Mitobii technology

School life has never been easy for young cerebral palsy sufferer Ben Nutbrown.

Restricted to only minor hand movements, relatives and teachers never thought they’d see the day the bright eight-year-old could write out his school projects – but Ben has become one of the first in the country to make use of a revolutionary device which lets him write using his eyes.

The £15,000 “mytobii” device was snapped up by Penn Hall Special School, Wolverhampton, where Ben is a pupil.

There are only four of the devices currently in use in the UK. The computer works by using infra-red to track Ben’s eyes as he moves his head along a special keyboard which appears on screen.

Ben’s teacher Sarah Booth said: “We had looked into different devices for him to use and one of the members of our IT department went along to a special needs exhibition, saw this and contacted the company.

“We had a trial run for a month in the school and it was fantastic. It is an absolutely unbelievable piece of equipment.

“How we would usually use a mouse, Ben can do the same things by using his eyes. One of the things it does is bring up a keyboard on screen and if he looks at a certain letter it highlights it. If he keeps his gaze it will choose it so then he can write words.

“It has really helped to improve his studies. He is a really able student and although he was working at the same level as other pupils his physical disability has made it really difficult to record the work he’s done. Previously he would have needed an adult to write things for him or it would have taken him absolutely ages to do it himself.”

She added that Ben’s mum Rita was now hoping to raise enough cash to buy another device for the youngster to use at home.

“It would really help Ben to have another one of these at home to help,” she said.

“He will be doing GCSEs and maybe even A-levels one day and so this would really help him with everything he needs to do outside of school.”

Source - City Final

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