Tuyen, Tom and Timmy Ho grew up with dual communication challenges. English is their primary language, as it is for their five other brothers and sisters. All the Ho children rely on pointing and gestures to communicate with their parents, who speak only their native Vietnamese. Complicating matters for Tuyen, Tom and Timmy is a rare genetic disorder known as cytochrome-C oxidase deficiency that slows a person's mobility and damages muscles involved in producing speech. They've traveled to Vietnam for Eastern-style treatments for the condition, which has robbed them of their natural voices. When the kids are at home in Oakland, California, the language of love rules. Thuy, the second oldest child, has assumed the role of family interpreter because she is fluent in both English and Vietnamese. The children's mother, Tuyet Ngo, speaks well of her family. "Overall, our family is just as normal as any other," is how Thuy translated the words of her mother, "We love each other very much and even though three of our children are disabled, we're still proud of them." Trying to understand Tuyen, Tom and Timmy, whose best efforts to speak yield humming or grunting sounds, was taxing for the whole family, including the grandmother who lives with them. The stress lifted as the three children began trying out various communication devices at school. Within a year and a half, Tom owned a DynaVox 2C, Tuyen a DynaMyte original and Timmy, a DynaMyte 3100. Their enthusiasm for the technology was clear from the start. "The kids really like the tone of the voices," their mother said. "When they are mad, they use an angry voice. When they are sad, they use a softer one." The Ho children paved the way for many of their peers to get DynaVoxes of their own. "The DynaVox was the first AAC device we fell in love with," said George Rehmet, one of the team teacher in the Technology and Augmentative Communication for Learning Enhancement, or TACLE, program at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland. Ten-year-old Timmy is in Rehmet's current class. He also taught Tom, 15 and got to know Tuyen, 18, through her brothers. "When they communicate, they're pretty proud of themselves. They really like struttin' their stuff," Rehmet said. They smile a lot, he said, and make good eye contact with their communication partners. Their early success with the touch-screen devices made a lasting impression. "You would just hear them tapping and tapping and tapping away," Rehmet said. "The other students became fixated with what they were doing, like looking over someone's shoulder when they're playing an arcade computer game." Sibling rivalry was apparent when the Ho children first got their devices, Rehmet recalled. They would compete to see who could get messages out fastest and who could say the most. A supportive home environment contributes to the siblings' self-confidence. "There's love in that family," Rehmet said. "Everybody's doing the best they can for those kids." The distinctive personalities of the threesome are captivating, say their teachers. Tuyen always struck Jessica Kratzer as someone whose main interest was simply to be a lady. Kratzer taught Tom in the TACLE program at Carter Middle School and became friends with Tuyen through school activities. Kratzer fondly remembers the visit that Tuyen and her boyfriend paid to her at her home near San Francisco senior on their way to the senior prom. Now in the On-Trac school-to-work transition program at Lakeshore in Oakland, Tuyen looks forward to finding a job. She wants to work at a clothing store. Friends mean a lot to Tuyen, especially her boyfriend, Mosese. She likes swimming, gardening, playing Uno with Thuy and making her own decisions. "I think I'm too old for my parents to tell me what to do," she said. Doing what comes naturally seems to be Tom Ho's mode of operation. "Tommy picks the biggest, coolest, baddest kids as buddies," said Kratzer, "He somehow gravitates toward those kids and just automatically fits in." Now a rap and hip-hop loving freshman at Oakland High School, Tom is often seen popping his collar, flashing the peace sign, and using his thumb and forefinger to make an "L" on his forehead, a sign for "loser" among today's youth. Tom can be quite the jokester, said Kratzer, said. She helped him program current street slang like "Don't hate the player, hate the game" and "Do you want to go down to beat street?" into the DynaMyte 3100 that he got last year. Tom says that because he, Tuyen and Timmy have had similar communication experiences, he feels closer to them than to his other siblings. The three of them use one another's communication devices at home. But they don't share everything. "We talk about who my girlfriend is, but I don't tell Timmy or Tuyen." Tom confided in an e-mail message. "I tell my other brothers and sisters." Standing roughly four feet tall and weighing less than 80 pounds, Tom dreams big. A huge Oakland Raiders fan, he wants to play for the team. He has football vocabulary ("had a touchdown," "played well") programmed into his DynaMyte. An accomplished student, Tom attends regular classes for most of the day. He was on the Student Leadership Council in middle school. In his classroom at Oakland High, he boots up the computers every morning and makes sure that the peripherals are properly hooked up. Younger brother Timmy is the kind of kid who hates to be wrong and loves to make people laugh, said Rehmet. During a school Halloween party, Timmy entertained his friends with spooky sound effects programmed into his DynaMyte. While "Kit the Kid" is his favorite synthesized voice on the device, Timmy is best known for manipulating the voice settings on his device to match the situation or his mood. When he has a sore throat, for instance, he switches to a hoarse-sounding voice. He went through a phase when whispering was his usual tone of choice. Timmy has made an after-school ritual of conversations with Chi Chi, his Pekingese dog. As Timmy sets his DynaMyte on the floor beside his tiny furry friend, Chi Chi lovingly licks his young master and waits for him to start talking. Sometimes, Timmy sings to the dog. Alternative and augmentative communication has forged a special bond between Tuyen, Tom and Timmy, but their individuality shines. "The Ho siblings are all very independent people," Kratzer said. "They all are very positive and care about each other. To know them is to love them."