Facilitating Communication

This is one of those times when you need professional help…a good speech therapist.  Look for someone who has a degree in Speech and Language Pathology and who comes highly recommended by other people in your area.  You can use your local Special Needs Families Group on Facebook, ask professionals at your child’s school or ask a local social worker or your pediatrician for a referral. Then, you will work closely with them and follow through at home.

Requiring a Request

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Michael loved getting piggy back rides in the pool and since he was capable of speech, we required that he verbally request the piggy back ride.  Since he was motivated to get the piggy back ride, he readily learned to request one verbally. For your child, that might mean they sign their request, use PECS, PODD or Proloquo2Go. Requiring a request to get the piggy back ride isn’t the same as requiring ‘speech’ – however they communicate with you should be honored.

We Call it ‘Mikey’s Talking Ipad’

The main tool we use to increase Michael’s spoken language is his ipad with Proloquo2Go (an app that has icons and words that a person can touch and the ipad will speak for them). Contrary to what you might think, this did not cause Michael to stop talking.  Just the opposite happened! The consistency of the ipad voice allowed Michael to reproduce those sounds more reliably. The exercise of building sentences on his ipad increased his length of spoken utterances. He spoke more!

It turns out, this is the most common reaction of kids with communication issues.  The communication apps aid in their communication, but also help to build their spoken communication skills! 

Still, the iPad is part of Michael’s voice. For some of your children, it will be their only spoken voice. Think of it that way. You wouldn’t take their voice away and put it in their locker during lunch, right? So the communication device goes where they go. For Mikey, that meant it was on a cross-body strap where he could access it anytime.

Here’s an example of a sentence built by Michael after many many cloudy, cold, snowy days here in CT. I shared this on my personal Facebook account.

What about the shower?

Realistically, the iPad cannot go EVERYWHERE your child goes. In the shower or bath or at the beach, you’ll need to be able to have a low-tech way for them to access these icons. You can print out a sheet of icons frequently used in those environments and laminate it. In the bath, the laminated sheet can be wet and stuck to the wall so your child can point to the icons they need to communicate with you. In the pool or at the beach, you can use waterproof tape to stick the laminated sheet to a kick board. Wherever they are, they should have the support they need to communicate with you.