Here is the deal with Little Man's Ipad (I want to call it his Italk!). He had an assistive technology evaluation this week to see if there was anything available that could help do his talking. At first, they were unsure that a 2 year old could actually figure out how to use the Proloquo app on the Ipad to communicate. Little Man blew us away with his evaluation. I have always believed he is extremely smart, and even I was surprised at some of the tasks he was able to complete. They started by showing him a page with 4 pictures of objects and asked him to point to certain ones. Then they moved to 8 pictures on a page. He was able to get all of them! Eventually they showed him a page with 40 pictures and asked for more abstract ideas. The first one they asked on this page was for him to point at the picture of the girl sleeping. After a minute of looking at them, he pointed right to the picture! I was shocked. We really don't talk a lot about sleeping. We say "night-night". He just kept on amazing us with the rest of the evaluation. After the evaluation was over, it was decided that he would be a perfect candidate for using the Ipad to help him communicate. There is a group that is going to provide the Ipad, the app (Proloquo2go, which is about $200) and an otter box to protect the Ipad from the 2 year old. What a HUGE blessing! It can take 2 months for the entire process before we actually get his Ipad, so they sent us home with a loaner. Unfortunately we are not able to make any changes to the Ipad or lock any of the apps until we get our own. We were encouraged to not let Little Man play with any of the other apps. He needs to understand this is not a toy. He needs to use it to communicate. When he understands, we can add apps for "playtime" and then lock him out of them when we need to. It took him less than an hour to figure out how to get out of the Proloquo and into a lot of fun games! So much for this not being a toy!
Last night we were able to help Little Man tell us with his Italk :) that he wanted pizza and he wanted to watch Mickey Mouse! Yea Little Man!! Today we have been playing little games with him to help him practice with the Italk. We pulled out some of the Little People animals to match the words with the toy. He wasn't interested at all. He wanted to get out of Proloquo and find a game. This is going to be a challenge!
If you ever have a minute, you should check out the Proloquo2go videos on youtube. It is amazing how children that can not speak a word can catch on to the app so quickly and begin communicating with the world! We are so excited to see where this can take Little Man!
This first video explains the app...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vomkNSluWW4
This video shows a toddler a lot like Little Man using the app to ask for cheese and crackers. Without the app, we normally take Little Man to the pantry and either have him show us what he wants or we offer options. If we can't figure out what he is asking for, he melts down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp2ROyyyqjo
If we can teach Little Man that this is not a toy we will be on our way to helping him find his voice!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Starting a new adventure
Our life since our oldest child entered this world can best be described as a series of new adventures. Just when we think we have learned how to navigate through the adventure, along comes a new one. Today begins a new adventure in our family.
Our Little Man became the proud owner of an Ipad at the young age of 2. It is his and his alone. His 2 big brothers can not use it. Mommy and Daddy can't even play with it. It may seem a little unfair, but this is Little Man's new communication device!
This new adventure seems a little scary and very exciting all at the same time. Unfortunately, our future is uncertain. Will Little Man ever be very verbal? To what extent will he be able to talk? We are praying this new Ipad will help do his "talking" while we wait for his future to unfold. Little Man is one of God's precious miracles, just like every baby! But, with him in our life, we have been able to witness God continuing to work miracles in his life. We firmly believe he will be verbal and the sound of his Ipad doing his "talking" will be a distant memory.
So, I begin this blog. I want to remember this time in our life. I want to one day share this with Little Man, so that he can see how God walked with him through this process.
We have 3 other miracles. Talk about a new adventure!! Everyday with 4 kiddos is a new adventure. We have watched God work in their lives as well. I do not want to forget this time with them. Life on our journey is crazy. I hope this blog will slow me down occasionally to write some thoughts down and not let this time slip by...
Our Little Man became the proud owner of an Ipad at the young age of 2. It is his and his alone. His 2 big brothers can not use it. Mommy and Daddy can't even play with it. It may seem a little unfair, but this is Little Man's new communication device!
This new adventure seems a little scary and very exciting all at the same time. Unfortunately, our future is uncertain. Will Little Man ever be very verbal? To what extent will he be able to talk? We are praying this new Ipad will help do his "talking" while we wait for his future to unfold. Little Man is one of God's precious miracles, just like every baby! But, with him in our life, we have been able to witness God continuing to work miracles in his life. We firmly believe he will be verbal and the sound of his Ipad doing his "talking" will be a distant memory.
So, I begin this blog. I want to remember this time in our life. I want to one day share this with Little Man, so that he can see how God walked with him through this process.
We have 3 other miracles. Talk about a new adventure!! Everyday with 4 kiddos is a new adventure. We have watched God work in their lives as well. I do not want to forget this time with them. Life on our journey is crazy. I hope this blog will slow me down occasionally to write some thoughts down and not let this time slip by...
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