Sam Barad got his Dynamo three years ago after speech-language pathologist Laura Hutt, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCBA went to his home in Uganda in May 2001 to evaluate his ability to communicate. His parents, Nancy Zlotsky and Bob Barad, were raising their family in Africa because of the their respective jobs with a consulting firm that works for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Food Programme, a United Nations agency. At the time, four-year-old Sam was schooled at home by a teacher who specialized in applied behavior analysis. A scientific and individualized approach to instruction, applied behavior analysis is designed to help students with autism make lasting improvement by systematically addressing specific skills and behaviors through prompting, prompt fading and reinforcement. The teacher put Sam and his family in contact with the New England Center for Children (NECC), where Hutt is on staff. The Southborough, Massachusetts-based residential center and day school is internationally recognized for its work in educating children with autism and similar conditions using ABA. Autism is a complex neurological disorder that limits significant behaviors including self-expression and one's ability to interact socially. Like Sam, now 7, roughly 50 percent of those diagnosed with autism are functionally non-verbal, many relying on some form of augmentative and alternative communication to express themselves. Doctors diagnosed Sam with autism in late 1998, just before he turned two years old. Sam's family came to know him as an affectionate child who rarely exhibited negative behaviors (tantrums, self-injury) associated with autism. It was hard for them to know what he was thinking because he said virtually nothing. He gave few, if any, signs that he understood what others were saying when they spoke to him, despite his use of picture communication symbols made of paper and fabric, sentence strips and books to increase his use of language. Sam's vocabulary consisted solely of the word "do" which meant one of three things—do it, do it again or give it to me. Hutt recommended the Dynamo for Sam because she felt that the device would help to increase his expressive and receptive language skills. From the start, Sam was fascinated by its speed and the voice-output component featuring digitized speech that his older brother, Richard, now 11, recorded for him. "He seemed to like that it was so much faster than the other tools that he was using," Nancy Zlotsky said. "He heard language, which seemed to amuse him." In July 2001, Sam went to the NECC campus for a week of behavioral, nutritional and occupational assessments. When the school enrolled him as a student in September 2001, he was fluent in using the Dynamo. The following April, Nancy Zlotsky moved to Massachusetts to be near him. Sam spends weekends at home with his mother. His father and brother still live in Africa. The family congregates there or in Massachusetts about four times a year. With each visit, Sam's communication expands. The ABA training he receives at NECC has been instrumental in helping him to form the habit of using full sentences when making requests or responding to questions in class. Teachers use verbal prompts to get him to use the device, then gradually fade the prompts until Sam speaks a full sentence on his own. He receives preferred items, such as favorite candy, as reinforcement for using correct sentence structure while doing so. In recent months, Sam has learned to count to ten and say words such as "yes," "no," and "up" in his own voice. He can say his name and the names of a few of his teachers. When prompted, he can say "I want…" then use a verbal approximation for "candy" or one of his favorite things to complete the sentence. The Dynamo has been a valuable tool for Sam in learning letters, words and numbers. He uses it to request snacks, to say that he wants to do something fun like swimming, dancing, painting at an easel, working with clay or shopping. The device complements his use of picture symbols and sign language, and has helped to reduce his frustration levels while attempting to express himself. Most importantly, the device is helping Sam to shape his life and to connect with his world in a meaningful way.