My seven-year old son Izaan has autism and intellectual disability, and is non-verbal. He’d throw things or push chairs to indicate that he was hungry, tired or sleepy. He had few words and little eye contact.
Izaan’s speech therapy at Sethu began by focusing on extending his sitting time and eye contact. It gradually moved to PECS (Picture Exchange Communication). His behaviour therapist introduced visual supports into his daily routine. His speech therapist gradually introduced a free, high-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app called Let Me Talk (LMT) which Izaan now uses with assistance to communicate his needs and wants. Communication’s become less frustrating and there are fewer unwanted behaviours.
The therapy and family involvement has helped Izaan to communicate in more than just words through gestures – he now points, and uses body language cues to improve his attention and understand his environment in meaningful ways. Izaan recently discovered the Avaz app and took to it like a fish to water. “He was on the go, exploring the folders, his favourite being Food and Places! It was effortless! For example when we were in the bedroom, he found a folder with pictures of a blanket, pillow, alarm and saying good night. He’s thrilled to use it. It’s his voice now. He communicates his everyday needs, activities and emotions,” his mother says. Izaan is now learning to use ‘Ask for help’, ‘Ask for more’ and ‘I don’t want’. Toileting and self-care are other tasks on priority. He’s also begun to sing, and imitate conversational speech.
Izaan’s mother is all praise for the technology easily available today. “These apps have been one of the biggest support systems and have reduced Izaan’s struggles as a non-vocal child. His reflective communication and understanding, and his social skills and imaginary play skills have increased significantly,” she says. She’s particularly happy with Avaz, which can be customised to a child’s preferences, choice of words and language since it has a range of pictures and options of web search, intense vocabulary and voice. It also enables the user to save backups, a particularly useful feature for children who scroll quickly and tend to install and uninstall apps.
“Izaan’s achievements may not sound great to others, but to us they are. I can’t thank his speech therapist enough and am ever grateful to team Sethu for helping Izaan tremendously in his journey all along,” his mother says.
As told to Anjali Barretto.