HOW ABOUT LISTENING TO ME?

or

NO ONE CAN WORK WITHOUT TOOLS

One of my most memorable experiences (or do I say this with each story?) was at a high school in Maple Ridge, BC.  I was lucky enough to be assigned to Matt, a grade eight boy who had limited muscle control and was not able to speak.  The staff at his elementary school and his parents had sent all his communication materials and equipment that Matt had used.  There were PCS, switches and recording devices.  Matt used a PCS symbol schedule previously so we decided to continue.

When Matt came in to the classroom in the morning, he and I would look at the activity symbols one at a time and then I would put it on the chart.  The first time we did it he focused on the symbols and smiled.  The next day when I wheeled him to the chart, he was actually shaking with excitement. When I saw his beaming face and his excitement I knew I was right where I needed to be. 

Being able to open the world of communication to Matt meant almost as much to me as it did to him.  It made so much sense and I was enthused to do even more.  Sometimes the ideas flowed so quickly that I had to remind myself to take it step by step.  The logical next step was to use his Big Mack to give Matt the ability to tell his parents what he did during the day. ^{1 footnote}

I felt as though I was the student and Matt was the teacher.  His enthusiasm to communicate and connect with others energized me.  I learned so much about the value and need to be able to communicate.  But even more important was seeing how powerful Matt felt when he could relate and connect with people.  This is one of many lessons that taught me about the power of communication.

When you give a child the tools to express himself you may be surprised how far he can go and how much he can share.

1.  For more ideas on using voice output equipment read the next blog.