Jman's Words, update #2--"progress"

Last week I blogged some about several obstacles we/Jman has had with using his ProLoQuo2Go and/or the iPod in general. Those obstacles still stand, and I could add one more I think I left out: He likes to "chew" on the iPods (and charging plugs/cords and headphone cords). Spit and electronics just don't mix real well. Here's a tip for anyone out there who has had the unpleasant experience of "wet electronics:" After you dry the outside as well as you can, close the electronic device up in a sealed jar or container of DRY (uncooked) rice. The dry rice absorbs the internal moisture that you couldn't get to with a towel. Unless something has short circuited inside (keep the power off to avoid that!), there's a very good chance your electronic device will survive the wet event just fine. (Yes, we've done this with iPod and cell phones multiple times, thanks to "belows in headwork" from both Sly and Jman!)

Now, on to "progress" updates from Jman with regards to his "words" on the ProLoQuo2Go. Jman still primarily uses the ProLoQuo2Go for "instrumental" or "means-to-an-end" communication, such as making requests ("Let's eat dinners." "Let's go to McDonald's." "I want to use the computer.") The "progress" is that he is both using the iPod/P2G to make more 'verbal' requests such as those, AND he is also making more 'verbal' requests such as those WITHOUT using the iPod/P2G. In other words, he is 'learning' and 'practicing' the language/statements/words on the P2G, and transferring them into his head. He is then better able to access those words/phrases out of his own head even if he doesn't have the P2G available at the time. It IS still very scripted, but at the same time it is reducing a 'frustration' factor from knowing what he wants but not being able to find the words in his head and get them out of his mouth. So, I still consider that progress.

Now, with regards to "experience sharing communication," or communicating with others just for sharing perspectives or letting each other know what the other is thinking (rather than trying to 'get' something from the other, such as food or the computer), Jman has made some noticeable progress as well, although the quantity is much less. In particular, P2G comes pre-programmed with a "feelings" section. Jman can select the "feelings" page, and from there contruct the simple sentence "I feel ______." His most commonly shared feelings have been 'hungry' and 'thirsty.' He will also tell us he feels 'scared' or 'sad.' But his newest shared feeling, and one that has come 100% from his own personal studying of the pre-programmed options on ProLoQuo2Go has been "FRUSTRATED!" Yep, he can now tell us (sometimes) when he feels "FRUSTRATED!" And when he tells us he's frustrated, he clearly IS frustrated. He apparently put together his internal feeling with the symbolstix icon/frustrated face, and learned the word from listening to it repeatedly on the P2G. So, I personally think that's pretty awesome. Not only is he recognizing and naming his own internal state, but he's found a way to share that internal state with us in ways other than just looking and acting frustrated. That means there's some improved levels of self-awareness and intersubjectivity going on up there in that head of his, despite his many obstacles.

Jman has also added other words or phrases to his vocabulary/communication (both spoken and using P2G) as a result of playing around with the P2G on his own. Some we get tired of hearing ("youtube" or "What do you watch on TV?" come to mind!). Some are funny ("home chat" or "community chat" or "school chat"--we wonder who he's doing all this 'chatting' with!). Some are useful or make sense ("check this out"). Some are just plain weird ("Today at school, I . . . " and he of course never finishes the sentence because it has no meaning/context for him--it's just a pre-programmed phrase/sound he can make the P2G say, and I haven't bothered to take it off).

Jman has sometimes used other 'visual' ways of trying to communicate something to us if it's not available in his head or on the P2G. For example, he and I were leaving a store the other day, and he saw a restaurant and decided he wanted to us to go there. He pointed at it, and then spelled out to me: "R-Y-A-N-S" (the name of the restaurant). I told him how to SAY the word, and after a few tries, he could copy "Ryan's" (he clearly has auditory processing issues, because it DOES take him sometimes several tries PLUS watching my mouth for him to really say a word correctly that he has misheard/misprocessed). Later I was able to add an icon to his P2G for Ryan's, which gives him not only the option on the P2G, but more chances at practicing hearing the word pronounced over and over, without me having to pronounce it over and over (and over) myself. It's just terrific to be able to add words of HIS choosing to his P2G, thus giving him the chance for further practice without driving mom completely insane in the process! These are words that he clearly DOES want to communicate with, and this facilitates his own expansion of available verbal language.

Another interesting thing with regards to Jman playing around with the ProLoQuo2Go is that he is also teaching himself some spelling. For example, he will be trying to program in words for himself, using symbols included with the programming or using pictures/images that have been uploaded to the iPod or downloaded from the internet. He'll know what he wants to say, and he'll find the image he wants to use, but then he'll come to me for spelling help when he gets stuck. He is a very visual kind of reader, tending to spell by sight memorization rather than by 'sounding it out.' When he types into the P2G an incorrect spelling, the device doesn't say the correct word. He'll then come to me to have me tell him how to spell it correctly so the device will say the words he means for it to say. I think that's kind of neat. Sometimes he knows that he can't remember how to spell a word in it's entirety, and then he'll come to me sooner. He really seems to have fun playing around with adding and/or rearranging and/or deleting and then replacing words on his P2G, and it does seem to have an impact on his generally bizarre way of learning and processing and using language (both verbally, orally, auditorially, and written, and for both instrumental and experience sharing purposes).

I wish that I could say that I was seeing miraculous improvement in his experience sharing communication as a result of the P2G, but that's something that comes not as a result of having more words available but rather of having more shared experiences together and a better relationship overall. Thus the P2G is NO replacement for RDI/life, but it is a potential enhancement. We have much further to go in that arena, and hope to perhaps find a personal guide for US when we move in the not too distant future.