May 27, 2026 · Community Revitalization Committee · 4,288 words · 13 speakers · 58 segments
I call this meeting of the House Community Revitalization Committee to order. Will the clerk please call the roll?
Chair clerk? Here.
Vice Chair Mullins, Ranking Member Brewer. Here.
Representative Brownlee excused.
Representative Fowler-Arthur.
Representative Gross. Representative Hoops.
Representative Humphrey excused.
Representative Blossom-Rowe excused.
Hoops checked in.
Oh, okay. He was here.
Representative Newman. Here.
Representative Salvo.
He's in the hallway. She's in the hallway, too, right? She got knocked by somebody.
Representative Swearington, Representative Deska. Here.
Okay.
We do not have a quorum present, and we will proceed as a subcommittee. We'll invite everyone to stand for prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Father, we thank you for all that you've done for us. We thank you that we can meet together today and do the people's business, and I pray that you'll help us to have wisdom, grace, understanding, Lord, as we consider these things that are brought before us today. And we ask this all in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Thank you for changing that. I know. Thank you. That's your amazing thing. I know, right?
As a reminder, we have a five-minute limit on testimonies, and so if you can do your best to keep that in check, I would certainly appreciate that. I now call on House Bill 766 for its second hearing. Members, please note that there's written testimony on your iPads, and I may mess this pronunciation up. If I do, please feel free to correct me, But I recognize Amy Sontag to provide proponent testimony for House Bill 766.
Thank you. You did quite well. So my name is Dr. Amy Miller Sontag, and I am a clinical associate professor and speech language pathologist in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at The Ohio State University. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today about designating October as AAC Awareness Month in Ohio. I'm representing my personal views that have been shaped my work in augmentative and alternative communication over the past 30 years.
Excuse me.
AAC is any way we communicate beyond our voice. We all use AAC, whether that be facial expressions, gestures, or even texting and emojis. We need to broaden the acceptance of this communication. There are an estimated 5 million people in the U.S. that require the use of AAC to communicate because they cannot meet all of their communication needs with natural speech. That said, we actually don't know the number of people with communication needs if they are not considered a disability category to be counted in the CDC's metrics. People that use AAC are also not counted in the U.S. Census. If Jordan Zimmerman had been able to come today, you may have heard more about that from her. She is a member of an organization, a national organization called Communication First, that is working to change this in the United States of America. People that require the need for AAC can have a variety of medical conditions, including cerebral palsy, autism, Down syndrome, aphasia, or ALS, to name a few. People that use AAC may be able to touch their systems like you touch your phones and your tablets, or they may need alternative methods such as scanning or eye gaze. The first goal for increased awareness of what AAC can do would be advancing the knowledge that the use of AAC does not impede or hinder natural speech development, but can facilitate it at any age. It would help doctors, nurses, teachers, and many rehabilitation professionals, including speech-language pathologists, see the value of AAC systems and intervention services and begin the process early. Many of the clients I see are adults with various developmental and or intellectual disabilities that never had an AAC system or only had it in school to provide answers to questions about academic content. And while that's important, that is not the main reason we communicate. We communicate to connect with others. AAC Awareness Month would mean we could highlight how to be a supportive communication partner when talking with someone who does use AAC. This is incredibly important because even the fastest communicator using AAC communicates more slowly than you or I are able to with our voice. Many families and clients have told me they don't always use their AAC systems in unfamiliar environments because people don't take the time to communicate with them. even when the person who uses AAC is trying to get their attention and speak to them. AAC Awareness Month would also draw attention to the affordances and constraints of how systems are currently funded and work to enact change to increase funding for people who would benefit from all types of AAC. I'll end with a story. Early in my career, I had a client who obtained her first AAC system at 16 or 17 years old. Her mother told me that each time she asked her daughter what she wanted for dinner, she used her AAC device to say chicken. Her mother tearily told me that she learned chicken was her daughter's favorite meal, and I was really confused as I thought this was a good thing, a good outcome. Her mother went on to tell me she really made her daughter chicken because she thought her daughter's favorite food was hamburger. Her daughter clearly needed an AAC system at a younger age. Designating October is AAC Awareness Month in Ohio would mean we have a platform to highlight stories like this, the stories that demonstrate that every person has something valuable to say, no matter how they say it, as communication is the essence of our humanity. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. Are there any questions for the witness?
I'll ask you a question.
Yes.
And just an open question I had the opportunity this week to last week a week ago today to visit the Ohio School of the Deaf and the Ohio School of the Blind And I would certainly recommend any of our committee members go there It was a very enlightening experience. But what is the benefit? You touched on this, but I just want to give you a chance to expound on it a little bit. And why is this not just creating just another awareness month that just somebody, you know, just checks off a box? in what ways will this actually help and assist and further meet the needs of people who have communication deficits?
Thank you. It's a great question. I think if we look at someone who is blind, they may have the ability to speak, not always, but might have other ways that they can communicate. If you think about how you type or text, you know where your letters are on your keyboard or your phone, and you can often do a lot of that without looking at it. And so that could provide you an outlet for communication. Someone who is deaf may be able to use sign language to communicate, whereas we have a lot of people who have autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, aphasia, who are not seen as having anything of worth to say, that they don't have the cognitive ability to be able to communicate anything of value. And as a society, I believe we've come further with understanding that about people with vision and hearing deficits. So this would broaden that acceptance for people that don't fit into those categories. But I agree, it's a wonderful school. They are doing amazing things with their students. Thank you.
Are there any other questions for the witness? The chair recognizes Representative Salva for a question.
Thank you, Dr. Sontag, and thank you for your testimony. As far as the Awareness Day again, How do you feel that can help us as Ohioans also share a message? How do you think that could help our growing population with autism just to create awareness? And where would that most be helpful, whether that's our schools or our communities? Just give us an idea. If we continue forward with Ohio as AAC month, how can we help further that, or October? I appreciate that.
In schools, we have more than half of speech-language pathologists who work in the public school system in the U.S., so I would assume the stats are very similar for Ohio. They work with people who use AAC. And while speech-language pathologists are really trying to broaden beyond just using that device to access academic content, I think it would allow them a platform to be able to work to find ways and educate other people in the school to look at how that basic communication ties into the educational standards we have in the state of Ohio. And more importantly, I think in the community, I would love to see a platform to create some partnerships with different community organizations, such as libraries, looking at places people with disabilities tend to have leisure activities. The zoo. Let's see, I said libraries, the zoo, bowling alleys, they tend to go bowling a lot because of adaptive bowling equipment. even places like Target and Walmart, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Jenny's Ice Cream, Graders, to be able to educate the people that work in those facilities to understand when someone walks in and may not communicate with their voice, they don't automatically, it doesn't automatically mean they have nothing to say or that they can't order their favorite flavor of ice cream on their own, but that they have a way to do it if you know how to take those extra steps. We've been seeing a big increase in the importance of research going beyond teaching the person how to use the device, teaching a family member how to use the device, and how to teach communication partners how to use the device. And I'd love to see that expand into our communities.
Nice. Thank you.
Are there any other questions?
I might just add this, a little bit of a role reversal when I was visiting the School of the Deaf, because they all knew sign language. And I learned the alphabet when I was a teenager or when I was a young kid. But I was so slow that I can, you know, trying to spell out things. And I wanted to do it just to make the effort. Right. But I also can imagine that that's probably how they feel in our world.
I think that's a great observation. Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of times we have some people that use some signs. It may not be sign language, but they may not be able to sign more or eat. They might sign eat or even more because their physical abilities aren't refined enough to do this. But even if they were, not everybody knows the different signs for sign language. Some might be obvious like cat or dog, but then there are some like water that is really much more challenging to know. And I may have exhausted my sign language knowledge there. Actually, I know cooking coffee. Yes, yes.
Well, thank you so much for your testimony.
We appreciate that. We do now have a quorum present, and so I would direct our members to check out the minutes from our last meeting on your iPad. Are there any objections to the minutes? Without any objections to the minutes, the minutes are approved. I now recognize Emily Billings to provide proponent testimony for House Bill 766.
Good morning. Thank you for having me. I am here as a parent, and so I would be remiss if I didn't hold up a picture of my son. So you can all see, it's nice and big. This is Abe, and this is who I am advocating for this morning. So my name is Emily Billings. I'm here today as the mom of Abe, an eight-year-old boy with level three autism and high support needs. So Abe is a non-speaker, but as Amy has said, that doesn't mean he has lots to say. So Abe is funny, loving, and has very clear opinions about which friends he wants to visit and which food he wants for dinner. I know this because Abe has a voice. He uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication, or AAC, but that was not always the case. Before Abe had reliable access to AAC he had no way to tell us where he wanted to go what he was hungry for or even what show he wanted to watch What filled that gap was frustration dysregulation and even self It broke our hearts to see Abe this way, because we have always known that Abe has so much to say, but he had no way to say it. I want to pause here and say that AAC is not one thing. It is not just a high-tech device. AAC is a tool that supports any kind of communication. A letter board, a core board, a picture exchange system, a speech generating device, or an eye gaze tracking device. It exists on a spectrum, and it serves people all across our community. Children and adults with autism, cerebral palsy, ALS, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and more. So AAC is for anyone whose voice needs a bridge. We started Abe on his AAC device at age three. We tried two different programs before we found one that really clicked. And at first, he seemed uninterested. And after years of working with him, we came to a turning point. We started customizing his device with his world. So his favorite shows, his favorite places, food, and the people that he loves. Once Abe saw himself and his device, he took off. He became more regulated and engaged at home and in our community. But I need to emphasize that this did not happen overnight. Building competency with AAC takes time. Consisted, supported daily time. Which means that every month a child spends on a wait list, every denial from an insurance provider, every gap in school support, that is not just a paperwork delay, it's a loss of language development. That is a child who has something to say and not a way to say it. So when it comes to AAC access, time is of the essence. So now Abe tells us which store he wants to drive to. He asks to see his favorite therapists, his neighbors, and his grandparents. One of my favorite things I get to do is take a picture of someone Abe has pulled up on his people folder and text it to them just to say, Abe was thinking about you today. You cannot imagine what it does for other people and what it does for him. Some of my most treasured moments are the small ones. Hearing him press Mama on his talker button at the bottom of the stairs in the morning. Watching him interact with his two little brothers in ways he simply couldn't before. Like how we each choose our favorite movie and Abe gets to participate. And the time he asked unprompted for a bonfire outside with his family. One of his favorite things. because he finally had the words to ask for it. So AAC gives the world access to who Abe is, his wants, his needs, and his personality. And yet I know family after family in Ohio who are still waiting on long wait lists and denied coverage, going without. Every month that passes without awareness, without recognition, without urgency is another month that a child sits in that silence. So October is AAC Awareness Month nationally, so I'm asking you today to recognize it here in Ohio to say that every family navigating this journey and this state, that the state sees them, that communication is a right, and that no child should have to wait to have a voice. We still have a long way to go on Abe's communication journey, and there's so much more he has yet to say. But my dream, the dream that I'm working toward every single day is that one day Abel will stand in front of you all and speak for himself. Until then I am his voice and I'm asking you to help make sure every child in Ohio has one too. Thank you so much.
Well what perfect timing right on. Did you practice that
right on five minutes? Oh I was a little nervous but thanks for listening.
You have no reason to be nervous. That was excellent and very heart-touching.
Thank you.
And thank you for being such an advocate for Abe.
That's what mothers do, right?
Amen to that. So I want to recognize Representative Newman for a question.
Thank you to the chair, and thank you, Mrs. Billings, for your testimony this morning. And the picture of Abe is awesome. I'm aware of some of these things, but it's still a new world to me.
Sure. And so thank you for describing the devices a little bit. Could you go into a little bit more detail and describe the process you guys went through to getting access for Abe. How long did it take you, the cost? Sure, sure. So I would also say first, this is a bigger issue, but first it was getting him diagnosed with autism. So that was a pretty large wait list. And then after that, once you have that diagnosis, you have access to someone like an SLP. And then that SLP then has to advocate on behalf of you as a family to petition your insurance to approve the device. And so from start to finish, depending on if you add the wait list for the diagnosis, I won't, but it can take over a year. It can take, I know some families have waited more than that, and they've also had denials happen, depending on your insurance company and your health care and what that looks like, which is different for every family. So obviously there's not one timeline for each family, but each family starts out probably really similar to you all. I started out with very little knowledge about AAC and what it was and how it would help. And so from start to finish, it is a learning process. And if you have someone like a seasoned SLP to help you get that device, that's wonderful. But not everyone, again, has that type of support. So, yeah, thank you.
Are there any other questions for our witness? Representative Salvo.
Thank you so much, Emily, and that was a wonderful testimony. So with AAC Awareness Month, do you think that will help other parents know as they start this journey that they're looking for SLP that has knowledge of AAC device? I mean, was that something that you even knew or understood early on? trying to get to how having that AAC designation here in Ohio and for us to go ahead and pump that out how will that help people starting navigating for their
Well, a few things. I would say that first, it actually just tells people like my son that we see him, that he matters, and that his voice matters. So even if it didn't change anything, I think it's worth it for this community. I also think that, similar to what Amy was saying, in the community, I take Abe out in the community all the time with his device, and I'm his communication partner. And so the more that we go out into the community, the more people are more comfortable and realize. But I think designating it in the state of Ohio would give us more visibility, even hopefully media visibility, more coverage. and I'm hoping that this would be the first step in many to getting this type of communication, just easier access to families, because that's really what they need. I also work with adults with developmental disabilities who have had no access for their whole life, and the first time you introduce it, it can be a really special and unique thing for them to recognize that someone is listening to them and someone is recognizing their voice. So I think, again, it's nationally recognized, but I think it would just tell all of Ohio that we care about this community, that we see this community, and this community needs more communication access. Yeah.
Are there any other questions? So I have one. It might be outside of your scope. Maybe I should have asked Dr. Sam Todd. You need to come back up here. She can come back up to help you. But it's on the other end of the spectrum as far as communications. I'm thinking we had an elected leader in our community who recently had a stroke.
Sure.
And the only thing he lost really was his speech. But all of his reasoning is good. He's able to walk and function physically. But not able to speak. So would something like this be beneficial to someone like him?
Do you want to speak today? I mean, I absolutely think so. I think something that I would dream of is those types of patients having access to devices in rehab facilities, hospitals, things like that. This is a personal story, but my dad actually was diagnosed with throat cancer when I was, and he passed when I was 20. and so when he was in the hospital he also lost his ability to speak and he could write a little bit but there was really no way for him to tell us what he needed and so the communication going from having full communication to none is really difficult on a person and so I look back at that time and see the struggle that he went through and I now see that it was a was a building block early to now that I've had a non-speaking son. And so I think not only can it help patients with disabilities, but we can all, I like to say, we can all be disabled at any point in our life. We can all join that community at any time. If we had a stroke, if we had a car accident, you know, that can happen to all of us. And so to give people just the tools that they need for basic communication. I have bigger dreams than that, but I think that is a wonderful thing that we can offer Ohioans. Thank you. I guess you were the right person to ask.
Thank you. Forgive me for doubting you in any way, shape, or form. Ranking Member Brewer has a question.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair. Thank you actually, the rest of the episode I vote for bringing this to my attention, honestly. I'll piggyback a little bit off of Rep Newman's question. The awareness month. You know, as I sit here and I'm doing some Googling and I'm talking about this and I'm looking at this and I'm saying with this awareness, how do you think schools will also, not just schools, but communities of color, communities, you know, where I represent low income, how this would help them? because I can actually see parents now who may think their child has this type of disability will see this type of awareness and say, well, let me look into it. And so how do we also make sure that, one of the things you mentioned was the wait list for autism. How do we get more parents aware of that as well to connect the two to say, my child, or how did it become an aha moment for you to say, my child needs this service? And do you think with the cheering of this legislation this month, will it be a domino effect for families?
You know, I would really hope so. Our personal story is that we had to sort of jump these hoops, as a lot of families do. So we had to get the diagnosis to get the services. And then once you navigate the services, I could talk about that all day, how difficult it is for families to navigate disability services. but you know what my dream would be in a community like such as yours I'm from the hilltop myself we could see an AAC I wish I brought my sons today but he's using it so you could see an AAC device on a smart board in a classroom and I could read to a class and I could use the device to help the children read to the class and so not only does an AAC user feel seen in that moment You're teaching the entire class how to interact with that student. So then they're included. And I feel like just this beginning piece would tip that, like you said, the domino effect over to greater inclusion for non-speakers. And I think once parents kind of see that happening, they get excited about it. It's kind of a culture change, if you will. I hope that answered your question.
Yeah, yeah. are there any other questions for the witness seeing none thank you so much for coming in and sharing your personal story and inspiring us today I appreciate that very much is there any further business to be brought before the committee today seeing none this committee stands adjourned