PrAACtical AAC, a popular blog for speech therapists working in augmented communication, shared a post this morning that hit me hard. "No matter what the age or type of disability," it said, "almost all AAC learners face the challenge of communicating effectively during encounters with healthcare professionals. People with AAC needs are among those who are considered to be communication vulnerable and do best when there are planned supports in place."

Communication vulnerable.

Three years ago tonight another woman held Nathaniel warm and secure in her body sheltered from the encroaching world. I don't know when her labor pains started or who drove her to the hospital. I don't know how many needle sticks it took to start her IV or what type of pain reliever she had. I do know that three years ago tomorrow morning, the doctors delivered a baby boy from her womb and she heard no cry.

Last week, my father asked me how I know if Nathaniel wants to add a new word to his talker. Isn't that just like a grandparent - challenging the middle generation on behalf of the younger - I love it!

Thankfully, I had a recent example of Nathaniel and I negotiating the addition of a new word to share with him.  Nathaniel became infatuated with the movie Frozen this month. Despite our encouragement that he let it go, he hasn't. His usual show requests are Curious George, Daniel Tiger, or Cars Movie - all titles he has on his talker.  Rather than using his talker to request his normal shows, he repeatedly brought me the DVD case for Frozen.

Augmented communication is hard. Nothing about it is easy or normal. 

Take last Saturday morning.

Rich, Joe and Nathaniel were outside working on Josiah's bike. When I walked into the situation, Nathaniel was upset and on the verge of a big melt down tantrum. Rich filled me in that it was regarding a tool that Nathaniel had confiscated as his own, but Josiah needed periodically. I asked where the talker was, hoping to offer everyone another tool to work through the situation. The talker was not outside.

Ben, Nathaniel and I went to Lowe's this week. Nathaniel had his talker in the cart and when the cashier started talking to him, I reached over and used the talker to say HI on his behalf. It is the easiest way to let someone know he is not going to respond verbally. Most often, hearing the talker catches people off guard and I can quickly sense the individual's familiarity and comfort with special needs children. The cashier came alive when she heard the device. She had questions. By the end of our transaction, she had shared that her own son has Down's Syndrome and was given a Speech Generating Device (SGD). He does not use it because he was teased and told it was for babies. She wanted more information. We wrote down the name of the app, name of my website, and the name of Nathaniel's new Facebook page.

I am amazed how many people follow Nathaniel's and our family's story. Almost weekly at church someone we don't know will approach and want an update. Last night I realized I have this "other" category for Facebook messages. I am not sure why some messages go to my inbox and some to other. (If you know why, please tell me in the comment section below!) There were over twenty messages waiting in that other folder, some dated back to April in Nathaniel had hand surgery; all of them notes of encouragement, prayer, and kind words about sharing Nathaniel's story through this blog. They made me cry. You are all so genuine and so faithful to show support. Thank you for reading. Thank you for liking Facebook posts. For letting us know you are praying. It makes a difference.

Earlier this month Tactus Technology released their new Phorm case that can add and remove tactile buttons to the iPad mini's screen. Dr. Craig Ciesla, CEO and co-founder of Tactus stated, "Typing on a flat touchscreen is still a really unnatural user experience. Adding a tactile dimension to an otherwise flat surface changes the way we will interact with all the screens in our lives. This is just the beginning." This month, we are counting on that being true.