Choosing to go Semi Verbal

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How did speech therapy go with AAC?

Yes, I have tried it, a couple of years ago. I had to. I was still trying to live somewhat independently (dependent on just my sister instead of on my parents) and was responsible for more things (half of the cooking and cleaning) and trying to balance even just that burned me out.

I also used an app on my phone. I liked how much pressure was released when I did not feel compelled, or force myself, to try to speak. I liked still being able to communicate with other people when I could not, or just chose not to, speak. I liked how people finally seemed to be understanding about all of my communication needs, which they did not do when I tried to speak.

I am about to lose some of my support soon, since my Service Dog is retiring and I will not have a replacement. I expect this will affect my functioning levels and needs. So I may go back to using alternate communication again.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

Why won’t you have a replacement ?

kraftiekortie,

My sister's dog is dog aggressive and a bad influence, so although her dog is fine with my current dog and I was able to keep my dog from developing bad behaviors through hard work, I have not been able to get a new dog to start training yet and will not be able to get a new dog until she passes away. And then it will take over two years to train all of the tasks I depend on now.

StarTrekker,

The law protects any "reasonable" accommodation for having an Emotional Support Animal and Service Animal. If the apartment is not so super, super tiny that it could not reasonably accommodate a parrot and a dog, it is fine. You would need your doctor to write a letter explaining that you have a disability and a disability-related need for both an Emotional Support Animal and a Service Animal. Obviously, since Service Animals are trained to do much more than Emotional Support Animals, it would make sense to need a Service Animal as well. And, do not worry if you are getting a puppy to owner train; Service Dogs in Training are also protected under the Fair Housing Act.

My Service Dog does guide work when I have a sensory shutdown, or to avoid a sensory overload in overwhelming environments, or find family members if I lose track of them in public. He alerts to cars, bikes, shopping carts, or people coming up behind me. He provides momentum pulling to help me walk and balance. He alerts to me starting to get overwhelmed, reminding me to let him guide me away, and to me starting to lose control, reminding me to let him do some Deep Pressure Therapy. He interrupts harmful stimming behaviors. He provides Deep Pressure Therapy to reduce the duration and severity of meltdowns. And he provides tactile stimulation to reduce the duration and severity of shutdowns.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

That's brilliant Knofskia, those tasks all sound super helpful. I had wanted a dog for things like deep pressure, interrupting harmful stimming, helping me find my car (my navigation skills suck and I lose it all the time), and creating a bubble of space between me and crowds of people, but I love the idea of having the dog alert to moving objects in the environment (when I go into shutdown or meltdown I'll lose all sense of my surroundings; I almost walked out into a busy four-lane road during a shutdown because I saw some pretty lights on the other side of the street that I wanted to go stare at). I also really like the alerting to overwhelming situations and helping you get out of them. I sometimes can't tell when a situation is getting overwhelming until I'm almost at meltdown level, at which point my cognitive functioning drops off. I'll do some research on the dual-ESA/service animal thing. My apartment isn't super big, but having a dog around would absolutely encourage me to get out of the house more often, which would be good, since I really only set foot outside these days in order to go to my various therapy appointments.

Had my first interaction with the general public today. I had to go to the eye doctor to pick up my new glasses. The man who served me was really fantastic. I handed him my board with what I needed, and he didn't miss a beat. He was prompt, kind, and best of all, he acted like nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all. He responded to my written comments as if I'd spoken them, and he spoke to me like a mature adult. I was expecting to get the "aww a cute disabled person" voice, but I didn't, and it was so great. I signed "thank you" to him as I left, and he just smiled and said, "Thank you, have a good rest of your day!" I can't stop smiling every time I think about it. I never expected my first time writing to strangers to go this smoothly. Of course, I know not every interaction is going to go this well, but the fact that my first attempt was such a success only boosts my confidence in myself further.

I should say that while I have not used my speech-to-text app in a while, my sister does most of the "talking" with customer service people. And since she is deaf, she writes messages on her phone and hands it over. Most of the time, the interactions are positive, with a few amazing interactions where the other person mentions an interest in learning sign language themself, and a few interactions that just make you want to laugh or smack your head.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

Hello StarTrekker, there is another low-tech communication device you may want to try: a letter board. Just a piece of cardboard with an alphabet grid and a few words like "yes", "no", a happy and a sad smiley and "I'm in pain". If you want to say something, you point at the letters. I have a small explanation on the other side of the board, asking my communication partner to repeat the words I have "typed".
I sometimes use my letter board, because it is easy and less vulnerable than an iPad. It is slower than a text-to-speech app, and your communication partner best has had some practice.
Another aid, which I use when I don't have any language, is a book with pictograms I can point at. I don't know whether that's something for you, I find it frustrating, because I cannot express more complicated thoughts with pictograms. But at least I can say then that I am tired, or that I want tea in stead of coffee.

Those are very helpful tips, thank you Arctic Skua. What is your experience with speech like? Do you lose it a lot, prefer not to use it, don't have it, etc.? I have considered trying PECS or a pictogram board before, because I think in pictures and it takes a while to translate the images into words, but I don't know how well other people would understand that.