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Writer's pictureDave Verhoeff

Verhoeffs

We sat in a busy café, which was noisier than expected, so we decided to not post the video because of all the background noise. I was able to transcribe the entire conversation, bit-by-bit. A few sentences are missing, but it's pretty complete. It was an incredible hour for everyone... my mom, my dad, and my sister Christina. Luke carried on the conversation easily and we are impressed with how much quicker he is with Spelling. So proud of him, and so glad we could document this special time.



Luke: I am famous now. 

Luke: I saw Grandpa on the news, too.

Grandma V: It was called “Meet the 94 year old wood worker.” [see link below]

Luke: What’s your secret?

Grandpa V: Keep breathing, marry a wife who looks well after you, no drinking, and be active.

Grandma V: But he likes whiskey once in a while.

Luke: How did you score Grandma?

Grandpa V: Out of 10? 

Aunt Christina: How did you get so lucky as to get Grandma?

Luke: How did you meet and win her?

Grandpa V:  We met teaching vacation Bible school and took some courses together. One time I took her up to Cypress Mountain and asked her to marry me. 

Luke: That’s very romantic.



Luke: Grandma, how are you?

Grandma V: Very well, Luke. I’m so glad we can communicate now in this fashion. It’s great. Wow, you surprised us all.

Luke: You look stunning.

Grandma V: Wow, I feel very old. Thank you, though.

Luke: I’m very happy to talk with you.

Luke: Any questions for me?

Grandma V: I wanted to know, what is your favourite book?

Luke: I’m starting to read more. Not sure yet.

Grandma V: Do you want to know my favourite book Luke?

Luke: Yes.

Grandma V: Well you know I didn’t always speak English, but when I came to Canada I knew how to read English and I was told  to read “Who Has Seen the Wind” by W.O. Mitchell, and that book taught me a lot about Canada, and about the prairies, and about the wind. Who has seen the wind? Because at that point the wind has done so much damage to the prairies. And so I thought, wow, I can really relate to that even though it’s in a foreign language, but it was so wise to suggest that book. Later on, I was thinking about “Gone with the Wind”. Remember, do you know the movie “Gone with the Wind”? 

Luke: Yes. 

Grandma V: Wow. Well, something was gone and damaged in that book too, civilization. So, without books Luke, we wouldn’t know very much.

Luke: I’ll have to pick up a copy.

Grandma V: Okay.

Madison: Will you give us a review after?

Luke: Yes.

Madison: You guys can start a bookclub.

Luke: I’m writing my own book.

Grandma V: Very impressive, Luke.

Aunt Christina: That’s awesome. I can’t wait to read it.

Grandpa V:  We would like to read that.

Madison: Are you going to tell them what it’s about?

Luke: Murder mystery. 

Grandma V: Well, you would be our favourite author!

Luke: The detective is non-speaking like me. 

Aunt Christina: Really! So, a smart guy.

Grandma V: Do you like the detective, Murdoch Mysteries?

Luke: I haven’t seen that. 

Dad: We’ll have to queue it up for you.

Luke: I watch mostly cooking shows.

Grandpa V:  No one gets murdered on that. 

Aunt Christina: There could be a murder.

Madison: Seems like a good place to have one, I guess?

Mom: Ya! Murder in the Kitchen.

Aunt Christina: Your cousin Mason has a book, and I think it’s a murder mystery, and it’s called “Chef”.

Luke: I have to read that one, too. 

Aunt Christina: I can send it to you in the mail, would you like that?

Luke: Yes, please.

Dad: Do you want it as an audiobook?

Luke: No.

Madison: Do you want a physical one? 

Luke: Yes.



Grandpa V: Do you like to work with your hands, too? 

Luke: I do. I’m thinking about gardening. Taking after Susan. 

Aunt Christina: Oh, ya, Auntie Susan. Then you can make your own herbs, and vegetables for cooking. 

Madison: There you go. You can call it “farm to table”.



Luke: Grandpa, what project are you working on?

Grandpa V:  I’m working on a house that was built in 1912. It’s quite a big house, I’m making moldings and balustrades for it, all in the old style. I have to find the best lumber, no knots, good grain, so I can get the best of it out. I also have to work on the kitchen, it’s a big house. It’s quite special.

Luke: That is a labour of love.

Grandma V: He gets paid for it!

Grandpa V: I do like it, I love to work. I’ve built bookshelves for it, new windows in the old style.

Luke: What is your favourite type of project?

Grandpa V: Well, one of the nicest things we ever built was a cabinet from a picture at a museum. It was old fashioned, it was a big one in Holland. It was real special. I have a picture of it at home I can show you. That was my favourite project.

Luke: Very cool.



Luke: Auntie, how are you?

Aunt Christina: I’m doing great. I’m so excited to be here. And one of the things I’ve been doing is reading your journey, and I’ve been so impressed by you. You’ve waited years and years for this gift of spelling and the first thing you wanted to do with this gift that you’ve waited so long for is to advocate for others to get the same gift. And that just speaks so much about how you were raised by your parents. That you’re selfless, and I’m so impressed by you. I know from reading a bit about spelling, and from watching that movie, part of the reason we didn’t know about this and why other kids don’t get a chance is because the research, more research has to be done. So what can we do and how can we make sure more research is being done. Is it approaching university students, professors, for more research?

Luke: That is a good idea. I think more research that is designed by non-speakers.

Aunt Christina: Oh, that’s brilliant. To be very involved in the research, yep. 

Luke: Have you seen the HoloLens stuff?

Aunt Christina: The HoloLens, is that where they’re watching your eye movement? Yes, that’s going to be a game changer.

Grandpa V: That research, he really wants them to speed it up.

Madison: It’s one of the few pieces of research out there that is truly participatory. Like it’s very much the researchers come in with an idea of something they might want to create, but before there’s a protocol, they ask these guys “What do you want from the technology? What do you want?” So it’s very much, the researchers are the ones doing it, but they are very guided by guys like Luke and Eric, who they’ll ask. The PI [Principal Investigator] on that also has a son that is a speller, so he’s very passionate and driven.

Aunt Christina: Yes, I really enjoyed watching that. 

Dad: Luke really wants that to happen because it’s so much easier for him to track with his eyes. 

Grandpa V: So we're on the threshold for something that is developing.

Madison: Ya, we’re getting there. Everything that comes out, we just get closer and closer to that acceptance and that movement forward. Luke’s at the forefront of the revolution. Right there. 

Aunt Christina: I’m aware of a place in California where they have a lot of focus on non-speaking and autistic children, the entire spectrum and I think I’d like to give you the name of that place to contact and they have a lot of celebrities that want to donate to research there, so if we can get this out imagine how many people can be helped.

Luke: What is it called?

Aunt Christina: The Help Group.

Madison: In California? 

Dad: There’s a whole movement there. The Spellers Community in San Diego.

Madison: She’s [Dawn-Marie Gaivin / DM] the main person in the Spellers movie. There’s also something called Cal Lutheran University which I believe is also based out of California and they do a lot of work in that way as well. They’re a part of the team on the Communication for Education course.

Aunt Christina: Let’s reach out to all of them and they can all start their research and word will get out even faster.

Luke: I need help spreading my voice.

Aunt Christina: Yes, I’ll send an email okay.

Madison: You’d be surprised how far an email can go.

Dad: And share his story and website whenever you can.

Aunt Christina: May I have your permission to share a link to your website Luke?

Luke: Far and wide!



Luke: I’m going to be on a podcast.

Grandma V: Oh, wow.

Aunt Christina: When can we hear it?

Madison: I don’t know if we have a release date yet, but we're recording it next month. I’m coming to Kamloops in May, so we’re going to record it while I’m in Kamloops.

Dad: This lady is on the East coast and she has a non-speaking son and she wants to do an episode on Luke, Madison, and Sandra.

Madison: It will be a 3 part episode with Luke’s perspective, a professional’s perspective, and a parent’s perspective. Then she’ll release them all together.

Luke: She inspires me.

Aunt Christina: And you’re inspiring a lot of people yourself!



Luke: Did you know I see auras?

Madison: Do you know auras? He told us he could see them a couple of months ago.

Dad: He wants to say what yours is I think. Why else would you bring it up?

Luke: Grandma is golden. Pure hearted and kind.

Grandma V: Wow, Luke!

Luke: Grandpa is forest green.

Grandma V: That’s his favourite colour Luke.

Luke: Determined and generous.

Grandpa V:  Thank you Luke.

Aunt Christina: Especially with his time. That’s a really good read.

Luke: Aunty is lilac. Passionate, kind, and driven.

Grandma V: Oh, that’s very good Luke, that’s right on for Christina.

Grandma V: What is your Dad’s aura?

Luke: Not telling..

Luke: I always saw them, but didn’t know what they were.

Aunt Christina: Has someone ever read your aura?

Luke: No.

Madison: Can you see your aura in the mirror? I guess not.

Madison: And so, tell them how you knew what it was.

Luke: I saw it in a show.

Dad: How old were you when you saw that?

Luke: Ten-ish.

Aunt Christina: So you saw someone watching and explaining what it was, and you had always seen it so finally you were able to put into words what it was you were seeing?

Luke: Yes, exactly.

Aunt Christina: Wow, that’s amazing!

Madison: So we were talking about doing a colour wheel where he could say what each of the colours means. Maybe one day, we got about 50 projects on the go right now!



Luke: I love you all infinitely.

Aunt Christina: Aww, same back to you.

Grandma V: It’s mutual.

Grandpa V: So amazing, we’re so grateful that he can express himself.

Grandma V: You express yourself so we can learn more about you.

Aunt Christina: Your cousins are so excited every time a new post comes up and I share it with your cousins, and they’re just right there with you along for the ride. You’ve got a huge group of cheerleaders behind you.

Luke: I am so grateful for my family.

Grandma V: So people have often called for you.

Aunt Christina: And soon the talk show circuit.

Dad: And TEDtalks. He watched TEDtalks for about a year after he graduated. Just for the educational purposes, so we think Luke’s gonna do a TEDtalk one day.



Aunt Christina: I have a quick question. I heard a rumour that you were watching a Spanish show one day, a TEDtalk in Spanish, and that you understood Spanish. How did you learn that?

Luke: I learned through a wall.

Madison: Luke shared with us that he was in a classroom that shared a wall with a Spanish class and he has hearing like a… what’s your hearing like?

Luke: Whale.

Madison: Hearing like a whale.

Aunt Christina: You get that from Grandma. We couldn’t get away with anything at home.

Madison: So that’s how he told us he learned Spanish.

Aunt Christina: That is fascinating!

Dad: There’s no such thing as a private conversation in our house either. Luke says that if he hears a conversation and realizes he shouldn’t be hearing it, he plays music in his head to drown it out.



Luke: Next I can learn Dutch.

Grandpa V:  We still speak Dutch and try to read at least one Dutch book a year

Aunt Christina: And then will you learn to spell in Spanish and Dutch?

Madison: Spanish has a few extra letters in it.

Grandpa V:  Dutch has the same alphabet but some extra sounds..

Luke: We’re going next year.

Dad: Oh yeah, we’re going to Holland after Joel graduates.

Dad: You can learn Dutch there!

Mom:  We should probably learn some before we go.

Madison: My book keeper is Dutch as well and she just went back to Holland to visit some family and she took Dutch lessons before she went. They said they didn’t get in a car even once, when they were in Holland. They biked over 500 kilometers in 10 days.

Madison: Is that how you’re going to travel in Holland Luke?

Luke: No way!

Luke: Thanks for chatting with me.

Madison: Are you ready to eat?

Luke: Yes.









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