Success Stories

Leah: The Power Of FUN

Leah came to my school in Fall 2020 as a 6th grader. She had a communication device with LAMP Words for Life® but did not like to use it. She would push it away or put it face down on the table. Because of her dislike for the device, I decided to go back to the basics of FUN. We started playing games and being silly...

Jonathan: A LAMP Words For Life Powerhouse

As told by Karla Strite, Special Education Teacher-Life Skills Support Jonathan came to my class in the fall of 2018 at the age of 12. While he had a VOD that was rather simplistic, it had obviously met his needs up to this point; however, he often had to be prompted to use it. The next school year (19-20), I started...

Kaylin: Making Magic On Her Own

Kaylin is like many 8 year-olds: Favorite color? Purple. Musical artist? Ed Sheeran. Movie? Beauty and the Beast (the live action, of course – not the cartoon!). But what sets Kaylin apart is that before this year, she wouldn't have been able to tell you any of these things. Kaylin has cerebral palsy, and along with...

How My Daughter Speaks

The Story of How My Nonverbal Child Learned to Communicate By Emily Renee Barton As a mom to a child who is nonverbal, I've felt so heavy for what life was supposed to be like. When I pictured having a baby, I pictured a typical developing child. I anticipated hearing "mama" as her first word and melting at the sound of...

Gus: Learning At Lightning Speed!

It was when Gus was a 1 year-old that we realized he was behind on several milestones, including speech. As I had with my other sons, I started signing with him at around 4 months. He had never signed back at this point, but I did think that he understood a few signs. When he was about 1.5 I tried introducing him to...

Eloise: Growing In Communication

When she first arrived at ACCESS Early Childhood, at almost 2 years of age Eloise wasn't communicating. It didn't take long for her first speech therapist, Kasie Birdwell, to take stock. "When Eloise first came to ACCESS it took a few weeks of getting to know her before it became apparent to me that her speech wasn't just...