I really wish I had video’d this second lesson with Chloe and her Proloquo2Go. It was awesome! If you missed the video of our first lesson with her new talker, you can read it here.
I meant to have a lesson planned out very specifically, but she spotted her hot pink talker and wanted to use it. We sat on my bed together and just explored -a little randomly- through all the menus and folders.
Chloe was reluctant to make the Proloquo2Go speak for some reason. She would choose phrases or words, but then instead of pushing the bar to make it speak she would just erase and go on to something else. (I think her hesitation was a result of our first lesson when the buttons were not responding to her touch. I have since heard from several people that we need to cut out the plastic on the face of our case.) But I tried to catch her each time and make her encourage her to push it to talk.
After we had been exploring and “talking” for several minutes, Chloe began scrolling rather intently, looking for something specific, it seemed.
From the HOME screen, she chose BASICS.
From there, she chose CHAT SPACES.
Then HOME CHAT.
Then she pushed “I LOVE YOU.”
She reached up with her little finger and growled a little bit as she pushed the bar to make it speak out loud. “I love you,” came loud and clear from the speakers.
Chloe froze, looked me straight in the eyes, and then reached for me with a great big o hug!
That really happened! She told me she loved me and gave me a big hug! Wow! Awesome!
Ordinary Days 
Posted by cindi on January 10, 2010 at 1:05 PM
❤
so sweet
Posted by Ami on January 10, 2010 at 8:45 PM
I’m sure that was music to your ears, Kelly! So sweet!
Posted by Heidi Higdon on January 11, 2010 at 10:48 AM
How awesome for you!
Posted by spedteach on January 11, 2010 at 8:16 PM
That is really a day to remember! This device sounds really worth it. I don’t work with non-verbal students, but I will pass this on to the teacher who does. My school is looking at buying several class sets of ipod touches, they are like a little computer in your hand. Much less expensive than a class set of laptops. Come to think of it, I will pass this app on to the tech people too. If they can buy class sets for the general ed. kids, they can buy a couple for our special ed. population!
Posted by Kelly on January 11, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Wow! Great idea! Go for it!
Posted by Daxie on January 11, 2010 at 10:16 PM
Bless her heart. How wonderful for you both!
Posted by Yvonne on January 15, 2010 at 10:31 PM
That is so, so cool! I wonder if you have decided if you will cut the plastic or not? I read your first entry. I think I found you through the fb page for Proloquo2go. I see you are in our area too, by your link to Cook’s Children’s! My son also drools and I worry about cutting the plastic for that reason, but I have found that his cold little fingers don’t seem to work well on the buttons either, he keeps them in his mouth a lot, I think that is why they are always so cold!
Posted by Kelly on January 18, 2010 at 11:27 AM
My husband just cut the plastic out last night. We need to buy the cover film for it now before we use it too much. Will let you know how it works out. The last training session we had, I tried to show Chloe to put more surface area of her finger on the buttons instead of just the very tip and her fingernail. If she put her finger on the button lightly as opposed to pushing hard with the tip of her finger, then it responded to her touch more successfully. . . . So we’ll see. It’s a learning experience. I’ll give an update later this week.
I stopped in very briefly to your blog. Loved the videos of your son’s gate trainer! He loves it, doesn’t he?? And thankfully, the last couple of days have been so lovely weather-wise around here, I bet he’s been using it outdoors more! How fun for him! I will certainly stop in and check out your blog when I have time to really check it all out.
So you’re in the DFW area, too? We LOVE Cook Children’s! I very often feel very fortunate to be so near to such an awesome hospital!
Posted by SueM on January 17, 2010 at 7:59 PM
very sweet story!!!
Posted by Kerry on February 5, 2010 at 12:23 PM
wow Kelly – just now reading this – tears!!!!! 🙂