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- Explore how AI-powered note-taking is helping QLI clients with brain and spinal cord injuries get back in the classroom.
- From capturing a lecture to returning to a beloved job, assistive technology helps make everyday goals possible.
- QLI’s occupational therapists help clients find technology that works for their abilities, goals, and everyday lives.
Meta Description
Technology can do a lot of things. At QLI, it can help someone communicate with their family.
It can help someone control their environment, return to driving, or find a new way to complete a task that once seemed out of reach.
But assistive technology is not really about the technology itself. It is about what technology makes possible.
For people recovering from brain and spinal cord injuries, everyday tasks can suddenly become complicated.
Turning on a light. Sending a text. Opening a door. Getting behind the wheel. Communicating a thought.
Sometimes, the right technology can help bridge that gap.
One example is AI-powered note-taking, giving people new ways to interact with the environment around them, whether at work or in a classroom.
What is Assistive Technology?
Assistive technology is a broad term. It does not necessarily mean a specialized device or expensive piece of equipment.
“Assistive technology is any piece of technology that makes your day-to-day life easier, more efficient, conserves energy, but it’s enabling you to do something more difficult now, maybe because of an injury or because of a pre-existing condition,” said Olivia Ollis, an occupational therapist who specializes in assistive technology at QLI.
In fact, people use assistive technology every day without thinking about it.
“If you use Siri to pull up maps on your phone or set a reminder, if you’re using timers when you’re cooking, those are all also examples of more of a low-tech, but still assistive technology,” Olivia said.
At QLI, that same concept can be applied to much bigger goals.
“We talk about returning to life, finding things that are purposeful and valuable within your day,” Olivia said. “And a lot of that should continue after an injury. There’s still hope for your future, and there’s still so many things that you can do.”
Using Technology to Return to School
Returning to school can be an important goal for someone recovering from neurological injury. But sitting in a classroom and taking notes can present challenges that did not exist before an injury.
For someone with a brain injury, divided attention can make it difficult to listen to a lecture, take notes, and retain information at the same time. For someone with a spinal cord injury, the challenge may be physical.
AI note-taking technology can help remove some of those barriers.
Depending on the technology, students can record an entire lecture, flag important information, add notes, upload course materials, and receive a transcript or summary after class.
“I have a couple of favorite apps. I really like Jamworks and Genio,” Olivia said.
Some platforms can also create quizzes, identify key points, and answer questions based on the lecture material.
“So, it really empowers the student to do their own note-taking, making sure they’re getting the information,” Olivia said.
Olivia said assistive technology can also be paired with other tools. Someone with limited upper-extremity function may use a switch or head control to flag important information without physically typing.
“We’re layering technology,” Olivia said. “But they physically don’t have to take the notes, which is really cool.”
A Tool that Can Change What Feels Possible
One QLI client with a cervical spinal cord injury had limited upper-extremity function but was determined to return to school. Writing by hand could take approximately 15 minutes for one sentence.
Initially, he tried taking notes with an Apple Pencil while practicing with TED Talks. He had to repeatedly pause the video to keep up.
“He said, ‘I can’t pause a lecture in real life,’” Olivia said.
With AI note-taking technology, he was eventually able to listen to an entire lecture without stopping to write.
“He said, ‘I wish I had this before I had my injury. This really would have helped me focus in class,’” Olivia said.
For another college student recovering from a brain injury, divided attention and receptive language challenges made learning more difficult.
Note-taking and study features helped him highlight important information and retain what he was learning.
“It’s not obvious that you’re using an assistive device,” Olivia said. “It’s not drawing attention, and it’s something that literally anyone can use and benefit from.”
The Technology Should Fit the Person
There is no single piece of assistive technology that works for everyone.
Every QLI admission receives an assistive technology screening to identify potential needs, whether the goal involves school, work, recreation, gaming, or greater independence at home.
From there, the team looks at different options and gives clients opportunities to try them.
“We talk a lot too about layering technology,” Olivia said. “You don’t have to have one device that’s your end-all, be-all.”
Someone may use an adaptive mouse when they have more energy, then switch to head tracking or voice control later in the day when fatigue makes that option more difficult.
“I normally will lay out the options, explain some of the areas I can be helpful with, show some ideas. If they’re interested, we’ll try right away.”
Sometimes, a client needs time before they are ready to try something new. Other times, assistive technology becomes part of another therapy session as the team works together to solve a specific problem.
“Just being really flexible and meeting people where they’re at is important,” Olivia said.
Creating Possibilities at Work
Returning to work does not always mean returning to the same job in the same way.
When possible, QLI works toward helping clients return to their previous roles. But an injury can sometimes make certain tasks difficult or temporarily impossible.
Olivia described one client with a spinal cord injury who took great pride in his blue-collar job, including driving a truck and doing physical work. At his current stage of recovery, returning to those duties is not yet possible.
Instead, the team has been working with him on basic computer navigation. That allows him to take on tasks such as inventory, customer communication, ordering supplies, or dispatching while remaining with a company he loves.
“It’s not his dream job. It’s not what he was doing before, but he loves the company that he works for. He loves going to work,” Olivia said. “So, giving him tools to do a different job, but still in a setting that he loves, is really empowering for him.”
The client once believed he would never be able to return to work.
Now, there is another possibility.
“Maybe it’s not a forever solution, but it’s a for-now solution,” Olivia said.
