CHAT Blog
Imagine you are bursting with thoughts, emotions, opinions and every other kind of idea that most people communicate via their voices, but you can’t. That describes the first ten years of Graham Tresness’s life. He is a typical pre-teen, only he can’t talk because his cerebral palsy limits his muscle control. The Tresnesses spent 10 years trying to find a way for their son to communicate. He now has a device made by Tobii that allows him to use his eyes to write messages and then speaks for him. After the Tresnesses found a way for their son to communicate, they wanted to share their knowledge and experience with as many people as possible. The Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) has partnered with Barb Tresness, Graham’s mother, and Beth Tollar, a trained speech and language pathologist who specializes in augmentative communication, to develop an awesome new program called Communication Hope through Assistive Technology (CHAT). Encompassing a variety of activities, CHAT's main goal is to help children and young adults who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate better and help their community see AAC as an accepted way of communicating. For more information about AAC, see Augmentative and Alternative Communication, a blog post by Kate Battoe.
CHAT means Communication Hope though Assistive Technology. It is for kids who can’t use their mouth to talk, so they use communication devices. CHAT is at SU. We play fun games, talk to each other, and tell jokes.
I love going to CHAT because I know we are going to have fun playing games like bowling, Uno, mastermind, bingo, Yahtzee, and even paint a little. CHAT is also cool because we use the small room when there is only one other person, and use the big room if there is going to be more than one person. This summer we are going to use the big room for a summer camp.
At my elementary school, I didn’t know anyone that had a communication device. I bet most of the kids who have communication devices don’t know anyone else like them. That’s why we have CHAT so they can meet each other.