Local students who have difficulty communicating verbally will get a little help expressing themselves thanks to a project by Southeast Missouri State University.

SEMO's Center for Speech and Hearing raised $500 to create communication boards. The boards will allow students with communicative disorders, such as autism, to point to a picture instead of speaking, while on the playground.

Members of the center contacted the special education departments of local schools to learn how many students use communication devices, or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, to decide which schools would be the best recipients for the boards.

Students may not always be able to bring their AAC devices on the playground because of their size and to prevent the devices from being damaged while students are playing. The communication boards will bridge the gap between the students who need the communication assistance with other students and teachers. It features simple statements such as, "yes" and "no," "hello," "help" and "stop."

SEMO student Samantha Duffy started a monthlong raffle featuring items used by speech language pathologists and sold raffle tickets to raise the money used in the creation of the five boards donated to local schools -- Blanchard Elementary School and Clippard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, and West Lane Elementary School, Jackson Middle School and East Early Childhood in Jackson.

"I just wanted to give kids a chance to communicate with other people. If they aren't verbal talkers, there are a lot of limitations that they can go through in the public setting, even at school, like out on the playground. They won't always have their devices," Duffy said. "I grew up in a little less accepting time of kids with disabilities and I always hated that. I always wanted to do something and make a little bit of a difference."

SEMO communication disorders instructor Emily Obergoenner said April is Autism Awareness Month, but the clinic and the Autism Society would prefer the month to be recognized as Autism Acceptance Month.

"We don't just want kids to be aware of others that are a little different from them, but accepting of them," she said. "So, this is a way for kids that maybe don't speak to communicate, they can now communicate with a board out on the playground. It's a way to provide access and communication for everyone."