On a recent sunny afternoon, Hobbs Playground was buzzing with children running, swinging and zipping down slides. Many stopped to check out a new addition — a colorful communication board installed by local business The Power of Speech and the Marblehead Family Fund.
“These playground communication boards provide children an immediate way to express their thoughts when they aren’t able to do so with spoken words,” said Jessica Brown, a speech pathologist who provides therapy through her practice at The Power of Speech and initiated the project.
“They are a valuable tool for children who are still learning to talk and for children who use alternative methods of communicating,” such as an iPad, she added.
Partnering with the Marblehead Family Fund and the Recreation and Parks Department, Brown placed communication boards at five playgrounds: Hobbs, Gatchell’s, Stramski’s, Gerry and Seaside. Another is coming to Devereux Beach this month.
The aluminum boards, 5 feet long by 3 feet tall, feature illustrations of kids doing a variety of activities — sliding, swinging, eating and more. Kids can point to the image that matches what they need or want.
Meghan Tosto with the Marblehead Family Fund brought her two sons, Graham, 2, and Zachery, 4, to Hobbs and watched as they explored the new communication board.
“I’ve seen a lot of kids pointing at it, and their parents explaining it,” Tosto said. “It’s been wonderful to see.”
Brown said the boards will help kids and their parents recognize that not everyone communicates the same way.
“Communication boards on our playgrounds in Marblehead provide representation for nonspeaking and minimally speaking kids to see their method of communicating proudly displayed, as well as provide an opportunity for families to talk with their children about neurodiversity — a term that validates all the different ways of communicating,” Brown said.
According to Harvard Medical School, neurodiversity “describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.”
About 15-20% of Americans are neurodivergent, according to different studies.
Brown said she is working to get communication boards installed at all public and private elementary schools in town.
