I Want To Do It Myself

Junior has to stiffen his arms to get his hands to move so needs hand over hand help with most activities. If he thinks I am doing too much and not letting him help enough he gets very upset.
I have one of his ipad boards set up with some general things he might need to say while doing activities or talking. Yes, No, I don't know, maybe, help me please, etc. To avoid his need to holler at me I recently added a symbol for "I want to do it myself".

Today we were putting together the solar system that his teacher gave him for Christmas(thank you Teacher Cindee, Junior loves watching the planets rotate and the sun light up). Junior quickly told me "I want to do it myself" when he started to feel he wasn't getting to really help.
Oh how I love the voice the ipad has given Junior.

Saying Merry Christmas the Ipad Way

Christmas afternoon Junior had to call and tell Grandma and Papa Merry Christmas and also thank them for his present. I made some adjustments to his "phone talk- grandma" boards to add in the Christmas symbols and then he was all set.
These are just two of the boards for his "phone talk - grandma" you can also scroll down to about 12 more symbols he uses while on the phone. He will look away from the ipad if he wants me to scroll to a different set of symbols while he is "talking"

Merry Christmas

Junior had a great Christmas and especially enjoyed using his ipad while opening gifts.

Telling me he is ready for his next gift
Asking for help getting it unwrapped
We had to pause for a treatment so here he is showing me which of his new shows he wants to watch.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all had a blessed day

Ipad Accessibility - Finding Some Answers

We love Junior's ipad and it has opened a whole new world for him but it can be hard to position for him. Junior can not lean down to look at it and it needs to be at eye level for him.
If we are doing an activity I need to stop and hold it up for him to be able to answer questions or tell me what he wants.
Not long ago I contacted a new company called Handeholder, www.handeholder.com that makes stands and holders for the ipad. I asked about the possibility of making an extender arm for the current ipad clamp that they make. They were fantastic and so very willing to help. They made a prototype with the extender arm which we are trying out and we are also trying the regular clamp for when Junior is not in his wheelchair.

We got the clamps on Friday and are working on the best way to attach the extender arm to Junior's wheelchair. A work in progress, but I am quite sure we will get it just right for him.
Here are a few pictures of the clamp with extender arm. The first few pics were taken the day it arrived and it is attached to a stool since Junior was not in his chair.
Now attached to his wheel chair armrest.

We attached the regular clamp to a tripod and are able to place it next to Junior's stander, recliner, bed, etc. Junior is absolutely thrilled to have his ipad right there next to him at eye level. It is very sturdy and I am not worried about it falling off the clamp, we can also still rotate the ipad even while it is attached to the clamp.
The regular clamp attached to the tripod
In this picture Junior is in his stander using the proloquo2go app during an activity.
We are so happy to have found something that works for Junior. He is so pleased to be able to tell me things while we are doing activities without me having to stop to hold up the ipad for him.
Be sure to go check out the site www.handeholder.com ,they have lots of great holders for the ipad.

Rudolph

Junior the red nose reindeer.
Here are the boards he is using
He is showing me what he needs next to make his reindeer hat.

Now I am a reindeer but something is still missing
I need a red nose

So Behind

Wow, I have not posted here in awhile. Things have been very busy. Junior had a sinus infection at the beginning of December and is now having serial casting. That along with the normal holiday activities is keeping us on the move.

He continues to use his ipad a great deal and loves giving step by step directions with it during craft time. He also loves be able to pick out the game he wants and being the competitive guy he is, demanding a different one if he starts to lose. I am seeing a definite change in his level of confidence which is wonderful.

I have pictures from some of the activities we have done where Junior is using his ipad and will get them up soon. For now have a very Merry Christmas.
We recently found this link to an iband and Junior thinks it is way too cool.

Calling a-ah(Grandma)

Yesterday Junior dressed up in his costume and had a great time. The weather was bad so we didn't go out but that sure didn't stop him from having fun.
He loves the old Disney movie The Shaggy Dog so he was a shaggy dog complete with dog house for Halloween.
On Friday my sister came by on her way home from work to show Junior her cat costume.
Well Junior absolutely can not stand cats so he wasn't so sure he liked her costume.
It took quite a bit of convincing to get him to smile for this picture
Mellisa proceeded to put whiskers and a nose on him which he thought was okay because it was a "dog" face. Then she did the unthinkable and put her cat ears on him. Oh my, Junior was horrified and refused to smile or even look at the camera as long as those awful things were on his head.
Today he has been asking to call a-ah(grandma) all afternoon to tell her about his costume and about Mellisa putting those ears on him. This evening we called a-ah and he got to tell her all about it.
Hi Grandma
How are you?
Laughing as he told her about being a shaggy dog(he was giggling so hard that he looked away from the "I was a shaggy dog" symbol as I took the pic)
I had a dog house
Now the serious face as he told about Mellisa being a cat and putting cat ears on him.

Speaking

For other most other kids saying a new word is no big deal, especially when the kid is 12.
BUT for Junior it is huge and something we get oh so very excited about.
Since starting to use the ipad for communication his verbalization attempts have greatly increased. As I have mentioned in the past Junior's mouth structure makes it very hard for him to pronounce sounds. Also very hard to understand him unless you know him really well. He tries so hard though and I can understand many of his words as do those spending a great deal of time with him.

Yesterday we were at the hospital for his GJ change(feeding tube). We had just gotten into the waiting room when Junior looks at me and says "add". Only took me a moment to realize he was saying pad and wanted his ipad. I was soooo happy to hear him ask for it by name, no whining or crying to get my attention he just asked. It is those seemingly small things in life that make it all worth it and make me want to jump for joy and celebrate. So proud of my boy.

Enjoying some Scooby-Doo after we got home.

I Need A Treatment

Junior has had a very rough morning. He had his treatments and then I was going to get him up but he whined and cried and wanted to go back to sleep. I gave in and let him go back to sleep for awhile but then the nurse came by to flush his port(he has a port in his upper chest for blood draws and iv access which has to be flushed and heparinized monthly).
It was very cloudy and rainy yesterday but clear today and the pressure change really causes issues for Junior. He gets headaches, lots of congestion, and it hurts when he coughs at times.
About 11:30am Junior was finally up in his chair but continued to be upset. I grabbed his ipad and kept being told "I am upset, I hurt" but then he said no to all the options for what hurt. I realized that it might be his chest and he needed a treatment, which I had forgotten to add to his "upset" boards. I added "I need a treatment" to his "upset" boards options and then told him what it said and showed him the symbol we used.
His "upset" board options(I have shown his "I hurt" options in the past so won't post pics of those)
Sure enough as soon as I again asked him what was wrong he immediately told me "I need a treatment". He wasn't due for a treatment for another hour and a half but I went ahead and started one(my goofy guy actually requests treatments, he knows what will make him feel better). Once his vest started he relaxed and coughed up a bunch of gunk. Pretty soon he was smiling and feeling much better.
Smiling and watching his show after his treatment
Then time for a cat nap

Pumpkins and Painting

It can be difficult to help a child with Junior's level of physical disability feel a little independence.
Allowing him to use the ipad to direct a craft project or other activity really helps him feel like he is doing something on his own.

Today we were making a pumpkin craft and then painting. Junior told me what he needed next as he made his pumpkin. It is difficult to tell in some of the pictures what he is looking at, I was trying to hold the ipad and take pictures so it was a struggle to get a good angle so you can see whats going on.
His boards for todays activity.
Telling me that he needs the glue
And a paint brush
The pumpkin is now orange but whats missing?
Junior knows. It needs a face.

When we finished the pumpkin Junior was ready for another activity. We went to his arts and crafts board and he chose paint.
Junior loves all kinds of painting so there are many choices in this category.
He decided on marble painting.
His boards for marble painting
Choosing his first color, blue
Telling me to help him shake the bucket, that makes the marbles roll around on the paper.
He did several paintings so here is another of them