Ruben uses TouchChat for Inclusion

Ruben is a very happy and enthusiastic young man who loves stories and enjoys being amongst his peers.  His determination and eagerness to learn has increased his stamina in a Grade 7 classroom.  Ruben is well loved by his peers but, due to his non-verbal challenges, he sometimes finds meaningful connections with peers difficult.  However, with the introduction of TouchChat, a dynamic display speech generating device, Ruben is able to participate more in daily classroom activities/routines and is having meaningful interactions with his classmates. Ruben participated in a very special inclusion lesson with his peers, where he was able to delegate play and call his classmates to participate using his TouchChat.  His classmates were then dictated by Reuben, using the All-Turn-It spinner, to re-enact scenes from a story the class read together. Ruben’s face lit up when he was able to communicate with his peers. This was a truly special lesson.  Ruben’s classmates heard his voice loud and clear and were able to see him engage in a lesson with them.  The students and Rueben’s classroom teacher were interviewed and reflected about the power of inclusion and how they felt seeing Ruben participate more using TouchChat in their classroom learning.