Voice

Every parent loves to hear the sound of their child's voice. Their first words, their giggles, their attempts to sing, and the list goes on. For some families though they never get to hear this. They wish and pray and hope that one day their child will say their first word but yet that day never comes. It is heartbreaking and no one can truly understand how these parents feel unless they too have experienced this emotional roller coaster.

I am blessed in that I have heard your voice. I have heard the sweet "no's," your attempts at talking and at times of your choosing a variety of other words to express your needs and wants. With this though, your voice has a lot of limitations that keep you from being able to communicate with the world around you which leads to a multitude of other deficits. Sometimes I feel that these limitations are due to your severe speech and language delays and other times I feel that it is due to your emotions. That a wall is built around you and you will not allow others to hear your voice unless you fully trust them.

So, for us, we have adopted another "voice" in our home by the name of "Kenny." Kenny is a computer generated child's voice on your communication device. I know I have spoken about your device before but I am not sure I have ever really explained to you the importance of it or how it really is, in a sense, a member of our family. Kenny is your "voice," your means of communication, in a way, your best friend, and most importantly a way for your to interact with the world around you. School calls the device your "talker," I often just refer to it as your "device," but it is so much more. As much as I love hearing your sweet voice I have also grown to love to hear "Kenny" and know that it is laying groundwork for more doors to open to your future.

Again and again I have said that we moved to Ohio for you to learn to use the device more functionally. To have you in an environment where everyone was trained in the usage of the device, where you would see other children using one, and where you would be accepted for using your "voice." You demonstrated to me this weekend that all of these pieces are coming together and the progress we have seen since January is amazing. You have finally discovered how powerful the "voice of Kenny" is and how much of an amazing tool it can be. You expanded your usage from making simple requests for your needs and wants to labeling pictures, commenting, and beginning literacy skills this weekend. I am in complete awe and amazement and so proud of all you are doing.

I know there is still an emotional piece connected to using your "voice." It doesn't matter if it is through Kenny or through your own words, you are hesitant to use either around new people or in new environments. I know this will decrease as your confidence grows and you build trust in more people that are around us but for now, at home where you feel the most safe and secure, you are showing me that you are taking in so much more of what is going on around you then we ever thought.

Here are a few videos of us working hard on teaching you a variety of different skills to use with your voice. How to protest, request, comment, read, gain my attention, etc. If you have come this far in a month I cannot wait to hear all you have to say in the near future.


(filling in words from a classic book)


(learning to make simple requests)


(early academic skills)


(learning that you can say no - you even threw in a please :)

Keep on Truckin Baby
Love
Mom