Speech Therapy 101

Yesterday we had our very first session with Jonah's new speech therapist. Well, she's Jonah's only ever speech therapist too but she's new to us lol.

She was fabulous, she gave us so many ideas and she really captivated Jonah's attention. The best thing though was that she did a very thorough evaluation of Jonah and what we are already doing with him and she said we were spot on with everything. I am so happy, it just reinforces that we haven't wasted a second of precious time.

She has shown us how to ancourage Jonah to request things. He doesn't have to use words to do this but being autistic means he doesn't automatically know that I am a vessel in which he can 'get things'. Children without autism will show you their empty cup if they are thirsty and there is no water available. Jonah won't do this, he doesn't understand that we are a gateway between what he wants and what he gets. I have to stop pre empting what he wants. I have become very good at this and one of the reasons he doesn't tantrum much is because I am always a step ahead of him, getting him what he needs before he has to ask.

So from now on I have to give Jonah a chance to ask for things. I have to hold his water cup where he can see it and wait until he indicates to me that he wants it. This can be by yelling, that's perfectly ok. What we don't want is for him to see the water cup and walk away because even though I am holding it, it is out of reach.

If you remember back to the developmental test, the paediatrician flashed a torch at Jonah and then stopped. Every time she stopped he would just wander off even though he loved the flashing lights. He did not know that he could indicate that he wanted more lights, so he just moved on.

We are going to use bubbles and balloons. Yesterday Karen (Speechie) had some bubbles, she blew them and said "Ohhh Bubbles!" Jonah giggled as he tried to catch them. Each time one would land on his hand Karen would say "Pop!" Then she stopped blowing them. We watched as Jonah went right up to her, looked her in the eyes and made a sound to her. He didn't speak but he let her know he wanted more bubbles which is exactly what he got. Karen said "Want more? Want more bubbles," and then blew more.

The aim of this is to say what we want Jonah to learn. We don't want to say "You want more bubbles Jonah? because a part of autism is that children will often repeat what they hear and when Jonah wants bubbles he is very likely to come to us and say "Want more bubbles Jonah? Which is not the correct way to ask.

So, where possible we try and say what words we want Jonah to learn. This morning when I fed him breakfast I waited between spoonsfull and when he looked at me I said "Want more," and gave him more.

The idea is to wait for a response but not expect it. If we don't wait for the response we don't give them a chance to try and formulate one. If we expect a response we jeopardise their attention by sitting and waiting too long for a response that is not coming. So we wait a few moments between activites and then we continue on.

We are also going to take pictures of everday objects and people that are familiar to Jonah and we will laminate them with the objects word printed underneath. It's already clear that Jonah's splinter skill is reading. He loves words, loves looking at them, listening to books being read and he loves 'pretending' that he is reading. It's the only pretend skill that he developed on his own.

Until he can talk we will use pictures of objects and try to encourage him to bring them to us when he needs something. It used to be thought that this would hinder speech but current research shows quite the oposite. Communication is much more than words. Communication is interaction, body language, facial expression, interest, seeking out others, hand gestures and many more things. If Jonah can't use words yet that's ok. We can still teach him other methods of communication until he can speak if that day ever comes.

The other thing I want to do is to make an inside cubby for Jonah. I often see him put clothing on his head and I think a lot of this is to do with too much sensory input coming in. I think he does it to block out visual stimulation. He loves tents, cubbies and he loves the sunglasses. I think they take away a lot of sensory input which allowes him to concentrate on other things.

OK so that's our starting point. I'm glad I've blogged it. It is much easier to keep track of.