Christmas miracle

Hi, I'm new with all this, I just got the app proloquo2go just a handful of months ago for myself. I have never really had a communication app before. After lots of help from a friend who is very familiar with the app I finally had to attempt to set up a page for the very first time with very little guidance. I did it!!! Well I did 90% of it myself! After I had added what I thought I showed my friend who suggested a couple more things making my Christmas page perfect.

With my app as I'm not used to using it and I have severe anxiety it has meant I have hardly used the app even with just family however Christmas Day I used it lots (shown below)! It meant less frustration for me and the whole family! I am so glad I got the app!

That's all from me for now! Hope you had a lovely Christmas and happy new year!

Let's talk about my Christmas presents.....

Something most take for granted..... Being able to talk about what you had nice for Christmas. This seemed like something I would never be able to do but I managed to do it for the first time today!!! I met up with some new friends and was really excited to show them what I had got for Christmas and introducing them to my sister too and I thought what better way than to show them photos!!  But having just a photo wouldn't work for me as I had no way then of explaining what was inside the photo when in my head I have so much to say! So I made an album for them and away I went!

I've made a few folders each with things inside I want to show people it always is easier to talk to people when I am motivated and excited!! 

What better way to start a conversation than showing someone my paw patrol collection!

As you can see I kept it short and simple and showed my favorite things which kept me interested and it really helped to break the ice as you would say to help me start to talk to my new friends it was a 100% success!! 

Learning to expand sentences using adapted home made book

Blueberry had a slt session this week. We discussed the words that she is missing out and how to help her expand her sentences. Me, being me, thought I'd set up this activity. Blueberry did find it hard to stay on task and remember what the question was, so lots of prompts were needed. We will persevere and keep trying though.

I made a Christmas book template.

Then to use the connective and describing words I made a 'little words' pop up. This kept it simple for Blueberry.

Happy Christmas 🎄🎄

Christmas party...... Meltdown avoided!

At my day service today it was our Christmas party which is a high trigger environment for me so my carer put things into place to make it easier for me. Such as having a choice board set up ready for me to choose activities when I was there which really helped me to be able to choose things stress free.

Here is an example of my choice board as you can see there was very few choices there so as not to overload me. 

I made a guess who game page and played with my carer and friend which worked really well for me and my friend we was able to interact and knew what to say to each other it really was lots of fun for us both my carer thought it was a great page!! 

It was a success and when I started to get stressed it was caught fast and my carer acted fast so as to calm things down before they exploded........

I was able to tell my carer I didn't like the waiting for Santa I wanted him now it may have just been a few words but they made a major difference to being calm or being stressed because I was able to be listened to which I really liked here is what I was able to say........

As you can see afterwards I was very happy to talk to Santa and calm was restored......

And all was good again in bouncy pony land!! 

The first time blueberry has communicated with Santa ever!!!!!!

My daughter asked to see Santa this year, which she has been too anxious to do for a few years now. So, being brave I made a very simple Christmas list page. I didn't include any words like 'I want', or 'please' and 'thank you' because she finds those words highly anxiety provoking in situations she's not used to. She did amazingly well, and happily, yes happily, (whoop whoop)  pressed all the buttons to tell Santa what she wanted.

Shared reading by navigating folders

My daughter doesn't really show any interest in books, but I keep trying! 

Today I shared this book whilst incorporating her communication app too. Using the 7X11 intermediate core she used 3 buttons on the home page,  then used the 'places' folder, to find the  'home places' folder and found the button for toilet. Yes, she did need a bit of verbal prompting, but this definitely increased her ability to cope with a bit of shared reading, and gave us both practice navigating through the folders. I shall definitely be using this again.

One happy, and proud, mummy.

Let's write Christmas cards

Blueberry wanted to write her Christmas cards tonight. She chose her friends using the photos on her iPad, then she also copied their names from the iPad to her cards.

We're off to a Christmas fayre!

Today mom said we was going to a Christmas fayre so I made myself a page so that I would be able to talk there and not rely on mom translating my sounds. Here is what I created!

I was really nervous at first and other things was distracting me in the room like the noises and the people so I was silent for the first bit but then Santa caught my attention! So mom said "Do you want to see Santa?" To which I couldn't help but say yes! So off we went! 

This is the conversation I had with Santa. As you can see it was really good for me I was more confident than my last Santa visit so that was good I had my photo took as well I enjoyed that and he was really nice to me and I got a present! 

I was very excited afterwards and it seemed to help me start talking to people on the stalls. I even spoke to moms friend telling her "I saw Santa" when she asked me if I was excited for Christmas. Engaging with someone new is a big thing for me so I'm really proud! Overall a great big success I got what I wanted no meltdowns and a lot of communication in a trigger environment this is why it's great having my device with me wherever I go so that I have access to talk all the time. 

Bye for now 

Bouncy Pony! 

Visiting Santa!

Yesterday I went to the safari park and seen Santa.  I planned for it by making a Christmas folder before I went which really helped me to be able to interact with the elves and also Santa himself.  I find Santa a hard one I really want to do it but I find direct contact super hard to deal with cause I hate that he is expecting me to talk and talks directly to me!  I'm lucky that My carer gets me and she will answer for me when Santa says things I have not planned for cause I won't answer I just like to tell him my list and say Merry Christmas and smile.

This is what I said to Santa .... most the time when I talk I talk to carers and others hear, to have people waiting on me is so hard!  So this is a HUGE achievement for me I am very proud of myself!

And this is the man himself!