Communication and the iPad

The holidays have come and gone and it was the first day back to school for my children. Boy, was I relieved!!! I hate to say that, but really I had had my fill. The last three days there was nothing but screaming. Does this screaming drive anybody else insane? I am not sure if it was an aftermath of over stimulation or just rough days but I do know that although my sister dyed my hair on New Years eve I think I have already acquired gray hair. I know for a fact there was at least one gray.


I decided I needed to get a program on Charlie's I Pad so he could communicate better. That was not an easy job. To start I had many plans for my day today. I wanted to thoroughly mop the kitchen floor, scrub the bathroom down, because I have boys and they are disgusting, and laundry. Of these things I only swept the kitchen and living room and did laundry. The rest of my day was spent on the phone with doctors about Jacob, who by the way, came back with a normal EEG. I am not sure I understand how but I am waiting to hear from the doctor to find out where we go with this now.


Then I did the unspeakable, I sat in front of my computer to find that program I was talking about. I heard that the Grace program was great and decided to give it a try but it just isn't what he needs. Unfortunately, that was a forty dollar program that he won't use. I am not putting down the app in any way. I feel that it would have been a wonderful application for my son about a year ago when he was almost nonverbal. Now, my son speaks so I wanted a program that would speak as he touched the picture, thus giving him the visual and auditory process. I tried Tap to Talk which presents itself as a free app. This program, when I reviewed it on itunes, said it was fully customizable if you went to their site. What they didn't mention was the $99.00 cost to do this. I know I cant expect much for a free app but, I really stretched my pocket buying the ipad and I can't afford to drop a ton of money into apps.


I feel I need to address the Grace App for iPhone, iTouch and iPad- Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal People. It is as it says for non-verbal people. It is a wonderful app. I would recommend it for any parent of a non-verbal child. A couple years ago, it would have worked wonderfully for me. I imagine it would have been better when I was carrying around a bulky folder with pec cards. I know many parents can agree..that was a pain in the ass. My son now however seemed to look at the program and assume that he could just point and get what he wanted without words. I tried redirecting him but it didn't work. He just got angry. It threw him into a melt.


Chucky Cheese seems to parrot a lot. He has the language but he can't seem to put his thoughts into words when he needs something or is injured. I felt a program that verbally said what he wanted might be better. I tried MyTalkMobile and found it to be successful for us. I think each family has to find what works for them.


This program works for me and it was a free app. This app does also have a subscription price but it allows you to customize for free for 30 days. This allows you ample time to see if it is something you would consider investing in. Another positive is that anything you customize before your trial ends stays with you so, even if you cannot subscribe you remain with a functional communication device. Te subscription is to have access to the workspace so you can farther customize your app. However you can customize some of it in the app itself. I am hoping I can figure out a way to afford the subscription to this program. Charlie is constantly telling me, "You know" or "Me show" so this allows that and he does, as I projected, repeat what he wants after he hears it.


It took a little while to prepare the app on his iPad but once I understood how, it was easy peasy. I plan on having him record himself saying his name, address, phone number, age, and birthday. I think he will think that is awesome. Oh, awesome is his new word. Trust me, it is better than his last new word. I do have to warn you about how damn annoying it can be when they decide to constantly tap the same button continuously even after you told them they cannot have what they wanted. For instance my son, after cooking dinner, was insistent that he wanted a hamburger with a smoothie. Hmmm.... I didn't have that and that was using tap to talk and it was not customizable. This was one of the reasons I was so diligent on finding an app that would work for him.


I am hoping that this will help my days be a little quieter although not much, but it is the small things that count the most. At least that is how I see it, that one hot cup of coffee you get once a month, if that, or the smile as they ask for a hug. Another moment I must add is the fact that my son was sleigh riding with his sister today and amazingly it was uneventful. The other day it ended in a 20 min meltdown. Thank god for the small things cause they keep me going!!