Back in June 2014 I purchased Proloquo2go in faith, praying that it would open the doors of communication for some of my kids. I purchased it with Lily, Nolan and Molly in mind. As we tested Molly on it, we came across a lot of problems with her not being able to clearly make selections, and Tori ended up coming up with a different communication board for her that works better. As for Nolan, we ended up deciding to focus on his sign language, as he responds well to that and is eager to learn more. But for Lily, Proloquo2go is perfect.
In July, I wrote THIS POST about introducing the program to Lily, focusing just on allowing her to choose activities using it. We went strong like this for awhile, but as time went on, I didn't really know where to take it next and other priorities got in the way. In the past little while though, I have been trying hard to program it to meet her needs, as she has so much to communicate lately and is trying very hard to tell us so many things.
In February, to re-familiarize her with the program, we used it to make a How To list to record the steps of making a peanut butter sandwich. Lily and I made the sandwich together and I took a picture of her doing each step, and then programmed it in. The following day, she used P2G and followed the steps all by herself to make a sandwich with minimal help! She was so excited to cut the sandwich up and share it with Tori and our ayahs. I am learning the program as I go, and now one tool I have figured out is that you can make the text smaller to fit all the words in. So if I were to do this again, I would go back and make the text smaller for steps like "spread the peanut butter" so it doesn't get cut off. I am hoping that this will also be a great way for her to learn sight words, so having the full word or sentence showing is important for that!
Next we did the Charlotte's Web activity where I programmed her lines into the P2G and we performed a puppet show in front of the other kids and ayahs. She was able to speak all of her lines using the program and she did so great! It was the first time she has ever gotten in front of a group to present something, and she was so proud of herself!
After that, I decided it was time to start using it functionally. After some trial and error, this is what Lily's home page looks like:
In July, I wrote THIS POST about introducing the program to Lily, focusing just on allowing her to choose activities using it. We went strong like this for awhile, but as time went on, I didn't really know where to take it next and other priorities got in the way. In the past little while though, I have been trying hard to program it to meet her needs, as she has so much to communicate lately and is trying very hard to tell us so many things.
In February, to re-familiarize her with the program, we used it to make a How To list to record the steps of making a peanut butter sandwich. Lily and I made the sandwich together and I took a picture of her doing each step, and then programmed it in. The following day, she used P2G and followed the steps all by herself to make a sandwich with minimal help! She was so excited to cut the sandwich up and share it with Tori and our ayahs. I am learning the program as I go, and now one tool I have figured out is that you can make the text smaller to fit all the words in. So if I were to do this again, I would go back and make the text smaller for steps like "spread the peanut butter" so it doesn't get cut off. I am hoping that this will also be a great way for her to learn sight words, so having the full word or sentence showing is important for that!
Next we did the Charlotte's Web activity where I programmed her lines into the P2G and we performed a puppet show in front of the other kids and ayahs. She was able to speak all of her lines using the program and she did so great! It was the first time she has ever gotten in front of a group to present something, and she was so proud of herself!
After that, I decided it was time to start using it functionally. After some trial and error, this is what Lily's home page looks like:
As you can see from that screen shot, Lily had just used the program to tell me that she wanted a sandwich. This was the very first time that she approached me, asked for the iPad, and functionally told me what she wanted. This was the first time she was ever able to tell us what she wanted to eat, aside from 'cake' and 'ice cream' which she can say verbally clearly. This was a huge step for her and she was giggling and giggling when I agreed and went to make her a sandwich. She has asked for sandwiches several times since.
Following this, I went into more detail in the feelings section. I made 'sick' to be a folder rather than a button, and added buttons within the folder so she could tell us what was hurting/why she felt sick. We role played for a bit, moaning and groaning over certain body parts hurting, and then she would use P2G to tell me in a proper sentence why she wasn't feeling well. An important thing to note is that my kids use 'sick' to mean both the traditional sick as well as in pain. So, if their leg hurts, they sign they are sick. Just 2 days after we role played, Lily looked sad and I asked her what was wrong. She did the sign for 'sick'. I brought the iPad over and asked her to show me. She typed 'I feel sick. My tooth hurts." The below is a different screenshot from when we were role playing, but this shows you how we have it set up. Lily then mimed swallowing something. I asked her if she wanted some medicine and she said yes.
And that is where we are at. Now, I am stuck and not really sure where to go next.
Some of the questions I am wondering...
1) Can I record my own voice to use rather than the computer voice? The program isn't pronouncing any of the kids' Indian names correctly, so I would love to record my own voice saying them so that Lily doesn't get confused. (thanks! I got an answer- I can't record my own voice but can change the pronunciation)
2) Is there an easy way to duplicate the way I have set it up to another iPad? I would love to have Tori's iPad programmed in the exact same way so Lily can use either iPad to communicate.
3) Where to go next....? This is the big one for me. What to do next and how do I get her using it functionally and constantly? Our biggest problem in understanding Lily is when we ask open-ended questions. She will tell us she is sad, but when we ask why, she just repeats that she is sad. Or she will call me and tell me to come and point to Louise and wag her finger, but when I asked what Louise did, she can't tell me.
If you have any experience with Proloquo2go or advice about how to expand what I have done, please contact me! I would love ideas!
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