Meet Jimmy

(Special thanks to Kathy Beatty, MA, CCC-SLP, for writing & submitting Jimmy's story!)

Jimmy is a 17 year old student that attends Murray Ridge School for MRDD students. He has severe oral apraxia and whole body apraxia with a tremor component. He is nonverbal, communicating in a few single words, pointing,  and gross signs. Jimmy’s language comprehension skills are quite good. He is one of our “helper” students, being able to follow directions and work diligently.

Jimmy is volunteering out in the community at Second Harvest, a local food bank. He has made many friends there, but cannot communicate more than greetings. Jimmy is an extremely social, friendly young man. He relishes meeting new people and interacting with friends and staff.

Jimmy’s district of residence is in financial distress. We were unable to obtain funding for an AAC device from either his local school district or his family’s insurance. Jimmy was quite upset when many of his friends obtained AAC devices and he could not have one of his own. This was made especially clear when we had a school play and Jimmy had to borrow a device in order to say his lines. He was very reluctant to part with the AAC device as he had experienced such success with it.

Now, thanks to the efforts of the Murray Ridge School staff and Dan Lipka, Jimmy now has his own LEO. He is absolutely thrilled with his LEO. Jimmy is now a member of our school’s Morning Announcement Team. He especially enjoys announcing the social events coming up. He also is a member of my Boys’ AAC Group. All of the boys use AAC devices to play games, tell jokes, and tease each other. It is a riot hearing Jimmy tell the other boys to: “Relax, take a chill pill” or to talk about the food in the lunchroom: “Yuk, that was gross”.  Jimmy is practicing asking a girl to dance at our annual “Spring Fling”.  He is practicing: “Great!” or “That’s okay, no problem” depending upon the girls response.

In other words, Jimmy is getting a chance to communicate just like any other boy his age for the first time in his life. It is amazing to be a part of.