A Talker Named Tobii

It's no secret that communication is one of the most challenging aspects for Teddy. He's non-verbal, meaning he cannot communicate verbally. His communication skills have evolved through the years from simply crying, to looking at items he wanted and then to pointing, which was a huge milestone. He's used PECs (picture exchange communication), talker buttons and Proloquo on an iPad. He's also developed a handful of signs, which are honestly the most effective way for him to communicate beyond him physically directing us to do what he wants. 

His speech therapist, who's worked with him since he was one, suggested we demo a different device that is strictly used for AAC (augmentative and alternative communication). We have no been successful with Proloquo, which is a speech program, partially because Teddy is so interested in technology that he manages to unlock the settings, change things and swipe his way to other parts of the iPad. The other part I'll own for a lack of consistency and modeling on our part. (Modeling is teaching by doing, consistently reinforcing the use of a device and using it yourself to demonstrate how it works. It's an everyday all day thing, which is why we've failed in that area.)

She also pointed out that although Teddy is doing great with his handful of signs that a universal language will be helpful to him to communicate with everyone, including those who don't understand his version of sign. We also had conversations with some who have older children who acknowledged that as kids transition that it's critically important for their voice to be understood. Those conversations reinvigorated my desire to do the hard work required of us as a family. Also, we still have several months of COVID ahead of us where we can truly focus with our childcare providers to model consistency and help him learn the program.

So today we demoed Tobii Dynavox during speech therapy. AJ came along to learn the device, as he will serve as tech support if we are approved. That will be critical to us being successful that I won't have to spend the time configuring it and can assign that responsibility to AJ. We looked at two different models, walked through how they worked and played while using them to get an idea of how to integrate them into play. 

His speech therapist thinks he can handle this ... I trust her. 

This system feels like a huge leap because it focuses on core language (think sight words in common terms) that we use in language, in addition to objects and more concrete things. Thus far, we've only worked with more concrete language with Teddy, although he's worked on sight words some at school. This would have complete sentences, not just single words like "playground." Don't get me wrong, Proloque can have complete sentences as well, but we didn't have it set up that way. 

His speech therapist has such confidence in Teddy and sees more potential in him than others may. With her support, and our amazing childcare providers, we're going to demo this system and see if we think it will work for Teddy. The demo will either be 4 weeks or possibly 12 weeks as some insurance plans require that long of a demo before they will approve the device. From there, it's working through insurance, grants and/or his county waiver program for approval and funding. Given that we're likely at least 6 weeks out before we get a demo device, we still have a while to wait. I also imagine that it would be demo device and then a lag of a couple months to order the device and get it approved since approval always takes time. 

Here's to hoping that Tobii will become a talkative member of our family.