I've been increasing my modeling for the past 3 days (Maya's summer break started on Wednesday, which kind of inspired the timing of this challenge) so I have a bit of a jumpstart. On day 3 my kids are responding in a noticeably different way, somewhat intrigued when I reach for a talker. They are pausing to listen and watch more, which is great.
I'm sharing the modeling that I did while playing Memory with the kids this morning. We are just introducing contractions, so you'll see that the screenshot I'm sharing says "It's your turn." Other things that I said included:
-It's my turn/his turn/her turn.
-That's not a match
-Awesome match
-No match
-Whose turn is it
-Sneakarooni
-No stealing my match you little thief
-It's my turn/his turn/her turn.
-That's not a match
-Awesome match
-No match
-Whose turn is it
-Sneakarooni
-No stealing my match you little thief
Simple. Easy. If I were modifying for a newer user, I would drop "it's" to model "my turn/your turn." That could be further simplified by asking "Whose turn?" verbally and then modeling "mine" or the players' names. Modeling for matches could just become saying "Yes, a match!" or "No match" and modeling the yes/no buttons. That also could be verbally asking "is there a match?" and then model using the yes/no to answer.
For more advanced users, the possible targets are kind of limitless if you think creatively. If you wanted to focus more on social language, you could skip modeling the game play and stick to things like "Awesome!" "Good job" "You have a great memory" "Nice teamwork" etc. Adjectives could have been targeted by describing the items on the card ("that looks like a FRIENDLY dragon"). Verbs could be targeted by narrating the actions used in the game (OPEN the box, FLIP the cards, PUT them back in the line, TAKE your turn, etc) and more advanced verb forms could be modeled as well ("I just flipped over 2 cards but didn't see a match").
The point is kind of that you can pick any activity and model simply or model more complicated-ly . . . but don't get overwhelmed by the possibilities. I kept things simple (there was some card stealing and refereeing that needed to be done along with modeling) but I was actively engaged with a talker, and that's fantastic.
One thing that I've noticed about modeling more is that the simple act of wearing/transporting the iPad around makes me much more likely to use it. The difference between having it in the stroller vs. having it on my body, or having it in the room vs. having it at my fingertips . . . it's a big difference. It's kind of like instead of needing a reason to cross the room and get the iPad to model, I would need a compelling reason NOT to model, since it's already right there ready to be used.
(picture 1) We went for a long walk and to a playground this morning, and the kids didn't want to hold the talkers in the stroller while they were having a snack. Usually I would stick them both under the stroller . . . but today I wore one instead. As it turned out, there were two times that we paused on our walk and I could quickly model ("Are you going to use your spray bottles?" and something that I don't remember). Also, the act of wearing the talker had me (strangely) thinking about whether I knew the locations of the words that I was saying. So when I was pushing the stroller and said "We're going to have fun!" I was mentally tracing the path through the talker to build that sentence. We also added the words "cicada" and the name of a new playground to the talker smile emoticon
(picture 2) Later in the afternoon we went out with spray bottles to squirt things in the neighborhood, and I wore the talker to model again. Nothing profound, but again---having the talker right there made me feel like "if it's hanging around me I may as well use it."
The Good: We hit the farmer's market this morning, as we do most Sundays. We always have the talkers with us, but I don't usually wear one around while Maya and I shop (Dave and Will usually wander to kick a ball around in the back). Today I wore a talker, and had a chance to model "the biggest beet" (seriously, it was the biggest beet ever), to talk about Maya's yellow vegetable selections (she picked yellow carrots and yellow tomatoes) and to comment "so many colors!" (shown in the picture below). We also noticed that we needed to add "nectarine" and "overflowing"-due to an overflowing garbage can. When I programmed that in Dave pointed out that overflowing is also a verb, so we also added the other forms (overflow, overflows, overflowed).
The Bad: Later in the afternoon we went to Target, and I confidently entered the store with a talker around my neck. And then I didn't use it once. Because crowds and noise and blocking-the-aisles and things-to-touch and things-to-see and chaos and I'm-not-stopping-right-here-to-model-because-you-don't-care-that-much-and-we-just-need-to-get-out-of-here. But maybe I'll try to bring the kids back on a weekday morning, when things are quieter, and I'll try then.
The Numbers Don't Lie: As I added more words tonight (fake, fakes, faking, faked, faker, and +rooni---- that last one is because I like to add -rooni to words, and now she can too. Ex: fakerooni, stinkyrooni, sillyrooni, etc) I thought to myself "I really wish I had thought to keep count of how many new words I open/add over the course of this challenge" . . . and then I realized that because of the word counter in our app, and the frequency with which I save back-ups, I may actually have a count. I looked back to Tuesday night (the start of Maya's break) and I had saved a vocab file. On Wednesday I started to up my modeling game, so today is kind of day 5 for me (it took me two days to think up the challenge).
In the past 5 days, I've added or opened 60 words. 60! It's so easy to see what words aren't there when you start to use a talker yourself.
This isn't to suggest that everyone start adding words as-fast-as-you-can, or that success = adding more words, but it's been eye opening for me. Maya isn't overwhelmed by the addition of words, and she really enjoys helping to add them, pick a location for each one, select and image to go with it, etc. And it's great to keep adding words that are kind of fun and colorful, which are sometimes much more motivating for kids to jump in and use than the run-of-the-mill wants-and-needs stuff.
Today's update really comes from Maya, not from my modeling. I kept up with modeling throughout the day (at home, the library, the grocery store) but the more interesting parts of today were when Maya decided to talk. After nearly a week of upping my modeling work, today brought a jump in Maya's talker use as well. I started modeling contractions 6 days ago, and I haven't seen much interest in using them from Maya-until today. This morning I heard her talking in bed a bit, so at breakfast I opened up our history feature and saw . . . well, some interesting things (pic 1). First, I saw that she had independently formed a great sentence that included a contraction: "Sulley it's me." Next, I saw that she formed this sentence at 3 in the morning. She actually used the talker from a bit before 3am until 4am, and then went back to sleep. She told me that she was talking to Sulley (the monster from Monsters Inc). Once I got past the completely creepy idea that Maya was talking to monsters at 3am, I was psyched about the contraction. (Further inquiry yielded that it wasn't real, it was pretend, and that Sulley said "I love you Maya", so at least he's friendly . . .)
At lunch Maya made a few nice sentences, too. One was about this morning's activities (pic 2) . . . we walked to the library and read some books. Reading is a great modeling activity---so easy to talk about the books (verbs that the characters are doing, attributes that describe them, sight words or new words in the text to add).
She also made this amazing one about Sulley the monster returning tonight (pic 3). "He'll" = future tense contraction! Amazing! "Visit" = I had no idea where that word was, I was so impressed that she did. (Also, really creepy.)
So that's two spontaneous contractions after 6 days of not seeming to pay too much attention to how I modeled them . . . big win today smile emoticon We also added the word "diarrhea" (which we read in the book "Today I Feel Silly") . . . which the kids thought was hilarious.
Today was a sloppy day. We spent the (very hot) morning at the playground, where I added two new words (breeze and breezy) and modeled a bit, but not much. Despite knowing that having the talker on my body increases my modeling, I shoved it under the stroller while walking because it was 90 degrees, over 90% humidity, and I was pushing 100 lbs of double strollerness up and down hills. The pull of the talker strap on my sweaty neck was the last straw for me.
In the afternoon we played at home. We worked together to make a menu for the kids' play restaurant (that involved lots of AAC use) and then I narrated while the kids' played. At one point I realized that new-to-modeling families (or families currently in a am-I-even-doing-this-right place, where we all end up from time to time) may imagine that other parents are cracker-jack-modeling-wizards . . . but we all have our highlights and lowlights.
So I grabbed my phone and recorded a few minutes to show what modeling often looks like when my kids are otherwise engaged (in this case, eating pretzels and playing with toy food)----I'm talking to myself, they are occasionally glancing my way. This is no pressure modeling----at best, Maya is gleaning something from what I'm saying, or may turn and use the talker spontaneously because I'm holding it out and ready and interacting with it. At worst, I'm showing respect for the talker by choosing to use it, and practicing finding words (upside down, in this case).
I'm not forcing her to engage, making her use it, or saying "look here! look here!"----all of that, to me, would make AAC feel like work, an obligation, something that makes her stop playing and forces her to do something else. Sometimes I'll call out "Hey, look, I found that word!" or something, but if she doesn't look I just move on . . .
First, let me say that I am really enjoying this challenge. I am reaching for the talker more, partially because I know that I am coming here to report out at the end of the day, which keeps it near the front of my mind. Aside from my own increase in modeling, I love hearing your stories---which keep me motivated and also help me think of new things to try, new words to add, etc. I find myself checking FB on my phone more often between posting and going to bed, anxious to see if anyone else has shared smile emoticon
I took the kids to the mall this afternoon and managed to say some new stuff, including the phrase "this way." I'm not sure I had ever used the word "way" before, but "this way" "that way" "which way" "out of my way" "you're in the way" "way over there" are all really versatile and conversational, and I plan on targeting "way" more tomorrow (particularly since, as I write this, I'm struggling to recall which screen "way" is on*).
I had grand plans of going on the ferris wheel and modeling during the ride about how it was fast and fun and high, etc. Instead, Maya had a bit of a sensory overload, which led to us programming the new button "too much". Since I'm not sure whether it's too exciting, too scary, too overwhelming, or too . . . I don't know what . . . "too much" seemed like a safe bet. Now I just need to remember to model it during those overloaded times.
Today was a challenging day. I spent the morning in an orientation at Will's preschool, and returned home in the middle of lunchtime. Then came rest time, during which Maya did not rest, and the afternoon was filled with some behavioral stuff and some hands-on parenting that made modeling challenging. I know, in theory, that challenging medical and behavioral times are exactly when modeling is extra meaningful and essential (teaching to use language to work through challenges rather than behavior) . . . but I also know, in reality, that sometimes one's hands are just too full, and one's mind just too stretched, to deal with also managing an iPad and speaker and strap and don't-step-on-that and wait-now-you're-twisted-in-the-cord and argh-let-me-lift-you-here-and-put-you-over-here-and-I'm-throwing-this-gd-iPad-over-that-way-because-I-just-can't.
Then we went to a barbecue for Dave's work folks. Maya loves learning people's names, so leading up to the bbq, in on the car ride there, we practiced asking people what their names were, and introducing ourselves. She was ready! She was excited! She didn't use the talker at all the whole time we were there!
Tomorrow is a new day. No guilt here :)
We went to the zoo today, and I had some fun in the petting zoo area modeling what the animals were thinking (primarily "I'm hungry" "We're hungry" "I need food" etc). I took picture #1, of Maya feeding the goat and the modeling iPad hanging down at goat-speaking-level, thinking that that would be my AAC modeling pic for the day. But then things got interesting smile emoticon
Maya fed an alpaca and then turned away from him, which he apparently did not like, as he stretched out and bit her arm. There were tears, and I quickly said that we should yell at the alpaca with the talker and tell him that he wasn't nice. (Picture #2) The text reads "No biting you stinky alpaca. You are not nice." (Picture #3)
Then things got really ridiculous, as apparently alpacas don't appreciate being called stinky. The biter's buddy ran over, sniffed the iPad and listened to the sentence, and then bit the talker! (Picture #4 and #5---you can see the bottom blue bar of the Gripcase being pulled down in the last picture) Maya thought that this was hilarious smile emoticon
From Maya: Today at dinner, she used the talker to make a few big spontaneous interesting sentences with Dave---about a friend from school, a favorite song, and the fact that she wanted a "long" bath (in response to him mentioning that he would fill the tub for a quick bath). He said to me, "This might just be a coincidence, but she just said a lot . . ." Not coincidence, most likely, probably the increased talker use around here. Yay modeling!
The goat said "I'm hungry" so Maya fed him.
Talking back to the biter.
"No biting you stinky alpaca. You are not nice."
A friend runs over to investigate. "Hey lady, did you just call my buddy stinky?"
"Then I will bite this thing." (You can see the bottom bar of the Gripcase being pulled down.)
Two weeks ago we attended the AAC Institute Camp in Pittsburgh. One of my biggest take-aways from camp was the somewhat unspoken, but universally accepted, idea that modeling is normal and is happening all the time. In a hotel surrounded by other AAC families it was really easy to model, but it really hit home for me when we took a group field trip to the mall. I modeled on that mall trip in Pittsburgh like a pro, but realized that I tend not to model at all when we are at our own local mall.
I thought about why this was the case, and I realized that it's because I tend to favor a low profile. Wearing an iPad is unusual (sometimes I think nothing of it, sometimes I see some glances and step outside of myself and realize just how strange it must look). Bending over and drawing the attention of my children to an iPad, rather than pointing out things around them or just chatting, must look very odd. Am I tutoring them? Are we playing some sort of video game? Why aren't we just enjoying our surroundings? Why are people so addicted to their screens these days?
(By the way, professionals, I think that this may be a big difference for families: if you're modeling out in public you may not feel awkward, because it's your job. I think it may be easier not to feel weird when it's your job, not actually part of your identity. When I think about modeling for other kids I don't feel self-conscious at all, but in our local playgrounds and grocery store and on the street and at Starbucks and when I run into parents from Will's playgroup and everywhere, I am becoming that-lady-who-wears-and-is-constantly-playing-with-an-iPad.)
Once I realized that my modeling was being negatively impacted by my desire not to draw attention to myself, the solution was obvious: to surrender any last bits of self-consciousness that I had and go for it.
So here I am today at the playground, being the lady-who-wears-and-plays-with-the-iPad. The kids are filling up cups of water from the sprinkler and carrying them to dump down the drain and stairs that are to my left. When they walk by me I modeled things like "You filled the cups" "Don't spill them" "Dump them over there" etc. We added the words dump-dumps-dumping-dumped.
Halfway through, officially, and the changes here are undeniable across the board. Here's an update, family member by family member:
-My AAC vocabulary has seriously jumped. I'm fast, my finger hovering above the next word and waiting for the screens to load and catch up (I'm still using an iPad2 and Maya has the original mini---unfortunately, these processors are a bit older and slower than is ideal). Sometimes when I talk I find myself thinking through the sequences to form the sentence via AAC in my head, and I wonder (a lot) if Maya does that, too.
-Will has increased his overall talker use (greatly) and is trying to remember and repeat sentences that he's seen used earlier in the day/week.
-Dave's AAC use has increased significantly. At dinner for the past 2 nights more than half of his "speech" has been via AAC.
-Maya is watching now, a lot. She's not ignoring my AAC use or fighting it---she's come to accept, I guess, that this is just a thing that I do now. She watches me when I'm using new words or saying something she she might not expect, and other times she does her own thing until I activate the sentence strip and then she'll look (either at the icons I've chosen or reading the sentence or both . . . I imagine that, like me, she may read the words and then examine the icons for the ones that she may not know the location of, but that's only a guess). When she uses the talker I can see bits and pieces of things I've modeled, and I see more sophisticated sentences, but I would say that the difference in her use is in quality, not quantity. That is pretty par for the course for Maya----she is always always learning, but we often sit for a while without much evidence that she's absorbing and applying all of it until--whammy--we unexpectedly see it some day.
Today I was gone for half the day with Will (first day of preschool), then she had speech, then the day was hit or miss. There was some modeling at the playground, a bit at the grocery store, some around dinner time. Nothing really noteworthy, just plodding along.
Will started preschool (for real, without mommy) today. I need to be on campus when he's in school, but Maya doesn't start school for another week and a half--so today was the first of several fill-time-on-campus days for Maya and me. We spent a lot of time in the lounge for speech students, which was lovely and quiet and empty (classes don't start for a few days) and we colored, made lists, read books, walked around, took pictures of things, and had lunch. She loved the college . . . primarily because she thought it was like the school that Mike and Sulley go to in Monsters University, and I think she was hoping to spot a monster on campus.
I modeled throughout the day, she made some sentences that she wanted me to add to a list. We added the word "calm" (Will calmed down quickly after we left) and the name of some cartoon airplane. She's way excited to return tomorrow, and she wants to do some tracing and writing and I think there are some fun opportunities to use the talker to share some story ideas.
Nothing exciting, but good consistent modeling . . . and I think she's ready to teach a class :)
Maya and I spent another day on campus while Will tackled preschool. We had a great morning doing something that is *highly* motivated for her: writing. She really, really loves it when people write things for her: lists, sentences, anything. While her AAC use for communication favors speed (as in, she will often use minimal words to get her points across), she will actually make phrases and sentences if she knows that I will write them down. I found a workbook of writing prompts and questions for preschoolers-2nd graders and she was dying to get at it.
I used the talker to ask the questions or get her to expand upon her answers (by adding "why" do a lot of questions). She used Mini to answer me, and the questions. I loved doing this activity with her because it centered not around functional communication, but around imaginative communication---which, I think, it something we don't do nearly enough. I'd venture to guess that a lot of AAC users could use more imaginative talk, both at home and at school (although maybe I'm just falling shorter than usual on that front). I'm going to make sure increase the number of imaginative discussions that we have.
I think my favorite one today was about the sad zebra (see pictures).
Me: What do you like to do in the winter?
Maya: Go have fun.
Me: What do you like to do in the spring?
Maya: Ride a bike.
Maya said her favorite zoo animal was a zebra (hence the stripes) and then drew a sad face on him. (She loves sad faces). I wrote "a sad zebra", she thought it was hilarious.
After drawing the zebra:
Me: Why's the zebra sad?
Maya: Because he wants to eat
Awesome answer. I'm pretty sad when I want to eat, too.
We spent the first half of the day at the zoo (no alpaca bites, although a goat got Maya's finger). I had the talker on and available, but we were moving at a good clip (and it was a bit hot to stop and model too often) so most of the AAC use was when we stopped for breaks, or during shady exhibits. At a snack break I modeled "Next we're going to see the dog" . . . and the kids laughed. So I deleted 'dog' and said "Next we're going to see the cat", etc etc until I said the correct sentence (tiger). Then Will came over and wanted to join in, while Maya and my mom looked on.
While walking through the gorilla exhibit we passed a few waterfalls, and I checked and saw that the word 'waterfall' is missing. It's so easy to quickly check and add words if I'm already wearing the talker . . . and wearing the talker, in and of itself, is a steady reminder to check for the availability of words that I am speaking. We've now added or opened 101 words since I increased my modeling. Waterfall is a word that we've said to Maya tons of times (it's hard to even guess at quantifying that) . . . how did I never think, before now, to check if it was in her talker? I know she understands the word. I'm pretty sure she can read it. In an emergency, she may have thought to combine 'water' + 'fall' . . . but she shouldn't have to. She should have all of the words.
(Again, your mileage may vary, but at this stage I'm not very worried about visually overwhelming Maya with crowded screens. If I notice that she's taking longer to find things I can always use color to break up/highlight/clump words.)
Today was an errand-running day: a haircut for Will, dropping stuff off at the thrift store, Target, a grocery store trip, etc. Modeling happened a few times at Target, at home over lunch, while on a walk, and at the store . . . so, again, frequently but not constantly . . . which seems perfect for me right now.
Committing to the 21 day challenge gave me the opportunity to really sink my teeth into modeling and figure out how to make it realistically work---which can be tricky for families, I think. When Maya first starting using AAC I was overwhelmed by modeling--when do I do it? How do I do it? What if I modeled wrong . . . would I mangle her entire language development?
Then, over time, her vocabulary knowledge mostly outpaced mine. When asked, she could find words that were impressively obscure. She became possessive of her device, and I wasn't used to having the modeling iPad on hand. Our AAC dynamic shifted, and I began, again, to overanalyze my place and the best way to support her. Also, honestly, I felt like I had permission to be lazy since she clearly 'knew more than I did.'
But that wasn't quite right, either. She may have known where 'cubicle' was, but she didn't often use sentences or long phrases. How could I know what her inner grammar was? Maybe it was fantastic, but maybe it had gaps . . . and either way, I should be modeling. It's part of my responsibility. But I would alternate between too busy and too unsure (don't get me wrong, I modeled, but not religiously) and get stuck.
Now I'm in, for 21 days, and it just has to happen. It doesn't have to be amazing, it doesn't have to be perfection. Sometimes I pick a focus (like contractions or pronouns or verbs) sometimes I just say whatever comes to mind. But it's happening and it's changing things and it's a big-but-not-big deal.
Highlight of today: opening the word 'naked' after seeing that our sticker from the grocery store said naked. Much giggling and delight when we saw that word was already in there. Also added: lean, leans, leaning, leaned.
We spent the day in NJ, visiting my parents and enjoying the perks of having a yard (grilling, playing with a baby pool and buckets of water and mud, etc). Most of my modeling happened in the first half of the day, chatting while playing with some toys and looking at magazines, and then modeling during the hour or two we spent outside.
I love these pictures smile emoticon For me, they really show life in an #AACfamily. The kids were playing with bowls and spoons and water and grass and dirt, making 'soup.' I was modeling things about their soups, holding cups, catching water, pouring water, and being silly. In some of the pictures you can easily see a tan dish towel across one of my legs, which was there so that wet fingers could quickly be swiped dry if someone with a wet hang wanted to jump in and say something. I think in these pictures I was mainly modeling things like "Oh my goodness (that's a 1 hit phrase for us) all of the soup spilled!" or "That soup tastes delicious."
New words today: blast off, blast, blasts, blasting, blasted
"Oh my goodness, all of the soup spilled on Mommy (+'s foot)"
*The words in ( ) were being put in here
I think this was immediately after Maya dumped soup on my foot---I was acting shocked that more soup fell and Will was refilling my cup so that I could refill Maya's bowl.
"Oh my goodness, all of the soup spilled on the octopus"
I was trying to entice him to go feed an octopus toy across the yard.
I was trying to entice him to go feed an octopus toy across the yard.
This was a light modeling day. We visited with out-of-town family for breakfast, went to a birthday party, and then had kind of a lazy afternoon. There was some modeling, but it was nothing particularly special. My favorite modeled phrase was about being a "party pooper"---which was fun and also gave me the chance to model using the '+er' word ending. I like getting to use the word ending buttons because it's nice to show her how to play with words as units.
Tomorrow is my first day of classes (6 hours of class tomorrow---send coffee! or a seat cushion!) and Maya will spend the morning on campus with me (classes start at noon) so I anticipate much modeling in the morning.
*Also, in a few minutes I'm going to post a little survey question about this modeling challenge, so please go look for that in case the mysterious FB algorithms only show you my posts with pictures attached.
Holy cow, guys, it's already Day 18. Thanks to the folks who shared their thoughts on last night's opinion poll (if you didn't chime in, it's not too late---I'd love to hear from you, too). I'm going to continue sharing modeling snippets and reflections after the close of day 21, although I need to think more about how/when/what-it-will-look-like.
Today was my first day back in class, so I was with Maya, and modeling, in the morning. We did some coloring and writing and tracing, and I modeled thoughts about the pictures and stories. We added: trace, traces, tracing, traced.
When I started this I thought to myself "even if I forgot to model for a day it would be easy to lie and make something up" (I imagine that I just would have confessed, but the ease of lying did flit through my mind) . . . . however, I didn't anticipate how much this little project would impact me. I don't want to miss a day, and I find myself thinking "ok, what does this day look like, and where is modeling going to fit in?"
This is important to me. I want to make sure I model everyday. I want to make sure that it is a (high) priority not to let a day go by without Maya seeing someone else using a talker, too. This matters.
21 Days of AAC Challenge: Day 19
(the good and the confession)
(the good and the confession)
First, the good. Maya spent the morning at school with me again, much to her delight. She now knows where all of the buildings are, has favorite hang-out spots, and delights in going on as many campus errands as possible (today we had to visit tech support, use the giant stapler at the library, and hit the bookstore). We used the talker on campus to talk about a few different things, mostly when we sat to have snack. Maya was carrying around a huge children's cookbook and we talked about what we could make this afternoon (after my class). We settled on chocolate chip cookies
smile emoticon
The pictures below were taken during cookie making, which was a great modeling activity. We talked about the ingredients and the verbs that went with them: measuring, filling, pouring, dumping. stirring, and mixing. When we used the mixer (which is old and loud) Maya jumped in to say "stop" and "go." (pictured below)
Words added/opened: tablecloth, ingredients, eyelash
Now, the confession. I left Mini at home this morning. Maya's talker. I left it. I had my school bag, Maya's travel bag, Will's backpack, everyone's lunches, and the blue talker----and I had put the travel strap on Mini and put it by the door---but neither one of us grabbed it. I realized midway to campus that it wasn't there.
So, real life. #AACfamily
Nothing profound here (besides exhaustion). After two days of class, my arm hurts a lot tonight, so I'm keeping this brief. Today I modeled in between rounds of hide-and-boo (which is like hide and go seek, except that I hide and then jump out and scare the seekers): things like "I'm going to hide again" or "I got you."
More modeling during pretend play with babies (about what the babies wanted, how they felt, what they needed), and chit chat at mealtimes.
It's been a good run, and ended on a high note. Maya and I spent the morning on campus, hanging out in the shade of the speech building. I introduced her to a color-by-number book, and we talked about how it had a key, just like maps. There was tons of modeling about the colors, following the key, directions, commenting, etc. Then we moved on to playing with category cards and talked about features that the items had in common and also differences. It was basically constant modeling for 2 hours, and it was great. We added/opened several words, but I can't remember what they were.
The numbers: Over the course of this increased modeling period, we added/opened a total of 136 words.
My (brief) reflections: Modeling makes a difference (I know, I know, we all knew this already). The ways in which it made a difference for us, however, were perhaps not the ways that a novice would hope to see . . .
-Quantity of AAC talking time: I didn't quantify the talker use (mine or Maya's) but if I had to venture an educated guess, I don't think that there was a huge increase in the amount of time that Maya spent using AAC. There was, of course, a huge jump in the amount of time that I (and Dave, too) spent using AAC . . . and Will showed a renewal of interest as well.
-Quantity of AAC listening time: Humongous jump for my kids. They were used to only seeing me model briefly on any given day, and now I was wearing a talker every time we walked out the door. Big jump.
-Quality of AAC talking: Huge jump for me---I am solidly fluent now, rightside up/upside down/sideways. I'm as fast as the system allows me to be. I still use the search feature daily (because I like to say what I'm really thinking and because I'm happy to take the extra time and model the search feature) but I'm happy with that. Maya's quality is great, as usual----and she's gained a bunch of words through these 21 days.
-Quality of AAC listening: Huge jump for Maya. She used to be indifferent to my modeling, often leaving me (literally) talking to myself. Over the course of these 21 days she has become undeniably and considerably more interested in watching me talk. She hasn't wanted to talk about my increase in talker use (sometimes saying that she likes it, sometimes that she doesn't, most often ignoring the line of conversation) but everything about her behavior says that this has been so good for us.
-Family Culture: We became a more genuine #AACfamily. I wasn't just supporting or encouraging Maya to use a talker, I used one myself (or wore it, at least). I paused to say things. Our communication rate slowwwweeeedddd down, allowing for my pauses to tap out sentences, and probably settling in a space that was easier for her to keep up with.
-For me: I really feel like this has deepened the connection between Maya and I. It also effectively erased any sort of self-consciousness that I may have had about wearing the iPad and modeling everywhere, simply by making it my job ("I have to do this! I'm in a challenge!"). And I can't really imagine leaving the house tomorrow without wearing the blue iPad anymore than I can imagine leaving without my shoes. Rather than feeling like I have to make the conscious choice to bring it, I feel like I would now have to make the conscious choice to leave it at home.
It all feels like success.
"Can you find another 9?"
We did 9 cards at a time and cleared them when she grouped and talked about the categories. These were the last two.
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ReplyDeleteThis is awesoome
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