TapToTalk's ATIA 2013 Session

Lenny Greenberg, CTO of Assistyx, makers of TapToTalk, gave a great presentation at the 2013 ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) conference in Orlando.  Here is a summary of Lenny's key points:

• Our update to the 1992 Communication Bill of Rights: Every child who needs AAC has the right to have AAC that is affordable, portable, socially acceptable and customizable.
• AAC apps are not Swiss army knives, they are not all-in-one solutions. They are simple and specialized, and you need to select the right app for each person.
• The "new" AAC devices are affordable devices many families already own. They are internet ready, socially acceptable, and kids know how to use them and want to use them.
• TapToTalk's collaborative, cloud-based model for AAC development lets anyone design AAC albums anytime, anywhere, and then deliver them online to a host of devices (or only one) that may be located anywhere.
• Other advantages: all content is secure and backed up automatically; forgotten, lost or broken devices are quickly replaced and content instantly restored; and vendor support can be provided remotely.
• You customize your AAC albums with TapToTalk Designer.
• You play your customized albums use free apps on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android devices, Kindle Fire, Nook Color and HD, Microsoft Surface and other Windows 8/RT devices, Nabi Tablet, Nintendos, Smartboards, PCs, Macs and more.

For a copy of the entire presentation, please use this link. 

Non-Verbal Autism Services--What Happens When You Turn 21?

This is the fourth in a series of posts about non-verbal autism, in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

If you are someone with non-verbal autism, your speech therapy needs do not magically disappear when you turn 21. But who provides services when you "age-out" of school? How are they paid for?

"National, state and local policy makers have been working hard to meet the needs of the growing numbers of young children identified as having an ASD," says Paul Shattuck, assistant professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, in an article in the April ASHA Leader. "However, there has been no effort of a corresponding magnitude to plan for ensuring continuity of supports and services as these children age into adulthood."

Shattuck found that "speech-language treatment in high school was provided at the highest rate of all reported services, but fell to the lowest rate of all services after leaving high school. Medical, mental health and case management services fluctuated as well, but not nearly as widely as speech-language treatment."

It turns out that there there is no consistency among the states for services for autistic adults. The article discusses the programs available in some states. Parents, caregivers and clinicians may need to check Medicaid, private insurance carriers, and/or state health and rehabilitation departments to determine how to get and pay for these vital services.

Here is the full ASHA Leader article.

Speech vs. Communication

This is the third in a series of posts about non-verbal autism, in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

"I want to help my child communicate."

"I want to help my child speak (or speak more fluently)."

That's what we often hear from parents of non-verbal children.

These two goals are certainly related, but they are not the same.

In our last post, we happily reported on a study that concluded that most non-verbal autistic children ultimately become verbal. That's great news. But it also concluded that over half did not become fluent, and about a third never became verbal.

We believe that the primary goal for a non-verbal child should be communication, verbal or otherwise. This may be using a communication  (AAC) app like TapToTalk, a system like PECS, sign language, or a combination of methods. Unlock the mind of your child with the ability to communicate. That's a life-long gift. If speech follows, great. But it may not.

Many of these kids need to have what TapToTalk Mom Fay Bareham calls a "Helen Keller moment," when they realize they can get their needs met by communicating better:

"My son is 11 years old. He has had various speech devices over the years but they have been bulky and hard to carry so it was not something he was interested in. His iPod looks just like his dad's phone. He can clip it on his belt just like Dad. It's cool to him. One day he had what my friend called a 'Helen Keller moment' where he suddenly realized that he was 'talking' due to TapToTalk and the iPod. For the first time he feels as if he has a voice of his own. Now he won't let it out of his sight. TapToTalk has made for several moments of HAPPY tears for us."

There is a myth that using a communication aid discourages oral speech. That has been disproved again and again. The opposite is true. Communicating in any fashion encourages speech development.

Jack Kieffer discovered this rather dramatically with his friend Kevin:

"Kevin is not very verbal, and it's extremely rare to hear him say an entire sentence. When he opened TapToTalk, he first tapped the Toilet icon, which says, 'I have to go to the bathroom' out loud. After the application said this phrase, Kevin repeated it. We all looked at him in excited disbelief--he's not one of the kids who frequently repeats instructions from people or conversations that he overhears, he sticks to basic words and strings a couple of them together. Of course, Kevin went back and journeyed into the 'food' section and proceeded to make the application say, 'I want to eat a (insert food here)' and repeated the phrase."

And age is not an issue. SLP Barbara Hallahan told us this:

"I have a success story with an adult who had never spoken before February of this year. She is now speaking and using TapToTalk on a smart phone. She is even learning to read and write. Key Point: The investment in TapToTalk does not shut the door on total communication. It opens it."

Perhaps this is a conversation to have with your child's speech therapist. What are the goals for the therapy? More specifically, what are the communication goals? What are the spoken language goals?

One way or another, let's give those kids a voice!