"Play to Talk"

We started on September 2011 a new path with Tommy by dealing with his diagnosis of sensory processing disorder, and then, Autism, which isolated him from the world. Today, Tommy's isolation and withdraw seems just a bad dream thanks to the work of two dedicated child Psychiatrists, as well as, the guidance of expert moms on Down syndrome as well as expert moms on Autism, who I have personally never met; and recently, the implementation of an individualized neuro-developmental program, which evaluation was done online. Technology has open a door to get in a world of possibilities for my son's recovery. Neither his pediatrician, Neurologist nor conventional medicine has been involved in getting Tommy out his isolation. Why? When I turned to them looking for help, I didn't have answers for my questions or the guidance I needed to help my son. Here is when I discovered that the science field is divided, but the information is out there for the benefit of our kids, even when not all doctors are updated about it.

We have strongly been focused the whole summer on decreasing steaming behaviors and increasing interaction with the help of the book "Play to Talk." This is a great book written by Dr. James D. MacDonald, which provide strategies for in-home therapy by caregivers. The strategies are based on interaction because the most the child interacts, the closer the late talker child is to communicate, and then, to talk. This book gives ideas of simple forms of play to develop a play plan that can be done at home with your child during the family busy routine. This book has an assessment for your child, as well as an assessment for you because communication happens in two ways, so it is important caregivers and parents analyze how they interact with the late talking child for the child willing to communicate with them as communication partners. It also makes emphasis about how the environment influence in the child's withdraw, so you can understand why your child behaves different or withdraw in different environments, which helps to facilitate interaction in unfamiliar places. It also has recommendations to develop properly interaction with toys, which is crucial to get a child out of isolation. The books is written in a simple and practical manner for parents / caregivers to understand and follow through. I highly recommend this book!

Before reading Play to Talk, I realized Tommy is able to say many words and phrases, but not able to communicate, which is very typical for kids with Autism. I follow the work of Dr. Stanley Greenspan (rest in piece), who wrote the book The Child with Special Needs —a book I have mentioned previously in other post. Dr. Greenspan makes emphases in how Speech Therapist and parents rough a child to talk when the child is not developmentally ready and this is what causes 'echolalia' in many kids with Autism or other special needs. The child won't talk if he or she is not able to interact, it is just as simple as that. Dr. MacDonald also make a huge emphasis on this. Dr. Greenspan and Dr. MacDonald have help me to bring Tommy back from isolation through their books.

By the end of the summer, we are THRILLED that we see a child who is interacting with estrangers and participating in his regular education class. It feels good when he spontaneously uses his words to request iPAD, or when he goes to Daddy and gives Daddy a big hug and says: "MY DADDY." Or suddenly, he opens the freezer and request ICE CREAM. And recently, he has been requesting "KETCHUP" to put on his chicken. We have a lot to do in the communication area, but we are seeing "communication" coming along now that we have increased and regulated interaction.  When I say "regulated," it means to pay attention how I interact with Tommy by WAITING for a any kind of response from him. Just "WAITING" for any kind of response is making a huge different for  Tommy willing to communicate. SPOKEN LANGUAGE IS NOT NEED TO COMMUNICATE!

We get a note, almost everyday, that Tommy has participated with his regular 

education class.  Not bad for a child who used to isolate from his classmates.  

A child who cognitive skills are judged by his communication issues, but suddenly

he is showing at school he knows more than what was expected.

I realized that I am the link between Tommy and the world. So I made a portrait of Tommy, which is a summary of him showing how he is as a whole child. I described his skills and pointed to his needs rather than strengths or weakness as usual in a child's IEP.  I brought the summary with me to his IEP meeting two weeks before the end of the school year 2012-2013. This helped to establish a good Social IEP annual goal that supports what I am doing at home with the neuro-developmental program. By the end of summer school this past June-July, Tommy got 66% out of 80% for his social interaction IEP annual goal. This summary also helped me to go back in Tommy's development and make emphasis in non-verbal communication a his need due to his Autism diagnosis. So the IEP team agreed and they set an annual communication goal focused on non-verbal communication. I am putting the puzzle together and I am making Tommy's IEP part of my action plan. I recently update this summary and I will  share it with relatives, so everybody can understand Tommy as a child with skills and needs. My son is not defined as a dual diagnosis because a diagnosis is a label  that can be teared off and it is not the essence of a human been. For example: Tommy's asthma diagnosis was teared off by the same pulmonary doctor who diagnosed him. This doctor couldn't find any "symptom" that showed Tommy was asthmatic during a follow-up appointment, so he gave me a letter realizing Tommy from his asthma diagnosis.

We cannot get teared off his genetic disorder, but we can maximize his potential! Play to talk gave me the strategies I was needing to recover my son from isolation. I took me 2 and half years of dedication and sacrifice. Today, I am just happy because he is developmentally progressing!