Profile of Success - Toby Haferman
Toby
is a fourteen-year-old who lives in Plano Texas and attends Williams High School
where he is in the 9th grade. Toby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is
considered orthopedic and speech impaired.
He is sharp as a whip with a great sense of humor! Toby lives at home with his sisters, his father and me, and our three dogs and two cats. He attends all but three classes in the regular curriculum and studies math, language arts and reading in strategic classes.
Beginning in Early Childhood, his therapists and teachers recognized Toby's intelligence and desire to communicate. He began using a simple board with pictures and symbols that he could point to and some rudimentary sign language. His speech therapist and Multiple Handicap Instructor were instrumental in helping Toby receive his first technological device, the Dynavox II by Sentient Systems. Unfortunately the device was too difficult for him to master because he didn't have the fine motor control he needed to use it and he became frustrated and returned to his "book." His book was a notebook with a collection of pages designed using the Boardmaker™ program. He used his book for many years along with attempts at modifying his device. When he moved to Plano, Texas, Toby was assigned to an assistive technology team who assessed both his physical and communication needs.
After many evaluations and attempts at various devices, the Vanguard system was chosen. Using a reflective dot that is placed on his forehead, he is able to select the proper words and compose statements and sentences by a simple move of the head and pause on the selection. The new Vanguard II has a built in infrared receptor and is very easy to transport, set up and use.
After the Vanguard was chosen for Toby and the access decision made, the next attempt was for Toby to realize the potential of the device and how it could help him with independent communication. Toby was at first slightly unreceptive to using the device because of his past experiences. Recognizing both his ability and his need, his current SLP, Mrs. Ellen Germain, worked tirelessly at showing him the benefits. She worked with his teaching staff by educating and training them on the device and helped them understand both Toby's potential and the benefits he could enjoy with the Vanguard system.
Toby has always been intelligent, quick witted and funny but without the capability to express this, it has often been overlooked by many. People are really judged by their level of communication and prior to the device, many people merely thought of Toby as "delayed." Toby has two sisters and it seems as if he is making up for the last 12 years of teasing. He loves to follow them around and tease them using his device. He has irritated his younger sister so much that she threatens to take the device away. We have also discovered that Toby still has the same level of impatience that he always had but he can now vocalize it and he seems even more persistent!
Toby's world has opened up with his peers. Now that he has his device, he can work in a group setting in a classroom and participate and express his own feelings and opinions. Toby loves the fact that people do not have to speak for him. His family has found that others are much more likely to communicate with him now that he is using his Vanguard. Toby has been "enlightening" family and friends that he hasn't seen in awhile with his device and they now look at him differently than they did before.
Now that Toby uses his device regularly, we cannot plan anything without his input and often his opinion. We would include him in plans and ask questions before but we never truly got a good answer from him about what he was really thinking. He reminds us often of appointments and events coming up. He is a verbal calendar for us!
Toby's desire to improve his reading as well as create his own stories, websites and letters along with his future classes in high school creates a need for vocabulary and other enhancement expansion. Unity provides that for him.
Toby has begun his own service-related business for those with disabilities. It is called "Is it Really Accessible?" He evaluates establishments (public and private) on their level of accessibility, hoping to provide information and assistance to both the businesses and disabled individuals who may use the businesses. His website is: www.isitreallyaccessible.org. Please check it out!
This profile was submitted by Toby's mother, Kristy Haferman.