Meet Milo, a robot designed to be interesting and approachable for learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The Natchitoches Parish School Board learned that the parents of a family who has students in the system offered to provide this cutting edge technology for students with disabilities, especially students with ASD.
The parents will provide three robots for the system for 3 years at the cost of approximately $18,000 per robot. They are giving the school district the discretion of placing them wherever they can be of most benefit to the students. At the end of the 3 years the district will then decide whether it will take over the costs or discontinue the program.
Milo consistently delivers lessons in a way that learners with ASD respond to. This recurring positive experience creates an environment in which learners can learn and thrive. The Robots4Autism program that Milo uses helps learners improve their social and behavioral skills and gain the confidence they need to succeed academically and socially.
Using the Robots4Autism program, individuals with ASD learn to:
• Tune in on emotions
• Express empathy
• Act more appropriately in social situations
• Self-motivate
• Generalize in the population
The district is currently working with the Milo vendor and its own attorneys to cover all the bases to put a bid together.
The district also has an opportunity to enter into a third party agreement with Louisiana Rehabilitation Services to secure staff to provide transition services to students with disabilities. The services they will provide aren’t the typical services the district provides in the ordinary course of business, but are new services that have a vocational rehabilitation focus.
Through this agreement the school system will be able to secure two individuals:
A transition counselor
A transition specialist
These two individuals will work in tandem with the district personnel, community-based agencies and community business members to provide both schools and work based learning sites. Another rehab program will pay the selected students up to $8 per hour for work experiences. Additionally, they will provide the services that are directly related to assisting Louisiana Rehabilitation Services eligible and potentially eligible students with various disabilities as an early start at job exploration.
Their job focus will be to provide pre-employment transition services, which includes job exploration counseling, workplace readiness training, work based learning experiences, counseling on opportunities for enrollment in comprehensive transition or postsecondary educational programs at institutions of higher education, and instruction in self-advocacy.
The district will be required to pay 21.37& of the project cost through documentation certified expenditures of staff providing direct services, salaries and wages. General state or local funds (non-federal) will be the funding source for the district’s portion of these funds.
No decision has been made on this matter, but the district is looking into it further.
Wesley Lindamood and Lakeview Highschool two students there that would do great with this robot would be great for them.