Here's my quandary: The Speech Therapist wants us to put together a notebook for Bob. This notebook would contain pictures (mostly clip art) of everyday objects or people and also words like "yes" and "no". The idea here is that Bob could point to a picture of what he wanted, for example, if he wanted a tissue, he could point to a picture of a box of tissues. Or if you asked him a question, instead of saying "yes" or "no," he could point to the word. This is supposed to make life easier for him and she has made these personalized notebooks for a number of her patients and thinks it's a great idea and it will help him communicate better.
All right.
I am not so sure about this. My concern is that if he has such a notebook, he may not try to speak the words because it's easier to point at a picture. I am worried this would be more of a hindrance to his recovery than a help. Am I wrong? Am I just being stubborn? Am I in denial?
I know there are a lot of wise women (and men) out there reading this blog and I would like some advice on this dilemma. I need to hear some other opinions. What do you think?? Would this be a help or a hinderance? What would you do? Let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks.
5 comments:
It almost sounds like a system that might be used for nonverbal kids with autism. We have this system called PECS- Picture Exchange Communication System- where the kids remove a picture from a velcro book and hand it to the person they want to communicate with to tell what they want. I think it could be helpful.
Thanks, Nikki, for your comment. I can see where it would be helpful for nonverbal people. But that's just it. Bob's not "nonverbal"--at least, I don't consider him to be, his speaking is progressing albeit slowly. Right now, he tries to communicate verbally and my worry is that with a bunch of pictures to point at, he'll stop trying.
Anyone else?
It reminds me of learning a foreign language. Pictures on the front, the actual words on the back (of the card). Definitely put words on opposite side of picture. Go for it! I think it's another good method to try. You can always stop using it, right?
Diane, this is where your medical staff should be explaining compensation vs, recovery. I wrote a blog on that:
http://oc1dean.blogspot.com/2010/10/compensation-vs-recovery.html
Dean
I agree with what Jenn said and to add to that,why not try to then have him try to say the word as he hands the card to you... even if he can't say the actual word, it will be his version of the word and hopefully he will be able (with postive correction)to re-learn the word correctly...?
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