Communication Book

Grayson's school has started to make up a Communication Book for him to use as the starting point to him being able to communicate in ways other than verbally (since he is non-verbal). Once he is older and shows he understand the Communication Book very well, he will move on to Communication Devices like typing and Communication Boards. We have the AutisMate app (see blog from earlier) which he is getting the hang out and is very much like his Communication Book, but the goal in his future is to get him to use a Communication Device like AutisMate and others that he builds full sentences and is able to ask and answer questions with it.

Anyway, here is a glimpse at his communication book:

Can I just tell you, how EXCITING it is to see him use this thing. Something so simple but brings enormous amounts of joy as it is a window into what he is thinking and being able to communicate with him!

So for those that do not know much about the Communication Books (and I am not expert myself) here is what we have learned from his teachers and from watching Grayson in action:

The book his teachers made is a small hard binder and inside it has several pages basically made up of the thin plastic dividers. On each of those pages are strips of velcro with small photos (like shown above) of either toys, actions or emotions. You can either place things on the front to give him options to choose from (like a choice of 3 toys or actions) and he is to pick one off and hand it to you.. Or .. He can choose different photos from the book on his own and place them on the cover (shown here) which is to try to tell us what he would like to do.

He still has a ways to go and sometimes he just places things in weird orders (but you still get the clear understanding on what he is trying to communicate) and occasionally he will just go on a free for all and just place as many photos as he can on the cover but then after a few moments he takes them all off and then only places the ones he actually wants to communicate on the cover.

This is SO exciting because there are the first steps to him being able to really communicate directly with us! I almost cry each and every time he is clear with the book.

I could not be more thankful for his current team of teachers and therapists and all of his former teachers, therapists and coordinators from before we moved. We would not be making the leaps and bounds that we are making if it weren't for the entire support team we have always had!