Sessions with Catherine

First Session:
Date: December 19, 1998
Location: Internet Cafe
Accomplished:

• Met Catherine for the first time to determine if she could be interfaced.
• Catherine and the Center both had arm braces for Catherine.
• Setup a joystick for Catherine, but had no widgits for clicking.
• Joystick was clearly working for Catherine, so we set up another meeting with her.

Second Session:
Date: May 6, 1999
Location: Center
Accomplished:

• Taped joystick to Catherine's hand because she did not have her arm brace.
  
• Tested Catherine's motions to locate the best areas for a click.
• Found that dropping the back part of her right arm onto a click and lifting her right shoulder were the easiest motions for her.
  
• Catherine surfed the web for her first time! (She's a big fan of J. Crew!!)
  

Third Session:
Date: May 26, 1999
Location: Center
Accomplished:

• Continued to try to set up and fit Catherine to her joystick with her arm brace.
• Began trying to use new software and see what she was capable of.
• Continued to let Catherine surf the web to allow her to become more acquainted with the internet.

Fourth Session:
Date: June 22, 1999
Location: Center
Accomplished:

• First time for Catherine to use her own computer.
• Set up the joystick and realized that Catherine's rest position was not consistent.
• Chose 3 places where we could mount her switches because she had a new wheelchair since her previous visit.
  • New locations for the switches are next to her right arm, behind her head, and next to her head.

Fifth Session:
Date: July 20, 1999
Location: Center
Accomplished:

• Tried a new joystick that was upside-down.
• Designed a metal rod with a ring at the end to slip through her arm brace and place the joystick through this ring.
• Problems with the joystick:
  • Attached to Loc-Line and wasn't very stable.
  • Catherine had trouble with the motion of the joystick.
  • Cursor moved too quickly on screen. She prefers the cursor to move very slowly.
  • **Most important lesson--When testing a new joystick, test the original joystick also in order to determine which joystick is more effective.**
• New table designed for Catherine to mount her joystick on.
  • Need plastic for the bottom part of her arm brace so she won't get an abrasion.

For her next visit:

• Mount the joystick on the table with a stable mounting device.
• Modify the left-click switch that sits on Catherine's arm. Needs a way to fasten.
• Test another switch below her right elbow activated by dropping her elbow off the arm rest.
• Design bottom plastic part of Catherine's arm brace.
• Cover the table with Teflon to create a smoother surface.

Sixth Session:
Date: August 13, 1999
Location: Center
Accomplished:




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