The first picture shows the front of Woodjie's book. You see several strips of velcro there, and a strip sidewise at the bottom. For now, we are using only ONE PECS at a time. Woodjie will pull this off and hand it to me for his item. Later we will offer a choice of two. Finally, when he gets very good at this system, we will offer icons for things such as "I want" or "blue" and this will enable him to construct sentences such as, "I want (the) blue book." Still further down the road would be an electronic help for Woodjie, but I'm hoping he will talk by then. It's nice to know stuff like that is out there, however, should he need it. One would think that he might get dependent on the picture system; however, we are at the point where we realize that speech is not a strong point, and this cuts down on his... mmm... "problem behaviours." And it isn't as though we don't use words and say, "Oh! You would like to play with the baby doll. Here ya go!"
The first picture shows the front of Woodjie's book. You see several strips of velcro there, and a strip sidewise at the bottom. For now, we are using only ONE PECS at a time. Woodjie will pull this off and hand it to me for his item. Later we will offer a choice of two. Finally, when he gets very good at this system, we will offer icons for things such as "I want" or "blue" and this will enable him to construct sentences such as, "I want (the) blue book." Still further down the road would be an electronic help for Woodjie, but I'm hoping he will talk by then. It's nice to know stuff like that is out there, however, should he need it. One would think that he might get dependent on the picture system; however, we are at the point where we realize that speech is not a strong point, and this cuts down on his... mmm... "problem behaviours." And it isn't as though we don't use words and say, "Oh! You would like to play with the baby doll. Here ya go!"
PS. I know this is not a PECS book in the same way that I do not use Comet(tm) brand scrubbing powder when I "comet out the sink." But you knew what I meant. :]
ReplyDeleteI knew what you meant lol.. I have tagged you for a meme.. cheers Kim
ReplyDeletethx, Kim!
ReplyDeleteThomas Sowell has a book about late talking children, called, strangely enough, Late Talking Children. Have you heard of it? Does this relate to Woodjie?
ReplyDeleteWhat is a PEC???
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to say what a blessing it was to read your witty comment on my Easter post, about wearing that dress to the mayoral inauguration? *smiles*
Harry, I haven't heard of it and may have to look it up at the library's catalog. I'm thinking though with two brothers on the spectrum he is almost certainly autistic, but severely so.
ReplyDeletePam, PECS are just what you see there. Little pictures that represent things or actions. Mine have velcro on the back. Instead of speaking "book," Woodjie could just hand me the little PEC for "book." Sure, it would be easier if he could speak, but we are working as hard as we can to communicate.
How are Woodjies nonverbal skills? Is he doing the nonverbal things you would see in a typical child? I know silly me, he's autistic! But, Pamela is learning this stuff as a late teen, so I thought, no harm in asking!
ReplyDeletePam, his skills are inconsistent. He USED to be able to say several words, but now can say nigh-nigh and hi. Sometimes bubbles. BUT, when he says these words, you have to say them first... tell HIM nigh-nigh and he might say it back. It's different and hard to explain.
ReplyDeleteHe USED to have several signs. We gave lots of praise for these, but still they've disappeared. :[
Now, he is doing well with the PECS, but next week we may have to set those aside, as well. I think his therapists are frustrated because for a while they were able to log progress... now regression even with increased therapies.
His speech therapist recommended DROPPING half his speech time. Um, in a kid that's regressing and non-verbal... no. Not if I have any say in it.
What is sad is, in public school, I will NOT have any say in it. And I don't have big money to do private therapy. I'm not sure what we will do later, as I am only one person and can only do so much between taking care of the house and other children.
I am not sure what I am doing with Woodjie. Might as well admit it. We're working hard, talking to him, doing workboxes, looking into diet... but wow. I am left with the fact that there really only is so much I can do. :[
WOOPS, I meant TAMMY. I mixed your comment and Pam's sorry...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great visual communication tool. Does Woodjie have to be independent in its use? As, does he have to initiate getting the book, getting the card and getting your attention?
ReplyDelete[I am left with the fact that there really only is so much I can do.]
I have a very wise blog friend who is parenting a child with a different problem than autism, but her insight applies none the less. She recently wrote:
"This weekend I got alone with God and He gently told me that I am being a silly silly girl. What do I think I can accomplish with all my efforts? I could never heal the hurt in our children. I could never personally figure out an answer an how to handle this all. Then He hit me with the whopper~~~ It is not my problem to solve! What? It sure feels like our problem to solve, but it is not and has never been. This has been God's show all along."
HI! I JUST found your comment on our interview with Nowen N. Particular! I thought it was set up for comment moderation, but apprently not. So, I missed your comment coming through! Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and your kiddos enjoy Boomtown! Let me know!
Interesting idea. I hope it works well for Woodjie.
ReplyDeleteThis is how Celtic Lad learned to talk. We used flash cards (Didn't know PECS existed and this was pre diagnosis)
ReplyDelete3 times a day, after morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, I would put him on his pottie and pull out the flash cards. By the time we got to see a speech therapist, he walked in the room, pointed to all these pictures and named them. As a result, we didn't 'qualify' for therapy. Even though in those 5 minutes, he said more than he had in his 2 1/2 years of life !!!!
Julie, I'm off to look at your link!
ReplyDeleteBookworm, Elf is a little scared of the book, but I will pop back as soon as we read it and tell you what we think!
Thanks, DF!
Widdle Shamrock, I know how frustrating that can be because that sort of thing has happened with three of my children. :[ Only we didn't use PECS-type stuff, just worked on things that "happened" to be on the test. Waah.