Genevieve's Story
Genevieve attends Courtenay Middle School in the Comox Valley. She loves music and has a mischievous sense of humour. Right from the start of her school career, Genevieve has used technology extensively - to help her communicate with friends and teachers, to read, write, and participate in such class activities as readers' theatre. Genevieve recently used her Vanguard and her laptop to write the following:
"At the end of grade three I got my Vanguard. It was really exciting. It helps me talk and helps me write on my laptop. I cheer up my friend when she is sad. My Vanguard is awesome!"
While she was still attending Miracle Beach Elementary School, Genevieve wrote two poems to describe how she feels about her Vanguard.
Vanguard
Cool device
Switching, scanning, talking
Works in the classroom
Wonderful
One of my favourite places is school.
I get to use my Vanguard.
It makes me happy.
Where else, I say, can talking make all the difference in the world?
In order to use her Vanguard, Genevieve has had to learn a special language called Minspeak. Genevieve’s school based team has consisted of Sue Lang, the district speech language pathologist, Paul Hamilton, the district resource teacher, Karen West, the classroom teacher, Lois Turner, the SET-BC consultant, and Heather Campbell, the teaching assistant.
Mrs. Campbell has worked with Genevieve to help her learn Minspeak. Genevieve has been quick to learn Minspeak, but Mrs. Campbell has made it fun. She has created a series of special games and activities just for Genevieve. She has also invented some activities to help Genevieve’s friends and teachers learn a little Minspeak, too.
Many students in British Columbia will benefit from the team's "Minspeak" enthusiasm. SET-BC has partnered with Heather Campbell to reproduce the Minspeak board games and have them available for loan from the SET-BC Provincial Centre Resource Library by Fall 2004.