Courtesy photo (From left) Zachary Thibodeau, Quinten Parker-Horvath, Joe Berman and Tanner Brand (center).

[Tanner’s]

NASHUA- When Traci Johnson, occupational therapist, reached out to a fellow teacher to help her design an apparatus to assist a student in stamping a bag, she never expected to have seven functioning mechanisms to choose from.

Teresa Rossetti, who teaches principles of engineering at Nashua High School South as part of the Nashua Career Technical Education program, redesigned her entire final project, giving students a week and a half to design and build a machine that, when a switch was pressed, could stamp a bag.

“I was expecting them to put their hearts into it, but I never expected this,” Rossetti said of her students. Some who had never shown particular motivation before were now staying for hours after school, designing, tweaking, planning and building.

They had something to work for: the real-world application and effect of something they made.

Tanner Brand, 18, is a Junior in the Intensive Needs program at Nashua High School South. Tanner is deaf-blind and experiences developmental and physical disabilities.

As he gets older, according to his parents, Donna and Eric Brand, they are trying to get their son involved in the community as part of his transition into adulthood. Currently, he gives back, watering plants at the YMCA, and will hopefully be able to stamp bags at Meals on Wheels with some of his classmates in the near future.

But in order to do that, the stamp needed to be modified so that Tanner would be able to use a switch to activate it.

Johnson brought Tanner down to the classroom so “(the students) could meet him and get to know a little about him so when designing the stamp they could do it in a way that would meet his needs.” Eric Brand said. For example, Tanner has Cortical Vision Impairment, meaning that while he is considered deaf-blind, he does have limited vision, so using motion, lights and bright colors would attract more of Tanner’s attention.

As a result, a few groups designed their switches for ease of use and bright lights to attract his attention. ,

The switch also needed to have a tactile component be able to be activated with a relatively light touch, Donna Brand added.

Throughout the week, some students would stop Johnson or Tanner and his aid in the hallway to bounce ideas off them.

In the end, there were seven working machines to choose from.

Donna, Eric and Tanner Brand, Johnson and other members of Tanner’s team were all invited to Nashua South to watch Tanner try out each of the options and hear the students explain their thought process behind the design.

“We thought it was a great project for the students. It was way more than we expected,” Donna Brand said, “Each one was unique they were all different. It was exciting to watch the energy that had.”

“It literally brought tears to our eyes to see,” her husband added.

Donna Brand said it impressed her “how well Tanner’s team and school community came together to make this happen. The way the school is working with Tanner gives him a sense of inclusion.Donna Brand said it impressed her “how well team and school community came together to make this happen. The way the school is working with Tanner gives him a sense of inclusion.”

“He’s a very involved kid,” she said of her son. His team includes an occupational therapist, physical therapist, vision therapist, speech therapist, orientation and mobility therapist, transition coordinator, a speech language assistant, educational consultant through the New England Consortium of Deafblind Projects and his teacher.

He also works with Gateways Community Services, who will help transition Tanner into adulthood after he graduates high school at 21. They will stay with him for the rest of his life.

“Watching this whole process goes back to the old saying that it takes a village,” Eric Brand said.

Now, that village also includes Joe Berman, Zachary Thibodeau and Quinten Parker-Horvath, all from Nashua High School North, whose mechanism ultimately selected.

Rossetti said the boys have come by after school most days to tweak their design, make it a little lighter, cover a few spots to help protect Tanner’s fingers, and more.

Johnson recently purchased a new laptop to run the necessary program to use the switch, but by all accounts, everything should be up and running within a matter or weeks.

“It’s awesome to see these kids reaching,” Rossetti said, adding that she could tell Tanner was happy, too.

Gateways honored Berman, Thibodeau, Parker-Horvath, Johnson and Rossetti with their “Mission in Motion” award at their most recent staff meeting, and will present it formally in person in April.

They will also host a pizza party for all the students in the class.

Hannah LaClaire can be reached at 594-1243 or hlaclaire@nashuatelegraph.com