Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Romeo Gaona, 9, looks at a new iPod Touch his grandfather, Wayne Fridley, holds out for him. The device is meant to help Romeo communicate.

Nine-year-old Romeo Gaona of Roanoke faces a barrier when it comes to communicating.

"He talks a little," said Wayne Fridley, his grandfather.

Those who don't know Romeo well have difficulty understanding what he is saying.

Romeo has autism and apraxia of speech. Sounds, syllables and words are hard for him to execute, and he relies on sign language.

On Monday, Romeo received a gift from the Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association Ladies Auxiliary that will help him communicate. President Jan Tate of Botetourt County presented an iPod Touch with the Proloquo2Go application to Romeo in the pediatric therapy unit of Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital.

Michelle Scarfe, a speech language pathologist, applied for the device through the used car dealers association's Fill-A-Wish program because Romeo's grandparents, who have custody of the boy, were unable to afford the iPod and application, which cost about $600. The Fill-A-Wish program allocates $6,000 each year to fulfill a wish for special-needs or terminally ill children across the state.

Before handing over the device, Scarfe gave Romeo a quick demonstration.

"Look," she said as she pointed to the screen and touched.

"I feel ... " her voice trailed. "Good." Then the machine repeated the sentence.

As she gave the iPod to Romeo, she asked him, "How do you feel, Romeo?"

Excitedly and abruptly he put his finger on an icon, and the iPod recited the word "crazy."

The guests in the room erupted in laughter, and Scarfe conceded that, sometimes, she feels crazy, too.

The iPod will replace a clunky electronic device Romeo uses during speech therapy to broaden vocabulary and word recognition skills. Scarfe's goal is for the boy to be able to use the application functionally, to put words together and make sentences to communicate when he wants something or if something hurts.

"It will give him the voice he doesn't always have," Scarfe said.

Romeo, a student at Garden City Elementary School, has occupational therapy daily at school and speech therapy once a week at Community Hospital and four times a week at home.