M&Ms

It is really hard for me to refuse Mitchell at 8PM when he requests M&Ms with picture selection on his Dynavox, speaks the word "M&Ms" and types out the word "mms" on the keyboard page.  I can't seeing anyone telling him no at this point.

iPad

My friend Nicole & I were taking last week about iPads and how it's in the news everywhere these days how well they help kids with Autism. She was saying how we need to get the school to buy them for the kids. There are apps that can help kids on all ends of the spectrum get through their day socially and academically. Plus an iPad is a socially acceptable piece of technology. Mitchell carries his Dynavox everywhere at school but the verbal children don't have devices. This started me thinking of the way Mitchell uses our iPad at home. The day we recorded Mitchell using our iPad to learn words then typing them on his Dynavox, we had just watched a news segment on a tablet and it's many uses. In the segment though, all the parents could say about it was how their son will read books on it instead of real booms and play games instead of other video games, Really ? That's why it's so great? My son uses the iPad for apps that teach him things and he does this without prompting. He incorporates the iPad with his Dynavox, learning things most 5 year olds don't know how to teach themselves to do. Tonight Mitchell sat in his favorite chair with his Dynavox and began typing the words from the same flash card app as before except Grace had the iPad so he was doing it by memory. Coffee, duck, egg, frog, giraffe, hat, ice cream, jam , koala. He didn't just memorize these words, if you ask him anytime how to spell nurse or orange he can type it. How is it the school has not tapped I to this? Without the iPad & Dynavox we wouldn't have any idea Mitchell could read or spell. This week, I had emailed Mitchell's intensive teacher to let her know that tracing lines confuse him and he just needs a prompt to write his name or any other word or number. Then I also told her he can read/write most color words and many other site words. She seemed to be aware of this but now she knows I am aware of what they are doing/not doing at school. Mitchell is pretty good at writing, but needs reminders on his grip. But give him a keyboard and he sails through. I know other children in his class who don't write well either, having a portable computer would allow them to show what they too have learned. I am glad Nicole brought this up and maybe we can get the ball rolling with school. I wonder if the school knows what is in store for them when us moms get together and brainstorm?

Great Progress

Mitchell has really made a leap in communication in the last couple of weeks. It is great to see how his skills transfer from therapy/school to home and can be used in different context. I have been told by therapists he knows sight words and animals and we know he can identify & write letters and numbers but I couldn't figure out if he knew the meaning or just had them memorized. He has proven recently he's got it all! A couple weeks ago he showed me on his Dynavox Maestro that he can identify animals if given their sound or name and scroll through pages to find them too. This also transferred over to flash cards a couple days later. A few days ago he was using a story App on the iPad and was able to pick out letters when I asked him even tho they were out of order & mixed upper & lower case. He said puppy when he touched a dog's face on Tuesday, "I'm two" when Caroline was trying get Grace to repeat it and mimicked Aunt Maureen yesterday when she called him a stinkbutt. This morning we were looking through a flap book when he verbally labeled girl, pig & chicken without being prompted to do so. These are major accomplishments for Mitchell and really proves our therapy program is working. I am so proud of all his hard work over the past 3 1/2 yrs. I always assume Mitchell will be living with us forever but Steve thinks maybe not, alot can happen in the next 15-20 yrs. Look at how far he has come in under 4. He sure is an amazing little boy!