There once was a young man named Sam,
Whose speech was like that of a clam,
So we got him a box,
With the name, Dynavox,
Now he’s a conversational Grand Slam!

I have been working with a SLP in our district to get a Dynavox for one of our high school students, and it finally came in last week. Sam had been using a laptop with Boardmaker Plus as a communication device while we waited for his device to come in. He is very proficient at locating vocabulary, expressing his needs, and had even begun to create his own boards. He is still working on creating longer sentences, staying on topic, and some of the finer points of conversation. I made a home visit to get the device set up and found that the family had already done a good job of setting up the device, but that the device had not shipped with Speaking Dynamically Pro. We made some initial changes and I gave them a brief rundown of the InterAACT software, but we decided to go ahead and try to get the device unlocked and put SDPro on the device as he was already well versed in its use, but to also try to use the existing software. I did a second home visit today to let them know that the unlock code was on the way and to try to merge his old boards while we were waiting. Sam brought the Dynavox out, and proudly showed me two new boards that he had programmed on his own based on printouts and manual boards from his old system! He used the “my picture” templates built in which we had briefly discussed on my first visit to make boards for his job at the aquarium! Can I just tell you I had goose bumps, I was teary, I was so excited that the family now thinks I am a total nut job! It had to be one of the most amazing moments in my career!
Just wanted to share!
eileen