How I developed Communication skills in my Son – Advaith

Advaith was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD when he was 2.4 years old. At that stage, he was non-verbal and would communicate by pulling my hand towards his desired objects. He was diagnosed with ASD at NIMHANS and doctors suggested ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis). They explained to me that for maximum benefit, the mother should partake with the therapist in the interventions for the child. We enrolled him for ABA when he was 2.5 years old. His therapist introduced sign language to him. As I was a co-therapist for him, at home also I started practising sign language for communication. After one month of ABA, he started communicating for his needs independently using signs -  music, book, carry…etc. He started vocalising with first sounds while communicating. His therapist then asked me to fade signs and focus on sounds. So, we started to focus on words for communication. This put immense pressure on Advaith and the result was regression of speech and incessant crying during session time.

After 8 months of ABA, Advaith stopped cooperating with his therapist and was continuously crying. Even though they tried different techniques to keep his interest levels up, with reinforcers, it was not helping him. Hence, we discontinued ABA from that centre and I started doing ABA at home with the help of a certified ABA therapist. Advaith was communicating using sign language at home. He was using 12 to 15 signs at that stage.

I was finding it difficult to manage everything alone as I had to do household chores as well as take care of my elder son and this made me realise that I need a support system through my journey. Then I enrolled him into Bubbles Center for Autism.

But when I enrolled him into Bubbles centre for Autism, I realised that no one is able to understand his signs at school. Around that time, I joined a course with KPAMRC (Special Education in Autism). In Bubbles, they follow Structured Teaching Method and PECS for communication. I did my course practical sessions at Bubbles and understood the importance of picture support. Ms. Sarbani Mallick, the founder of Bubbles, emphasised the need to create a stimulating environment for communication. At Bubbles, monthly open houses were conducted for parent-school interaction and Ms. Mallick guided all parents to work on communication skills. (Autism is mainly a communication disorder).

In Bubbles, they introduced PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). Simultaneously, I also introduced PECS at home. I created two picture cards of his favourite food (Kurkure, Cheese balls) and stuck them in front of my kitchen wall. In the beginning I was giving him hand to hand prompt to pick up cards and hand them over to me (or another communication partner). I would hide his favourite food items to use the cards effectively. Within a week, he started using those two cards independently for communicating.

Then I introduced other pictures like Milk, Juice, Music…one by one. When he started communicating with all the pictures from the strip, I fixed them in a big file in different pages. I was using his own pictures for making cards. In the left side of the file, I attached an ‘I want ‘strip. Again, I taught him to pick the picture and use it with ‘I want’ strip. At that time, I was using only ten pictures. After a month, he started communicating using ‘I want’ strip. I am attaching that file here. He was trying to label words while communicating.

Then I introduced a small file with small-sized pictures. In that file, on the left side I attached, ’I 

want’ strip. I arranged Food items, toys, places to go, actions, feelings in different pages. Advaith was using that file for his communication with different people and in different places. With the help of his PECS file he started labelling also. I am attaching that file here.

Then I attended a workshop about ‘Avaz’ in Bubbles with Dr. Preeja Balan. By then, Advaith was able to use iPad for watching his favourite rhymes and for doing activities in Injini, Match it Up and Starfalls. So under Dr. Preeja’s guidance, I tried to start with Avaz Lite, that was a free version for 7 days. I added his PECS pictures for his better understanding, and  was showing him, how to communicate using that. Advaith was very happy to hear real voices on the IPad while using Avaz. The fact that someone was talking for him, served as motivation. After observing his interest, we decided to buy ‘Avaz India’. After buying it, I clicked pictures from his PECS file. I began encouraging Advaith to use Avaz to fulfil his communication needs for requests like Juice, swimming, food, horse riding…. In the beginning, I was always with him to ensure that he uses it properly. In his mind, the communication concept was clear from sign language. So the only challenge was transition from PECS file to iPad. He was getting immediate responses from me when he communicated with Avaz. Also he was trying to label words like juice, upstairs, Kurkure, susu….

At present, he uses Avaz for communicating his food requests (ordering food from restaurants also), actions like swimming, horse riding, skating, scooter ride and cycling, for his favourite rhymes, favourite places to go to, his toys, about himself including phone number. When he experiences a sensory overload, he asks for horse riding or scooter ride. Then I realised that those two activities help him to calm down. He is able to initiate interactions and is more connected with family and friends through Avaz. Advaith was a child with high level of anxiety and Avaz helped him to communicate his difficulties and I am using Avaz for creating visual schedules as well. This helped him to calm down and we were able to find his strengths.

Advaith is excellent in different sports activities like horse riding, swimming, cycling, badminton, basketball and rollerskating. Advaith won two gold medals in the Roller Skating Competitions conducted by Karnataka Disability Department in 2017 and in 2018. Advaith participated in Special Olympics Bharat Karnataka in November 2017 and won the Silver medal.

You can see the video of Advaith using AVAZ  

Advantages of Avaz

1. Everyone can understand what he is communicating. It works across various languages like English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada
2. Communicating with voice, helps to stimulate speech.
3. Anxiety has reduced considerably because he is able to express his feelings.
4. Avaz helps him to communicate with everyone and his inappropriate behaviours reduced a lot.
5. It is very easy to create folders and to put pictures. They have provided symbols for all nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions…We can use our own pictures also according to the kids’ understanding level.
6. Avaz can be used to teach number concepts, typing, adjectives, prepositions and to build comprehension.
7. Avaz can be used for verbal kids to improve their communication skills, to build more comprehension skills and to teach academics.

Regards

Smrithy