Mama And Her Amazing "Talking Machine"-- Blog 1

In my high school Exceptional Children's class there is a sweet little girl that we will call "Mama". Mama doesn't communicate verbally, but uses sign language and sounds to communicate to others. Before Friday, I thought that was the only way that she could "speak". I walked into the classroom Friday during third and all I saw was one of the teachers, Gma, and three of the students. The three kids were working silently and Gma said I could either stay in here and help them with there individual work, or go in the work out room with the boys in the class. Hard decision? Not so much. I saw a great opportunity to build some relationships and help them all in one. I walked over to Mama and she smiled, laughed, and patted her booty (her special way of saying she's happy) so I sat down and looked to see what she was doing. She had, what looked like, 300 cards scattered everywhere and a little black box with a screen in her lap. Gma said that I had to hold up a card and she would find it on her box. Not really understanding at all, I followed instructions and held up a random card that had "GRAPES" written on it. She grunted and leaned over her box in concentration. On the screen there were probably 30 little squares that had a word and a picture on it. She held her little finger over the screen swaying back and forth trying to find what she was searching for. She spotted the "foods" button, and clicked on it. It brought Mama to another screen with 30 little boxes with words and a picture on it. She swayed her finger back and forth again and found the button labeled "fruits/veg". She clicked on it and when it brought her to another icon screen. She found "grapes" clicked on it, that word went to a little white box, she clicked on the white box and the word "grapes" rang out loud and clear. I sat dumbfounded beside this little undiscovered genius, as she looked up at me smiling and giggling. She obviously knew that she did it right and was very proud of herself. One after another we went through the entire stack. The reason Mama's name is Mama on this blog is because anytime anyone says anything about "Mom" or "Mommy" she goes into a little rant saying "Mamamamamamaa" over and over again. She says that all the time because that is the only understandable word that I have ever heard her say. I thought that many kids in the class, because of their speaking ability, were much more developed than Mama would ever be. I was very wrong. When she couldn't find the word on the card she would go to the keyboard and type the word just like she was a business woman typing on her laptop. That day I discovered the importance of technological aid toward the exceptional children population. This little laptop gave Mama, a girl that can usually only grunt and make noises that sound like baby talk, the ability to communicate with anyone.