Not the Good Goods?
Published June 20, 2009 @ 04:50PM PT
What to make of something like this beagle scarf, a "surround sound hood" billed as a "therapeutic treatment" for autism? The idea of fleece-soft head-and-ear protection makes sense given Charlie's greater sensitivity to sound in the past few months. But frankly I think a hooded sweatshirt (ok, "hoodie") could do the same, and you can still tuck headphones under the hood.
I am thisclose to getting Charlie an iPod Touch and to spend some time this summer working on teaching him to use it to communicate and also for fun.
(Yes, one is allowed to have fun around here, however much I talk about the need for structure and schedules).
Part of me keeps thinking back to all the special stuff we've tried (i.e., bought) over the years to help Charlie---prism lenses, squishy sensory balls, a parachute (still have it, neatly folded up in its bag), a slanted board for his desk. Some things have been kind of or briefly helpful; others have brought some smiles, many have collected a bit of dust. Sometimes I have wondered if the whole act of finding and purchasing and assembling various materials, getting various things, for Charlie---I still remember the days of velcro and the laminator when Charlie was using PECS more and needed cards for schedules and home program goals---hasn't become an activity in itself, mostly meant to preoccupy me. Charlie has used and liked a number of these items over the years, but many of his favorites have been things he found around the house and appropriated (like the king-size fleece blankets that once graced Jim's and my bed).
As ever, I have to remind myself: Charlie has a quite good sense of what he wants and, in his various ways, he's quite good at telling us.
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Comments (10)
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Author
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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I have been thinking the same thing for this summer - with the price of the IPOD/Proloquo2Go being as low as it is I was thinking maybe we should just buy it on our own to work with it. But I really have no idea how to help him use it. My other thought was trying to find a SLP with experience in ACC to work with my son. That would be expensive enough that we'd probably need to look into insurance coverage, get a referral and all that. It's not like he can't speak, but I think this might be a big aid... or a total waste of time and money. Any thoughts?
Posted by Cornelia Rivers on 06/20/2009 @ 06:07PM PT
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My concern about buying the ProLoquo2Go software is that Charlie used to have a lot of trouble identifying any of the PECS icons. The pictures on ProLoquo2Go look very similar and I'm not sure how he'll respond to them!
A friend with a child on the spectrum---I don't know how verbal this child is----mentioned that she got the ProLoquo2Go software and her child has not been inclined to use it all. But, she has no problem navigating around the iPod touch, so I've been thinking of just getting that for Charlie and using it for pictures and music.
Have you spoken about ProLoquo2Go with your son's SLP? Maybe she or he would have some introductory ideas?
Posted by Kristina Chew on 06/20/2009 @ 06:14PM PT
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Does Charlie recognize letters, and the most common sounds each makes (basic phonetics)? Seems to me then that a keyboard or keyboard-equivalent would allow him to at least venture into invented spelling of the words he knows aurally.
Posted by Phil Schwarz on 06/20/2009 @ 08:15PM PT
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Hi Phil----he recognizes the letters but he got very confused when he started learning phonics---only got through a few letters. He picked up reading music pretty easily though; we've often thought if we could figure out a way for him to get that immediate aural feedback that you get from playing piano/cello, it would help a lot.
Posted by Kristina Chew on 06/20/2009 @ 08:25PM PT
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Kristina: In addition to the icons, Proloquo2Go lets you load in any photograph you want and associate it with a word or phrase.
Posted by Anne Corwin on 06/20/2009 @ 08:37PM PT
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We've been thinking of a slightly different wrinkle to the ITouch, namely, the newer 'touchable' screens for laptops and desktops. Not for the PECS of it all, but more toward getting Livie, our 6 year old non verbal child, more interested in the computer so that we could next mover her towards alternate means of communication.
Oh yea...I guess this means I shouldn't buy that parachute, huh? I feel like Doctor Emmet Brown in Back to the Future saying " DO you know what this means? That this 'mind reading' device will NEVER work!" ::throws mind reading device off his head::
Posted by William Kuhles on 06/20/2009 @ 07:37PM PT
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I was reading earlier an article in the latest issue of Spectrum Publications www.spectrumpublications.com
this is their technology issue and the column by Dr. Anthony Hollander (he is an OT) but wrote State of Assistive Technology.
"Just because you spent a small fortune on some high tech gadgets does not mena that the child will use it, learn to use it, like ir, or learn from it."
"I was recently in a meeting with the school and family where the focus was on the communication device. When I heard the cost, I almost fell out of my chair."
"Make sure that you require use of the device as often as possible. At the very least the child could become so burdened by you and the device, he/she might just start talking in order to avoid using it, in the future."
We had a parachute and Matt sat on a squishy disc for few yrs at school, used Intelli Keys. He does not like wearing a hood or hat at all. He just started zipping his jacket, which was an IEP goal for vocational so need to figure out a new one soon - thinking tieing shoes.
Posted by Bonnie Sayers on 06/20/2009 @ 08:11PM PT
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At the moment the only SLP my son sees is through school and given the hideous state of ESY that won't be happening for the next 10 weeks. School SLPs around here aren't cutting-edge. For the last 6 years we've been pushing speech and it's not that he's non-verbal, it's just a matter of wondering if he'll ever be fluent with means of communication - so much echolalia, volume issues and prompting required.
I wouldn't mind just shelling out the $'s and giving it a shot - he's very computer capable and would probably figure out a lot on his own. OTOH structure and rules and trying to get him to do things on a timetable are best done by a non-parent figure. There's so much he can do at school that he would rebel against at home.
Posted by Cornelia Rivers on 06/20/2009 @ 09:23PM PT
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Oh yes, there have definitely been times when the process of searching for, buying and assembling equipment has been more useful to me than my son! I've also found that with so many things you never know whether they are helpful or not until you try them, which can end up being very expensive.
The scarf reminded me of a post here: http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2009/06/headphones-options-for-special-needs.html
about various headphone options - how useful all the gadgets are who knows.
There is also a small demo of a student using proloquo2go here: http://summerschoolforspecialeducation.ning.com/video/student-demonstrating which may be of interest to some.
Posted by emma brooks on 06/21/2009 @ 01:44AM PT
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Thanks for the videos----Charlie just grabbed my iPhone and started tapping the screen so I suspect he'd be curious to use an iPod touch, and not find it too difficult.
He has become _so_ sound sensitive; sometimes I am not sure that he even wants to listen to music at times (a lot of putting his hands over his ears lately).
Posted by Kristina Chew on 06/21/2009 @ 01:19PM PT
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