Communication for Lizzy

Lizzy is a smart, social third grade student at McNair Elementary School in Winnebago, Illinois.  She enjoys sharing about her weekend, her family, and what she had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She also loves to read and play with puzzles. She loves to be around friends, family, and teachers, and her laugh is contagious! 

Lizzy was born with Agenesis of the Corpus Collosum, Atrial Septal Defect and Frontonasal Dysplasia. Due to her condition, Lizzy's language skills and intelligibility of speech makes it extremely difficult for familiar and unfamiliar listeners to understand her. It limits her opportunity to participate in activities with peers, and impacts her relationships at school and in the community, both of which she has a strong desire to be a part of. 

A high tech assistive device is necessary for Lizzy to continue to develop her literacy and communication. She currently utilizes an app on an Ipad, but this is not fully meeting her needs. A dedicated speech generating device is necessary for Lizzy's growth academically, socially, emotionally, and vocationally. When we reach our goal, we will be able to purchase the speech generating device, a technical support package, and device case. Our hope is to reach our goal before the end of the school year (May 31st, 2018), so the device can be purchased and utilized yet this year. 

Judge Teresa Ravandi once said that "the ability to communicate is one of the most basic human needs: allowing a student an effective means to express herself supports her human dignity. Every minute of every school day, communication is the key to social, emotional, functional, and academic progress." Lizzy deserves access to communication. 

We  hope that you will consider donating to this cause to help give Lizzy a voice that she desires to share with others! Lizzy's words matter! Please help support Communication for Lizzy! We appreciate your support!