Connecting Through Technology

Ever wondered how technology bridges the silence for those who cannot speak? Melissa Pouncey takes us on a fascinating journey through the world of communication technology that's transforming lives every day.

Recorded at the Alabama Educational Technology Conference, this episode introduces us to Melissa's work with PRC Saltillo, a company developing breakthrough solutions for nonverbal and minimally verbal individuals. With 15 years of experience as a speech therapist, Melissa shares powerful insights into the profound impact these technologies have: "If you spend your life as someone who can't communicate with others, you can't connect, and giving someone that technology develops these really cool connections in someone's life."
 

Website: spotlight4success.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
We're here at the AlabamaEducational Technology
Conference in sunny MobileAlabama and we're here with our
special guest, melissa Pouncey.
Welcome, melissa.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
This is fun.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Melissa is with PRC Saltilla, is that right?
Yeah, you got it right.
Good job, okay.
All right, melissa, tell us abit about your work with PRC and
what brings you to thisconference.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, so PRC Saltillo is a communication technology
company, so we are providingcommunication solutions for
people who might be nonverbal orminimally verbal or just need
some supplement for their verbalcommunication through a wide
variety of ages.
So here at the AlabamaEducational Technology
Conference we're really helpingfacilitate conversations around

(00:54):
how communication technologycould fit in classrooms and how
it could be part of a classroomenvironment.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Oh, that's wonderful, and I understand.
You have some speakers here,some people that are speaking on
, I think, referencing PRC,sartella and some of the things
that y'all are doing.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, for sure.
There are some sessions wherepeople are talking about
communication technology, how toutilize it in classrooms, and
they've sent a lot of fun peopleour way to the table.
So we've gotten to connect withteachers, special ed
coordinators, other people thatmight not be familiar and need
some time to play with devicesat our table.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Oh, that's awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Thank you for watching Spotlight for Success.
I am Devin Pintosi, chiefOperating Officer of American
Book Company.
We are located here in ourheadquarters in Woodstock,
georgia.
All of our materials areprinted in USA.
We have course books, e-booksand online testing in grades

(01:49):
K-12 in mathematics, ela,science and social studies.
These materials are alldesigned to help students
achieve higher scores on theirstate-specific high-stakes
assessments.
We guarantee score improvement.
You can get free samples of ourmaterials either in print or in

(02:11):
electronic formats atabck12.com.
We look forward to hearing fromyou.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So what got you involved with consulting with
PRC Sartillo?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, so I was a speech therapist for 15 years
and I got to see firsthand whatthe magic of giving
communication technology tosomeone could do in their life,
right?
So if you spend your life assomeone who can't communicate
with others, you can't connect,and giving someone that
technology develops these reallycool connections in someone's
life and I got to see thatfirsthand.

(02:45):
So when the opportunity came tohave this position where I get
to teach other speech therapistshow to do that, I was all about
it.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Gosh, that sounds fantastic.
Tell us a bit about yourjourney, like how did you become
or decide you're going to gointo speech therapy?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, so I actually have a background in theater.
Um and when I saw a speechtherapist at work, what I
realized was it's really justimprov, so getting to have fun,
make things up on the fly, um,but in a way that helps people,
and I was really intrigued.
So I have a theater background,got a master's in speech
language, but speech languagepathology which is a mouthful

(03:22):
for anybody and then really justkind of took off from there.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Wow, that is great, and tell me what you're hoping
to get out of this conferencetoday and tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, I think it's really just about meeting people
, right.
And having that opportunity toconnect about what people might
need and what surprises them.
So what's been interesting isthat, even though this might be
a place for you know ed tech orwe've met a lot of librarians or
instructional technologistswhat we have found people asking
about is their own familymembers.

(03:55):
So you never know whatsomebody's story is when they
come to talk to you.
And that's been the best partis just hearing people's stories
.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Oh, that is wonderful .
Well, thank you so much forspeaking with us today.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Thanks for having me.
This has been really fun.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, I'm Melissa Pouncey with PRC Saatilo.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Thanks, awesome.