I Want Bubbles

Speech Therapy session went well today. There was another woman there to assess Taylor & his Therapist to see if the PECS really are what he needs, and to give us reassurance and a second opinion. It started really well, we went in and Taylor sat down at the table and said "OK, let's go, scrisps please" she gave him some pictures of crisps, raisins, chocolate buttons and rainbow drops. He immediately picked up the picture of the crisps, gave it to her and said "thank you" before she could give him the crisps. The other woman sat there smiling and watching how Taylor was reacting to each time he exchanged the picture for what he wanted (mostly crisps)

About a quarter of the way through the session she stopped his Therapist and asked if she could try with him. I said it was OK and to give it a try. Taylor took very well to a new person exchanging things with him. She took out a picture and a bottle of bubble liquid. His face lit up like a Christmas tree as he loves bubbles. He said "bubbles" and she pointed to the picture on the table. He picked the picture up and gave it to her saying "bubbles now" she pushed a lever and bubbles floated around the room. Taylor popped the majority of them giggling and smiling. He gave her the picture again and said the same thing. She repeated this with him 3 times then picked the picture up and said "i want bubbles" then gave it to Taylor. He listened to her but didn't respond, he just sat there quietly and then after a few minutes picked his picture up and gave it to her saying "i bubbles" she once again pulled the lever and bubbles floated around the room once more with him frantically running around popping them all. After 3 more tries he finally gave her the picture and said "i waaa bubbles" he didn't quite get the full word 'want' out, he just made the sound of the first 2 letters but it was great as he knew what she expected of him to be able to get his bubbles. 3 more tries and we finally got "i want bubbles" he asked for his milk after that and sat quietly staring at the picture for a few moments then looked her straight in the eye and said "i want bubbles please" without her asking him to say please then he said "thank you very much" and we left it at that.

Up until today i was really against the PECS system the way his Therapist was doing it as she just wanted him to give her the picture in exchange for what was on it, she made no attempts at getting him speak whist doing it. After seeing what the other woman did with him i am strongly for it now, as long as that's the way they're going to stick to. He is fairly good with stringing sentences together himself and asking for what he wants but i think the PECS used in that way will definitely benefit his speech and sentence building a lot and also help him understand the way to ask for things so that we and others can fully understand him. I am confident that it won't take too long for him to get past the aid of PECS so that he will be able to verbally ask for what he wants without the pictures. He is a very fast learner providing it is of interest to him. Once he realises that he can do it with and later on without the aid of the pictures and get what it is he wants, he will become a natural.