Catch a Glimpse of Brycen Communicating!

I am so excited to share with all of you how much Brycen likes his trial device! He uses it many times each day, whether it is to ask for a certain snack or to communicate what activity he wants to do. We have programmed some routines in there, and despite the fact he knows all the steps to his routines like getting ready for bed and leaving for school, the SLP said it is good to still have those things to use because it is a step towards functional communication. During his speech therapy this week, she explained to me that what we have programmed right now is a great first step (mostly choices he can make, basic commands, and routines), but that eventually we want to be programming things like "Good job" and "What should we do?" so that as we are saying these things to him, we are also pushing the button. It's very similar to sign language for those who have worked with this.

Anyway, Brycen has initiated using the device many times over the last week. He knows how to turn it on, how to clear the words, how to return to the home page, and of course how to access the pages for snacks/drinks/toys. He has used it at home, during therapy, while at the library with my parents, and today he used it at school. The requirements of the trial period is that he needs to use it in at least 3 different settings and we need to document a journal about how he is using it, any prompts he needs, progress made, etc. I believe this journal will then accompany the doctor and SLP's medical orders for the device to the insurance company. We need to obviously show them that this device is a need for him and that it will benefit him in many ways.

I have posted some pictures below of Brycen using the device tonight. I tried to capture as much as I could with still photos, but eventually I will attempt a short video so everyone can see it in "action."

The photo above is of Brycen pushing on the "drinks" button. He had started yelling and pointing to the kitchen, so I asked him to get his machine and "tell" me what he wants.

After the "drinks" page opened, he then pushed the button for "juice" and then proceeded to go into the "snacks" page to tell me he wanted "popcorn." If you look very close at the top of the device on the "drinks" page, you will see where it has written out "I want some juice." These are the words that the device is programmed to say outloud when he pushes the drink button. I choose and program each picture from the Boardmaker library that is loaded on the device, as well as I program the message it says also. There is also an option to load our own pictures onto the device through our computer which I'm sure we will take advantage of when we get his permanent device.

On the picture above here, I asked him to show me the "toys" and he had cleared the snack page and went to this page which has pictures of various toys we play with at home, as well as the red boxes on the right of the page are basic commands like "help", "more", "all done", and "please."

So, there it is! You now have a glimpse into this wonderful handheld machine that has captivated us and will be giving Brycen such an advantage in his communication. We only have the machine until the 21st and then it will be sent back to the consultant in Wisconsin and passed onto another family that is needing a trial. At that time, TalkToMe Technologies out of Cedar Falls will be gathering all of the necessary documents and sending them into insurance. Then we just wait to find out if they agree that this is the right device for Brycen. It could take months as it will first be ran through our private insurance, and then through Medicaid. But we are so willing to wait! If we have seen this much from Brycen in just a week, I can't even begin to imagine what we will see in the months after receiving his own device!