The last 3 days we have spent trying to get Casey's DynaVox (communication device) back to baseline. Apparently he clicked on something on the Internet that he should not have--either an 'Ad On' or a link with a virus.
Gene was on with DynaVox once or twice and it really seemed like it would just need to be reflashed--meaning they'd wipe the device clean and re-put on the software. But that means sending it in. UGH.
Mel, at least I think it was her, thought that we could put Casey's pages on Colin's device so he wouldn't have to be without (Colin doesn't use his as often as Casey). She said she'd be able to figure this out for us. So, then went trying to figure out where his external hard drive was at school. Nancy H and I went to school and found our way in and to where Paula's desk was and found the drive. Whew! Got to see Mr. Wyndorf one of Casey's middle school teachers and one of his all time favorites.
The poor thing would open up multiple windows with weird stuff and then the screen would not allow us to close the windows so we'd have to use a keyboard/mouse to close it and restart, etc. Gene did all sorts of poking around and cleaning up and scans. At one point he did something with Norton Power Eraser and it removed the entire DynaVox software, yikes! He was able to undo what he did and we got the software back. Sometimes it would work okay. Last evening he was on his communication pages AND his Google maps and it worked for about an hour. Then out of no where it started opening up multiple weird windows and restarted itself. This was right after Gene went out to go to the store, of course. When he got back he managed to get the communication back. Then it was time for bed.
So, Casey had school with Ashley at 9:00. We thought at least the pages would work for him to do some school, but things were screwed up. Multiple restarts and some prodding from Gene it worked. But, Casey was pretty flustered and frustrated and I don't think they accomplished too much. Decided not to have Ashley come back for the second two hours since we didn't think the device would hold up and Casey was too far gone to do any real work :)
In the meanwhile, Tami came to do school with Colin. Had a hard time getting his switch reliable so they did some work on nouns and such with the switch and Tami pressing the switch with him. We had promised that Colin could have a water gun fight if he worked well, so that's what we did.
Helen, Tami's daughter was not thrilled to have to participate with the water fight but I think she ended up having a good time. At one point we had the boys, Tami, Helen, Nancy H, Gene, Aunt Ju and myself out there all squirting and running around! Mel came in the middle of this and we went to ambush her but Tami tipped her off. We got her anyway ;)
It took awhile but Mel managed to get Casey's pages on Colin's device. She put buttons on each boys' page so it would be easy to get from one page set to another. Woot, woot!
This afternoon has been low-key. Colin watching his shows. Casey exploring Colin's DynaVox. His Google Maps look totally different. He also has been using Tux Paint (he used to have it on his) and Google Earth.
Gene dropped off the DynaVox at UPS. Hopefully it will be there by the end of the day Monday, I think. This is a huge thing for poor Casey. Hopefully things will work smoothly and we'll get his device back soon.
This whole ordeal is making me think that we really do need to explore getting him a new device. It's been about 5 years so he is "due." I just don't know which direction to go in. DynaVox again, Tobii, PRC, tablet, PC with eye gaze bar? I think we need an evaluation done by a unbiased someone. Looking into finding a center in New England that we could go to. There just isn't anything in Vermont that would fit what Casey would need. We're just too small of a state with a small population and probably a very low population of kids using assistive technology/augumentative communication. So, maybe Boston again? Maybe Helen Hayes in NY?? Hmmm...
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