Angelwings,

I am a student studying speech and language pathology in Kansas. I am very interested in Angelman Syndrome. You had mentioned in your blog about other angels who use alternative forms of communication, and I was wondering if you had tried any of these methods with your son? If so, which ones?

I am very interested to know what is and is not effective in this community of very special individuals.
Any comments you have would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Taryn08

 

Taryn,
I think its awesome that you are studying speech and language pathology! I wish you all the best in your studies and in your career. We actually have an extensive history with communication methods/devices. When Brady was 2yrs, we started out with a bigmac, which he caught onto pretty quickly. We also used talking pic frames, which can be found at most any electronics store and they are inexpensive. Like and boy, Brady can be a bit destructive, so the frames didnt last for very long. We have used picture books, but it is impossible for him to thumb through several pages of pictures to find the one he is looking for. One thing that worked great, until he tore up all the pictures, was laminated copies of short words, which we posted on the door with velcro. Brady quickly learned to read the words on the cards and would choose accurately what he wanted. It would be pure speculation to say that he could or could not actually read the words, but I know for fact that our children to learn to recognize common words. I think that teaching reading skills is a very useful tool for our children. We recently tried the ipod touch, but coordination became a major issue for Brady. The icons were too small and he could not activate just one icon at the time. He does have finger isolating down, but coordination must be a consideration when choosing a device. We are going to get an Ipad, which we are hoping insurance will pay for by next year. Many of our children use the Ipads because they are fairly durable with the otterbox, they are easy to operate, and are more portable than some of the more heavy devices. I will have to let you know how it goes, but we are expecting great things. The other communication technique that I recommend with any nonverbal child, is sign language. Brady does have some signs, but his favorite is hungry,lol. He signs hungry and we let him pick what he wants to eat by looking at the packages or labels; he does well with this. I also allow him to pick out his favorite foods in the grocery store as well. We were blessed to find an awesome speech therapist who showed us many out of the box techniques, which has helped us through the years. We have put putty on buttons to raise them up for better access, we have used fish aquarium tubing and grape flavored tongue depressors to help Brady learn to close his lips and drink from a straw. We are still in contact with the ST, so if you have questions, please let me know and I will direct them to her. Hope this helps!