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Talking is only one way of communicating.

Natasha Brown
Natasha Brown Community member Posts: 108 Courageous
edited October 2021 in Sensory impairments

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  • Natasha Brown
    Natasha Brown Community member Posts: 108 Courageous
    talking is only one way of communicating.

    and if they dont talk - there are other means of communication - sign language, using ipad with communication apps etc.

    my son's expressive language using communication software made leaps after moving from PECS low tech to high tech system. initially Grid2 software running on a portable tablet pc . he now a has ipad running grid2 via grid player app .

    he communicates at his level so lots of scripted sentences but he can type and uses QWERTY keyboard with predictive typing.

    get an ipad and suitable case (eg apply to charities) load with some of the free comms apps and try them out. it is more responsive than PECS and for some children proves to be the answer.

    also "circles of communication" at home so he does not get drink or dvd or toy til he asks for it -using whatever method. it takes a mindset and effort to "block" your child and make him ask/communicate but it does work. and they should be doing this at school too..
  • Louc
    Louc Community member Posts: 13 Courageous
    Hi, I just spotted your post. I would be very interested to hear more about the apps for the iPad. We have one and my son loves 'playing' with it so it's a possibility I could try and encourage him to use a communications app as long as its not considered as 'school work' to him! Do you know the names of apps which could be recommended for children with speech and language difficulties? Many thanks!
  • Natasha Brown
    Natasha Brown Community member Posts: 108 Courageous
    there are lots in the in pack on this site
    There are numerous basic and economical communication apps, including: iMean, iComm, TikiNotes, AutoVerbal, Alexisom AAC, Tap To Talk, Pics Aloud, Locabulary, Speak it!Mt Talk, iConverse and icommunicate.

    dpends on his lvel - best to try one you can use your own photos in to start but download some of the free ones and have a play

    eg i was showing a friend with daughter age three - she had been to zoo so i showed them the animals grid in gridplayer (symbols A) - so we could ask "which animals did you see?" she was pressing various animals which she had seen so this showed she could scan and recognize symbols. so you can then build on that.

    others need to start with very simple pages with only two choice on eg milk or juice to chose from

    bu t most aac apps - you need to adapt to your own child to things they need/want to say all the time at first . my son is very proficient user but if you give him gridplayer with preset standard grid set he wll be a bit lost - but with his" own" set has been built up graduallly over years and he knows his way around and is very fast -so it has his favouriteood items on food page - no pretzels or ketchup which he never eats (tho if we wanted to work on negatives eg "i dont like" then we could add them to the food page !

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