The daffodils always surprise me. Even though I know they are the first flowers in my yard to bloom, I don’t notice that they’re green and growing until I see the first flower. The yellow gets my attention, and spring begins.
Every year I wonder how I missed the leaves. It would be exciting to see those first signs of spring push up through the ground that’s been frozen for a better part of the past few months.
Change is like that. You don’t see it…until something causes you to notice it.
I encourage parents (and therapists if they have permission) to take video of their children in those early days of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) use. Do you remember that first day when you were trying to show the child that if you touch the screen something happens…and she turned her head in the other direction?
Have you spent months modeling and then there’s that moment when the child first reaches his hand towards the screen and you hold your breath in anticipation? Before that happened, he had to figure out that you are modeling so that he knows where the words are. He had to understand that AAC is something he can use to say words that he want to say.
There may have been subtle changes that you didn’t notice…a sideways glance while you were intently looking at the screen to find a word, a slight in sync movement of his finger as he watched your finger speaking little phrases, his growing confidence as he began to anticipate what the device was going to say based on the buttons you pressed.
There are those exciting milestone moments when you see the flower bloom, but there are many more moments when the leaves are growing ever so gradually in preparation. The flower only exists because the stems and leaves took the time to prepare for it.
When you take video of a child learning to use AAC, most people try to capture the milestone moments. Take some video when you think things are not going so great. Take video of the early days when you’re wondering if they’re going to “get it.” When you look back at those early videos, you’ll realize that you captured growth…the development of finger isolation, joint attention, the realization that AAC is a tool for them to use for communication. When you’re feeling frustrated because you’re not seeing the progress, remember the daffodil: the growth is happening, whether you notice it or not.
Also, take some time to appreciate your own progress. Notice the changes you made as you learned more about AAC and became a more fluent modeler. Take a few minutes to admire the “leaves.”
We are entering Week 10 of the Learning to Speak AACtion Plan! After this week, if you’ve been following along every week, you will have learned 50 new words this year! If you’ve missed some weeks, you’re not alone. Pick up where you left off, and move forward.
Here are the week 10 words:
Here is the updated master list:
Here are the weekly practice lessons:
Please take a few minutes to complete the week 9 survey (which closes at 11:59pm EST tonight) and here is the link to the Rafflecopter drawing:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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