ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Escanaba’s three largest parks have been equipped with a new resource that helps children communicate.
Communication boards allow individuals with speech barriers to express their wants, needs, and emotions by pointing at a picture, word, or symbol. For local mother Bethanne Scheel, they’ve become a valuable tool.
“I have two boys, Lucky [Luciano] and Gio [Giovanni],” she said. “Gio is nonverbal autistic, and so we have become familiar with communication boards via speech pathology, his special education program. I had visited a park up in Marquette, and I noticed they had a communication board. I saw my son walk up to it. He recognized it right away, and my immediate thought was, ‘How wonderful would it be to have these in Escanaba?'”
Last fall, Scheel approached the Escanaba Department of Public Works with the idea of installing a similar board at Royce Park. This spring, the department exceeded her expectations by placing boards not only at Royce, but also at Rose Park and the Harbor Hideout playground.
“We get requests every single day, and it’s important to prioritize the need and the urgency of the request,” Public Works Director Kent Dubord said on the quick turnaround of the project. “We took some time this winter to customize what we thought would catch people’s eye and give our staff some time to secure them in the best way possible. We thought it would be a good idea to take it to a whole new level and put an emphasis on the signs to make sure that they’re not just passed over on the playground and that they’re easy to spot out when the kids come to the playground to enjoy them.”
“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Scheel. “Anytime you can see something that makes our community more inclusive, it just creates so much more dialogue.”
Scheel says there is no telling just how many people will benefit from the communication boards.
“Sometimes kids need an indicator that they need to use the bathroom,” she explained. “Some people just might not speak fluent English, and even having familiar images is so beneficial for them. I love that children that are neurotypical can see them here, so then if they’re ever presented with one in a conversation moving forward, they might have the background knowledge to use it.”
They can even be helpful for children adjusting to major life events, like moving to a new place.
“We are transplants from Wisconsin,” Scheel said. “Sometimes there’s a lot of emotions with coming and leaving. It really benefits transitions for parents.”
Dubord says it is important to the City that every family who visits the parks feels included, accepted, and welcome.
“We want to be able to cater to children of all needs to encourage them to come out to the playgrounds and encourage them to enjoy everything that our community has to offer,” he said.
The boards may seem like a small change to the overall look of the parks. However, they make a big difference for families like Scheel’s.
“We’ve seen the struggles and the emotions and the roller coasters that come with not being able to communicate with your peers or adults,” she said. “To have a tool so readily accessible almost brings me to tears, because that just means there’s more opportunities for him to make friends or just to get over those hurdles that would’ve been a challenge because he couldn’t communicate. I’m so grateful.”
The boards further enhance parks like Royce and Rose that received new playground equipment last summer. Another new playground is set to be installed in August at the Westside Park. Click here for a list of locations for all of Escanaba’s parks.
