BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — A Tulsa teen is using a new tool to communicate with his family for the first time. He’s also advocating for others, like himself, who need access to communication.
“Without Torrie and the Griffin Promise, I’d be stuck in my prison,” said Jake Wright.
With each tap at each letter on the letter board, 18-year-old Jake Wright is speaking like never before.
“Giving them communication is everything,” said Torrie Moreton. “It’s the primary means of all of our lives.”
Torrie Moreton is the Clinic Director of The Griffin Promise Autism Clinic. She also worked one-on-one with Jake on Spelling to Communicate.
“Their intelligence is there,” said Moreton. “That’s not what’s missing. It’s just getting their body under control and giving them access to communication.”
The 18-year-old has autism and apraxia which is a motor condition that makes it difficult for Jake to gain control of his body.
“I always felt like he was in there,” said Marci Watts. “I just didn’t know how to help him communicate.”
Marci Watts, Jake’s mom, says because of his condition, for more than 16 years of his life he couldn’t communicate at all with his family.
“I never knew how he was feeling,’ said Watts. “If he was hurting or any of those things that every mother is privy to, I did not have with him and now I have it. It’s life changing.”
Jake says it took about 9 months for him to learn Spelling to Communicate and now he uses his time doing activities to help with eye tracking motion and gross motor movement.
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“For him to concentrate and push through and get his body to be able to communicate like this takes incredible strength and endurance,” said Watts.
Jake is also advocating for others like himself, like at the Eastern Oklahoma Autism Conference.
“Show inclusion by giving time to the person who is using an alternative communication to speak,” said Wright.
For Jake, all sorts of possibilities are now opening. For his mom, Marci, she has a new connection with her son.
“The overwhelming feeling of finally being able to talk to your son,” said Watts. “Find out what his favorite color was. Find out what he wanted for Christmas. What did he want to do for his birthday? All these things I never knew.”
Jake is heading into his senior year of high school in the fall. Marci says he got straight A’s last semester. For the future, he wants to study neuropsychology at the University of Oklahoma.
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