3 minute read
Communication Boards in Our Parks
Our Community feature by Chris Stasen
Photos courtesy of Chris Stasen
Children with speech impairment and special needs often need help communicating with others, including while at play in our township parks. “At this time, Newtown Township and Marple Township are the only two townships in Delaware County to offer Playground Communication Boards that offer every child the ability to communicate at the playground,” explained Julie Long, Speech Pathologist with the Marple Newtown School District.
With a passion for Alternative Augmentative Communication (AAC) and a mission for children with speech development challenges, Ms. Long contacted Newtown Township Supervisor Leonard Altieri, III, who agreed that there was a need. Leonard rallied fellow Supervisors to approve funding for the creation and installation of Communications Boards at three Newtown Township parks, now installed thanks to a future Eagle Scout’s leadership initiative among his peers of Boy Scout Troop 315, chartered by St. Anastasia Church.
Jerome (“Jerry”) Blaisse, a 17-year-old from Newtown Square and son of Bob and Jean Blaisse, grew up on the same street as Leonard. Leonard knew that Jerry was an Eagle Scout Candidate in need of a project to earn his Eagle Rank.
By demonstrating his leadership abilities through his Eagle Scout Project — Be Prepared To Know — Jerry and his Boy Scout Troop 315 have aided in the effort to include those who may have communication challenges such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Apraxia of Speech or speech impairment. Leonard said, “I am proud of these Scouts and our township is better for it.”
Communication Boards installed by Jerry Blaisse’s team of a dozen Boy Scouts from Troop 315 will now enable youth and their accompanying family or friends to communicate more easily by pointing to icons of the most frequently used vocabulary images that now facilitate ease of communication while at play.
These large Communication Boards show icons representing actions, feelings and objects using core vocabulary words and sentence structuring words. Newtown Square’s three Communication Boards are now installed at Gable Park, Drexel Lodge Park and Brookside Park, all displayed at a child’s height and tailored to the specifics of each park playground.
Newtown Township Supervisors and Boy Scout Troop 315
On hand to lend support to the October 23rd Eagle Scout Project were Newtown Township Supervisors Leonard Altieri, III, Tina Roberts-Lightcap, Michael Russo and Kathy Chandless, along with Newtown Township Parks and Recreation Director Wade Pollock.
The icons on the Communication Boards are color-coded: actions are blue, feelings and playground items are white, questions are purple, and distressing feelings are red. The boards allow for simple sentences to be formed with the user pointing from one square section on the board to the next, to form basic sentences such as “I like slide” or “Where is the bathroom?” Kathy Chandless, mother of five, thanked the future Eagle Scout saying, “These boards are such a great tool to enable children of all abilities to communicate with each other while enjoying the playgrounds.” That same sentiment was affirmed by residents as Jerry’s Scout team installed each board at the three township parks.
These sturdy boards will hopefully serve the community for a long time, as many Eagle Scout Projects have in the past. The Trail to Eagle is a long path achieved by only about 8% of all Scouts, and it requires a leadership service project in which the Eagle Scout Candidate must lead fellow Scouts and volunteers to complete. Jerry Blaisse hopes to achieve his Eagle Scout rank for his leadership that has helped his Newtown Township community Be Prepared To Know.
Eagle Scout Candidate Jerry Blaisse
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