Matthew Darby
I am Carrie Darby and this is my seven year old son Matthew.
Matthew has severe Autism and Apraxia. He is a very loving sweet boy. He is always hugging and kissing people. He was diagnosed with Autism when he was three years old. He had regressive Autism where he lost his speech at two years old. At the same time he developed other behaviors like rocking, spinning, and hand flapping.
Matthew also has a condition called Juvenile Diabetes so he has to wear an insulin pump and get finger sticks eight times daily. He has never complained since he was diagnosed with that at age four.
Despite his physical condition he is so very smart. His evaluations never represented his true receptive language until he started using a communication device in 2008. We started him on a very basic system that involved paper pictures that we had to take out and add new ones all the time. He mastered it very fast and by December 2009 he received a Springboard Lite. Since that day he has changed. The sense of independence in his eyes is overwhelming for me as a mother. He asks me for hugs and tells me he loves me. He mostly uses it to tell me he wants a drink of diet soda.
He takes his SpringBoard Lite everywhere he goes. It has a strap that makes it easy for him to manage. We took him to Disney World and he was able to tell us what ride he wanted to go on and what he wanted to eat.
The Springboard Lite is so easy to program that you can literally add an icon in just one minute.
I don’t know what we ever did without it!
Videos of Matthew unisng his AAC Device
- Matthew using his SpringBoard Lite shortly after receiving the device.
- Matthew at seven years old using his SpringBoard Lite.
