We began with a parent’s vision of an inclusive community for families with and without disabilities. The hope was to use technology, particularly computers, to include individuals with special needs and their typically developing peers into one classroom environment. In 2001 a fully inclusive Hope Technology School was established. Now in our tenth year, serving over 120 students, Hope Technology School has become a preschool-through-eighth-grade program including an onsite, NPA-certified Therapy Department, Vocational Education Program, and Assistive Technology (AT) Lab in Palo Alto, California. Our school includes students who are typically developing as well as students with special needs such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, dyslexia, and other learning differences.
We innovate because we believe every student has a voice that should be heard. One young man who has autism and is nonverbal described being trapped inside his body. When he learned to use technology to express himself, he felt like a bird freed from a cage because he had found a voice. At Hope Technology School’s AT Lab, we’ve seen individuals from ages four through twenty-five communicate using technology tools and find their voices. Our vision is to inspire others to believe that, although a person with autism may have difficulty expressing himself, he has a voice, and technology can help unlock it. With this belief, parents, teachers, and therapists can innovate ways to connect with those who have autism using readily accessible technology tools.
This vision, along with devoted parents and volunteers across a range of professional fields, inspired Hewlett-Packard to invest in the Hacking Autism Initiative. We hope that many people who have autism will benefit from this work.
This manual is the culmination of a decade of hard work by a team of therapists, teachers, and parents, as well as a record of ongoing development, innovation, and collaboration. We are constantly exploring new opportunities and evolving in our approach, so we will continue to update this manual as we grow. Our hope is that it will be used to assist individuals and families to communicate, discover new methods of learning, and inspire people to help those who have autism find their voices.
