Chatter Camp participant Carmyia uses a speech generating device to tell another camper her birthday.Unable to speak or type with her hands, Kyleigh Kramlich uses her eyes to communicate using a speech-generating device.
For nonverbal children like Kyleigh, opportunities to form relationships with their peers are extremely limited, as they are often the only children in their schools who use augmentative or alternative communication systems to talk.
Molly Littleton, a retired special education teacher and assistive technology specialist who worked in Hamilton and Catoosa county public schools, along with Walker County Schools Assistive Technology Specialist Beverly McGregor, came up with the idea to hold a summer camp that would bring together children across the area who use AAC.
They held the program, called Chatter Camp, for the first time last summer, and again this summer. Signal Centers, an organization in Brainerd that provides services focused on people with disabilities, volunteered one of its classrooms for them to use.
“Most of the children had never seen anyone else using the [AAC] system,” said Littleton. “We wanted the children we’re working with in different schools to meet, talk to each other and learn the vocabulary. The whole idea is to have fun and get them talking.”
Last year, Friends of Special Children, a local organization that helps children with special needs, covered the costs for seven children to attend the camp. This summer, FOSC donated $3,500 to sponsor all the campers, covering staffing, tuition and supplies for the week, said FOSC President Anne Stone, a resident of Soddy-Daisy.
“If we all think back to our own childhoods, most of us did some sort of day camp,” said Stone. “Children with special needs and requirements can’t always attend camp in a traditional setting because they don’t have the support services they need. This allows them to experience the fun of being at camp like any other child.”
She said the organization is able to fund the program through donations from people in the community as well as through ticket sales to its annual fundraiser, which will be held at Signal Centers Sept. 29 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.