that by providing EagleEyes to the university, OFOA “will bless many lives and open a whole new world to them.” Another teacher candidate, Aimee Gage, said that this training will allow “future educators to help so many students communicate!” Nicole Shurts mused, “In the past, we've wondered what these individuals are capable of. It was incredible to see how technology can open up the minds of these people, allowing them to show us what they can do independently.”

Megan Ford saw firsthand what someone with a physical disability is capable of doing. She interviewed Britt Allen, an Opportunity Foundation of America volunteer who has worked with EagleEyes for more than three years. She was impressed with his use of assistive technology and commented, “Britt is an amazing person whose attitude has helped make him who he is today. With the love and support of his family he has come so far, and his future is promising.”

The gifting of this unit is an important contribution to the BYU McKay School of Education, as these teacher candidates are already using EagleEyes to help assess the cognitive abilities of children with severe and multiple disabilities at Oakridge School. Furthermore, the teacher candidates will have access to EagleEyes when they complete their student teaching or internship in one of the BYU—Public School Partnership schools. Similar training and service opportunities using EagleEyes will continue for years to come thanks to this second gifting by the OFOA.