AIM Academy 4^th graders had the opportunity to witness research in action with an assistive technology designed to help people suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) communicate last week as a unique kick off to their Revolutionaries Unit.

Thanks to a grade level parent who assists a researcher at Penn State Health's Hershey Medical Center, students spoke live with an ALS researcher via the SmartBoard and watched as a parent volunteer wearing a specialized cap monitoring his brain waves sought to control a keyboard screen with his brain.

This revolutionary technology, called Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), and the device being designed and studied by Dr. Andrew Geronimo aims to help people with ALS who no longer have any muscle control (including eye movement) communicate by controlling a computer to spell words using their brain.

The students eagerly watched as the parent volunteer concentrated on a screen containing the alphabet and a word to try and spell. On the screen, the image of a face flashed over each letter of the alphabet a certain number of times in 15 seconds. The BCI cap measures brain wave activity and looks for a unique peak in activity when the volunteer sees the letter he is thinking about flash 10 times.

Dr. Geronimo, who works in the ALS Clinic and Research Center at Hershey Medical Center, described the computer program he has designed to track letters and brain activity to students as being like reading a Where's Waldo book. When you look at the popular Where's Waldo books your brain scans lots of faces and when it finally finds Waldo in his signature striped shirt, hat and glasses there is an "aha" moment, he explained. It is exactly this "aha moment" that the BCI cap seeks to measure in a unique peak of brain wave activity when seeking to spell words for ALS patients.

Students were wowed by the presentation and motivated by the power of research, dedication, and ability to transform the future technologies for people with disabilities.

"Our Revolutionaries Unit focuses on revolutionary ideas, people and thinking," explained 4^th Grade Teacher Eryn Doroshow. ""This opportunity for children to witness the endless, continuously transforming possibilities of assistive technology was fantastic."