Device Promotes Communication with Autistic Students

Imagine how hard it would be to live in our world without being able to speak and use words to express yourself. Imagine not being old enough to read or write words to communicate with others. Now imagine a tool that would help you tell others how you feel and what you want. Imagine the world suddenly opening up for you.

Last fall Eldridge Park Elementary School purchased such a tool for their full-day preschool program for autistic children. It is called the Proxtalker.

Teddy and Brendan are twins who are among the Eldridge Park students who benefit from this $2,495 tool.

The Proxtalker is a moveable picture communication device that actually speaks and is also fully portable. It comes programmed with 80 words – the ones identified as the first 80 words most people tend to learn first. It is also fully programmable allowing up to about 10,000 other words to be added. These words are on cards that work on a radio frequency when attached to the machine.

Preschool teacher Michele Charache and speech therapist Madelyn McGuire recently demonstrated the machine along with Teddy and Brendan. They use the machine to stimulate oral communication with Teddy – in other words, to help him speak. With Brendan, though, the Proxtalker is used to replace oral communication.

It is also used in group settings to enhance communication between the boys and their classmates.

Charache said, “There is a huge range of things we can do with it.” They use it to help teach the weather, colors, days of the week, etc. McGuire raves about it because, she said, it is a tool that can “grow with them.”

According to McGuire, the class uses a “total communication approach.” The Proxtalker is used alongside sign language and an iPad. What makes the Proxtalker different from the iPad is that it uses gross motor skills, such as using the whole hand instead of just a finger, which is very age-appropriate for 4-year-olds.

Upon seeing how much the Proxtalker was helping the students, a grant request for $8,744 was made to the Lawrence Township Education Foundation for three more Proxtalker units: two for classes with autistic students at Ben Franklin Elementary School and another one to use at Eldridge Park Elementary School. This way, one can travel with a student while the other remains in the classroom at all times.

 “Lawrence Township Education Foundation supports the district goals to provide 21st century learning for all students. Even our smallest and most fragile learners are touched by technology in amazing new ways,” said Pepper Evans, LTEF president. “We are very proud to have funded assistive devices in our preschool classrooms, giving the ability to communicate to our autistic and special needs preschoolers. It opens up exciting and unlimited possibilities for non verbal students!”

April Hagadorn, mom of Brendan and Teddy, said, “The machine is really helping. It's so nice to know what they're thinking. We're in the process of trying to get one for the house."