Friday, October 30, 2015

AAC Family Friday!

 Here it is, the final installment of AAC Family pictures, in honor of AAC Awareness Month!


Lily Grace, age 6, has been using a paper-based PODD book for some time. This weekend, she went on her first outing with her talker (iPad mini with the Compass w/ PODD app)!  (cont. below)

She had a lot to say during our trip, including letting us know when she wanted to nosh and when she was ready to head home!

 We were out for dinner and Cady's dad was attempting to do some modelling. Apparently he was taking too long, as she pulled the talker closer to her and turned it away from him. You can see she's still holding on to it to make sure he doesn't take it back. :) It's great to see her taking ownership of her voice! 

 Isaac (age 5) enjoying a friend's birthday party at Pump It Up (indoor bouncy house).  Bouncing with the talker wasn't really an option, but once we sat down for cupcakes Isaac couldn't stop saying how "good" everything was ("good cake"  "good birthday candles"), which is high praise (and great progress for him) since he doesn't comment unprompted very often.  He also used the talker to request a drink and select which color of balloon he wanted (in addition to some babbling). 

Charlie, PODD user extraordinaire from Nottingham UK, commenting on YouTube on not one, but two talkers!

 Here are Reuben and Louisa chilling on the couch with Reuben's talker (an iPad mini with Speak for Yourself) and his medal from kiddie bike race over the weekend. Louisa's outfit is due to "mismatch day" at her daycare.

Anna, from the Netherlands, using PODD. Anna's mom has this to share: 
Because I'm trying to promote AAC in The Netherlands I have made a movie with my daughter using PODD. Just want to tell people that you can use AAC everywhere. We need to carry the AAC everywhere with us. We had days that Anna will not say a thing when we were out but we also have days when she is just reaching at it to just make a short comment. 

Because I'm Romanian I have made also an English version of the movie. see link below

Roo the butterfly babbling on Speak for Yourself while eating pizza!

Meeting celebrities: Felix has graduated from AAC because Speak For Yourself helped him find his voice. Thank you Heidi and Renee. 

 Aidan and his Dad make a great team on game night. (cont. below)


 This was the perfect no expectations moment for modeling as Aidan was really excited to roll the dice! See more of Aidan's story over at his mom's blog: http://familysynapse.com

 Lemmy using Speak for Yourself on an iPad, being held by a modular hose stand.

Lemmy shopping in target with speak for yourself on the iPad. He was tired of shopping.

Dinner time conversation with papa. I feel so lucky to look across the dinner table at these two!

 How's this for a casual conversation starter? C has really been enjoying her 'social' pages lately. And apparently still has a bit of learning to do about the fine points of small talk.

 We took a train ride over the weekend. We had to stop at one point to let some more passengers on and she told us TRAIN RIDE STOP and followed it up with boisterously yelling, "[s]top, top, top!" . (cont. below)


Later her sisters modeled BUMPY. This time she just took it in, but we know (especially with her sisters modeling) that the new vocabulary will be used soon!

 Here is pirate Finn using his talker (with TouchChat) to say "Argh matey!" (cont. below)

And here he is looking very pleased with his success!

 Parker is using Speak For Yourself on an iPad mini during a therapy session with an awesome grad student! (cont. below)

Parker practicing using SFY to say "Trick or Treat". This will be the first year he will be able to say it. 

 Ashlyn using AAC to talk/delay bedtime.

Ashlyn with her device for a trip to the grocery store.

James (5 years old) using a Tobii I-12 on our recent trip to Seattle, WA. He got to visit Pike's Market  . . . (cont. below)

and talk about the 'flying fish' and ride on a ferry boat, to which he said LIKE LIKE LIKE.


This is Gav using his talker as he enjoys his two favourite pastimes - eating and playing with his iPad!

And here's our contribution this week! We went out to my parents' house for pumpkin carving. I don't remember what I'm modeling here, but it must have been interesting for Maya to be attending so closely! (cont. below)

And here she is telling my dad that they need to get a bucket for the pumpkin guts :)

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed pictures this month! It's been truly delightful to see so many AAC users from around the world. At this point in our AAC journey I'm so used to seeing talkers (in our home and filling my Facebook feed) that part of me forgets that they aren't the norm, but there is still a deep part of me that responds when I see pictures of other families using AAC in their homes and communities. Happy AAC Awareness Month!

1 comment:

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