It was nearly 6 p.m. on a Tuesday night when a mixture of education majors and curious onlookers began filing into the Kohn Lecture room in the Dwight Schar Education building. Most of the attendants were from Ashland University, and some had trickled over from nearby schools.

Speech is something many of us take for granted. But then Sean Sokler, a graduate of George Mason University with significant speech impairment, was introduced.

Sokler graduated from George Mason in 2005 despite his speech impairment. He came to AU to share his own story in his own unique way. His mother, Barbara Cunningham, gave a large portion of the lecture which was done with the use of Power Point.

She began to tell us the story of Sean’s early signs of impairment (although he could speak 500 words at age two), and when at age five a fever of 106 degrees severely impaired his speech and changed his life.

Barbara tried relentlessly to figure out ways to teach her son and to communicate with him, but she became understandably frustrated at the lack of progress she saw.

Then when Sean was 10 years old, Barbara attended a lecture on alternative forms of communication, mainly typing, for children with learning and communication disabilities. She was encouraged by the information she received, asked the lecturer if she could help, and was taken back when she was treated to a personal house visit.

There, the lecturer and Barbara watched as a young Sean typed out his first sequence of words. They asked him about their vacation to Florida, and were surprised at the level of vocabulary and diction they saw as he typed out, “dozens of tawdry eateries on the boardwalk.”

After the typing breakthrough, they had his I.Q. tested which at that time was 18. His mother was overwhelmed when she found out that he actually had an I.Q. of 142; although she says she should have noticed when she saw him reading the New York Times every morning.

But it was his mother who never ceased in fighting for a way, an opportunity, for her son to be a functioning member of society and to receive a quality education. And it is his mother who still travels with him as they educate others about AAC (the method Sean uses to communicate with others) and the importance of effort and innovation for children with disabilities.

With a typing assistant (Judy Bailey) and his own method of education, which he calls self-inclusion, Sokler continued his education and eventually was accepted to George Mason University.

After his graduation Sokler went through a period in which he says he was “coasting,” and didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life or his unique gift.

After traveling and meeting new people he decided to share his story with others, encourage and educate them on the necessity of providing alternative means for education.

Since then he has traveled across the U.S. and been to several different countries.

He can understand and translate several different languages including Italian, German, Greek, Danish, French and Spanish to name a few. He uses different typing devices for communicating with others including a Neo and iPad.

Sokler has been able to live a progressive and influential life. He’s been to the Galapagos Islands and Greece where, inspired by the ancient architecture, he reflected on his journey in education.

“Just like the ancient Greek temple needs scaffolding and supports, so do I,” he said. “Because of my dyspraxia and low muscle tone I can’t type without support.”

He is a savant. Not only can he type in and translate several languages, but he’s also incredibly talented at math and geometry.

He can calculate the relative distance from one point to another just by looking at it. He was also recruited by the CIA thirteen times during high school.

When asked what it was like growing up knowing that he was intelligent, but not always being able to express it, he said that he tried to commit suicide.

It’s amazing and yet so easy to forget the power that words possess. It’s also amazing what little efforts mean to a child, like the librarian who let him hide and read books in the library.

The lecture was another example of students being treated to a “world-class” education at Ashland University.

Sokler shared that for every 1,000 people in a county within the U.S. there are eight that can’t speak. He taught the audience about Alternative and Augmented Communication (AAC).

And a room full of education majors learned what the slightest efforts in a child’s education can yield; a beautiful person who can share their life with the world.

For more information about Sokler, his autobiography can be viewed at EveryoneCommunicates.org. Videos are also available on YouTube.