So today we were late, which isn’t any different from any other day.  But today was speech at the Elks Rehab in Nampa across from the hospital.  While Cayden loves his speech teacher, he loves his iPad more I think.  He loves to play his Thomas puzzles and listen to Veggie Tales over and over.  But today it wasn’t time to just play games, it was time to use his iPad to talk. We are on the verge of downloading a talking program or an Augmentative and Alternative Communication program (AAC).  The one we are trying out right now is Sonoflex.  We haven’t purchased it yet due to the price.

However, we can use a free version that has limited capacity of the full version.  So today in speech, Cayden had to ask for certain items using his “voice”.  His therapist was reading a story and at one point Cayden had six options, she would ask him which one he wanted.  Instead of just pointing to the item he wanted, she would help him touch the pictures to form a sentence.  “I want a fish” then she would respond to that and give him a fish.  The hardest part for us is knowing exactly what he wants, but having him use his device.  Cayden will either just keep pointing and talking in his language or start whining.  We have to try to keep him focused on using his iPad for speaking and not just games.

So today Cayden did good.  He was able to stay focused for the most part and ask for things he wanted without wandering to different pages in the program.  Tomorrow we will be getting together with someone from the Lilypad who will help us fill out forms and get Cayden involved in some more areas of therapy.

 

If you have any questions or have a story you would like to contribute feel free to let us know.