He uses ProLoQuo2Go. http://www.assistiveware.com/product/proloquo2go

ElizabethB, I'll look into Read Write Type some more. That looks like it might be a little bit beyond him now, but perhaps in the near future it could be a good fit. PuddleJumper, I stumbled upon the Discrete Video Modeling. Actually, I accidentally clicked an ad on Facebook for Gemiini (not a typo), LOL. I looked at it and was skeptical, and mostly forgot about it for a while. In the meantime, my son's addiction to surprise egg YouTube videos grew and grew. I just thought he liked looking at the unboxing of new toys, but as it turns out, it's much more than that for him. He began to play imaginatively, for the first time in his life, and then began using his communication app to mirror some of the sentences and questions from the "script" most of those videos use. He taught himself to search for his favorite videos, and frequently asks to go to the store to buy some of the toys shown in the videos. I began thinking about how we owed those gains to the stupid egg videos, and one night while I was lying awake in bed, I remembered the Facebook ad. A few seconds later, and I was looking at their website. I was a little hesitant (it's pricey!), but decided that clearly those point-of-view videos were doing something for him, so I decided to grit my teeth and jump in for a trial. After only 3 days of following their Quick Start program, we started seeing more oral movement than he had ever made before. He was mesmerized by the videos, particularly the extreme close-ups of only the mouth. I could see that as he watched, he was starting to mimic. Still, I was skeptical and afraid to get my hopes up. He started getting a little resistant to some of the repetitions required by the program, so we mixed it up a bit (with a "fun" custom video from the site about Legos and PlayDoh), and he was back on board. I compiled a video from their library of our family names, and within a day, he was spontaneously trying to say his sister's name! :) We got sounds he had never attempted before, despite YEARS of speech therapy. I even added in some preposition work, because he never made gains with those assessments, and within a week, he went from 18% correct to 82% in trials. Now, I realize intelligible speech may be a long way off, or even impossible for him. I also realize that kids on the spectrum sometimes make sudden gains. However, he's been plateaued for a while now, and we have never seen the kinds of gains he has made in such a brief period with Gemiini. I'm determined to stick with it for at least 6 months and reevaluate then, but for now, I'm incredibly happy with it. I think the removal of all extraneous visual cues really helps him to focus, and for whatever reason, he truly enjoys videos made in that fashion. Oh, one more thing...today, he was so motivated by his desire to get a turn with the kinetic sand his sisters were playing with, that he actually opened up the letter tiles and spelled out "Sand [his name]." I joked that no, he wasn't made out of sand, and he laughed and shook his head (silly Mama!). I told him if he wanted to play with the sand, then that's what he needed to say. He then spelled out "play" before the word "sand," with two letters transposed. I slid my finger under it, asked if it matched, and he fixed the letters. Then I decided to see if we could get an entire sentence. I asked him to make a sentence, and he made "I want (spelled watn at first) play sand [his name]" :thumbup: Yeah....his sisters got the boot and he got the sand to himself for a good long time, LOL.

Rosie, I mean that only my husband and I know what most of his signs are; a third party would have trouble or find it impossible, because his fingers aren't positioned right, or he is only doing the vaguest copy of any motion involved. Attempts to get him to be more careful and accurate have failed, for the most part. Also, using the app gives him a voice. Using ASL would mean he could only communicate with someone who knows ASL. Using the app or typed text (or eventually even written, as his handwriting develops) means anyone who can read or hear can communicate with him. The sensors sound very cool, geodob.

We don't rely on ASL, because he isn't accurate enough. He is fairly fluent with his communication app, but has begun wanting to type, rather than page through categories to find the word symbol he wants. This is huge, as it has been suggested by SLPs over the years that he may come to rely on typing rather than talking. Typing (as opposed to relying on the app) would also open up the Internet for him. I need to encourage this. The "nonverbal" label has always puzzled me. He's had it because he can't speak at all, but it obviously doesn't apply across the board, or he wouldn't be able to compose and write notes to me like he did above. So I'm left wondering whether the nonverbal label even applies any longer. He has, somewhat miraculously, FINALLY begun to attempt speech, after beginning Discrete Video Modeling therapy. I can't express adequately what a thrill this is! It's all still completely unintelligible, of course, but it is the attempt that matters to me. I feel as though doors long closed to him are beginning to show cracks of light around the edges, and I want to do everything I can to help them open. He's averse to WD-40 and crowbar methods, though! [emoji3]

We've had ds home for a little over a month now. He has both amazed and confounded me, lol. I can't get him to do anything that even remotely resembles school work (no worksheets, handwriting pages, school-y apps, etc), but he has been making great efforts to write and type messages to me for the first time ever. Note: He is nonverbal, in that he can't speak, but he uses a communication app and some signs. His receptive language is only a couple years behind his age. For example, he had a major freak-out and meltdown when I logged into ABC Mouse a few days after we brought him home. He had used it at school, and I mistakenly thought he might like it. He was in a really bad situation at ps, and I think anything that reminds him of it is just too much right now. Before this school year, he loved doing worksheets and such. He will play on Starfall, though he prefers to only do the letters, and he is far beyond that academically. He asks all the time to go to Toys R Us, using his app, but the other day, he wanted to write on the dry erase board instead. He composed the sentence on the iPod, and showed it to me. I stood beside him, and just stretched out the sounds, and he wrote, "Mama I like Toys R Us plise." He even signed his name at the bottom! He has also written, "Print Matr," (for a Mater coloring page) and "Print Pepa," (for Peppa Pig). His app has a typing view so that if there is not a button for what he wants to say, he can type it. It includes predictive ability, so if he is close, the word he wants will appear as a choice. Often, though, he will get the letters jumbled, so that the predictive ability doesn't work, or I can't figure out what word he is trying to write. We both get frustrated when that happens.The other day at the park, he was in tears because he was trying to type a word and we hit a wall. :crying: I know that if I could just provide him with some good spelling lessons and handwriting practice (many letters are still approximations), he could get close enough for communication success, but I can't figure out how to do that in the unschooly way he seems to need right now. He enjoys games, but the letter tiles we have are still upsetting to him right now. He will play Boggle Jr. for a few minutes at a time, though. Any ideas are much appreciated.

I just signed up a couple weeks ago, and we have been easing into it. My son has suddenly started attempting to say his sister's name (Lilly) after watching the names video I made for him. He also spontaneously tried to say, "slow" when he wanted me to push him on the swing, even though that wasn't in any of his videos. I think watching the close-ups without distractions has him willing to attempt to copy in a way he never has before. Even if he never speaks, though, we are seeing dramatic improvement in his understanding of prepositions, which is fantastic. He has worked on those in traditional speech therapy and in worksheet type activities for years with no success. For whatever reason, he liked that video in the Quick Start series, and after viewing it about 10 times, went from 12% correct on an ABA-style trial to 88% correct. It took us a bit to figure out how to get him to attend to the videos. Given that we have battled him for years to AVOID videos and devices while he eats, there was no way I was going to follow the advice to do it at mealtime! Instead, we break out the Play-Doh and he works with it while watching. It is expensive, but I'm hopeful as we continue. My plan is to give it six months before reevaluating.

We brought our son home. The battles with his school were just too much to take any longer. He hated going, so badly that he would cry and try to vomit in the morning to stay home. :( Tomorrow will make a week since we decided not to send him back, and I have to say that I haven't seen him this happy in a long, long time. We're still trying to fit him into our daily school routines, but I have faith that we'll find our groove soon. It's incredibly freeing; this is the first time since my oldest began ps 4K in 2008 that we have been completely free of the school's calendar. Our days seem so long and relaxed without the rush to and from school!

Perhaps this is my own bias showing, but I disagree very strongly that ASL is always preferable to AAC for a hearing child. AAC devices provide a voice, in a native language. Anyone who speaks the language can understand. How many people know ASL well enough to carry on a conversation or quickly assess an emergency medical need? If a kid is living primarily in a hearing community, then I think having a voice is important. Obviously, the reverse would be true if you were mostly around Deaf people. The key, I think, is speed. People become impatient with stutterers for the same reason they become impatient with AAC users. Too much lag time, and the conversation is no longer fluent. As for awkward to carry around...who doesn't have a smartphone or iPod? Lots of apps and some devices are that small. There's far more options than a 5lb Dynavox around the neck now. Kids today text and chat online as easily or moreso than they do face-to-face conversations. Tech devices are ubiquitous. I don't mean to come across as some sort of fanatic, happycc. I applaud you for being willing to take the path less traveled to help your son, and I hope you stumble across that magic solution that opens up the greatest possibilities for him, whether that's ASL or AAC, or plain old learning to speak with ABA therapy! :)

happycc, I encourage you to look at a GoTalk device. They come in different sizes, from 4 pictures up to 20+, and they are very, very durable. You can find used ones on eBay cheaply. They are simple to program and create sheets for if you buy the software CD. We sold my son's GoTalk20 when he became frustrated that it didn't have what he wanted to say. He moved on to an iPad with ProLoQuo2Go, which is a phenomenal app. We stashed the iPad in an Otterbox and never looked back. I am not exaggerating when I say it was life changing for my son. He knew so much, and was far more intelligent than anyone knew, but he was stymied by the lack of desirable communication. His public school tried at first to insist on using paper PECS. No way. DS hated them and refused to use them except under significant duress. He wanted a voice. He learned to connect symbols to real objects with food first, then toys. The ProLoQuo app and GoTalk both allow you to use a real photograph rather than an abstract symbol for tangible objects, so that helps make connections.

I stumbled across this website today and thought that many here might find it useful, particularly as you can choose the specific skill you are looking to work on (pincer grasp, crossing midline, fine motor strength, etc.). http://therapystreetforkids.com/index.html

My son uses an app called ProLoQuo2Go on an iPod (started on an iPad till his fine motor was better). I am not exaggerating a bit when I say it has been life changing. He can't speak at all, and there's so much that he knew and we had no idea until he began using p2G.

Try looking into the AL abacus as used in RightStart Math. Even if you don't use the curriculum, the abacus is unique and provides an excellent way to visualize quantities, as well as a useful alternative to C-rods. Here is a video of a webinar regarding the AL Abacus. http://youtu.be/0_mxSZ_dGmw Eta: You can buy the abacus as an app for $1.99. I don't think it is a substitute for the actual abacus, but it might give you a quick and easy way to try it out.

The article says that the creator is dyslexic. Perhaps there is a spectrum of dyslexia, and some have more trouble with reflections than others.

I nearly posted this on the Learning Challenges board, but I think many kids could benefit from a typeface that reduces mirrored letters. :) I suppose for a child's own production, cursive would be the easiest, but if this helps with typewritten reading, I'm all for it. http://www.dezeen.com/2014/11/09/christian-boer-dyslexie-typeface-dyslexia-easier-reading-istanbul-design-biennial-2014/

I'm not sure about the ages of your students, but the News-o-Matic app is a good source of daily news for elementary-aged kids.