Here it is! Abbey’s Year video!! I don’t think I got around to doing one last year, but we have several older ones on our YouTube channel. It’s amazing to see how far she has come! She’s happier than ever, communicating more than ever and is really getting the hang of going new places and trying new things!
Celebrate with us as we look back and see how we have helped Abbey learn and grow!
Click here to watch Abbey’s Year 2014!
It’s so important to look back! Sometimes you feel like you’re at a stand still, not making much progress or that it’s just going so slowly. When you look back and see, over time, all the progress there has been, it can give you that motivation again to keep on truckin’! Whether you’ve video taped when they were younger or have old IEP’s to look at or just even old pictures, look back, look at how far you’ve come!! Look at how far we’ve come!!
Click on the video below! And, wait until you see the video on the bottom…a blast from the past!:)
Click on the video below to see Abbey getting ready in the morning, right after we started using a picture schedule for her, before she had a communicating device. It made such a difference with her!
We used to use a visual schedule for mornings and it worked great, first on her Dynavox, then on her iPad with Proloquo2Go. We haven’t had to use it in years, though, because she knows the routine and will even willingly do things out of order.
Some mornings are a bit hard to get her out of bed, she’ll pull the covers up over her head…but not usually for more than a few minutes, then she’s up. Some mornings, she wakes up at 4 or 5, leaving mom wanting to pull the covers up over her head! But, 99% of the time, she’s happy to get ready, knows just what to do (although still requires my help to do some of it) and is happy to go to school! Long gone are the days that I thought we’d never get out the door…and some mornings, we didn’t!
Click below to see US talking about it, ok, well, I’m doing all the talking, but Abbey obviously is agreeing with me!:)
It so exciting when you find something that motivates your kiddos to communicate!! It doesn’t come easy, but I think, gets easier as they start learning and start realizing how it works for them. Some days, she’s a communicating machine and other days, it’s like pulling teeth. It all depends on her mood and what she wants, how motivating it is for her and how motivated she needs to be that day. Some days she needs some prompting and other days, she just goes and goes…those days make me so happy!
So, this was a pretty good day! She was happy and very motivated by candy! This video shows the progression from the beginning, starting with me showing her what to do, to her figuring it out and going with it! Candy is extremely motivating, as you will see! So cute! I used one of the ‘expressions’ on Proloquo2Go for ‘thank you’, so that’s super cute too…
Click the video below to see her treat or treating, in action!
Yesterday turned out to be a fun day, well most of it! We went to a ‘trunk or treat’ event at our local autism center, The Responding to Autism Center. My oldest son with high functioning autism put on ‘his idea’ of a costume and went to help out with one of the games for the kids, but ended up hanging out with his friends, from social skills classes, that showed up, for most of the time….which was really neat to watch. My oldest kiddo, Maggie, almost 18 now also came and helped out with games. I was so impressed with all the teenagers there, how great they were with the kids. I saw lots of kiddos having a great time and a couple struggling…but a nice safe, understanding place to do it in!
So, Abbey participated in a new way this year, which was very exciting! I added a folder to her Proloquo2Go on her iPad with the buttons, ‘trick or treat’ and ‘thank you.’ She caught on VERY quickly, that she received candy when she did this and had a big smile on her face….stay tuned for a blog post about this, WITH a very cute video! And, yes, my Proloquo2Go peeps, I added the ‘thank you’ with expression, so super duper, extra cute!:)
Click below to see my video diary post for today and hear what I have to say about taking opportunities!!
So, yes, Abbey is a bit of a foodie, as you can tell. Ok, so, she really loves food. You can tell by the apps that she chooses to play the most. These apps are fun and they do work on pretend play, creativity and lots more! Wait til you see what she likes to top her donuts with…oh, boy, she’s her father’s child, for sure!:)
Here’s day 5! I’m talking today about what an issue sleep has been with Abbey and what we’ve done to work on it. I’m also talking about that progression that we all have to be patient for, when we find something we just know is going to help our kids, how patience is key!
Click on the video below!
I love how creative the specialist that works with Abbey is. Abbey was having an off day, tired, not motivated, kind of day when she came over yesterday. I pulled out the moon sand like stuff, thinking she needed something sensory to do. So, the specialist, knowing Abbey loves to squish up things made out of moon sand, tried to find a way to work on using her iPad with playing moon sand….and this was the result.:) She’s using the keyboard in Proloquo2Go. I worked on it for a bit after she left, trying to get the most I could out of it!
Click on the video below to see how she did it!
So, have you used the cool new features of Expressions, Sounds and Macros?? If not, you’re totally missing out, so cool!! Here’s how to set them up and how we use them with Abbey! Wait til you hear your kiddo say “please” with expression, talk about tugging at your heart strings!
Click on the video below to see how to use Expressions and Sounds!
Click on the video below to see how to use Macros!
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