Spokane Valley child gets center stage playing piano with assistive technology in new TV ad

May 10-At center stage in a new TV commercial, Remi Schreiber uses eye-gaze technology to play a digital piano solo in the "Rocky" song, "Gonna Fly Now."

The AT&T ad isn't that far from reality for the Spokane Valley girl, who plays music on a specialized device. Remi, 7, has hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen at birth - and cerebral palsy.

She uses a wheelchair or gait walker. Remi doesn't talk, except perhaps "Yes," and "Hi," and has her own sign language with family.

Remi is expanding her communication and activities, thanks to assistive technology. She uses a tablet device developed by the Tobii Dynavox company to open its platforms with eye movements at points on the screen.

"Remi started using her communications device at 8 months old," said her mother Kayla Schreiber, a Luke's Rehabilitation Medical Center recreational therapist.

"When the speech therapist first brought it in, I said, 'You don't think she'll talk? What about screen time?' " Schreiber added, laughing. "Now, look what she can do with it."

Remi uses her device to listen to or play music, take photographs, watch videos and listen to audiobooks. She can use it to communicate with others, including her mom, dad Kody Schreiber and sisters Graci, 5 and Quinli, 2.

"She uses it to FaceTime and for playing music; she has a lot of books that she'll have on Audible books," her mom said. "That is her autonomy."

Early on, Remi played games to help her develop use of her eyes with the device and quickly took to it. "When she got her Apple version around 4 years old, that's when she could start playing music."

Remi's family travels on occasion to take her to more intensive therapy camps. A Denver therapist told them about AT&T's ad request, seeking a child ages 7-12 who loves music and does eye-gaze technology, to promote the company's network supporting such connections.

The Schreibers sent in an audition video and quickly heard back with a request to fly the family to Los Angeles in early March for filming.

Remi's parents are shown briefly in two longer ads, "Remi Rocks" and "Remi Rocks - Her Story." The shortest commercial is "Remi's Rehearsal," set in a classroom.

The teacher shown in the classroom is actor Arturo Castro, the Schreibers said. But they said the children seen around Remi are from the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.

The orchestra members are in the classroom scene and with Remi when she's on a school stage before an audience. The filming was at a school that was in session.

"For the AT&T commercial, honestly, they were so accommodating," her mom said. "The school was still in session during all of it, which blew my mind. They were worried about the school being ADA and accessible."

Remi gets much of her care locally through therapists and Providence specialists.

Dr. M. Edward Haws, pediatric neurologist, sees her at Providence Child Neurology. Remi, who also has seizures, is affected by a period of time at birth when her brain didn't get oxygen, and it caused damage to the brain, he said.

"So now, the circuits that normally would control speech, motor movements and would help you develop into normal milestones like running, talking, playing, laughing, those circuits are damaged," Haws said. "As kids get older, we call the effect of that brain damage, cerebral palsy."

Assistive technology is life-changing for Remi and others like her, he said.

"There's a little dot that shows up on the screen that shows where her eyes are going, like a (computer) mouse essentially, so her eye gaze becomes the mouse," Haws said.

"She can activate different buttons on the screen and control different aspects. It has helped her express thoughts and feelings and explore her world."

Locally, Remi goes to Sunrise Elementary in a general education class, where they have music once a week.

"She has a speech therapist within the school district," Schreiber said. "They have started to work with Remi and upload homework on Google Drive, so she can submit it to her teachers. They get really creative in how she can participate."

Because assistive devices are costly, charities such as Elevations Spokane can offer grants to offset what insurance doesn't cover, Haws said. The device makes a significant difference for Remi.

"A lot of kids with her condition, HIE and cerebral palsy, either don't have communication, or their communication is unidentified because they don't necessarily have a great capacity to express themselves," he said. "It says a lot about her speech therapists and parents that they were willing and took the time to learn how she communicates."

"I don't think there are a lot of kids as impaired as her who still have the capacity to think and communicate as well as she can. It's even more meaningful because her body is much more impaired than her brain is. This allows her brain to escape."

Remi is starting to use a keyboard of letters to write words. Mostly, she can open a folder that can describe what she wants, such as a favorite dessert.

"She has what is like a talking app with different folders such as food," her mom said.

"It breaks down categories for her. It's how she can communicate, and attached to that is a keyboard," she added. "If she can't find something, she'll go to the first letter. It will try to help her find the word.

"As her language has grown, she's bypassing her folders, so she's having to learn how to spell."

Kody Schreiber, who owns a German auto repair shop, said they both are amazed at what Remi can do now with technology.

"It just broadened her horizons," he said. "You view it as a crutch at first, but you see the benefits."

Both parents said it was emotional when they saw the AT&T commercials.

"They did such a great job keeping it authentic," Kayla Schreiber said. "They kept Remi her fully authentic self, and they worked with her. It's shown inclusion, a huge representation of just what a communication device can really help do, and not to judge a book by its cover."

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