Five-year-old Flintstone, Georgia resident, Daniel Eames, received a Vantage from PRC distributor Ben Satterfield of Dunamis, Inc.  Daniel is unable to speak because of a genetic disorder.

Daniel’s mother says, “Daniel is very computer savvy. He has been using (computer) pictures (to communication) since he was about two. The Vantage is as close to him using his own voice to construct language and sentences as possible.”

The Vantage will allow Daniel, now a kindergarten student at Rossville Elementary School, to communication what he is thinking or what he wants.

Update from Daniel’s mother, Lisa (05-04-06):

Daniel is doing very well with his Vantage. He has become very possessive of and responsible with his talker. He is the one that runs to get it if I start out the door without it. He knows it is his “voice” and he pushes others hands away if need be.  He has purposely gotten his Vantage to so that he can select his drink choice at breakfast and dinner when I have forgotten to ask him. He refused what I’d fixed for breakfast one morning and promptly asked for cereal instead!

Much of his immediate exploration took him to the “body parts” and “jokes” pages, which we deemed fairly age-appropriate! He likes saying, “That’s a good one” and “That’s funny!” He recently went up to Unity 45 Full and loves the “wordplay page” telling us to “act silly” or “make a funny face” and just laughs when we do so. He played “Hide and Seek” with his sisters last night and counted and said, “Ready or not, here I come.” He has gained a voice in our family and has to be reminded that he can’t have the podium all the time! He sang “Happy Birthday” to his grandma and said, “Happy birthday, Grandma.”  He says the Pledge of Allegiance and greets his teachers and classmates now and answers questions during calendar/circle time. Today at Special Olympics, Daniel said “awesome” after coming in first in the 50-yard dash. Then, he said, “Go, go, go” to his other classmates to cheer them on.

Daniel’s vocabulary had been limited to the pictures that we chose for him and to what signs he could accurately perform. He has always tested severely impaired due to his non-verbal status, but evaluators would say that was inaccurate based on what he could do in other settings. Now he has so much more language at his fingertips. For the first time, he said “Ouch” when he fell down instead of just signing hurt. I was able to show him that his knee was bleeding and he could say it.

Our hope is that in using the Vantage to talk, Daniel will be able to tell us what he truly knows, that the Vantage will stimulate Daniel to talk on his own if he is going to and that he will share the joy of friendship and games with others.