Mary Story

Mary's speech therapist wrote this story for the kids in Mary's class.  What do you think?

Mary cannot use her muscles like most people, so she does some things differently. She cannot use her mouth muscles to talk or swallow, so she uses a Dynavox to talk. And Mary cannot use her leg muscles to sit, stand or walk, so she uses a wheelchair.

One thing that is different is her Dynavox. Her Dynavox is like a computer and she can use it to talk. Mary might hit a button with her arm to make the Dynavox talk or her teachers may help her hit the button. She might use her Dynavox to tell you something or to ask you a question.

Something else that is different is her trach. It is a hole in Mary's neck that lets her breath. Mary's nurses, Juanita and Sonya, use a suctioning machine to get saliva out of the trach. This makes a loud sound but it does not hurt Mary. Sometimes Mary might cough to get saliva out of her trach. She is not coughing because she is sick, she is just doing it to clear her throat.

Another thing that is different is the way that Mary sits and moves around. She might lay down or sit in special chairs. The special chairs help Mary to sit up. Mary uses a wheelchair to move around because she cannot walk. Her wheelchair is purple, her favorite color!

 

Mary loves the color purple! She also likes horses, Dora, swimming, playing outside and reading books. You can ask Mary to play. She loves playing with friends! She especially likes to play on the floor and singing “Row your boat, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” and “Shake your sillies out”.