Augmentative Communication Program | Patient Stories

The Gift of Expression — the Hoyt Family

"When I was a few weeks old, my dad and mom noticed I was not progressing like their friends' kids," Rick Hoyt recalls. "And after the medical exam, doctors told my parents I would be a vegetable. To this day, I don't know what kind of vegetable I'm supposed to be."

Although cerebral palsy has rendered him quadriplegic and unable to talk, Rick still cracks jokes through a high-tech communication device he was taught to use by John Costello, MA, CCC-SLP, director of the Boston Children's Augmentative Communications Program (ACP). Rick has been treated at Boston Children's since he was 10.

Rick, like many ACP patients, can't effectively communicate via speech, writing, or sign language, but he still has a lot to say. Using everything from simple picture boards to the latest voice output communication technology, Costello and his team help ACP patients express themselves.

How you can help

You can help give kids and adults like Rick the chance to reveal their true thoughts, desires and personality with a gift to ACP. Learn more.