WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.792 >>[Communication Device]: Drink. 00:00:01.799 --> 00:00:04.199 >>[Therapist]: There you go, great! You wanted your drink. [laughter] 00:00:04.199 --> 00:00:07.726 Hi. That's him saying hi, yes! 00:00:07.726 --> 00:00:10.447 >>[Mom]: Matthew is a happy child. 00:00:10.447 --> 00:00:13.846 >>[Therapist]: You wanna give Mommy a hug? >>[Mom]: Hi, how are you? 00:00:13.846 --> 00:00:16.244 How you doing!? 00:00:16.244 --> 00:00:18.884 My name is Marlo Lemon and I am Matthew's Mom. 00:00:18.884 --> 00:00:20.690 >>[Therapist]: You see yourself? (Laughter) Look at you. 00:00:20.690 --> 00:00:24.140 >>[Mom]: He has a really funny sense of humor. He's very visually stimulated. 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:26.419 You know initially when you have a child that's nonverbal... 00:00:26.419 --> 00:00:29.247 ...people often ask, "well you know how do they communicate?" NOTE Paragraph 00:00:29.247 --> 00:00:32.404 I always say my goal, yes, I want Matthew to be able to talk. 00:00:32.404 --> 00:00:35.593 But, I had to broaden my horizons, and you know what.. 00:00:35.593 --> 00:00:37.289 ..you want him to be able to communicate. 00:00:37.289 --> 00:00:40.267 >>[Therapist to Matthew]: Do you want this? Do you want this? 00:00:41.347 --> 00:00:42.814 Do you want your drink? 00:00:42.814 --> 00:00:45.190 [Therapist interview] I started working with Matthew several years ago. 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:51.981 I'm Sarah Bethshaw and I'm the Speech Language Pathologist here, at Trellis School. 00:00:53.556 --> 00:00:56.173 When he wasn't talking and he wasn't able to imitate at that time, 00:00:56.173 --> 00:01:01.677 I decided it was time to implement another functional mode of communication for him. 00:01:01.677 --> 00:01:08.172 So we started with a picture exchange communication system, which is very widely known. 00:01:08.172 --> 00:01:11.374 [Therapist to Matthew]: I want...eat...popcorn. 00:01:11.374 --> 00:01:14.578 [Therapist interview]: That was, probably the first time in his life 00:01:14.578 --> 00:01:18.228 he had functional communication across a variety of contexts... 00:01:18.228 --> 00:01:20.183 ..um..that really worked for him. 00:01:20.183 --> 00:01:22.338 >>[Mom]: He was doing really well with PECS and as a result, 00:01:22.338 --> 00:01:27.138 that's why we asked for, could we possibly use an assisted technology device 00:01:27.138 --> 00:01:29.332 to help him with communication. 00:01:29.332 --> 00:01:31.266 >>[Communication Device]: Cookie 00:01:31.266 --> 00:01:33.200 >>[Therapist to Matthew]: Here you go. 00:01:36.101 --> 00:01:37.767 Yummm! 00:01:37.767 --> 00:01:43.239 [Therapist interview]: The beauty of this device is the capacity for him to communicate is....vast. 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:47.081 You wanna start with the core. We use core vocabulary words. 00:01:47.081 --> 00:01:51.809 Core vocabulary words are words like eat, drink, stop, play, go, more. 00:01:51.809 --> 00:01:54.367 >>[Communication Device]: Eat. >>[Therapist to Matthew]: Here ya' go. 00:01:54.367 --> 00:01:56.629 [Therapist interview] It speaks so he speaks. 00:01:56.629 --> 00:02:00.791 >>[Communication Device]: Drink >>[Therapist to Matthew]: Drink! Here's your drink! 00:02:01.791 --> 00:02:03.094 You want to play? 00:02:03.094 --> 00:02:07.041 [Therapist interview]: You find places where they're most motivated and you put the core into it. 00:02:08.131 --> 00:02:11.349 >>[Communication Device]: Go. >>[Therapist to Matthew]: You want to go? Let's go! 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:16.520 >>[Communication Device]: Go. >>[Therapist to Matthew]: Good Job! Goooo! 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.585 >>[Another therapist]: Crash them! Wooooo! 00:02:19.395 --> 00:02:21.058 >>Therapist to Matthew]: Hey my turn, can I have a sip? 00:02:21.058 --> 00:02:22.867 [Therapist interview] Today he was doing well with the word, turn. 00:02:22.867 --> 00:02:24.662 >>[Communication Device]: Turn 00:02:25.592 --> 00:02:28.585 >>Therapist interview]: It wasn't taking as much prompting as it sometimes does. 00:02:28.585 --> 00:02:31.121 So then I wanted to increase the difficulty 00:02:31.121 --> 00:02:36.619 I add words, while I'm working with him, so I want to add the word "my", 00:02:37.769 --> 00:02:39.829 so I just went ahead and added it.. 00:02:39.829 --> 00:02:43.315 So now, I have the word, "my," so I can do, "my turn." 00:02:43.315 --> 00:02:48.406 It increases the amount of hits you're gonna push and....it's a little bit harder. 00:02:48.406 --> 00:02:53.150 >>[Communication Device]: My...Turn >>[Another Therapist]: My Turn....Goood! 00:02:53.150 --> 00:02:54.638 Here you go, carry this. 00:02:54.638 --> 00:02:57.586 >>[Therapist interview]: These devices on a typical day are with him all the time. 00:02:57.586 --> 00:02:58.895 >>[Communication Device]: Come. 00:02:58.895 --> 00:03:00.944 >>[Therapist interview]: A speech therapist needs training on it... 00:03:00.944 --> 00:03:03.654 ...then the family also needs training on it. 00:03:03.654 --> 00:03:09.626 One of the best things about this device is it's dynamic, so it's changing with us all the time. 00:03:09.626 --> 00:03:14.998 So, we can work with the displays and make it fit exactly what we're trying to teach him. 00:03:14.998 --> 00:03:20.571 >>[Communication Device]: Eat....Cookie >>[Therapist]: Eat cookie! Good job! 00:03:20.571 --> 00:03:24.943 [Therapist interview]: That was really exceptional. He said, "Eat Cookie." 00:03:24.943 --> 00:03:25.943 He said the whole phrase completely and independently. 00:03:25.943 --> 00:03:27.177 And that was four hits. 00:03:27.177 --> 00:03:30.780 So the first time today, when he was eating cookies, I've never seen him eat those cookies. 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:33.016 I could tell he loved those cookies. 00:03:33.016 --> 00:03:36.019 So in the moment, I want "Yum" on there. 00:03:36.019 --> 00:03:38.334 [Therapist to Matthew]: Yeah, you want to say "Yum!" 00:03:38.334 --> 00:03:41.338 >>[Communication Device]: Yum. >>[Therapist]: The cookies are yummy! 00:03:41.338 --> 00:03:46.296 So now in this moment, we've activated... we've started using two comments.... 00:03:46.296 --> 00:03:49.966 ..which is something we're working with Matthew on, saying "Like" and "Yum." 00:03:49.966 --> 00:03:53.536 And, that's really important for him not to just be requesting, using the device, 00:03:53.536 --> 00:03:56.725 but using it for a variety of communicative intents. 00:03:57.645 --> 00:04:00.301 [Therapist to Matthew]: What do you want? >>[Communication Device]: Cookie. 00:04:00.301 --> 00:04:01.572 >>[Therapist]: Cookie! 00:04:01.572 --> 00:04:05.574 [Therapist interview] And the next time he ate cookies, he was very pleased with that. 00:04:05.574 --> 00:04:08.024 [Therapist to Matthew]: You wanted to say "Yum," let me teach you. 00:04:08.024 --> 00:04:11.966 Yum starts at the top. Eyes on. Look, this is "yum." 00:04:12.436 --> 00:04:14.581 >>[Communication Device]: Yum. >>[Therapist]: Yummmmm! 00:04:14.581 --> 00:04:16.150 You wanted to say yum! 00:04:16.150 --> 00:04:19.263 >>[Communication Device] Yum. Yum. >>[Therapist]: Yummmmm! 00:04:19.263 --> 00:04:21.332 [Laughter] 00:04:21.332 --> 00:04:24.631 [Therapist interview] To me the goal for Matthew is to 00:04:24.631 --> 00:04:28.771 confidently, functionally, and proudly communicate. 00:04:28.771 --> 00:04:33.844 >>[Mom]: Through giving him a way to communicate, we've decreased behaviors tremendously. 00:04:33.844 --> 00:04:36.812 I would say start off with the picture exchange communication system. 00:04:36.812 --> 00:04:41.208 Once he got to having four to six pictures on the front of his PECSbook-- 00:04:41.208 --> 00:04:44.772 it's like, you know what, we can take it up another level. 00:04:44.772 --> 00:04:47.674 As his mom, you know my expectation have always been really high and I'm like: 00:04:47.674 --> 00:04:50.086 we're going to maximize Matthew's potential. 00:04:50.086 --> 00:04:53.360 He can, you know, and we truly believe that he will be able to talk. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.534 >>[Therapist interview]: We will never say that a child won't talk. 00:04:56.534 --> 00:05:00.873 He absolutely may talk, but right now, he has this. 00:05:00.873 --> 00:05:05.617 >>[Communication Device]: Like. >>[Therapist]: You like music? Yay! Let's do music. 00:05:05.617 --> 00:05:08.709 >>[Mom]: Just because he's non-verbal, does not mean he doesn't have a lot to say. 00:05:08.709 --> 00:05:13.285 >>[Communication Device]: More. >>[Therapist]: Moorrree. That's more. 00:05:13.285 --> 00:05:15.260 >>[Mom]: Oh wow! It's given him a voice. 00:05:15.260 --> 00:05:17.741 >>[Communication Device]: Yum. Yum.