Developmental Delays

Hello. I don't post here often, but I do check out the board now and again. I saw your post and I have a few ideas that may help your daughter. When Gabe could not use any words we used a system called PECS. It's cards with picture symbols on them and he could point to them. When he got a little bit older we started using an AAC device. It's a computer that he used to tell use his wants and needs.

I know your daughter has motor planning issues so both systems maybe hard for her to point at. I used to work with a little guy who has severe CP. He used an eye gaze to choose yes or no. Now he uses a switch system to communicate. He has very little control over his hands and his switches are attached to the head rest on his wheelchair. What is the school doing for your Kristen's communication needs? They should have something in her IEP for that.

Let me know if you need any other info.

Jessie mommy to Gabe(4.4 years ASD/CAS/SID)and baby Zane

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Thanks so much for your post.
I think you're right the pecs or aac is too much for her. She has so many challenges- vision, motor etc. I don't know yet what they are going to do. Her teacher mentioned it at open house as a big goal for this year. 3 of the 10 kids in her class are pretty similar so they will be working on finding something for each of them to work on this. I love the idea of the switch. Her main switch is a quarter size one thats strapped in her palm and they also work periodically with using her head. I'm sure it will be addressed in the IEP. Last year we did the IEP meeting in October so its coming up.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm excited for her to have these options. i would love for her to be able to tell me SOMETHING.
Kari

Good luck. Keep us posted. I am excited to see what the school can offer her. Cody's switches are red for not and green for yes. He also uses an AAC that scans the pictures. So say there are four pictures on the computer screen like a ball, bubbles, cars, TV. The computer will light up a picture for so many seconds and if Cody doesn't activate the switch (I think it's a big mac? switch) then the computer moves on to the next picture. When the one that Cody wants lights up he hits the switch and the computer says his choice. He has visual issues too. He has weak eye muscles and is blind in his left eye. Cody has been learning different ways to communicate for a long time. He is 16 years old now. So, his mom and him have been working on different things for awhile now.

Have fun trying new things out for your daughter. Oh and you know what else we did for Cody when he was 3 or 4. We would hold us two different things and he would stare at the one he wanted. And trust me if you gave him the wrong thing.....he would let you know about it :-).

Jessie mommy to Gabe(4.4 years ASD/CAS/SID)and baby Zane

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Sorry I didn't see this sooner. When Elizabeth was in EI, her educational specialist got us two large switches. We never really used them (long story) but the idea was to put pictures on them and record whatever you wanted them to "say". Like, you could have one for yes and one for no. Or use it for snacks and put a picture of an apple on one and a banana on the other. Ben (19 months) just started speech and to teach him to make choices, she said to give him a choice between his favorite toy and one we know he doesn't like. That kind of forces him to choose "correctly". Start with whatever motivates her. With Elizabeth and Ben it's food. Ypu can pick a favorite sack and a less desirable one. At Elizabeth's school, I've even seen them attach 3-dimensional representations of what they're trying to get the kid to say to the switches. Like, instead of a picture of an apple, they'd use a small toy apple. Apparently, for some kids it's tough to understand that a picture represents the actual item.

HTH.