Ben Fieber
It’s been over ten years and I can tell you I remember how it began just like it was yesterday. I was 33 years old and 20 weeks pregnant. The child I was carrying had enlarged kidneys so my OB sent me to a specialist, where after a series of tests we found that I was carrying a child with Down syndrome. After seeing the high risk specialist, they encourage me to terminate my pregnancy, like 90% of other mom’s did in my situation. But that wasn’t an option for us.
Ben was born early and stayed in the hospital for 67 days. While there, he underwent several operations. When Ben was discharged we knew we had a long road ahead of us, but were happy to have him home. For years we had to keep up with all the appointments to see specialists and therapists.
I remember how, at the age of four, Ben would go to the refrigerator (he wasn’t walking yet) and sit down in front of it. This is how we knew he wanted something to eat. Our first step into the AAC community was using a single button communication device with 20 seconds of memory for short messages. The button allowed him to ask for “milk, please.” Then we added PEC symbols to the pantry door, so he could point to the symbols and indicate when he wanted a snack.
Up until Ben was six he was using the PECs to communicate, but it gave him no voice. He could build a sentence, but if someone wasn’t paying attention, he was ignored...over and over again. Ben needed a voice...and he finally got it with the SpringBoard Lite quite a while later.
Ben was seven and a half when I hired an outside SLP to evaluate him. When Jill Tullman evaluated him, she was ecstatic about how great Ben did. Ben had the ability and learned quickly how to use the AAC device Jill brought with her. It was a great day to find out that Ben could do more than others had expected. Although it took us over a year to get the SpringBoard Lite, Ben rocked and rolled when he realized the power of the device.
We have moved on from the public school, where we weren’t getting augmentative communication support, to The Joshua School, which is a private school for kids with Autism. While there, Ben has learned numbers, colors, to identify objects, and the power of words. Ben is learning! He greets those around him. We see a lot of doctors and they too are amazed with his progress, since getting the device and while attending the Joshua School.
Ben’s language has improved so quickly that he needs a new device with a more robust vocabulary system. We ordered and received the Vantage Lite a few weeks ago. We will begin working with it after the “benefit4Ben” and will soon be rocking and rolling with Ben’s new device.
Submitted by Kathy Fieber, Ben’s mother
The Joshua School is a private, non-profit school and resource center for individuals with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, or other special needs, and their families. They are committed to building a community that offers the highest level of care and individual instruction for students, the most comprehensive array of services, and the strongest level of outreach and education regarding autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for the greater Colorado community. For more information, visit http://www.joshuaschool.org/index.shtml.
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