I have been teaching special education for 26 years with Biloxi Schools. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted to teach children with special needs and I have always found such joy with these children. It is the most rewarding and challenging job that you can imagine. I have taught in all areas but mostly in the Other Health Impaired Program. Over the last 9 or 10 years I have focused mainly on communication needs. I began working with Assistive Technology and Augmentative Communication when a darling little Rett Angel (Rett Syndrome) named Mary Beth entered my classroom. There were so many things that she needed and so many things that she had to express but she was extremely limited in what she could do. She is nonverbal and has limited use of her hands, but she was ready to learn and ready to communicate. She has the loudest eyes that anyone has ever heard and it did not take long for us to begin talking/communicating and 10 years later we are still at it. Through her I discovered that the items I developed for her worked really well for all of my other students; so, in a way, I feel like she has taught me even more than I have taught her.
In the fall of 2004, Mary Beth was scheduled to have spinal fusion surgery and her parents were very concerned about how to explain it to her and even more concerned about her ability to let them know when she was in pain. So I began to plan lessons that would teach her about the surgery through role playing. Out of this lesson, I created the Adapted Pain Chart and Kit for her to use at the hospital and when she came home; she did so well with it that we continue to use it today. We added new things as they come up and that led to the creation of most of the other kits that are now on the product pages. I have used all of these kits with my students first so that I know that they can facilitate communication. Most of the kits involve medical situations because there is a great need for nonverbal communicators to be able to let someone know when they are in pain and where the pain is and it is vital that the medical staff be able to understand them as well so that they can provide the best possible care. There is also a kit for independent choice making and one that starts with the simple basics of communication so that the youngest to the oldest communicator can learn.
