Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life -- Emma Thompson

We just finished the application for a grant to get one of my speech students a communication device that will give him a voice for the first time in his life. He is in 7th grade, has multiple disabilities, and is, for all intensive purposes, nonverbal. I have only been working with him since August and have been completely amazed by him.

At the beginning of the school year, I poured over his history and his seeming lack of progress in speech. I was saddened and stumped as to what I should do for him. After working with him for a couple of sessions, I was convinced it was really time to dismiss him. There wasn't a lot more I thought I could do for him. And then one morning, I was talking to him and I made him laugh. It was like I had found a key to his mind and unlocked it. He started working for me and making choices that showed me he really understood what I was saying. It was awesome!

As he, and the year, progressed I considered what our next step should be. He needed a way to communicate to his mother, teachers, and classmates. I had seen a lot of communication devices and really wanted one of these for him. We had his Mother come and see a demo for the Tobii C8. She really loved it and so we had him try it out. He picked up on the concept so quickly and just ran with it. It literally brought tears to my eyes (and his Mom's!!).

The Tobii is similar to most other devices that you can get for a person with limited verbal capabilities. In a nutshell, the person controlling the device chooses what he/she wants to say by typing, or choosing pictures, and the Tobii speaks for that person. You can access this device in a lot of ways, by using the touch screen, a switch (sort of like a mouse), or using eye gaze. Since my student has very little controlled movement, he will be using the eye gaze system. The Tobii will calibrate to his eyes and then by just dwelling on a picture on the screen for 1 sec, or so, he will be able to speak!

I only pray that, one, the grant is approved and, two, that I have the ability to really teach him to communicate effectively with the Tobii when it arrives. God Bless Technology!!