#20 Read Alouds Reshaped

Reading, reading, reading. Every night with Jack and Taylor we practise reading.

Carter, who's always been a book lover, gets totally engrossed in books that are read to him. Lately though, the focus has been more on Jack and Taylor reading aloud for practise.


I recently discovered the perfect app for Carter that allows him to do some reading aloud of his own. The app is called *I Like Books and the 'Read to me' option means that Carter can hear the story as he reads along.

I helped him get started and showed him how to navigate the pages, how to start the book over and how to choose a different book. It didn't take long for him to figure it all out and then I was no longer needed, but I stayed nearby and watched him engage in 'reading' as his eyes danced across the page following the highlighted words that were being read aloud. When a sentence was finished, he would often go back and tap the individual words to hear/read them again.

The stories are packed with core words that Carter can practise on his talker. Before long, I think he'll be able to move away from the 'Read to me' option toward the 'Read by myself' set-up where he will use his talker to do his own read aloud.

In my previous post I talked about two different presentations I attended, put on by well known AAC professionals. I learned of this app at one presentation, and at the other, I heard Dr. Pat Mirenda tell her audience that literacy for non-speaking kids is essential. If we teach them reading and writing they will be able to say whatever it is they want to say.

If we teach them reading and writing; the more things they'll know, and the more our kids learn, the more places they'll go! 





*Read more about how you can customize the I Like Books series here.















Disclaimer: Views in the Not Being Able to Speak series are derived from my personal experience with Carter. I do not speak on behalf of others with complex communication needs. It is not my intent to minimize or disregard the power of expression that can be found through the use of augmentative and alternative forms of communication.

#4 Memorable Mispronunciations

'Daddy cook on the barcaboo?' 

As a little guy, Carter was fascinated by the barbecue, to the point of being totally captivated every time Daddy cooked dinner on it. But, barcaboo was Jack's funny mispronunciation, not Carter's.

The perfect Xmas gift. His very  own barcaboo.

'I love masawnya.'

Carter is a pasta man. He loves all noodle dishes, lasagna included. But, masawnya was his sister's mispronunciation, not his.

He's really 'into' his masawnya!

Makamoki is another one of his favourite pasta dishes, but makamoki is a mispronunciation that my mom and dad heard from me, not from Carter. 

Preschoolers expand their vocabularies by experimenting with new and larger words that they've been exposed to. As a result, the path leading toward their school days is paved with loads of cute, funny and memorable mispronunciations. I'll never forget Jack's barcaboo blunder, or Taylor's masawnya mishap. For Carter, I simply won't have those same gratifying memories.

According to the Canadian Association for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologist  (CASLPA), a toddler's vocabulary consists of roughly 200 words by age two, and up to 2000 words by age four. 

Carter had two words by age three. Those words were kuh-kuh (cookie) and Gack (Jack). He uttered them a few times and then we never heard them again.

To this day the First Words page in Carter's baby book remains blank. There was simply nothing to write on the lines provided for First Sentence, Favourite Expressions, and Mispronunciations. I suppose I could go back and fill in the blanks with some of the things that Carter has expressed over the past year and a half with his talker, but that seems unfitting. It's his baby book after all, and he's almost ten years old. 

The only words Carter speaks these days are 'ya' and 'uh oh' neither of which is a mispronunciation. Neither of which is very memorable.

Not being able to talk means no memorable mispronunciations.

Do you have any memorable mispronunciations?

Disclaimer: Views in the Not Being Able to Speak series are derived from my personal experience with Carter. I do not speak on behalf of others with complex communication needs. It is not my intent to minimize or disregard the power of expression that can be found through the use of augmentative and alternative forms of communication.

The Little Things Mean So Much

'Diversity in abilities forces us to define our own “normal” and allows us to choose what we celebrate.' Anchel Krishna  Today's Parent



I made note of a few language related things that Carter has demonstrated over the past few months. These are things that made me smile, laugh, or say, 'Yes!' They are things that made me realize how far Carter has come with his communication skills, both receptively and expressively.

Take a look...




Being considerate

Taylor came to the dinner table one night, after everyone else. We'd already said grace and had begun eating. As she sat down she apologized, "Sorry I missed grace," she said. Carter responded by pushing the button on his talker that was programmed with our version of grace, 'For our daily food, we are thankful. Amen.' We laughed and thanked him for the recap. He made sure that grace was said for Taylor, too.

Potty humour

Kids would not be kids if they didn't go through the potty humour stage. Jack and Taylor have been laughing, for what seems like years now, about the word 'underwear' and all things related. Carter is right there with them. He's found the 'underwear' button on his talker and just loves making his brother and sister laugh by repeatedly pairing underwear with someone's name.


Observing and commenting

Back in the heat of the summer we were sitting at the table eating lunch. Carter was doing his usual thing with his talker which is to converse a bit with us and then divert to exploring and playing around with his device (this basically consists of him randomly hitting buttons so that what he is saying doesn't make much sense - much like a toddler babbling and experimenting with new sounds and words).

So, when I heard him say mountain I didn't think much of it - probably just more exploration on his part. But then he paired mountain with beer and spoke both words together. That got my attention. Mountain Beer? Sounds cold and clear, like great tasting beer. I looked over and there was Carter pointing to my husband's can of Coor's Light. But of course, Mountain Beer!

note the mtn graphic above the label

Pushing the limits to get a reaction

Carter has the names of several people programmed into his talker. For my husband and I he has Mom and Dad (of course). I've added and deleted people's names over time as needed; classmates move away, teachers change, etc. Carter recently got a new therapist at school whose name is Stacey, so I programmed her name into his device.

One night during dinner, Jack and Taylor were talking about going for a swim after they finished eating. That's when Carter interjected with, 'Swimming Stacey.' I was pretty sure he meant me but I wanted to make sure he wasn't referring to his therapist - perhaps they'd talked about swimming at school. I asked him, 'Do you mean Stacey at school?' A big grin spread across his face and he pointed directly at me. He laughed and laughed and I couldn't help but laugh, too.

Jack and Taylor play around with calling my husband and I by our first names and it started a while back. But, this was the first opportunity Carter had to try it out and he loved it, giggling away - just like my other two. It was awesome.


Although some days it seems that Carter's language development and competency with his talker is advancing at a painstaking rate, he is definitely progressing - and it's often when I stop to take note of the little things that I recognize this.

Carter has demonstrated that he can show consideration toward others, he can make observations, he can get a reaction, and he can be a big goofball. These are the things that most parents take for granted with their children. 

One of the greatest things I've learned from Carter is not to take anything for granted and to appreciate and be grateful for the little things.

I'm not alone in this feeling. Take a look at some of the milestones my fellow bloggers are celebrating with their kids:


Max Walks Up the Stairs for the First Time

Grace

Go, Dog. Go! A Great Book for Practicing Core Words

When it comes to AAC, core words are where it's at. What do I mean by core words? Here are some examples: want, get, he, she, it, this, that, here, there, thing, people, mine, and me. Up until now you probably haven't given this concept much thought, but core words are words that we use all the time when speaking. Here is a better definition (click on the link for more info):

Core vocabulary is a small set of simple words, in any language, that are used frequently and across contexts (Cross, Baker, Klotz & Badman, 1997).

Ideally, when someone uses an AAC device to speak, their device will have as many core words as possible on the main page so that those words are easily accessible. This will allow them to communicate quickly and efficiently by combining core words into phrases.

If a device user is in the early stages of language development and they are starting to put two or three words together, their core word phrases might include, want eat, need drink or like that (similar to what you would hear from a toddler who is starting to talk). These aren't full sentences but the message that is being communicated is evident.

Carter has been combining two and three words on his talker for some time now. He is starting to add more words to his phrases and he continues to surprise us with the things he comes out with. The other day he was watching The Lion King and I heard him comment, "The weather is stormy." Indeed, there was a storm happening in the movie. Then the scene changed, the sun was rising and Simba (the lion cub) was jumping on his dad (Mufasa) trying to wake him up. Carter didn't miss a beat. He spoke up and said, "Good morning, lion."

I always knew that Carter understood a lot more than he was able to demonstrate. With his talker, he's finally able to start showing us just how much he 'gets'. His utterances are getting longer and more involved. In fact, he is now using location words like on, in, under, up, down, etc.

One of his favourite books is a book by P.D. Eastman. It's called Go, Dog. Go! For Carter any book that has dogs in it is a hit, but this book is doubly awesome because it has dogs and it's full of all kinds of great vocabulary that he can practice on his 'talker' when we read together.

I love the book too. It's funny and creative and it's a great way to introduce and practice several language concepts like colours, location words, and some verbs as well (go, work, play, like).

Jack and Taylor are now at a stage in reading where they are able to read the book with Carter. I love seeing my kids huddled together on the couch sharing books. When it's a book they all enjoy and it helps with Carter's language development, all the better.

 Go, Dog. Go! gets five stars from this family -- a great book for language development and for fun family reading time.