I attended a conference for an AAC program called LAMP last month. Www.aacandautism.com I was super excited from the moment I heard about it. It uses a pumped up version of the basic aac programs. An AAC is an augmentative alternative communication program. Usually a device is in place with a program preloaded, but now with Ipads its nothing less than awesomeness! ! Jojo has been really good at maneuvering through the ipad so when I found out we could use his as an AAC with the lamp program I was ready to do whatever it took. Shortly after getting all the info and talking with our speech pathologist, we decided to make this our summer project. The first thing we had to do was totally stop ipad use because with the aac in place the ipad becomes a communication device and not a playtime activity. I thought that would be hard but he gave it up no problem at all! During the next 2 weeks my hubby and I read and watched videos all about the LAMP approach. It was a crazy hard time because I was so scared to do it because of the thought that it might stop him from trying to talk on his own. (This probably is what most parents worry about) but our speech team was really great and kept reassuring me that jojo had the signs or readiness. His receptive language is up to par and he was pulling us around the house to ask for stuff by whining. He has also started babbling similar to a 1 yr old. So we finally had everything in place and ready to go on June 7th.
Jojo sat at his little blue table with his shiny blue ipad with myself, daddy (video recording) and our wonderful hab/aba aide Jade. We turned it on and started with two words "eat" and "go". He picked it up so fast. He hit eat and he got to eat an m&m. He hit go and the train went go go go. A ten minute session later and I could tell he was going to get it.
The afternoon session went even better. He soon got too impatient to press buttons so he blurted out "Gooo" to make the train go! We also heard "mamama"and another" go". I was so happy. We all just smiled and got teary eyed. Jojo was pleased with himself.
The whole family is doing parts of the therapy. Jojo is so blessed to have loving siblings that want to help teach him.
Its now been one week and jojo has amazed me. We added new words throughout the week and he has been verbalizing most words and I am beyond ecstatic for this sweet voice to keep talking. I cant even begin to explain the feeling of joy I get when he makes a connection to a word. I see the sparkle in his big brown eyes and his smile just melts me when he says a word and looks at us to make sure we heard it! So far heres a list of the words he has used:
Go
Stop
Mama
Eat
Apple
Milk (mill)
Play
I go
No
Jojo
Read (reeeeee)
Hi
Bye
I know this is the beginning of a wonderful time for jojo. The world is going to make a little more sense to him. Its been a rough year but together we are doing it! !
I am so proud of you Jojo!
