Re: question for older CHARGErs

[Guest guest]

Oh, piddle. This is probably just a great day to get me even more mad

than I already am, but forget about coordination issues with signing

(perhaps I should add that I guess this could be a real concern if the

problems are severe). often signs things " wrong, " but all of us end

up getting her drift eventually. For some time now, she has signed

Perkins' verions of signs as well as what she learned in Missouri and

even taught me the sign for " broom " over this break. The signs often are

far from perfect, but they nevertheless enable her (and the rest of us) to

communicate just fine much of the time. When we had to use the oral

approach, the child banged her head against bricks - literally. I just smiled

to myself: always signs duck sideways even though she loves to go

to the lake to feed them. Horse tends to be too far down. On and on. We

still know what she means, and that's the ballgame right now! Martha

Note: at the risk of being a real busy-body and obnoxious, our kids need to

communicate as quickly as possible; if they screw up some, so what. My

husband has college students who can't write a simple sentence. Our

kids just vary a tad from that.

[Guest guest]

Martha-

Thanks for your input. I agree completely with all you said. Aubrie is

totally oral now and doing ok. But she can't express /everything /she

wants to get across. And in school, when written work is necessary,

what will she do? I'm just stumped as to where to go next. This just

can't be as good as it gets for her. Of course, it's not -- she's only

6. But you know what I mean.

Michele W

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the alphasmart info. I have heard of many kids that use it.

IL state has a technology center in Springfield where we can go and try

out stuff like that. I am thinking that Aubrie and I need to take a day

off school and go check out the options.

Michele

[Guest guest]

No, no, no -- I wasn't looking for an apology. All of the advice and

suggestions are helpful. Aubrie's speech isn't intelligible to

outsiders so it's not the best answer. It's even hard for us to

understand sometimes. But it's good enough that the school really

thinks of her as a hearing and speaking child. It's good enough to

function right now, but not good enough to get all of her ideas across.

Does that make sense?

Michele

DW33333333@... wrote:

> In a message dated 9/3/2004 6:59:43 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

> momonamission@... writes:

>

>

> > more hearing impaired or if her speech was worse, I would be

> > able to get more support for sign

>

> Michele,

>

> I apologize if I gave ill advice or assumptions. I wasn't aware that

> Aubrie's hearing and speech were near normal. I must have misread the

> email because

> I thought her speech was not understandable therefore my advice on

> alternative

> language.

>

> Please accept my apology,

> Debra

>

[Guest guest]

Kayrena-

I am familiar with speech recognition software but I didn't think it

could ever learn Aubrie's poor speech. Can it really get to know her

speech patterns? Now that would be awesome.

And thanks for the handwriting tips. When I see her OT next, I will see

what she thinks.

Michele W

[Guest guest]

Michele,

" I'm really puzzled as to how to develop an expressive mode of

communication for Aubrie that equals her intellectual abilities. "

I know that Aubrie and MacKenzie have very different issues but I feel your

frustration. Good luck.

Jeanie

[Guest guest]

Jeanie-

Thanks. I have been spending an awful lot of time on the computer

lately, but I guess I'm really needing to talk about all these things

and there's just no one here to talk it through with. Thanks for your

understanding and support.

Michele W

[Guest guest]

Sharon: You put things much more succinctly that I. Learning the

communication of our kids (behavior, made up signs, etc.) is absolutely

crucial. It was hard for this parent to understand this 20 years ago, so I

repeat it over and over again now. Martha

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/3/2004 10:59:12 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

momonamission@... writes:

> It's good enough to

> function right now, but not good enough to get all of her ideas across.

> Does that make sense?

>

Michele,

Sure it does. Have you thought of using signs along with her speech, just to

get her ideas and thoughts across. She could make the sign and voice the

word at the same time.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were looking for an apology, I just

felt compelled to give you one as I I felt like I gave ill advice and that's

something I would hate to think I did.

Keep us posted as to how it goes with Aubrie in school,

Debra

[Guest guest]

Here is my ten cents worth, I have bad fine moter hand controle yet

my signing (when I did know it) was excellent and heck I type faster

then most of my friends so I have one word to say to

those " professionals " ... BullS@#$!

Let her sign, why stop her from trying to communicate. You will

probably find after a while that her signing actualy IS intellegable.

its a heck of a lot easer to sign then say try to colour. Staying in

the lines... what gives? I cant even do that! Just sign away! Thats

what I say

Chey

[Guest guest]

Chantelle McLaren wrote:

> Here is my ten cents worth,

Thanks for your 10 cents -- as always, the more input, the better.

Michele W

Aubrie's mom

[Guest guest]

Chantelle McLaren wrote:

> Here is my ten cents worth,

Thanks for your 10 cents -- as always, the more input, the better.

Michele W

Aubrie's mom

[Guest guest]

Michele,

You keep saying you want to come down right? Well what state do you live in

again I cant remeber haha sorry. Well I think were free sometimes mabye in the

Fall if you would like to come down and talk to my mom and I can meet Aurbrie?

I will let her know.

-Patty

[Guest guest]

Michele,

Where are you going in CT... and I live in CT...

Ellen

[Guest guest]

Patty-

We live in IL but we will be in Boston for an eval at Perkins the week

before Columbus Day. I was hoping to get together with your Mom and you

when we are there. We'll arrive Monday afternoon and have evals on

Tuesday and Wednesday. I think we'd be free Monday and Tuesday

evening. Depending on when we finish on Wednesday, we'll be taking the

train to CT. It would be wonderful if we could spend time together

while we're there.

Michele W

Aubrie's mom

[Guest guest]

We are going to a wedding in Essex.

Michele W