Thursday, April 16, 2009

Device Decisions

We had a very productive and overwhelming meeting with the device people on Tuesday afternoon. Present at the meeting were the following:

  • Brady's Teacher
  • 2 Classroom aids
  • School Occupational Therapist
  • School Speech Therapist
  • Home Speech Therapist
  • District Speech Therapist (specializing in devices)
  • Southwest Human Development Speech Therapist (the state's contractor for device evaluations)
  • Southwest Human Development Occupational Therapist

Do you think we have enough support? They brought several different devices to demo and they wanted to observe Brady using the different models to determine which was most appropriate for his needs and abilities. Brady was fairly cooperative and wow'd them with his love of buttons. At one point, one of the reps was covering a few buttons at the top of the device and Brady was trying to shove her hands out of the way. He wanted sole control! The great thing is that we know he will want to use one. The challenging thing will be getting him to use the device for communication and not as a toy.

It's not yet official but Brady will likely be approved for the Prentke Romich Vantage Lite.

This is a huge, huge deal! It is known as one of the most cutting edge and complex devices on the market. Brady will be able to use the same device all the way through high school as it facilitates reading and writing. For now we can program it to be more simple. The reason approval for this device is so huge is that, in most states or school districts, it's extremely difficult to get approval for something so complex and expensive. We also have to have support at the school level because somebody has to train everyone at school how to use it. Luckily our district supports this particular device and Brady's home speech therapist has experience with it as well. Did I mention Brady's new device will cost more than my car is worth? We are very fortunate that we don't have to fund this ourselves as many other parents do in order to get the best device for their child.

It's going to be a lot of work learning the software and how to program and back up everything on a regular basis. Even more work will be encouraging Brady to use the device in an appropriate manner. I'm going to find ways to cut back at work because I want to put everything we've got into this. I want to give this boy every opportunity to finally have a voice.


9 comments:

Nate said...

Kajsa, that's great! I know Brady's got a lot to say. It'll be exciting to have something that will help so much with communication. Although it is pretty scary that it costs as much as a car! Must be some great device!

Unknown said...

Yay! What great news. I can't wait to see and hear Brady with this device. Keep us posted on his progress with it.

Anonymous said...

I think you will be even more encouraged about this device once you read about another blogger whose daughter uses this device. http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/

Annalyn said...

I can't believe how blessed you are to have such amazing tools and people to help! That is so amazing!

{jane} said...

that is awesome! how amazing and beautiful is technology. love it. It keeps me connected to you guys and now it's going to better Brady's life. so beautiful.

Brady is the most handsome little man, I also love the picture of him on your sidebar getting into the dishwasher!

jenn said...

So much support for you, Troy and Brady! I love that there is a "team" of people rallying behind your sweet boy. It's awesome!

That is wonderful news about the communication device. I can't wait to hear more about Brady and his progress with it!

Angie said...

That is wonderful news! I hope Brady gets this device and I can't wait to hear about it. Good to see that everyone is well and I enjoyed reading your new posts. Take care!

Heidi said...

Hey I'm sorry for crashing your blog - I'm hoping you can provide me with your home address. Troy was our son's baseball coach at Timpview HS. Ben wants to send him a graduation announcement. You can send it to Ben's email baseballslife@msn.com

Thanks,
Heidi Daniel

jenn said...

Okay, just checking in. How are you three? Hopefully great! :)

I am noticing that your seizure-free counter is almost at the one year mark. I can't believe it! That is so awesome. You must be so happy.

How is everything else? Are you coming to visit sometime this summer. We would, of course, love to see you. Take care and I hope it's not too hot there yet!