Alison has a good understanding and it must be very frustrating to not be able to communicate better

Alison23

This discussion was created from comments split from: I'm Chris, I specialise in working with children with autism, asperger's and learning disabilities.

Alison23

Hello I'm the mother of a 25 year old lady with cp who cannot walk, talk or use her limbs.
I know Alison has a good understanding and it must be very frustrating for her to not be able to communicate better. School, college, Ace never really made any breakthrough
Her current communication is limited to looking to the right to respond to a question with 'yes', or left for 'no'. Choices are made in the same way but with the addition of a tap to either side of her face. Alison finds it difficult to look the way she wants to straight away as her eyes/head will initially wander and it's a case of waiting and watching carefully for a definite purposeful movement to the left or the right. Ali also vocalizes when she wants a drink or when she wants to use the toilet and I can differentiate between the sounds. Are there any aids out there that could give Ali a 'voice' that the rest of society could understand?

LondonSpeechTherapy

Alison23 said:

Hello I'm the mother of a 25 year old lady with cp who cannot walk, talk or use her limbs. I know Alison has a good understanding and it must be very frustrating for her to not be able to communicate better. School, college, Ace never really made any breakthrough Her current communication is limited to looking to the right to respond to a question with 'yes', or left for 'no'. Choices are made in the same way but with the addition of a tap to either side of her face. Alison finds it difficult to look the way she wants to straight away as her eyes/head will initially wander and it's a case of waiting and watching carefully for a definite purposeful movement to the left or the right. Ali also vocalizes when she wants a drink or when she wants to use the toilet and I can differentiate between the sounds. Are there any aids out there that could give Ali a 'voice' that the rest of society could understand?

Hi Alison,

May I ask when your daughter was last seen by a SLT and whether she has an accompanying learning disability. Choosing a Alternative & Augmentative Communication system, such as a device, should be based on the individual person and their strengths and challenges and unfortunately without knowing too much about her levels it's impossible to recommend. I would suggest a referral into SLT and ask for the individual who specialises in AAC.

BW

Chris