By Laura Townsend Kane As a lifelong introvert, I have diligently avoided encounters with strangers, and have often fought back mini panic attacks at the thought of “small talk” at parties or gatherings. Being open with strangers does not come naturally to me. Oddly, this is the case for all of my immediate family me...

_By Beth Ahmad, , M.A., CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist Regional Consultant, PRC The “Model, Model, Model” Mantra Here’s an all-too-familiar story… I met with a team of a student who uses an Accent 1000. This student has had the device for over a year now, but the team tells me, “He’s not interested in...

By Abigail Brown Sometimes when I get down about the things I can’t do on my own. Like having my very own car and be able to drive myself anywhere I want to go. Oh to have that independence, how I long for it. But I have come to the realization many times now that I’ll never probably have a car or even a drivers lice...

By Grant Ahner Adam is a good little brother. He is eight. He plays X BOX with me. We fight over the X BOX every week. He gets my Vantage Lite. He gets my iPad. Adam feeds me lunch. He likes to go fast on his four-wheeler. We go fast behind the greenhouse. Adam fixes my go-cart. He likes to shoot my M14 (it s...

By Keslie Levad Hello my name is Keslie. I am 18 years old. I use a PRC device. Imagine that you were the only person at your school with a communication device. Nobody else like you. How do you learn how to use a communication device? Where I grew up there was nobody else like me really. I grew up in a small little m...

By Sarah Wilds, M.S., CCC-SLP Last week I got the pleasure of meeting Liam, a bright-blue eyed 3 year old. Liam has severe apraxia and had been working for several months on imitation of vowels and consonants. His speech pathologist thought he might benefit from AAC and asked me to come work with the two of them to see...