Caroline's Cart
This cart is such a great and much needed tool for parents and family members. Caroline's cart was developed by Drew Ann Long so that she could shop with her daughter Caroline. She developed this ca...
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Collection Tips for Families
Date Created: 4/4/2016
Posts: 11
This collection of posts offers ideas about family activities and strategies to encourage requests, refusals, social interaction and information sharing at home.
Gayl Bowser, M.Ed. works as an independent consultant Her work focuses on the creation of effective, legal and high quality service systems that encourage the integration of technology into educational programs for students with disabilities. Ms. Bowser has worked as a Regional and State-level administrator in Oregon. Formerly the Coordinator of the Oregon Technology Access Program (OTAP) and the State of Oregon’s Specialist in Assistive Technology, Gayl currently provides special education focused consultation, training and technical assistance throughout the United States and internationally. Gayl has co-authored numerous publications about assistive technology including ) Leading the Way to Excellence in AT Services: A guide for school administrators, Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology: A comprehensive guide to assistive technology services; Education Tech Points: A Framework for Assistive Technology; and Assistive Technology Pointers for Parents.
What a great time to give kids an opportunity to say what they want and what they don't want. "Which cereal do you want this week?" "Do you know where the ice cream is?". A grocery cart for all of us who have tried to move down the isles pushing a wheelchair and a cart! In the grocery store, you can request, refuse, say hello to the clerks and other shoppers and tell dad where your favorite treat is!
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What a great time to give kids an opportunity to say what they want and what they don't want. "Which cereal do you want this week?" "Do you know where the ice cream is?". A grocery cart for all of us who have tried to move down the isles pushing a wheelchair and a cart! In the grocery store, you can request, refuse, say hello to the clerks and other shoppers and tell dad where your favorite treat is!
Caroline's Cart
This cart is such a great and much needed tool for parents and family members. Caroline's cart was developed by Drew Ann Long so that she could shop with her daughter Caroline. She developed this ca...
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There's nobody more fun to communicate than a brother or sister. Sometimes I think we forget to step back and let kids play together. Here's a story that Sandy offered to remind us. And don't forget to check out the homework table setup. Simple, inexpensive and a great strategy for lots of families.
Involving Siblings
I just had to share this picture of my boys this evening. The little guy, Finn, is 3 years old (typical vision and hearing) and his older brother, Liam is 6 years old (deafblind). Liam uses Tactile A...
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What could be more important than including and empowering parents?" Watch this video to see what one mom has to say about it.
Including and empowering parents: A "Mom" story
A couple years back I helped create a module for NCDB's Open Hands, Open Access Deaf-Blind Intervener Learning Modules. Here is a link to a video, from that experience, that tells my story of the rela...
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For those of you who are considering Cochlear Implants. A parent perspective.
Our journey toward Cochlear Implants
Almost five years ago to the day, our son Thomas was diagnosed with a bilateral profound hearing loss. To make it even more difficult, only a few short weeks before we were told that he was severe...
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Jake's mom addresses the need for more sophisticated communication devices for her son. this post includes links to several videos that help with a vision of what communication could be for people with complex communication needs.
Jake's Journey from Learning Communication to Becoming Literate
As we continue celebrating “Communication is Literacy” this month, I would like to share a bit of my journey over the past 22 years and learning about this concept. My son Jake is a person with very...
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Here's an introduction to this collection of posts by and for families.
Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales--seeking reviews
I am trying to get information about the usefulness of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (Prizant and Wetherby). It's pretty expensive, and before ordering it, I'd like to hear from peop...
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What fun to bake together. Who gets to lick the bowl?
Sensory Baking
One of my fondest memories from childhood is baking pumpkin cookies with my mom and sisters. This is a tradition that I now keep with my own children. It is also the perfect time for actively usin...
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Our children grow up and change and move on. But sisters are sisters forever. Here's a great story about growing up as sisters.
Beautiful Brown Eyes- Sensory Impairments in Children with Multiple Disabilities
And so the song goes- "Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes. Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes, Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes, I'll never love blue eyes again." He cradled her in his arms, singin...
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A word about feeling overwhelmed. It may be time to play!
Bond between parents and children
Heather beautifully describes the bond between she and her son. She offers good advice to parents who may be feeling overwhelmed.
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Teaching kids to be bossy can be so much fun. And such a great communication strategy. I love the idea of the grocery store as a great communication environment.
Power of "Telling Mommy what to do"
There is a wonderful video of Mikayla and Marina posted on YouTube that shows the power of 2 simple messages "stop" and "go" and how much fun "bossing" mommy can be! A simple game of taking a trip aro...
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Statement A
My child doesn't seem to have real control over his body yet.
The only way I know that he wants something is because he fusses or whines when he's unhappy or uncomfortable, and he smiles, makes noises or calms down when he's happy and comfortable. Does this statement describe your child?
Statement B
My child has control over her own behaviors, but she doesn't use them to try to communicate to me.
She doesn't come to me to let me know what she wants, but it's easy for me to figure out, because she tries to do things for herself. She knows what she wants, and her behavior shows me what she wants. If she runs out of something to eat, she will just try to get more, rather than trying to get me to give her more.
Does this statement describe your child?
Statement C
My child clearly tries to communicate his needs to me through gestures, sounds or language.
He knows how to get me to do something for him. He uses some of the kinds of behaviors below to communicate:
- Gestures such as pointing, shaking his head, tugging at my arm or looking back and forth between me and what he wants
- Sounds such as squealing to show you he wants something or fussing when he doesn't want something
- Language or symbolic forms of communication such as speech, written words, Braille, picture symbols, 3-dimensional symbols or sign language
Does this statement describe your child?
How to score your child
Each question you will see is related to a certain message that your child might be able to express using a variety of behaviors. Read the question and decide whether your child is able to express the message described using any of the listed behaviors. If the answer is YES, then you must also decide whether your child has mastered the use of each behavior or whether it is still at an emerging stage. Check either the mastered or emerging box next to any behaviors your child uses to express the message. Use the following definitions to decide whether a behavior is mastered or emerging
Mastered
– Does this independently most of the time when the opportunity arises
– Does this in a number of di erent contexts, and with di erent people
Emerging
– Does this inconsistently
–
Only does this when prompted or encouraged to do so. Only does this in one or two contexts or with one person.
Tips on Communication Devices
Each question you will see is related to a certain message that your child might be able to express using a variety of behaviors. Read the question and decide whether your child is able to express the message described using any of the listed behaviors. If the answer is YES, then you must also decide whether your child has mastered the use of each behavior or whether it is still at an emerging stage. Check either the mastered or emerging box next to any behaviors your child uses to express the message. Use the following definitions to decide whether a behavior is mastered or emerging
