Picking a Movie

Today I worked on Junior's board for activities during treatment and rest time.
His home page
The little recliner symbol with I want under it is for relaxation activities.
When we pick that we get this board
If he chooses books on tape he will go to a screen with book choices(Amelia Bedelia, Narnia, ToyStory, etc.). But I was working on the tv choice so was showing him what was available and which movie went with the symbols for now(I need to put a real pic with many of them). I put several movies/tv programs on and will just rotate it every so often since there is no way to put all his movie choices on the ipad.
In these pics I was showing Junior each of his current movie choices.
They actually had a Shrek symbol.

I am still working on the many boards but am making sure Junior gets to use it some each day as well. Yesterday he was crying and carrying on and it was so nice to be able to grab the board, hit the upset button and have him show me what was wrong. He was able to say, "I hurt, it is my tummy". Later it was treatment time so I pulled up his board so he could tell me what he wanted to do. He told me "I want the TV, I want to watch Shrek". Yes, it is in that digital voice but I am just thrilled.

Farming With the IPAD

Junior's next school unit, which we are starting in July, will be on farming. Today we were looking at some fun farm apps on the ipad. Yesterday I had shown him the Farm Story app but he wasn't terribly impressed. I went ahead and planted a bunch of stuff for him to see if I could get him more interested once he had something to really see and watch grow. Today everything was ready for harvesting and then he had "money" to add animals to his farm. He loved it and kept wanting to add cows. He thought it was great to pick the fruit and veggies and then plow the ground for more.
We both had a great time and in true Junior fashion he kept me laughing the whole time.
I just love how focused he is when he is playing these "games". It may technically be a game but it was also a great way to teach him.
He stayed focused like that for about a half hour before wanting to move on to something else.

I spent some more time working on the ProLoQuo2Go program and he loves his new "I Want" boards. I had started them yesterday but got them mostly finished up today. Now when he chooses a story during his treatment time it will automatically go to a board with all his favorite stories so he can choose one(this is just books on tape so we are not talking about listing all his books which would be impossible). I don't have to drag them all out to show him so he can pick(got to love anything that saves time and makes life easier). I can't say how much I love this program. I was adding his books and got to his Amelia Bedelia books on tape and was able to just add another layer so he just picks Amelia Bedelia and it goes to another board with all of those listed. Can you tell I am having as much fun as he is with all this. It will still be awhile before I have it like I want it but at least the basics are up so he is able to use it. I am trying to make it as easy and quick as possible for both of us.

Fun Communication

I really need to spend some time on getting a bunch of "everyday" boards complete but I am just having too much fun with this program. After seeing how much Junior loved being able to tell grandma about his car wash experience I realized that sometimes you just want to talk about the fun stuff. When I got the ipad it was about allowing him to tell me what he wants, needs, if and where he hurts, etc. but I hadn't thought about this other side of things. Allowing him to not just say he likes tv or even a specific show but to tell someone about that show or to share about his latest outing. I do have to program it in but it only takes me about 2-5 minutes to do a full board.

Here are a few of the fun, conversational boards Junior was using today. One board is just labeled "Today I" so I can change it out daily and allow him to share about that days activities with others.
Wouldn't this be neat for a child attending school. The teacher could change up the board daily so a nonverbal child could tell his family what he did that day in school or the opposite way(the child could share with his teacher what he did over the weekend).

This is Junior talking about his trip to the grocery store yeseterday. There are actually a few more symbols but I didn't get a pic of them. Junior's favorite tv program at the moment is Dirty Jobs. So I asked if he would like to be able to tell grandma about his show next time he talked to her. He thought that was great so here he is talking about his favorite show. He loved saying it was stinky(which is what he is showing me in the picture).
He thought this was the greatest.
Now for a few of his everyday boards that I have been working on.
This is his "home page" with the main categorys.
If he chooses the upset symbol he goes to this page.
If he does not want any of these Junior will ignore the board and I scroll down the page to the next four choices in the "upset" category. I am sure I will come up with more to add but these are the most common reasons Junior gets upset.
In the first set of four symbols in the "upset" category there is a symbol that says "I hurt". If Junior chooses this one he automatically gets this board. (this is just the first 4, we can scroll down through several more body parts)
I realized that to just use the header "I want" for a category was way too broad and it would take me far too long to get the symbols he needed. So we separated it into different "wants"(in case it is unclear that last one with the question mark is so he can choose which chair he wants to sit in).
I haven't gotten these complete but here is the start of the arts and crafts choices for him.
If he chooses paint he goes to this board automatically to choose what type of painting he wants. I have several more to add but this gives you the idea. I need to get a picture of his bubble wrap painting to switch out with the bottle of bubbles symbol(I want to change out a bunch of the symbols on these boards with real pics in the future).

I know this probably shared way more then you wanted to hear or see but for me this blog is a way to journal our journey. To keep track of Junior's communication adventures.

Some relaxing ipad time. Junior was listening to the Toy Story 3 read along and then the Shrek 4 read along.

Adventures in Baking

Junior loves to help me in the kitchen so today we decided to make some cookies. Before we started I spent a few minutes on the ipad making a "cooking" board. It was wonderful for him to be able to "tell" me each step as we went. We talked about it ahead of time so he knew what each symbol meant(for those that the pics weren't obvious) and also what steps we needed to take to make our cookies.
Then we got out the ingredients and Junior walked us through each step.

Now on baking with Junior we are making cake mix cookies(super easy but perfect for a quick cooking activity with the dude, and who doesn't love triple chocolate cookies).
Sorry about the pictures. I didn't have any extra hands today and was trying to hold the board while getting an angle so you could see the board and his eyes.

Junior is showing me that first we add the butter
now stir the dough and crack the eggs, in the pic he is tell me to add the eggs
Put the dough in the pan
The pan is in the oven and now he is telling me to set the timer
He decided setting the timer was quite funny
Junior loved helping to make the cookies and especially liked sharing his cookies with this wonderful lady who stopped by to see us today.
This is Susan who runs Angels 2 the Heart. They have brighten Junior's days for a couple years now and we love them. Junior was midtreatment and needing a nap so not the greatest pic of him. A short video of the ipad cooking boards

Welcome to our new spot

Junior's regular personal blog will continue as usual but we needed a private blog to share some of our latest joy(hopefully it will only need to remain private temporarily).
As you know Junior tested an ipad and did wonderfully with it but the district still refuses to consider getting him one. Thanks to an unexpected blessing we were able to go to the Apple store on Wednesday afternoon.
So now without further ado Junior and his IPAD.
And Abby showing him a favorite music video
I have been learning how to use the communication program and set up boards and such for Junior. I can not say enough how I love this program. It outdoes boardmaker by leaps and bounds and is super easy to program. Once I learned how to use it, it took me less then 5 minutes to program this little intro for Junior. Just to get him used to the new symbols and how everything works. He was so excited when I showed it to him and then we went through it and I told him "Junior, thats you, you are talking". His face was priceless and I just wish I had, had the camera going at that point. He kept trying to holler and talk at the same time as the ipad.
Here is a short video that Abigail took for us. Can't see his face so I need to work on a way to get some good video of him using the ipad and a good way to rig it for when I have no extra hands.
He looks at the symbol using his eye gaze and then I press it for him.


I must say my highlight of the day was when we called my mom and I told her that Junior wanted to talk to her. I had made a quick board for him(seriously this program allows you to whip up a full board in less then 5 minutes) so he could talk to grandma on the phone. The sound is very loud so she could hear the voice.
I held up his board for him and told him to go ahead and "talk" to grandma. He looked at the symbol for "Hi,Grandma" then "How are you" a few seconds later he looked at "how is Papa doing". I was pushing the button as he looked at each symbol and it was one of those moments I will never forget. He went on to look at the symbol which said "is Rinny being good"(that is their dog) followed by "what is Andrew doing"(my little brother). He was even able to ask if they liked their new house. I had done a quick board so he could tell his teacher and my mom about what he had done earlier in the day. We had gone to my sisters house to wash my car. So with the push of a button I pulled up the carwash board and he proceeded to tell grandma & papa how "it was hot, I got wet, I splashed Abigail". It was too funny, he told them he splashed Abigail about 3 times.
At the end I told him it was time to say goodbye so he looked at the "I love you Grandma" symbol and then "bye, bye".

We are so excited and can't wait to see what else Junior has to "say" in the coming weeks.