Give Cindy a Voice

Dear Donors, I am a special education teacher for 1st to 3rd grade severely handicapped students in the Oakland Unified School District. I write on behalf of one of my inspiring students, Cindy. Cindy is a tremendous kid. She has overcome so much and has done so with incredible grace. She was born with a twin sister when her mom was only 14 years old. Cindy has Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Her ability to speak is significantly impacted by the CP. For most of her life, Cindy has communicated with limited success using gestures, pointing and eye gaze. Over the last two years, she has worked for a voice output communication system that would give her a voice of her own. I met Cindy in the fall of 2003 on the first day of her second grade year. School had been a tumultuous journey for her. Cindy struggled for years with health problems that essentially kept her out of school her entire kindergarten and first grade years. She spent the majority of her second grade year back and forth to school as well. It is only this year, as a third grader, that Cindy has attended school on more days than she has missed. Cindy is very bright. She is patient, kind and she does not give up. I knew when I met her that Cindy was a perfect candidate for an Augmentative and Alternative Communication voice output system. Her receptive language far exceeds her ability to express her needs and desires. She wants to communicate and she has so much to contribute. In the fall of 2003, I asked the Oakland Unified School District's Assistive Technology team to evaluate Cindy. In that evaluation, Cindy was able to visually scan a field of 20 icons, each representing an object or action. She was able to answer questions by pointing to the icon that represented the answer. Everyone involved agreed that Cindy needed to start along the path toward a voice output communication system. We started with picture icons and a category based communication book in the classroom. We have spent the past two years building Cindy's category skills, semantics, sequencing, reading readiness and sentence building. This year, Cindy had the opportunity to borrow two voice output devices. She practiced at every opportunity. It was amazing to watch as Cindy's confidence and excitement increased each time she had the chance to speak. With the device, Cindy initiates conversation, she can indicate her name and phone number, talk about how she's feeling, the weather, what she did over the weekend and wants to do and what she wants for lunch. She can ask and answer questions, read a recipe, talk about her family and her favorite color and read an adapted book. The multidisciplinary team has determined that the Vantage made by Prentke Romich Company is the best fit for Cindy's communication needs. This system gives Cindy the potential to access a 40,000 word picture icon vocabulary in a push button format. It will allow her the ability to communicate fully with intent and purpose, use and understand novel language, maximize her access curriculum, and live a more independent life than would otherwise be possible. In this proposal, I am requesting on behalf of Cindy, a Vantage Plus, the shoulder strap, the carrying case, a battery recharger and a two-year maintenance guarantee. I have every confidence in Cindy. I want so much for her to be able to fully express her personality, develop relationships, and grow as a student and as an independent person. I believe this device will help her to do that. Thank you.