It's been a busy summer!

The lazy, long days of summer are here but as usual all the team at Communication is Key AAC continues to remain busy! We are all enjoying the summer with our own children AND continuing to try to make the world a better place for the community we love to serve. Of course, our board gifting projects continue with this season gifting out a total of 10 more playground boards. One school that we recently gifted two boards to is a very special facility on the west side of the state. Seiter Education Center is a center-based facility in Montcalm County providing services for students ages 6 to 26 who are moderately to severely impacted by their disability. Over half of their students are nonverbal and are AAC users, many also have additional impairments which make communication even more challenging. The communication needs for this school are large and we are hoping to continue to provide more assistance to them in upcoming years.

We also worked with another out of state party to get our first board placed in Kentucky!This board is housed at the Fort Knox Community Garden which is part of the Fort Knox, KY Army installation. It will be featured specifically in the Tiny Roots Children’s Garden, a space designed to create a natural play area for children and inspire creativity.

Additional locations that received a board include Tate Park in Clinton, Johnson Early Childhood Center in Taylor, Hunter Elementary in Brownstown, Terrill Elementary in Lapeer, Schoolcraft Elementary School in Waterford, and Waterville Primary in Waterville, OH. We even made the news for our boards given to Frasier Barrier Free Park, and Westland's new fully inclusive Tattan Park.

We get a lot of inquiries regarding gifting out AAC devices directly to individuals. Typically, we do not do this as often these can be covered by insurance, through the school system, or through other nonprofits dedicated to this. However, we were recently contacted by a speech language pathologist from East Lansing who had a 55-year-old man in need of an AAC device after suffering a stroke that left him with very minimal verbal language. In his case, this was negatively impacting all aspects of his life and insurance refused to cover a device. We were very excited to give an iPad along with the Grid App. We have heard how much this has impacted his life being able to be independent and make important decisions!

As some of you may know; Julia is a long time passionate yogi, and in May completed yoga teacher training (again); at White Buffalo Yoga studio in Plymouth, Mi. As part of the completion; her and fellow yogis put on a caregiver wellness workshop. CiK sponsored this beautiful evening for special needs caregivers that involved an educational talk by Reset Brain Body, food and drink from Little Salumi in Northville, and a very relaxing yoga nidra and healing sound bath by Katie Hipple. Each guest received a goodie bag to go; along with awesome giveaways from local business members such as facials, massage, and coffee. We are so thankful to be a part of this inclusive community; and this is a project we hope to do again as it is so needed!

We are looking forward to our largest fundraising event of the year…our 4th Annual CiK Golf Outing! We will be returning to Whispering Willows Golf Course in Livonia, MI on September 16 for a fun day of golfing, games, food, drinks, and of course our ever-popular raffle. We have secured a number of amazing new and returning sponsors already for the event including.... If you would like to golf, sponsor, volunteer, or donate a raffle item please reach out to one of our board members directly OR visit www.communication-is-key-golf-outing.perfect golf event.com. We are so excited to raise even more money this year to continue to help out our community!

Thank you all for your continued support!

Julia and CiK crew