Guest guest Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 27, 2011 Report Share Posted December 27, 2011 My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hi Vicky, We have used sign to teach words until they are clear. It really helps articulate and remember the word he needs to use. It is a lot better for us because we don't need to search for pecs books which we all found frustrating. It's also great when out and about, swimming etc., I took level one bsl a couple of years ago but initially started up with a half day signalong course and a couple of books. Jane  We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky -----Original Message----- To: Autism-Biomedical-Europe <Autism-Biomedical-Europe > Sent: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:18 Subject: Re: Signalong  My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hi Vicky, We have used sign to teach words until they are clear. It really helps articulate and remember the word he needs to use. It is a lot better for us because we don't need to search for pecs books which we all found frustrating. It's also great when out and about, swimming etc., I took level one bsl a couple of years ago but initially started up with a half day signalong course and a couple of books. Jane  We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky -----Original Message----- To: Autism-Biomedical-Europe <Autism-Biomedical-Europe > Sent: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:18 Subject: Re: Signalong  My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hi Vicky, We have used sign to teach words until they are clear. It really helps articulate and remember the word he needs to use. It is a lot better for us because we don't need to search for pecs books which we all found frustrating. It's also great when out and about, swimming etc., I took level one bsl a couple of years ago but initially started up with a half day signalong course and a couple of books. Jane  We tried PECS when was about your sons age but it didn't work for him, think he prefers the more instant sign or vocal, only problem being receptive is so much stronger than expressive. has lost more language over the years in as much as he had a few clear words as a pre-schooler and then none whilst his brother had none pre-school and became verbal just at school age without any interventions at all! Vicky -----Original Message----- To: Autism-Biomedical-Europe <Autism-Biomedical-Europe > Sent: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:18 Subject: Re: Signalong  My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Thanks Jane for that, we used to do some signalong with and he still remembers those signs, like you say it seems to bring the word he is searching for to the front of his mind. Just thinking that with 's speech problems that we are addressing with talktools it might be too much to expect him to cope with recall as well, but beyond that I'm concerned he should have some method of communicating if speech never really takes off, Some of this concern springs from the school xmas plays where there wasn't one child using any form of communication at all, it's as though if they can't talk they are not given anything else, really stood out to me that no one was communicating, the classroom assistants were sort of narrating and the pupils just standing in front of them, so weird, aged all the way up to 19! So no speech, no signs and no PECS, doesn't seem right that none of them can manage any communication. Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Thanks Jane for that, we used to do some signalong with and he still remembers those signs, like you say it seems to bring the word he is searching for to the front of his mind. Just thinking that with 's speech problems that we are addressing with talktools it might be too much to expect him to cope with recall as well, but beyond that I'm concerned he should have some method of communicating if speech never really takes off, Some of this concern springs from the school xmas plays where there wasn't one child using any form of communication at all, it's as though if they can't talk they are not given anything else, really stood out to me that no one was communicating, the classroom assistants were sort of narrating and the pupils just standing in front of them, so weird, aged all the way up to 19! So no speech, no signs and no PECS, doesn't seem right that none of them can manage any communication. Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Thanks Jane for that, we used to do some signalong with and he still remembers those signs, like you say it seems to bring the word he is searching for to the front of his mind. Just thinking that with 's speech problems that we are addressing with talktools it might be too much to expect him to cope with recall as well, but beyond that I'm concerned he should have some method of communicating if speech never really takes off, Some of this concern springs from the school xmas plays where there wasn't one child using any form of communication at all, it's as though if they can't talk they are not given anything else, really stood out to me that no one was communicating, the classroom assistants were sort of narrating and the pupils just standing in front of them, so weird, aged all the way up to 19! So no speech, no signs and no PECS, doesn't seem right that none of them can manage any communication. Vicky Re: Signalong My son is non verbal... He is nearly 4 and pecs works for him > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 my son is almost 13 with emerging speech, he was completely non-verbal until a couple of years ago. in terms of augmentative communication, we started with pecs when he was 3 and he was fluently asking for over 300 things a day easily by the time he was 4. it is very limited though, having to carry the book everywhere with you, complicated building sentences etc, loosing pictures, right pain! we moved onto using signalong when he was about 8, best thing, helped his receptive language hugely and was useful to focus on language as he's a strong visual learner. we noticed the signs also acted as a self-prompt to help his speech, we still use signs now even though his language is coming nicely. we've started introducing literacy prompts, clicker 5, and sentence work now to help build language and are getting an ipad with prolo in the next month or so. so a combination of augmentative methods have helped with PECS being the least useful for us. hope that helps, karenza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 my son is almost 13 with emerging speech, he was completely non-verbal until a couple of years ago. in terms of augmentative communication, we started with pecs when he was 3 and he was fluently asking for over 300 things a day easily by the time he was 4. it is very limited though, having to carry the book everywhere with you, complicated building sentences etc, loosing pictures, right pain! we moved onto using signalong when he was about 8, best thing, helped his receptive language hugely and was useful to focus on language as he's a strong visual learner. we noticed the signs also acted as a self-prompt to help his speech, we still use signs now even though his language is coming nicely. we've started introducing literacy prompts, clicker 5, and sentence work now to help build language and are getting an ipad with prolo in the next month or so. so a combination of augmentative methods have helped with PECS being the least useful for us. hope that helps, karenza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 My daughter is severely dyspraxic and aphasic, so has limited verbal expression. Communication has been a huge issue for us. Up until now, we have relied primarily on multiple choice. We use it both in school for academics and socially. Recently, we started a program on the iPad called 'TouchChat'. It is a communication board with options to vary the number of choices per screen. Since the screens remain stable, even dyspraxic children can master it. Moreover, amongst its various options, there is one called Essence, used by people with ALS, which has a fantastic keyboard. The letters are grouped in an interesting way and it is making my daughter's typing is improving on it. The Lite version is about $10 and does everything as the full version except the talk tool is disabled. Those with iPads, it is worth trying. Radhe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 My daughter is severely dyspraxic and aphasic, so has limited verbal expression. Communication has been a huge issue for us. Up until now, we have relied primarily on multiple choice. We use it both in school for academics and socially. Recently, we started a program on the iPad called 'TouchChat'. It is a communication board with options to vary the number of choices per screen. Since the screens remain stable, even dyspraxic children can master it. Moreover, amongst its various options, there is one called Essence, used by people with ALS, which has a fantastic keyboard. The letters are grouped in an interesting way and it is making my daughter's typing is improving on it. The Lite version is about $10 and does everything as the full version except the talk tool is disabled. Those with iPads, it is worth trying. Radhe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hi Vicky, my son is just 13. We used Pecs when he was 3-5 - caused a lot of frustration - particularly when the cards he wanted were lost! We now use a mixture of things - but the biggest thing which has made a huge differenvce to us over the last couple of years is pointing. We write things down and get him to make choices and point to what he is trying to say. If you can teach your child to point he can communicate with you. This lead us to also look into Facilitated Communication and we have had amazing conversations using this method (and wrote a poem for the Treating Autism Xmas cards). It is not easy for and takes a long time but is well worth the effort. Take a look at www.strangeson.com - there is a free downloadable manual called the Informative Pointing Method . There are many non verbal adults who appear severely autistic but use Facilitated Communication .I found the following clips inspiring:- Understanding autism – Baggs:- In my language Carly – non verbal autistic girl using typing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7U1UjZzJLE & feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVxvVMNh6s & feature=related Most important thing is that we kepp looking for ways to unlock the door for our children - its great that you are still looking into this. > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Hi Vicky, my son is just 13. We used Pecs when he was 3-5 - caused a lot of frustration - particularly when the cards he wanted were lost! We now use a mixture of things - but the biggest thing which has made a huge differenvce to us over the last couple of years is pointing. We write things down and get him to make choices and point to what he is trying to say. If you can teach your child to point he can communicate with you. This lead us to also look into Facilitated Communication and we have had amazing conversations using this method (and wrote a poem for the Treating Autism Xmas cards). It is not easy for and takes a long time but is well worth the effort. Take a look at www.strangeson.com - there is a free downloadable manual called the Informative Pointing Method . There are many non verbal adults who appear severely autistic but use Facilitated Communication .I found the following clips inspiring:- Understanding autism – Baggs:- In my language Carly – non verbal autistic girl using typing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7U1UjZzJLE & feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVxvVMNh6s & feature=related Most important thing is that we kepp looking for ways to unlock the door for our children - its great that you are still looking into this. > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 More of a re-visit Sue, this will sound strange seeing as I'm trying to start signing again but is not a visual learner he is auditory. So we are working on his visual skills, he quite enjoys the hoop throwing game and his favourite [only] play is puzzles which are visual but we have had to work it, when I say "we" I mean myself and therapists. It took me such a long time to work out the problem was with pointing, eventually I realised he wasn't actually looking and if you point out something far away like a plane there's no chance. I'm really interested in Soma's work and bought the CD's a few years back with Mandi, noticed on the strange son download they were saying that many of the severe kids are not visual learners but they are still managing to get communication using a visual method. also enjoys talktools, it's actually his favourite part of therapy so I think he is really aware of his communication problem and contrary to schools perspective and even the autism blurb he is not choosing to be uncommunicative although I doubt he would ever be a talker for the sake of it. The other thing of course is we are really struggling to get him out of the prompt dependency he gained whilst on NETwork Interventions programme, he seems to think he needs permission for everything and it's so hard to get him out of it, waiting for prompts and permission makes him even less communicative. Vicky Re: Signalong Hi Vicky, my son is just 13. We used Pecs when he was 3-5 - caused a lot of frustration - particularly when the cards he wanted were lost! We now use a mixture of things - but the biggest thing which has made a huge differenvce to us over the last couple of years is pointing. We write things down and get him to make choices and point to what he is trying to say. If you can teach your child to point he can communicate with you. This lead us to also look into Facilitated Communication and we have had amazing conversations using this method (and wrote a poem for the Treating Autism Xmas cards). It is not easy for and takes a long time but is well worth the effort. Take a look at www.strangeson.com - there is a free downloadable manual called the Informative Pointing Method . There are many non verbal adults who appear severely autistic but use Facilitated Communication .I found the following clips inspiring:- Understanding autism – Baggs:- In my language Carly – non verbal autistic girl using typing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7U1UjZzJLE & feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVxvVMNh6s & feature=related Most important thing is that we kepp looking for ways to unlock the door for our children - its great that you are still looking into this. > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 My child is almost 14. She uses Makaton signs which she does rather inaccurately but we get to understand a lot of them. She has normal eye contact and also points so communication is not difficult for all the basic things. We also use Pecs cards. Biggest problem is when she's in pain because I think it's hard for her describe pain non verbally. But on the whole because she has an expressive face nowadays day to day communication is not too difficult. We talk to her a lot about what's going on and what's going to happen next etc.. She also is beginning to talk and sometimes says the first letter of a familiar word. She can say No and sometimes yeah. We have been doing oral motor therapy for years and it is slowly working. Yasmeen > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > TIA > Vicky > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 We were lucky enough to get some sessions with Soma earlier this year. She tries to identify dominant learning channels and uses them in education sessions. So for example with she would look for ways of engaging his auditory channel - she would always use a pencil to write choices (as this makes noise) and would tear paper and place apart on the table, spelling out the words and tapping the paper as saying the answer. So even if was not looking he would be able to hear where the choices were placed. She then puts a pencil into the childs hand as a prompt for them to answer by tapping the choice. Of course this is a very simple explanation - she uses physical prompts as well - sometimes brushing the childs hands with the paper as giving the choices (also always positions herself on right side). It is interesting that she sees the Rapid Prompting Method as an EDucation method - when it also helps with communication it is a bonus. Yet when we saw her had conversations with her about his autism -where he was pointing to letters on stencils and she also facilitated a conversation between two other non verbal autistic boys using the stencils. There is a good section of her on the film 'A mothers courage' which i bought on Amazon earlier this year. I'm very happy to share my experiences in more detail if you want to email me privately. Sue > > > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > > TIA > > Vicky > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 We were lucky enough to get some sessions with Soma earlier this year. She tries to identify dominant learning channels and uses them in education sessions. So for example with she would look for ways of engaging his auditory channel - she would always use a pencil to write choices (as this makes noise) and would tear paper and place apart on the table, spelling out the words and tapping the paper as saying the answer. So even if was not looking he would be able to hear where the choices were placed. She then puts a pencil into the childs hand as a prompt for them to answer by tapping the choice. Of course this is a very simple explanation - she uses physical prompts as well - sometimes brushing the childs hands with the paper as giving the choices (also always positions herself on right side). It is interesting that she sees the Rapid Prompting Method as an EDucation method - when it also helps with communication it is a bonus. Yet when we saw her had conversations with her about his autism -where he was pointing to letters on stencils and she also facilitated a conversation between two other non verbal autistic boys using the stencils. There is a good section of her on the film 'A mothers courage' which i bought on Amazon earlier this year. I'm very happy to share my experiences in more detail if you want to email me privately. Sue > > > > Anyone using signing with a completely non verbal and severe child? If anyone has a non verbal older child[teen and above] how are you communicating? > > TIA > > Vicky > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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