The truth is when you have a kid who isn’t talking, you are beyond frustrated. You see kids his age talking and you just wish you were up to that level. But then you take a step back from this make believe world, and realize all you have is non-verbal communication. Through strategies and time, we will get there.
Antonio’s ABA teacher has given us so many great options for getting him to communicate with us. Every time a new idea is suggested, I get overwhelmed because I wonder if it will be effective and how it is really going to work.
One of the new steps that we have tried is PECS (picture exchange communication system). This has been proven to help children communicate and talk. So, basically what it entails is printing out pictures of items that we use everyday and laminating them.
Whenever he wants to communicate, he has to hand us the card and we say the correlating word and take the card from him. This form of communication has worked incredibly well for food times and daily activities (bath time, vitamins, etc). We even have it down to a pattern now that he knows the correct order each component happens in!
Though he isn’t communicating verbally, this has helped us to keep the frustration at bay because we both know what he wants now. It is a great feeling! At first, I thought this was a dumb idea without much merit. But when I saw great results, I knew that this system was leading us in the right direction.
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