Vocalizing

Vocalizing for Junior is a struggled. It takes a lot of energy especially with a child like Junior who has chronic lung disease. He has a very high palate which makes many sounds impossible.
The ipad has given him a voice and I am continually amazed and excited with how well he is doing with it.
Something that I had heard others mention happening but I didn't really expect in our situation is increased vocalization. The longer we use the ipad the more Junior is attempting to say words himself.
At the zoo recently he was trying to mimic the sounds some of the animals made and was quite proud of himself.
Here he was ready to go for his bike ride and was telling me yes with his eye gaze(to his left) but also vocalized yes("yaaa)
Last night my sister was here and gave him his cough assist treatment. He HATES his cougher treatment and at the end my sis was teasing him about Heidi needing to be coughed. Of course he thought that was very funny. I told him that "No I don't need one but Mellisa does". He looked at me with a big smile and said "hIIEE off"(Heidi cough), he wanted to give me a cough treatment. I was laughing so hard but also wanting to jump up and down for joy because he had said a new word. He has a few words he attempts and I know what his "word approximations" mean but for him to try a new word is a very big deal.

This morning his nurse was leaving and instead of his usual smile to say goodbye he actually vocallized goodbye. It came out as "I" but he is trying and that is wonderful. I am so proud of him.

When Junior was younger a speech therapist told us that if a child isn't speaking by about 6 they will never speak. Because of Junior's high palate he will never be able to speak like a typical person but thats okay. He has many word approximations that I can understand and is now attempting new words. I always say that when the "specialists" say never Junior says "watch me".
Between his ipad and word approximations his communication abilities have made a huge leap in the past few months.

I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Ipad Update

Wow, falling behind yet again. Life is just so busy right now especially with Junior's IEP coming up on Friday.
I did want to give a quick overall update on Junior's communication progress with the IPAD.

After using it for a few months now I am wondering how we ever survived without it.
Having Junior be able to tell me exactly what is wrong or what he wants is amazing. He loves his "voice" and demands to use it.
He will now get upset if I don't help him use the top bar to read out what he wants once he has give me the parts. For example if he is crying and I get the ipad for him he will tell me "Ihurt" then " It is my tummy" then "I want out of my chair" then "I want to sit in my recliner". Each of those parts is spoken by the ipad as he chooses them but after he is done we can touch the top bar to allow him to "say" them all together. This morning after his walk he wanted his ipad and told me "I want, Solar system, a story, Shrek 4". I started to move the ipad after he had made his choices and he looked at me with a very upset look. I realized I had not helped him hit the top bar to "say" his complete choice at one time. As soon as we did that he was grinning and patiently waited while I got his solar system and story set up.

He now loves to sit and "chat" with me nightly. I pull up his "answers" board(yes, no, maybe, I don't know, etc.) and then we "chat" about his day. It is now one of his favorite parts of the day.
I have also noticed an increase in his verbalization attempts. Junior has a very high palate so it is nearly impossible for him to pronounce many sounds but he has always tried to "talk". Recently he is being louder and verbalizes much more often. If he gets mad, look out, he will try to "tell" you exactly what he thinks, and you don't need to understand him to get what he is "saying".

Another thing we are seeing is Junior instantly calming down when he sees that I am getting the ipad for him. This is not a spoiled child reacting to getting his way. In these instances he is crying or upset because he hurts, needs something or is frustrated. As soon as he sees the ipad you see him instantly relax, knowing that now he can tell you whats wrong.

Of course he also loves having the ipad with him everywhere he goes. Watching his shows while at the doctors office makes a huge difference. They keep him distracted and we are now having almost no panic episodes.
Many of his reading activities are now on the ipad and he no longer battles me over doing them. Funny how putting them on the ipad turns them into something fun and no longer work. Because of this we are making faster progress with his basic educational skills.

Hopefully in the near future we will be getting him a Ipad stand for his wheel chair. He would then be able to have the ipad up at eye level without me needing to hold it for him.

The ipad has been such a blessing for Junior and has opened a whole new world for him.


This picture just shows him with one of his school projects. We are going through a unit on farming.

Wii Games

Junior loves his Wii and I finally got around to taking a picture of each of his favorite games. Now they are on the game section of his ipad communication program and he is so pleased. The Wii is something that we do together many evenings during his exercise time. He is so into playing the games with me that he doesn't realize we are turning all that motion into stretches.
Now he will be able to tell me exactly what he wants, proloquo2go is such a great program.
Now to get real pics for his movies and then his ipad will be completely programed for him. Except of course for those boards we change up regularly so he can share what he has done that day/week.
Sorry no pictures but I will get some tomorrow when he chooses his nightly "exercise" game.

By Myself

This afternoon I was on the phone with Junior's mom and he started getting very upset. I grabbed his ipad and he quickly was able to tell me that he needed his braces(AFO's and back brace) taken off. I was then chatting on the phone and telling his mom how he uses the IPAD and that he shows me what he wants and I press the button so he can "say" it. I was talking about how well Junior is doing with the ipad so certainly didn't think him listening to the conversation was in issue. Well that is until Junior started hollering at me. It was very clear that he was upset about what I had told his mom about his ipad use. Specifically that I had said I help him talk with it. I had never thought about how he views his ipad use. As far as he is concerned looking at the symbol makes it talk, and thus he is doing it by himself. Poor guy went on and on in a very loud and upset voice for several minutes(I may not have understood his words but it didn't take words to get his point). I had to assure him that yes he does it by himself and then tell his mom the same on the phone.
Wow, this was a very eye opening moment. I hadn't realized how much the ipad is allowing Junior to feel some independence and how much that means to him.
Also let me know that he never misses what is going on around him no matter how much he is pretending to not listen. Yet another reminder that he truly does understand so much more then the world gives him credit for.
Here is a short video taken at the very end up his being upset. He was not nearly as loud by the time I took the video but it will give you a good idea of how he gets when he is upset and try to tell me how it is.

"Professionals"

I have been working on Junior's IEP with his teacher. Dealing with the IEP time of year is extremely stressful and to be honest I hate IEP's. This year we don't have a bunch of evaluations taking place so that takes away a little of the stress. In a typical year I get calls from several people who want to come out and evaluate Junior. Now these people are supposed to be professionals who work with children like Junior on a regular basis. This "professional" has either never met Junior or last saw him prior to the last years IEP. After spending this half hour with him they then use that to decided what he should get as far as school services go and what he is capable of. My child is not a puppy who sits up and does tricks. If he doesn't know you he is not going to "perform". If you must see it for yourself before believing he can do something then you are going to have to show up on a regular basis. If you can't/won't come for visits then go visit his blog and get to know him. Please do not tell me my child is incapable of something when you know nothing about him and refuse to put any effort into getting to know him.

Okay I will jump off my soap box now and say I am hoping this new year brings a whole new attitude. An IEP team who are there to help Junior reach his full potential. His teacher is phenomanal and we are truly blessed with that.

After saying all this I will get to my point. When I hear all this negativity about Junior's abilities
during this time of year it makes me stop and think. Am I missing something? Where is the child they are describing, it certainly can't be this child in front of me. Then I sit and "chat" and giggle with him and quickly know that I am not missing a thing. If you get to know Junior it doesn't take long to see that he is capable of and understands so much. The IPAD has made that even more clear then ever before.
Yesterday he was upset and quickly was able to tell me his tummy hurt. Then he told me he wanted to sit in his wheel chair, play with his solar system, and listen to a story, of course he knew exactly the story he wanted as well.
I asked him what Abigail was doing and he looked at me like I was nuts(Abby was not here), he then quickly looked at the "I don't know" symbol on the ipad and started to giggle. He clearly thought I had lost my mind.
Junior telling me I Don't Know

Today I have nearly finished Junior's games boards and here are some of them.
The home page
Choosing games takes Junior to these choices
I am not going to show every choice, just the first set of 4 with each game type, scrolling down would give him more choices if does not want what is shown.
Choosing computer gets him these choices
Choosing Board games
Junior has several types of memory games so choosing memory would take him to a secondary board allowing him to choose which memory.
I won't post all his boards but if he chooses active games he gets a board showing an indoor version of basket ball, bowling, and asteroids.
The Wii board I am still working on.
Here is what he gets if he chooses puzzle
Choosing Board Puzzle gets him this board
and choosing Floor Puzzle gets him to this board

I apoligize for all the board pictures but this blog helps me to journal what we are working on with the ipad. It also helps me keep track of when we started using certain boards along with how Junior is doing with them.

Surround Sound

The sound on Junior's ipad is fine for the communication, education, and game apps but just not always loud enough for stories and movies.
We found a set of speakers for him to use during story time and now he has ipad surround sound. I am going to put a little piece of velcro on the top of his wheelchair back cushion so they will stay in place for him.
I think he likes it just a little.


Junior's eyes are doing fairly well. Staying a little red but not causing him pain. He is back to wanting his ipad all the time again and I am loving it.
Him wanting to use it to talk so much is motivating me to get the rest of his boards complete. I still had many that needed pictures added but have them nearly complete now.
Junior loves to talk on the phone so I have been working on his "phone talk" boards.
Here is what he has now and Junior loves being able to tell me who he wants to call.
His home page
Choosing phone talk gets him to this board(if his choice isn't on this board we scroll to the next 4 people he can choose from)
He chooses who he wants to call and whatever that choice is takes him to the board specifically set up for talking to that person. Here is his board for when he chooses Grandma(there is more to it but I am just showing the first 4 conversation symbols).

Phone Talk and Pictures

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Junior is having some eye issues so it has been hard for him to use the ipad regularly. He is doing better the past couple days so is now getting back to it.
Today I spent some time working on his Phone Talk boards. Junior loves to "talk" on the phone so I decided that I would make a board for each of the people he typically likes to talk to.
The primary phone talk board has a picture of each person so he can choose who he wants to call. When he chooses the person he goes to a second board specifically designed for him to chat with that specific person.
I will try to post pictures this weekend so you can see his boards.

I also finally got around to taking pictures to replace many of the symbols on the communication program(proloquo2go). It is helping so much and I don't need to tell Junior what each item is now before having him make his choice. I have all his switch adapted toys as well as his other favorite things added. My goal for tomorrow is to get pictures of all his adapted games and puzzles.
I am very excited to be back to work setting this up for Junior(actually we are close to finishing all the boards he will need), and also having him using it all the time again now that his eyes are doing better.
Junior was over joyed to be back using his ipad today to talk(tell me exactly what he wanted and when). His asthma is horrible but with his eyes doing better he can still use the ipad.

I hope to get a real post with pictures up tomorrow but with his asthma as bas as it is I don't know that, that will happen.

Please keep Junior in your prayers. He will likely be having eye surgery in the near future.