Aspies For Freedom

Is this a short term or long term thing?
Are they trying to keep all of the children using the same kind of approach?

At my sons school in the past all of the children had to learn makaton even though some were verbal, because it helped the non-verbal, and let them communicate with the others.

At my son's school the teachers often use makaton, but it isnt insisted the kids do. Having said that, Alex has just picked it up anyway and knows quite a lot of signs.

I was really lucky with my child's first teacher, because she recognised that Alex really REALLY wanted to use words to communicate with, he never took to PECS etc, and while visual aids help him a little, actually the written word is far more effective. So, while the other kids have their timetables in pictures, Al has his written down in words.

I suppose you could approach the situation to discuss/ suggest alternatives as a concerned parent rather than complaining.

Well it's long term in that they want something in place for if there's no aide in the future.

She's the only autistic in the class.

I've been doing that for a three weeks. I only complain here to let off steam. My frustration was that I was being misunderstood. The visuals were getting in our way of communicating. How ironic is that?

So last night my daughter and I sat down and talked about what would help her to feel more in control of her day. We made up a schedule on Excel and I brought it in to school. It looks like everyone is willing to use it, so I guess I just needed a visual aid to get my point across :wink:

I forgot to ask... what is a makaton?

MA=Margaret
KA=Kathy
TON=Tony

are the three inventors of this sign-and-speech-and-picture language.

It is mainly used in Britain but I'm sure many deaf and intellectually disabled students and autistic students use it in many other countries.

We use Makaton in Australia.

Its simpler than ASL - american sign language, plus you are supposed to say the word with the sign, not instead of, so that non-verbal children can associate.
It was useful for me and my son when he was non/semi-verbal.

mine does too.  pictures confuse him especially when it is a sequence of things to do.

actually my son only really started speaking fluently until after he could type it out.  I don(t know why that is but...

Writing or typing thoughts out makes it easier to organize them and express them.  I prefer to write about something or make a flow chart with words and symbols to express my thinking about something or a process.

Young children are often encouraged to express their emotions through artwork or dance etc or play/pretend.  So maybe I was not really good at emotions in kindergarten.  I was more interested in learning to read rather than playing "Simon Says".

I have Boardmaker 5.0 and the addendum picture libraries up to 2004 for it and paid $625 CAN. We used it for a while and still use it for social stories and visual schedule but Boardmaker is the most common and seems 'universal' so to speak program used with PECS. Visual aides even though a child may not be dependant on them to function daily can be a great tool for when the child is upset or stressed and has a hard time communicating verbally what they want and I think that is part of the large emphasis in its use as well as re-routing a child back to the task at hand. Heck at home sometimes I even use the visual schedule we made with Boardmaker for my son to remind myself of things I need to do.

Mish that sounds great, but it looks like the school seems to feel now that they've found an acceptable shortcut to actually taking care of SPED student's personal needs. I mean, it's not like they'd actually go the extra mile for a student, they usually just want to get it done and over it so they can sit back and collect their paycheck.

Boardmaker also offers multi-functionality in ability to integrate pictures from digital cameras into it and it can be used to make worksheets and a lot of other things.