Michael Allen's parents came to LINC last Fall to learn about the latest augmentative communication devices for children. They decided to join LINC and made an appointment for an initial consultation to determine the best route for Michael and his family to take to increase Michael's verbal communication skills. Michael, age 7, has autism and is pre-verbal. During the initial consultation, Michael and his parents tried out a variety of language software and were advised to borrow certain titles from the Software Loan Library for home use.

Michael's parents, Karen and Dennis, are eager to talk about Michael's progress at LINC, at school and at home. They say that the use of the computer has helped to increase Michael's verbal communication skills in several ways. They both agree that the computer has been an effective tool to get Michael to talk when he really wants something. When Michael wants to play on the computer he now says that he wants to, even to the point where he initiates the conversation. This is a giant step since mcuh of the time communication attempts are in response to requests. At times he will respond with the name of a favorite game or activity.

Another tool that the Allen family learned about at LINC was the touch screen. Karen and Dennis both agree learning to use the touch screen has helped tremendously in Michael's development. "We used to have a very hard time getting Michael to point to items he wanted us to click on. Now he has to do it himself and he does it quite well and continues to improve," Michael's mother said. "We have always had difficulty getting Michael to use his hands and fingers to accomplish a task, so any sign of increased activity is a great benefit to us."

The benefits of both of these accomplishments carries over to Michael's everyday life. He now talks more on his own and the family has much greater success in getting Michael to repeat things they want him to say with much less prompting. He initiates actions more often than he used to and is far more cooperative with the manual dexterity projects he gets for homework. Michael and his sister Megan, age 9, use the Saturday Open Lab Hours at LINC and show up with friends and other family members for a day of exploration, learning and fun. The family keeps in close contact with LINC staff and receives technical and educational support as needed). ® (Spring 1997)