Saturday, January 14, 2012

It's all happening

I bring to you Maya, this morning, at breakfast:





She's had her hands on the app since Thursday, on and off.  That's 2 days.  The foundation is being laid. 

My tough outer shell is all "This will take time.  She will be slow to attach to this, and she might get frustrated.  Don't force it, don't get discouraged.  Don't get your hopes up."

But the tiny inner excitable part of me, the one that squeals like a little kid when snow falls or I see the ocean, is all: "It's happening, it's happening, she's already saying things, this could stick this could work."  I keep trying to shut her up, so my hopes don't get too high . . . but, well, it's been a good day over here.  At lunch I kept saying "Maya, we're eating broccoli and chicken nuggets." And then she would start tapping to say "cereal bar.  Yogurt."  I guess it's all about food :)

I'm cautiously excited.  It's beginning. 

 
 

12 comments:

Kathryn @ Expectant Hearts said...

EEEEEE! I am squealing! That's so awesome!

Erica said...

AH. MAZ. ING.

Anonymous said...

I really, REALLY love this kid!

R. Vachon said...

That last "anonymous" comment was supposed to be me....

Proud Mum said...

So happy for your family...Keep it up Maya!!!

Bea, OT said...

That's so wonderful! I'm so happy for you. I've seen miracles happen when children realize that communication gets them what they want...starting with food. I'm sure Maya will begin to see it's value.

Mary-Louise said...

Fantastic! I love how you are modeling the AAC. Brilliant. I am so thrilled for you all.

Unknown said...

So great!! And nice modeling for her! Too bad there Ren't some easy mounting solutions for the I adapter huh? It seems like she is struggling a bit to access the screen to the side, but she did awesome anyway!!

anne said...

Amazing. I can't wait she learns to type in Twinkies for breakfast! Great work Dana.

Annie said...

I know you are her mom and cat help worrying but when I watch Maya as an outsider I see nothing but how Maya fully understands the need for communication. Wants to communicate and processes what is being said to her almost instantly. That little nod of the head she gives you after you acknowledge that she wants milk? That to me shows just how well she 100 percent wants annd gets the back and forth of interpersonal communication. This is not a kid who needs to learn the value of communication. In fact she in fact immediately communicated no no milk to you without her device... the device just helped her make it clear and at her young age she was able to understand that you wanted her to do that....amazing. On top of that when you watch her with this or with her word book or letter wall you can see she has a first class mind when it comes to visual memory( as in better than the vast majority of typically developing kids.). Watching her it seems clear that she's going to do this.

Amanda said...

Amazing!!

Anonymous said...

That's awesome! WTG Maya :)