Aizlyn's Student Success Story
At the tender age of 7, Aizlyn has already outgrown a BigMac, an Alphatalker, and a desktop Macintosh. She now uses a Macintosh powerbook with Speaking Dynamically Pro mounted on her power wheelchair and accessed with a Penny & Giles Joystick. She also uses Simon Spells, Access to Math, and Kid Pix with Discover Screen for illustrated writing activities.
Aizlyn has an understandable yes and no, but she relies extensively on technology for most of her communication. She masters new technology quickly, is highly motivated to speak through her technology, and insists on precision in communication. She is able to participate in many classroom activities and is learning literacy and math skills. She is well-liked by her classmates and attends many birthday parties outside school.
SET-BC's help has been a key part in the success of Aizlyn's program. The computer and communication system has been provided by SET-BC and they continue to provide extensive support in developing Aizlyn's program and troubleshooting the inevitable technology glitches. The school district has also been supportive in providing extra hours for the teaching assistant to prepare many custom Speaking Dynamically Pro boards for Aizlyn.
The constant change required to keep pace with Aizlyn's needs can be stressful. However, Aizlyn's school based team is continually reinspired by her progress. Aizlyn's team includes a social worker, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, integration support teacher, speech language pathologist, teaching assistant, school administrator, her birth parents and her foster parents. The team tries to make decisions together because everyone agrees on the importance of being unified.
No grass grows under this team! The new powerbook and mounting system were couriered to the school one Thursday morning, and when the SET-BC coordinator phoned later Thursday afternoon to ask whether they needed assistance, the system had already been mounted on the wheelchair and Aizlyn was at MacDonalds ordering her lunch with Speaking Dynamically Pro.
Now thats implementation!