A few months into my first grade, I got called into the principal’s office and my parents happened to be there. It looked like I was in big trouble. It was just the opposite. The principal excitedly announced that the school district was going to give me a communication board called DynaVox. As a little boy, I didn’t totally understand. Also I never realized that technology will change my life forever. Before that day, my parents often played the twenty yes and no questions game. Nobody likes that game, but it was the only way to be able to communicate. My parents did look into getting me a communication board when I was younger, but there were only two buttons: “yes” and “no”. Technology has advanced enough that I can use the keyboard and program my own phrases. Also be able to control the environment. 

The first few years I was using the side of my hands to type. Banging on my dynavox. Hitting big buttons. Typing two to four words per minute. In the third grade I discovered a new way to type. Quicker way. I wasn’t able to keep up on my school work with just pushing big buttons. I needed to go smaller. With the lack of communication, it took a while to convince mom that using my nose is the best way to move forward. Ever since fourth grade, I had been writing papers. I also custom built pages to edit my essays and give presentations. Typing five to eight words per minute. There was no way I would be able to do that with my flying hands. I made a chess page to tell people where to move my pieces. With accessit, I was able to control other windows computers. I built pages to move the mouse and push specific keys. It worked out great. 

In my opinion, Series 5 was the best software. It already has different kinds of phrases and I can easily add my own. Plus it had environmental controls without programming every button of the remote. That was really beneficial. Several years ago, DynaVox and Tobii companies joined together. They were two big competitors. Since then, they have changed all of their products and softwares. Five years ago, I did a month-long trial of their newest device with the eyegaze. It was an epic failure. I couldn’t custom pages which is a big deal. I am a tall man, so the computer had to be right in front of my face. I could not see where I was driving. Also we had to take it off and on when going on car drives. That took away my independence. However, the eyegaze has improved over the years. I kept trying the eye technology multiple times. It wasn’t able to keep up with my head movements. The new one was better, but it didn’t work out for me. Dynavox has the best tech support system. 

I am eternity grateful for all of the communication devices and the capabilities! I owed my life to the school district!