Carly Fleischmann has autism and one day started typing to get her thoughts out. Everyone has been amazed at her accomplishments. I find her completely facinating not just because of what she is doing, but because we share the inability to communcate with our son, just like her family did with her for so long.
For more information about Carly check out her web site: http://carlysvoice.com/
Her parents tell of using motivators to increase her typing. Our son Jake just turned 12 and speaks very little. Most of the time he might say one or two words at a time. Most words are because he is wanting something. He will say milk, juice, bath, eat, please, Jeep, bike, etc. Sometimes his request are followed by please. Sometimes we can prompt him to say Please Mommy, or Please Daddy.
He does write and read many words but never consistently. This past weekend, I walked into our bathroom and on his white board was written "cap." I quickly realized that no one else in the family wrote the word. I later found the marker in his room.
This lead me to the idea that I would use Jake's white board much like Carly uses her computer. I would request that Jake write words for the items he asks for each day, such as milk, juice, chips, ice cream, hot dogs, etc. I wrote the words on index cards in simple black and white letters and put them in a ring holder. When Jake wanted juice, I made him write for it. I was amazed the first time he did it.
The second day, he started to be silly like he so often does. He started adding letters into the words and then laughing. Sometimes if he was being really silly, I erased his word and made him do it again. He seemed to be getting the hang of what I was wanting from him but he was also letting me know with laughing and added letters that he was in control of just how much he was going to comply with my requests. Fortunately for me, I was the one holding the juice and ice cream.
The second day, he wanted juice. I said to him "you know what to do." So he walked over to the white board and started to write. Then he saw that the index card was showing the word Elmo. He then picked up the index cards, flipped through them, and found the word juice. He put the index card down beside the white board and wrote juice in clear letters. I was amazed to say the least. That was a moment I wish I had on video.
As you can see, it was a nice start to a new learning style. I'll keep you posted on how we continue.
