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Page THE HERALD Wednesday May 17 1989 Step SU Six yearold Emily Boycott is captivated the voice and colors produced by her new an Computer voice helps handicapped kids speak A computer s monotone voice is giving Down Syndrome children one that is full of life and vitality Children afflicted with Down Syndrome the most common form of mental retardation share similar facial characteristic small mouths and therefore long tongues thus making speech dif ficult and a greater difficulty in learning how to talk than other children Approximately one in 1 babies are born with Down Syndrome The voice of the Halton Down Syndrome Association s most recently acquired Apple computer gives equal importance to the pro- nounciation of each word in a said sentence the association s vice- president Acton resident Debbie Boycott says Down Syndrome children need to be communicatee with in this way to properly learn how to articulate a complete sentence Ms Boycott said And teaching these children how to communicate sively is one of the association primary goals For Down Syndrome children to grow mentally and socially they have to be able to integrate with other children and speech is critical to this integration process Ms Boycott said A Down Syndrome child has more difficulty learning speech from people because of people s in ability to duplicate the computers monotone voice When the child hears a sentence spoken by another person the child only picks up the main words and not the sentences connecting prepositions As a result Down Syndrome teenagers for example have the ideas of teenagers but the words of twoyearolds Ms Boycott said The computer was donated to the six yearold by the Club of Georgetown as part of their ongo ing support for the association work Last year the club paid for a speech therapist for a Down Syn drome child Ms Boycott whose six yearold daughter Emily has Down Syn drome can attest first hand to the computer effectiveness Not only has her daughter s speech improv ed but also she can count better and is now able to differentiate bet ween upper and case letters Ms Boycott said Emily likes the computers voice and the colors that come up on the screen she said It has made learning fun for her A lack of appropriate soft ware programs that are neither too slow nor too fast is the problem currently faced by Ms Boycott However she is receiving help from Ms Diane Norton of Public School in Acton who has given her a number of good programs The computer is shared on a monthly basis among the five families in the North Halton Region who have a Down Syn drome child The association has also obtained two computers to serve families in Burlington and OakviUe Jahnvince Bulk Foods FOR ALL YOUR BAKMG NEEDS OPEN DAYS MOUNTAIN VIEW I IN TIM HORTON PLAZA Of Donation to Down Syndrome The vice president of the Halton Down Syndrome tion Debbie Boycott accepts a donation on behalf of Ike from the president of the Kiwanis Clob of Georgetown Brian at Ms Boycotts Acton home May 11 The money was used to purchase a compiler that helps teach Down Syndrome children speech Herald photo COUNTRY VIDEO GAMES We rent kids cassette tapes Nintendo Sega machines VHS machines Camcorders electronic chess games Nintendo Sega over 4500 movies 8772254 10th Line River Rd 8771636 KEDS SPLATTER PRINT Sizes REG OQ99 23 KEDS COLOR BREAK Black Turquoise Peach Mini Low Heel Sues 13 23 99 OSH KOSH CENTURIA Navy Canvas Sizes 12 REG 95 26 35 BUSTER BROWN FIREBIRD Navy Suede Canvas Sizes 12 REG 0050 28 KEDS SILLY DINO OSH KOSH SENECA Navy Velcro Closing Sizes 13 3 REG S39 31 BUSTER BROWN AIRBORNE NewWave BlackBlue Sire REG 45 00 LA GEAR