Children are not a burden to escape or endure; they are a blessing that drives us to Christ because we are incapable of parenting well without Him. - Kim Brenneman

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Imitation and an ipad update

Getting Daniel to imitate noise is a very hard task. For instance, if we were playing a game and i was barking like a dog and wanted him to bark like a dog he just has never done it. He as well has never been able to babble back at me or engage in any games where imitating would be involved.
On Sunday i found an app. for the ipad that is made for children to make noise. It is called tiga talk. The game is all voice activated... so if Daniel wants to do anything in the game he has to make a noise and imitate the character on the game. For Daniel to fly the rocket ship he would have to copy the character who is telling him to say "B" ... so once Daniel says "B B B" the rocket ship will start moving. It been so great because i have NEVER seen him imitate so much, and it's so fun to see him connecting that his voice has an effect. The app doesn't differentiate between sounds very well, but that's okay. The main point is just to get Daniel making noise, practice making sound and to be comfortable with it. Only a few days and having the ipad has already opened him up in the speech department.

The program that i found for his communication board and choice boards, is working out really well and he is understanding how to use it. It will be a couple weeks until he is using it full time for requests, but for now i am teaching him how to use the program mainly at meal times.

It's so fun to see Daniel excited about communicating and making noise! :D I just love giving him a voice! Thank you Jesus for the people who invent such terrific devices that enable people like my wonderful son to connect with others! I just wish that i had unlimited funds and all the time in the world to give EVERYONE with communication issues an ipad and teach them how to use it.

3 comments:

Joel and Renée said...

How Wonderful Kristin! -Renee

Kmarie said...

Aw that is so great. Congrats! I am happy for you.

Jamie said...

I love hearing about how well these things are helping! Please keep sharing!