By Dr. Richard Kay, Principal, Oakridge School, Springville, Utah. Oakridge School received an EagleEyes system in January 2006.

All people are born with a psychological need to be self-determining and able to interact effectively with their environment. At the most basic level such interaction would include making choices, initiating actions, and interacting with others. The exte nt to which individuals can be self-determining is strongly influenced by three factors: (1) capacity or potential, (2) current levels of learning and skill acquisition, and (3) available opportunities to choose and initiate actions.

Oakridge School is a special purpose school in Nebo School District. The school provides educational service for school-age students (6-21 yrs of age) with severe developmental disabilities. Our purpose is to enhance the quality of life for each of our s tudents by promoting the attitudes, motivation, and skills that will support their life-long development. Certainly, not everyone is capable of functioning at the same level. We cannot know the extent to which any individual can be independent and self-determining. What we can do is provide the help, training, and opportunities to allow the individual to advance toward their highest potential. To use an analogy, the distance between total dependence on others (point A) and total reliance on self (point B) is 10 feet. If we do something to help a person move even an inch in the direction of independence, we will have impacted the quality of life for that individual.

We see EagleEyes technology as a tool for creating new opportunities for students to help them develop new skills and attitudes that can serve them well. Learning to make choices and experiencing cause and effect, for examples, are skills that create new possibilities for people with profound disabilities. In the short time we have been working with EagleEyes, we have seen evidence of such skills emerging in some of our students. We are optimistic that this technology will help enhance the quality of li fe for them. If we help but one student, our time would be well spent. Helping more than one student increases the benefits exponentially.