Joey’s AAC device is back! It’s wonderful to be able to hear his ideas and thoughts again. When we were reading Click, Clack, Surprise, he used it to tell me that the messy little duck needed a mirror.
He’s used his words to say “Don’t read” so he could get himself together, and then once he was ready he said “Begin.”
In the midst of a book he said “Wish Grandpa”. I asked “Where is Grandpa?” and he responded, “Couch” before looking at the couch, turning back to his device and saying “none” since there was no grandpa on the couch. [Read more…]
The other day when I arrived at Joey’s house he seemed taller and older to me. As I sat down to work he grinned and focused his eyes on his wall calendar, where there was a picture of balloons over yesterday’s date. Oh! It had been his birthday. Perhaps he looked taller and older because he was fully feeling the weight of being five. A big kid with big ideas, plans, and thoughts.
Early this fall we recognized that as Joey’s communication was increasing, his types of communication were increasing as well. We began taking data on how often he made demands, made social overtures, shared observations about his world.
In trying to find
“What comes next?” I asked Joey, holding up the 5 and the 14 number cards. We’d just put down four and were building a long number line. Joey looked me in the eyes, then promptly looked at the number 14. And then burst into a fit of giggles. 
