Intermountain West will soon have another AT lab

Future Idaho facility drew inspiration from UATP

BYU-I visitors examine a Liftware Level spoon in UATP's demonstration
and loan library.

A new assistive technology fabrication lab is slated to open in the Intermountain West—and it has drawn some inspiration from the Utah Assistive Technology Program.

“It’s one of the few AT labs in the country where they make custom made assistive technology,” said Dean Cloward, professor in Special Education at Brigham Young Univerisity-Idaho. “Idaho doesn’t do that.” 

BYU-Idaho now plans to launch its own fabrication lab to serve people in southeastern Idaho. The area has similar demographics to northern Utah, Cloward said, with similar needs in special education. Idaho families with a need for custom-made assistive technology have gone to Utah in the past.

Visitors from BYU-I have come to Utah State University’s UATP off and on for years, but on the most recent visit included faculty members interested in the launch of the Idaho lab. Its focus will be more on serving children, while the Utah lab serves people of all ages and abilities.

The BYU-I visit included a stop at the Smart Apartment in the Sorenson Legacy Foundation’s Center for Clinical Excellence. The apartment is stocked with high- and low-tech assistive devices. “We’ve seen most of those technologies, but not in one place, not where they’re all used in conjunction with eachother,” Cloward said. “It was interesting to see … how it could be used to assess someone with disabilities and see how they could interact with the technology.”

The Idaho lab is expected to open in Fall 2019.

Volunteer Mike Stokes demonstrates some low-tech grab bars.