Technology Helps Johnny Binari to Communicate

In the Free Lance-Star, Martha Meyers explains that she uses assistive technology to help people with a disability to communicate. She uses low-tech solutions, such as a board with pictures of situations and people, as well as high-tech equipment, including laptop computers, in her quest to help people without speech to communicate.

Johnny Binari is 11 and he suffers from seizures. Low muscle tone requires him to use a wheelchair or lean against someone when he walks. Johnny Binari can communicate but only with the help of assistive technology (AT). “He has all the words in his head,” says Johnny’s mother, Janet. “But he can’t get them out.”

Johnny communicates with the Mayer-Johnson / GoTalk 4, a lightweight device about the size and shape of a clipboard that can record and play back sound with just a touch. It is divided into four sections, each offering a different choice of activities.Johnny is one of 2 million hearing people in the United States who have no usable speech, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

“He can’t talk, but he can point to what he wants to do for playtime, what he wants for dinner. Through AT, he can express when he is hungry or tired or feeling bad,” according to Meyers. With the help of donations and special funding programs Johnny now has part-time help from Meyers in the training and use of this AT devices.

Source: Fredericksburg / The Free Lance-Star