The touch-screen computer offers a communication tool for those with autism and others who can't speak.
ERIN ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:00 am
Holly Bailey dreamed of the day her son Kyle would say the words "I love you."
So when therapists recommended Kyle use a touch-screen computer to communicate, his mother was heartbroken.
She feared Kyle, who has autism, would never learn to speak. That instead, he would rely on the computer to talk for him.
But in the year since Kyle, 9, started using the DynaVox communication system, he is saying more than he ever has before - not only through the portable computer, but with his voice. What were once indecipherable whispers are clearly enunciated words and phrases.
"It takes the pressure off," speech therapist Shana Merrihew said of the DynaVox. Merrihew works with Kyle at the Children's Rehab Center in Grand Island.
The machine helps find the words that people need to express themselves.
And it quashes assumptions that people like Kyle, who cannot talk and interact in traditional ways, lack intelligence and capability.
"A lot of people see the individual and think they don't have to the ability to do much because of their behavior," said Cathy Martinez, mother of 6-year-old Jake, who has autism.
With the help of the DynaVox, Kyle, Jake and thousands of other people with disabilities are proving otherwise.
About eight in every 1,000 people in the U.S. cannot use speech as their primary means of communication, according to DynaVox Mayer-Johnson, the company that makes the assistive and alternative communication system. Typically, people with severe speech and language problems will rely on other behaviors to communicate - facial expressions, gestures, writing and drawing.
But for kids like Kyle and Jake, where the developmental and neurological disability prevents them from adapting to other common forms of communication, the result is an isolating and frustrating world where even the basic needs - I have to go to the bathroom. I am hungry. My tummy hurts. I am scared. - are lost in translation.
Using a system of pictures, DynaVox users display their thoughts, and the portable machine will say the words in a choice of languages and voices. The high-tech versatile machine can track eye movement, respond to puffs of air, interface with the Internet and serve as a universal remote for the TV, stereo and lights. It also has a keyboard and number pad, allowing users to personalize responses and answer math problems.
Jake received his DynaVox earlier this spring at the recommendation of therapists.
For nearly three years, Cathy and Cesar Martinez of Lincoln have paid out of pocket for specially trained Applied Behavioral Analysis therapists and students to work with Jake, in hopes of teaching him how to talk and interact with others.
Despite their unwavering, financially depleting efforts, Jake remains "nonverbal," his mother says.
The DynaVox gives him a voice, she said.
Jake already is mastering the basic communication skills.
Not only can he tell his mom he is hungry, he now can tell her what he wants by touching the appropriate picture on the screen. Martinez recalls how a simple run through the drive-through was always a guess as to what Jake wanted to eat. Now he is clear: He wants a hamburger, fries and ice cream.
And Jake is quick to correct himself if he accidentally touches the wrong picture on the DynaVox. He also makes it abundantly clear if his mother is mistaken. Martinez chuckles recalling she tried to pull a fast one when she couldn't find the video Jake had requested. But she couldn't fool Jake, who repeatedly touched the same image of the video cover over and over.
For the Bailey family, the DynaVox has not only opened doors for Kyle, but helped his parents, Holly and Shawn, and his sisters, Allison and Ashley, better understand the boy trapped inside an autistic shell.
They realized Kyle was not being lazy or difficult, and that his meltdowns were often triggered by the sheer frustration of letting people know what he wants.
"He can't pull up the words sometimes," said Merrihew, his speech therapist. "It's like he doesn't know how to get started."
The DynaVox can give him that first word.
"And the whole sentence will follow," she said.
Bailey recalled a recent example. Instead of saying "I'm hungry," Kyle told his mom, "I want chicken."
"He didn't have the word, so he was guessing," Bailey said.
Using the DynaVox he was able to clarify what he wanted to eat - but he definitely didn't want chicken.
"It's opened the door to him. He's not getting so frustrated. Instead of taking our hand and showing us something, it gives him that word," Bailey said.
"It's not so much of a guessing game," she said of family life.
It also allows him to have meaningful exchanges with people. Family pictures have been downloaded to the device. Ask Kyle about his family, and he will pull up pictures of him with his mom, dad and sister. He will show you his home in Henderson. He will show you pictures of things he likes to do.
Through the DynaVox, Kyle's personality has emerged.
"He's more animated," Merrihew said. "He likes to be silly."
"He's really funny," Bailey added.
"Every day we learn something we didn't know he knew," Bailey said. "We're just trying to get it out."
Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.