Speech-language pathologist Debbie Witkowski had warned me that Kamryn Lambert might slap things when she got frustrated. So as I pulled up to the Lambert home in the countryside outside of Washington, Pennsylvania, for my photo session with Kamryn and her twin sister, Kyara, I tried to recall what Witkowski had told me was the best way to approach these teenaged girls\u2014both of whom were on the autism spectrum and had a congenital condition called periventricular leukomalacia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey both love music,\u201d she\u2019d said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure enough, Kamryn was humming to herself when I walked in. It was a familiar tune I tried to remember as I introduced myself to both girls, their grandma, and a home health worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2018On Top of Old Smokey\u2019?\u201d I asked Kamryn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She kept humming, so I joined in, and added the words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she was getting agitated\u2014probably by my singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre those not the words?\u201d I asked. \u201c\u2018On Top of Old Smokey?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kamryn slapped the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan you tell him how you are feeling?\u201d Her grandma asked, moving Kamryn\u2019s hand to the speech-generating device (SGD) with Minspeak\u00ae software. Kamryn pressed a few keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrustrated,\u201d said a voice from the device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I said. \u201cIs there anything I can do to make that better?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kamryn went back to singing. I joined in. But I could see the frustration coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is \u2018On Top of Old Smokey,\u2019 right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTell him,\u201d Grandma said. Kamryn pressed a few more keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpaghetti,\u201d Kamryn said. And we all laughed. Kamryn hummed as I added the words and Grandma came in on the third line: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of spaghetti <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All covered with cheese <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I lost my poor meatball <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When somebody sneezed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Kamryn went to another tune, and I added the words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re happy and you know it <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clap your hands<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kamryn clapped. And we were good for the rest of the afternoon and a one-hour photoshoot in the girls\u2019 \u201changout.\u201d It\u2019s surprising how just a couple of well-chosen words can help two people understand one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it was a lesson <\/strong>I first learned in 2004 when I covered the Pittsburgh Employment Conference for Augmented Communicators to write about SGDs that use the Minspeak language system invented by Bruce Baker \u201965. Based on the Wabash classics major\u2019s study of Mayan hieroglyphics, Minspeak gives those with autism, cerebral palsy, ALS, stroke complications, or head injuries a better way to communicate. Instead of spelling out entire words, which can take minutes, people using Minspeak\u2019s UNITY\u00ae system choose from a number of pictures (icons) on a keypad, combining them to make a word, phrase, or sentence that is \u201cspoken\u201d by the device. For example, Kamryn was able to tell me with three keystrokes that she was frustrated. Once clients learn the icon-driven system, they can communicate more quickly and expressively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Baker hosted more than 100 users and their families at that conference, but none of them were on the autism spectrum. Witkowski says that\u2019s the biggest change she has seen in the past 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf the clients I work with, I\u2019d say more than 80 percent are on the autism spectrum,\u201d she explains. Determining whether someone with autism can benefit from a Minspeak system requires careful discernment. When Witkowski first began working with Kamryn and Kyara, another specialist said only one of the girls was capable of using UNITY. Through a series of tests, Witkowski realized that both would benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe should never rule anyone out,\u201d she says, remembering how the girl who was nearly dismissed was, months later, the first to ask Witkowski how her dog was doing after it had surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe went from a person who could only ask for music to someone who is remembering and asking a question about something that is happening in her speech pathologist\u2019s life. By giving her language, we were able give her a voice to express her thoughts and personality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s as if a veil is lifted\u2014a mask. That\u2019s what Bruce Baker\u2019s creation, and the work of speech pathologists like Witkowski, does. It unmasks us. Hearing Kamryn or Kyara, you connect, you see them differently. And they unmasked me that day. In 25 years in this job, I\u2019ve never before sung with someone I\u2019ve interviewed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kamryn and Kyara\u2019s grandma says it\u2019s been amazing to hear her granddaughters speak. A moment made possible, in part, by a Wabash classics major who thought people with communication disabilities deserved a system, a language, that would allow them to express themselves in words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trilingual<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Minspeak has found another group of users the past few years: kids with complex communication needs who come from Spanish-speaking households. Using Minspeak\u2019s bilingual UNIDAD\u00ae software, these kids can become a bridge between two worlds: their Spanish-speaking home and their English-speaking school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bilingual speech-language pathologist Ellyn McNamara tells the story of Marisol, whose parents speak only Spanish. \u201cMarisol loves her parents very much, but she had never been able to tell them with words in either English or Spanish because of her communication impairment,\u201d McNamara says. \u201cDuring her trial period with UNIDAD, Marisol was drawn to the \u2018family\/familia key\u2019 and quickly selected \u2018amo papa\/I love dad.\u2019 Marisol was not only able to tell her dad how much he means to her for the first time, but she did so in their shared language.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Speech-language pathologist Debbie Witkowski had warned me that Kamryn Lambert might slap things when she got frustrated. 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