Page 9 - DSCBA - 2022 Impact Report

Thanks to your support, “I Can...”
New Program!
TESTIMONIAL: Speech Enrichment Pilot Program
“We’ve tried for years to get Sam to use an
AAC device. It can speak for him when he
can’t form the words. And he’s incredibly
proficient with it, but he doesn’t WANT to
use it. For years we’ve worked on motivat-
ing him to actually use it to communicate
rather than just using it to play around
and press buttons to make silly noises,
but he just hasn’t been interested.
But now we’re participating in a
Speech Enrichment Pilot through
DSCBA, and we’re seeing a secondary
speech therapist (via Zoom) who is
working with his primary speech ther-
apist to support his apraxia treatment
and AAC use. And this morning we
had a HUGE breakthrough—he willing-
ly used his talker to communicate with
his speech therapist! She was building
a pizza on the screen, and he was us-
ing the talker to tell her what to put on
it, even adding in polite words without
any prompting! “Pepperoni, please!
Extra bacon, please! More cheese,
please!” He used his talker to answer a
question, too.
I have been waiting TEN YEARS for him to
answer a question other than what he wants
to eat. He is SO PROUD of himself. And we
are so proud of him!”
- Cathleen Small, Sam’s Mom
2022 Donor Impact Report 9