By Christi C. Babbitt

Staff Writer

Through a donation from a Salt Lake City foundation, severely disabled students in Nebo School District now have an innovative new technology available to help them communicate.

The Opportunity Foundation of America donated two EagleEyes systems worth $1,200 each to Oakridge School in Springville on Monday.

EagleEyes is an eye-controlled technology through which the mouse pointer on a computer screen follows where the user is looking.

When a user's gaze lingers for a short time on one area of the screen, the technology interprets it as a mouse click.

Developed at Boston College in Massachusetts, EagleEyes allows people with severe disabilities to access a computer for recreational and educational uses.

They can express wants and ideas, draw and play video games. Through EagleEyes, various software products can be utilized and students can access the Internet.

Located on the campus of Springville High School, Oakridge School serves Nebo district's profoundly disabled students. Currently the school has 34 students ranging in age from 7 to 21.

"Communication is probably our single biggest challenge with these students," said Oakridge Principal Richard Kay. "The things we have seen with EagleEyes gives us hope that we can help our students access themselves and the outside world."

The Opportunity Foundation of America was established in 2000 by a group of Salt Lake City executives.

The foundation had a goal of helping people with severe disabilities move forward in life and was searching for a project when it learned of the EagleEyes technology, said Debbie Inkley, founder and executive director of OFOA.

The foundation has donated EagleEyes systems to several other schools and has plans to provide the technology to special needs schools throughout Utah and the United States.

"It is not a magic answer, but it is a means that allows people to move forward with their lives," Inkley said.

Maureen Gates, an instructor at Boston College Campus School and project director for EagleEyes, said electrodes are placed around a user's eyes to pick up the electricity it takes to move the eyes up and down or right and left. A computer program translates signals from the electrodes into the position of the mouse pointer on the screen.

At first, students play simple games using the technology. Then, as they become more proficient, they begin putting words together to make requests. Eventually they can move on to greater levels of education, although results will depend on a student's abilities.

Inkley said severely disabled students often don't have control over anything but their eyes. Sometimes they are unable to speak and can't use their hands.

"Many of these kids are intelligent, but we can't access their intelligence and that's what we're hoping EagleEyes can do," Inkley said.

Gates spent Monday and Tuesday at Oakridge training staff how to use EagleEyes. Oakridge will now serve as a training center for other schools that receive EagleEyes technology.