Profile of Success --Brian Binette
Hello
my name is Brian Binette. I'm 29 years old and I am from Saco, Maine. I have
cerebral palsy.
I have attended several local colleges in the southern Maine region. I currently hold a job (35 hours a week) at Saco Island School, which is an alternative education school. I like going to work. People treat me like I'm one of the guys. I graduated in 1999 from the University of Southern Maine with an associate's degree in Liberal Arts, which took me five years to complete. The professors at one of the colleges helped me learn Minspeak®. My graduation was the most wonderful day of my life. College is hard enough when a person is 100% healthy. When you have a physical disability you have to work that much harder. You have to surround yourself with good people. I was fortunate to have my mom, a nurse, and my dad, a special education teacher. With the help of teachers, speech therapists, and people in the augmentative communication device field, we all worked together to make my communication easier.
After college the task of finding a job was nearly impossible. Luckily, I have a personal care attendant who knew about an alternative education program that one of my high school teachers started along with a company that was already familiar with me through my college career. They asked my attendant, who has been a teacher on and off for 25 years, and me to try a job share. Sharing a job is very unique and special to us. I can teach anything, but math is my preferred subject. Having a full time job was something I thought was over my head. I thought I would be sick all the time. To my surprise, the three years that I have been employed, I have been very healthy.
I received my first Prentke Romich device, the Touch Talker, when I was in 6th grade. My Touch Talker had 32 locations and I used my hands to operate it. I used the Touch Talker until I was a senior in high school, then the process began again and I received a Liberator. My Liberator had 128 locations and a program called Minspeak. Minspeak uses icons and the parts of grammar to help me communicate quicker. In fact, in college I was able to substitute Minspeak for six foreign language credits!
In the summer of 2001, we started the process of getting a new Prentke Romich device called the Pathfinder. This device is a step beyond the Liberator. I like the Pathfinder, because I can carry on a conversation quicker. My speech pathologist's office has been super in assisting me in my training on the Pathfinder. I have been going to weekly trainings since last summer. They have helped me tremendously on my new device. I have had, and am going to have, various speaking engagements, not only in the speech office, but also in my place of employment.
Since I have received the Pathfinder I can carry on a better conversation. I operate my computer by using a head switch and a quarter row column scan for 128 locations. The Pathfinder has been a wonderful tool for me. In the very short time that I have had my device, I have seen my communication grow tremendously. I greatly appreciate being considered for Profiles of Success.
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Minspeak® is a registered trademark of Semantic Compaction Systems. Minspeak® uses the methodology derived from the concepts covered by U.S. Patent Numbers 4,661,916; 5,097,425; 5,210,689 and subsequent patents, patents pending, copyrights, and applications of Bruce Baker.