I know I’ve blogged before about our journey with Speech and trying to get Mateo to go from verbal to nonverbal. (If you missed it, you can check it out here). I’ve also celebrated the couple new words and expressions he’s learned over the past year. Yes, Mateo does have words- not a lot, but I’m happy that he has a few, but even with that, though, I still classify him as non-verbal.
Actually, I’m at the point where I don’t think he’ll ever be truly ‘verbal’ and I’m OK with that. Now, I know some of you are thinking that I shouldn’t give up and if he has a couple words, he’ll get more. I hear you, but honestly, we’ve tried and we’ll keep trying. My priority now, though, is giving him the tools he needs to communicate. That’s why we use the iPad, specifically, the TouchChat app. (You can read more about our Silent Word and Using TouchChat here.)
TouchChat
We’ve had some success with TouchChat over the years. Mateo can now ask for basic wants and needs. I need a break. I want to go home. I want pizza. I need bathroom. His being able to communicate basic phrases like those has eased his frustration levels tremendously. It also means that wherever he is, with whomever, he has a means of basic – very basic – communication.
And that’s where MY frustration lies – not in the amount of words he can say, but that the communication is still very basic. Mateo understands everything I tell him and can follow instructions. He can tell me basic wants and needs. We still can’t have a ‘real’ conversation, though – not with words and not with the iPad. I really want that. I can’t express how much I really want that.
Project Speech
For the first time in a long time, I now have hope that this might actually happen. See, I stopped pushing speech therapy. One, it’s really expensive. Two, as I mentioned in previous blogs, we have tried speech therapy in numerous countries with various Speech and Language Pathologists and it’s the one form of therapy that Mateo really did NOT respond to. No, that’s putting it mildly. He really resented speech. He loved OT, would do ABA with minimal problems, enjoyed water and play time therapy. But speech? Yeah, we had many days where he would cry and meltdown at just the sight of the building.
With that said, months ago I saw a flyer advertising Project Speech. It’s a wonderful initiative where Speech Therapists are paired with families in Belize and Dominican Republic and they are given parent coaching sessions free of charge. This sounded absolutely great- especially for families in Belize who can’t afford or access speech therapy for their kiddos. For me, I thought, maybe if they can coach me to work with Mateo, maybe we’d have a little success. It was great timing too because over the past year I’ve seen Mateo WANT to communicate so much more than he ever has in the past. Maybe, just maybe, this was finally the perfect time…
Parent Coaching
I was happy to get into the program for the fall session. In our first meeting, our therapist, Kelly, asked a lot of questions about Mateo, my expectations (low) and what we were hoping to get out of the sessions. I was blunt as I always am and open about our issues in the past. We agreed to focus mostly on using TouchChat more in the hopes of getting more than just very basic wants and needs from Teo. I’m hoping that he’ll be able to express feelings, maybe even progress enough for some basic form of conversation.
Small Success
We have only had a few sessions so far, but I’m so happy to tell you we’re already seeing progress. We are using the iPad more- even for fun things like asking him whom he likes best (Spoiler Alert – his answer has been everyone from his cousin Jahred to Grandma to Uncle Bu -everyone EXCEPT his momma!). He does choose and laugh, so he knows it’s a game. Even better, though, this week he used it to say: I feel frustrated! See, he’d been asking all day to go paddle boarding. From 6:00AM he’d been repeating (using TouchChat) I want to go paddle boarding over and over. But, hey, it was a weekday with tons of rain, and yucky water conditions, so of course we had to tell him no. But, he kept insisting until finally, used the app to say, “I feel frustrated.”
He feels frustrated. Mommy feels beyond happy!
Damn. He might have been feeling frustrated but mommy was happy and wanted to scream from the rafters. My son, my 13-year-old son expressed his feelings using ‘words’ for the very first time EVER. How amazing is that????
It’s only been a couple sessions, and to be honest, I think Mateo knows what he’s feeling and has wanted to express it. I just wasn’t adjusting the tools properly for him to do so. So yeah, I’m SUPER grateful to Project Speech right now and Mommy feels super excited to continue learning how best to help Teo communicate. This just feels like real progress to me!
This current session with Project Speech is full. If you would like to sign up for these FREE Parent Coaching, they are still taking applications for the January and July 2021 Sessions. Just visit here for more information and to apply.