The Clipboard Club was created in August 2023 to allow switch users to access customised ‘interfaces’ (Clipboards) which feature motivating content.
Clipboard uses links to YouTube videos. This means that the content can be completely customised to the switch users’ preferences, whether it’s something musical, a tv programme, film clips, stories or something completely different!
How does it work?
- Bespoke interfaces (‘clipboards’) can be created for switch users to interact with. These interfaces are made up of one or more blocks, which contain YouTube videos.
- Clipboards can contain: 1 block, for cause and effect; 2 blocks, for learning that 2 switches can do different things; or up to 6 blocks, and with multiple layers, for choice making.
Goals for Clipboard
Our main goals for Clipboard when we began building the software were:
For the switch users:
- To improve the educational and leisure opportunities of switch users
- To be able to provide motivating and engaging software which is client-led
- The improve the range of computer access options for switch users
- To minimise the number of technical difficulties experienced in switch work sessions
- To reduce the amount of time young people have to wait for new material to be provided
For the OT staff:
- To improve the efficiency, confidence and job satisfaction of the clinical team through minimising the number of technical issues and complex systems
- To enable staff to focus their time on the young person they are working with by automating and digitising some systems.
- To build a rapport with the switch user by exploring and learning about their preferences and personalities
What has Clipboard Achieved?
So far, we have kept Clipboard a local resource while we pilot it. However, we do currently have a few different organisations who are using and trialling it.
In one of these organisations, there are 100 profiles, 56 users and have run over 2800 switch work sessions between September 2023 and September 2024.
In these sessions, there has been a marked increase in the levels of motivation and engagement from the switch users who have worked hard to use their switches to develop their understanding of cause and effect or choice making.
Staff have been able to be more independent in switch work sessions rather than relying on OT assistants or IT experts for support. They have been able to quickly change the options available on Clipboards making the content relevant to the switch users preferences on any given day.
Staff who had previously shied away from switch work due to the complexity of software and technical difficulties experienced have been using Clipboard confidently in their OT sessions.
Some aspects of the OT/OTA role have been automated/digitised which has saved significant amounts of time and enabled staff to focus their attention on the young people they are working with.