Communication

The importance of great communication.  That is a loaded statement!  Communication is vital in every aspect of our lives, and we expect everyone to have great communication.  Then we experience Autism.

Two aspects of communication that we are dealing with are:  One - communicating with Abbie.  Two - communicating with her therapist, teachers, parents, family, and others.

Abbie - right now she is what people would say non-verbal.  Like that is the only form of communication - verbal communication.  You know 90% of communication is non-verbal so why is people so focused on verbal, because that is all we really focus on.  If an individual is non-verbal then we immediately think -something is wrong.  And sometimes there is a medical problem causing the individual to not be able to speak, and sometimes it's just the person doesn't want to speak.   With Autism it could be both - which is what makes it so hard.  Abbie communicates in may ways, even though she is currently non-verbal.  She comes to me and leans into me when she wants to be held.  She will go to the toy she wants and sometimes she will will even get our attention in someway to get a toy she wants.  She will reach for her drink and use sign language when she needs something, like more, my turn, and how we are learning help/ask.   But she doesn't speak only babbles right now.  She has a beautiful voice and I can't wait till one day she says to me "I love you mommy and daddy".  That day may or may not come but I pray that one day it will.

Second part of communication for us is with the therapist, schools, teachers, and ect.  It is so very very important to have great communication between these individuals so that your child get everything they need.  I mean if we are paying the money to get the therapy that is needed, then there should be great communication between these individuals and myself.  The beginning of our journey we experienced people saying they will communicate with us but then didn't.  They only wanted to give us a 6 week report on how Abbie is doing.  But reality is you need a daily report. 

Now, we make sure we talk with our therapist and find out what she did good that day, what she didn't do well that day, and what she surprised them with.  Getting a daily note is the most amazing way to track the progress of your child.  Also, I feel its the best way to know if you are getting the desired results from your therapist.  Yes, some therapist will balk at this, but really it not about them it's about your child, it's about our Abbie.  I guess I really don't care how they feel about it, they have to document the visit anyway so why not take that extra 2 min and give me what I need.  I mean we are paying for their services!   Also, I have found the ones who don't want to do this have turned out to not really be giving the desired service!

I think it keeps all of us accountable to Abbie's therapy.  When you have the documentation, and you can track the progress, you can see very clearly areas need improvement quickly. 

Currently, I have been very lucky in the fact that all of my therapist have been more then willing to do this for Abbie and it has truly made a difference for us.  You see I am a tracker, I love to have charts and see a forward progression.  And the communication is so vital because you have so many people involved to help Abbie Succeed! - Speech therapist, Occupational therapist, ABA therapist, Feeding therapist, Physical therapist, ect.

So communication is so very important, even if your not dealing with what we are dealing with, it still is important.