An inspiring event occurred Sunday morning as Oakley’s Derek Bell, 9, a speech impaired little leaguer used an iPad to recite the Little League Pledge.
Bell, who was diagnosed with a rare chromosome micro deletion disorder 17q21.31 with a secondary diagnosis of Autism and Epilepsy, recited the pledge in front of 24-teams during the District 4 Jamboree at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek.
“I was ridiculously crazy proud,” said his mother Meghan Bell. “He has come out of his shell. Before the iPad, he wouldn’t make conversation and communicate. He has developed his own personality and it makes me ecstatic. It really has made him his own little person.
Bell stated that due to the brightness of the sun and the warm weather, it made it more of a challenge for Derek to perform the pledge, but noted he had it down perfectly in the car with a controlled atmosphere.
Derek, who is speech impaired, has a total of just 5 recognizable words in his vocabulary, however, with the help of an iPad, he has learned to better communicate with those around him.
Bell received the iPad a few years back courtesy of the Special Kids Foundation who provided 10-kids with iPads. Bell explained it took her son a year to learn how to communicate through a program on the computer, but it’s been a game changer for the family and are still working on improving each day.
“Frequent care has made it difficult for kids to have their own personality. But with the iPad, it really helped us instead of guessing what he wants or needs, he can now communicate. It was life changing and the doors are now open,” said Bell.
She explained how he can now help with ordering his own food, share his feelings.
Bell was quick to point out how she owes a lot to the families both in the challenger Baseball Division and the Special Kids Foundation for the support and making the journey together instead of alone.
“I could do this alone, but traveling this journey with little league and Special Kids Foundation have made our journey much better and eased the road. It’s taken a great weight off our shoulders and made it more manageable,” explained Bell.
Bell attends Oakley Elementary School and plays for the East County Little League Challenger Giants. He also loves Phineus & Ferb.
