What if he makes a verbal request?
- After the home visit I spoke with Monica regarding Nicholas making verbal requests. I by no means told Mom not to acknowledge his verbal speech. But I did encourage her to use board. If he verbally requests and the board is near by and he is of good temperament, I told her she should use it, meaning both (reinforce verbal request with sentence strip). It seems she misunderstood and thought only. I will clear that up. Here is my rational.....
1) When I began, he was not using the PECS book frequently and the family reported he could and did make request verbally. This strategy is meant to encourage an increased use of the PECS.
A common default that parents fall into at home is to accept verbal requests and believe that it is enough and best for a child's communication.
PECS can give him so much more opportunity for learning than to just meet his communication needs
- practice and reinforce concepts of sequencing
- expand sentences thru visual aide
- expand interactions
2) Families often need structure, routine, and organization at home. I’m hoping that having them frequently use the PECS in combination with speech would put the family in a better "teaching" frame of mind for Nicholas.
3) He was verbally asking for things he couldn't have. Such as the candy at bedtime meltdown. I want to reduce the "no"s and didn't want him to develop the impression that he got a lot of "no"s when he made verbal requests.
2) Because of his previous training (i.e. have what he wants withheld, make him speak without providing any context, and then give him what he wants) he has associated verbal imitation and speech production as a task he needs to perform in order to get what he wants. This is a contributor to his confusion and frustration. Likewise, I have noticed his verbalizations and the joint attention are very brief as if he wants to “get it over with” as quickly as possible so he can get what he wants.
1) When I began, he was not using the PECS book frequently and the family reported he could and did make request verbally. This strategy is meant to encourage an increased use of the PECS.
A common default that parents fall into at home is to accept verbal requests and believe that it is enough and best for a child's communication.
PECS can give him so much more opportunity for learning than to just meet his communication needs
- practice and reinforce concepts of sequencing
- expand sentences thru visual aide
- expand interactions
2) Families often need structure, routine, and organization at home. I’m hoping that having them frequently use the PECS in combination with speech would put the family in a better "teaching" frame of mind for Nicholas.
3) He was verbally asking for things he couldn't have. Such as the candy at bedtime meltdown. I want to reduce the "no"s and didn't want him to develop the impression that he got a lot of "no"s when he made verbal requests.
2) Because of his previous training (i.e. have what he wants withheld, make him speak without providing any context, and then give him what he wants) he has associated verbal imitation and speech production as a task he needs to perform in order to get what he wants. This is a contributor to his confusion and frustration. Likewise, I have noticed his verbalizations and the joint attention are very brief as if he wants to “get it over with” as quickly as possible so he can get what he wants.
