Tomorrow is the first day of October and the beginning of AAC Awareness Month. If you haven’t heard, an amazing and ambitious mom is going voiceless for a week and using her daughter’s (back up) iPad mini and the Speak for Yourself app to communicate.
I was telling my ten-year old daughter about this challenge as I was driving her to dance, and she said, “Can I try it in school for a day?” As I e-mailed her teacher and principal, she started programming her friends’ names into the app. (She’s fairly familiar with Speak for Yourself:). I hope they allow her to use it for a day.
Here is Mary’s journal for today:
“9/30/13
Today was my last day to speak. You’d think I’d hurry up and do things that would be a problem when I have no voice. Well, I didn’t think ahead. Tomorrow I have to go look at tile for our bathroom and have to navigate a conversation with the talker. Also have to go to the market and to the barn. At least I don’t have to talk to the horses : )
I chose another voice to differentiate mine from Jessie’s. I’ve always wanted an English accent. Maybe people will ask if I’m from there? lol…
My husband texted and asked me how it has been to be without a voice all day? I told him he doesn’t listen. I reminded him that I was turning speechless at 6pm. My daughter is excited and so is he, but something tells me they feel this way for different reasons. Who knows, maybe he thinks I won’t have anything on the honey do list?
The epiphany of the day is that by the time I get my sentence out, everyone has forgotten the question. Even though I’m familiar with the App, it takes me time to find the words. I’m able to use the search button and that helps, but I’m still not remembering where the words are. I’m able to type out sentences on the keyboard, but it says every letter as if I’m spelling. Kind of takes away the impact of what I’m saying in my sentence. You kind of want people to hang on your every word…because they are interested, not because they have to be painfully patient.
There is a word in Lebanese, i-ba-shoom which means shame on you. That is how I feel now that I have a glimmer of how unrealistic our expectations were for our daughter to be able to communicate quicker. “here’s your computer, now talk”…. we weren’t that bad, but we forget that it takes years for a typical child to develop language and here we expect it in a matter of weeks or months. It’s just not realistic.
A friend that came to hang out with Jessie today. This was there first outing. I felt so bad when she returned and I couldn’t talk to her. I could use some hand motions, but then I got a pen and paper. I know, I know, this defeats the purpose, however, it makes me realize how much effort it takes to communicate. To get the words out quickly.
So, the lesson of the day, be more patient when people are talking. Listen as if there is all the time in the world, because at that moment, there is.”
If anyone else is joining her in the challenge and wants to share, send your experiences through Facebook or email (speakforyourselfAAC@yahoo.com), and we’ll post them. If you have your own blog where you journal your experiences, we’d love to share that as well!
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