Where Pixie live, government is removing eliminating " adult" (teens and older people ) Medicaid benefit for PT/OT/Speech therapies. ( Medicaid is medical insurance coverage for very poor disabled people, adults and teens and children, like Pixie, what have no other options) .
This. Feel just so. HelpLess . Discouraged . Full of despair . Pixie's AAC device still not actually finished setting up yet because of . Whatever happened with ONLY local place what takes Medicaid insurance where Pixie live . Pixie been all ready feel abandoned and alone. And . this just makes everything. So much worse...
Pixie not know what to do . Too upset to sleep now. Even though really really really need more sleep, been getting only 1-2 hours sleep every night lately
Heyyy guys! As many of you probably know, AAC comes in many different forms.
One popular form of no tech AAC are called communication cards. communication cards cost money though, and you can diy them if you have the right materials, and i bit of help if you need it. (my grandma helped when i made mine) anyways, there are lots of ways you could make communication cards, but for now im just going to post a little of phrases that are good to start with on your communications cards, and you can add more as needed.
here’s the list of phrases i thought were good to include, becuase when u started making mine, my brains sort of froze and couldn’t think of anything. it’s taken me awhile to refine this whole list, and took lots of trial and error to find out phrases that i might need in the moment, so having a starting point might help, and i love to help people out!
I’m
in pain
dizzy
hot
cold
thirsty
hungry
on my period
overstimulated
unable to talk right now
not ready
I feel
sick
okay
happy
overwhelmed
upset
confused
sad
uncomfortable
scared
I need
a break
space
help
to rest
something to keep my hands busy
new pants
time
I want
to go home
to be left alone
my headphones
my blanket
Can I
have Tylenol
have a hug
have a pad or tampon
go to the bathroom
Can you
please lower your voice
please talk for me
explain
repeat that
rephrase that
Please
stop
stay with me
I have
a headache
cramps
It’s too…
loud
bright
much
What…
are we doing next?
is that?
should I do?
Where…
is the bathroom?
are we going?
can I sit?
When…
are we leaving?
will it start?
can I go?
will you be done?
How…
do I do this?
does that work?
are you feeling?
Why…
is that happening?
can’t I go?
are we doing this?
not?
Standalone phrases
yes
no
maybe
I agree
I disagree
I don’t know
please
thank you
you’re welcome
hi
bye
I love you
soon
later
btw, you probably noticed at some point that there is a few afab specific phrases relating to period needs, so if you don’t get a period then your obviously more then welcome to not add that into your list .
i really hope that i can help people benefit from this!! 🖤🖤🫶
My Franken!Kyle speech headcanons (as a caretaker of stroke survivors and vulnerable/disabled adults)
Disclaimer: I am not a professional speech therapist but I have 2 years working with dementia patients, stroke survivors, and vulnerable adults with disabilities. During my time as a caretaker, I have helped people with their physical, occupational, and speech therapy skills and have seen serious improvement with them— it’s a beautiful thing I’ve been able to witness in my line of work and it gives me an in-depth look at how I believe Kyle most likely functions given his sexual, physical, and psychological trauma. A lot of these headcanons are based on actual traits and experiences I’ve seen during my work and I write all of them for Kyle with the utmost respect and dignity for the people I’ve worked with and other real life survivors.
“Yeah” and “yup” are easy-to-say words and comes out instinctively in response to things. Kyle say them a lot when he’s trying to soothe Reader, animals, or others. He’ll say ‘yeah’ with a sassy air when he gets an attitude, and favors ‘yeah’ in a bad mood, ‘yup’ in a good mood. If he’s saying ‘yup’ or it usually means he’s comfortable speaking right then. Does not always work for the sentence, they are just easy, go-to words for him.
Ex. “Hey, Kyle, how are you?” “Yup, yup!” or “Kyle, what did you want for dinner?” “Mm… yeah…”
He stutters a lot. Relearning to speak is a huge task and not every word comes easy. Soft sounds and especially ‘M’ sounds come easiest and will often come out accidentally instead of the intended sound/word.
Ex. *trying to say ‘hungry’* “Kyle mm—n…no. M-Mug. Mug.. g-gree.”
He says words wrong and Reader interprets best she can. I’ve written this into my fics before but Kyle almost always knows exactly what he wants to say— it’s just a matter of getting it out. He mixes up words but Reader can usually make sense of what he means. Ex. Saying “not” instead of “no” in response, but the negative connotation and tone make up for the incorrect word.
Ex. “Kyle, did you want this?” “Not. NOT!”
Repeats words when excited, frustrated, or confused. Repeating a word doesn’t always help, sometimes it happens out of frustration and Kyle cannot get his point across, and while not knowing another way to do so in the moment, will simply repeat the word he knows he can say over and over, or louder and louder, hoping to be understood. When he’s in a good mood, and hears a new word or word he likes, he’ll repeat it until it comes easy. Especially if it comes easy already.
Ex. *playing legos— happy* “Block. Block! Block, block, yup, yup…” or *struggling with zipper— frustrated* “Mm! Zip, zip! ZIP! Zip zip.”
Breaking up words into smaller pieces. It makes his speech sound choppy, but can actually make more sense if he does this, and it’s usually for his own comfort. Kyle often breaks longer (or even short) words into pieces to try and say each half correctly.
Ex. *trying to say ‘basket’* “Sket. Ba…ket— Bass…ket.”
This one is sad but he says “mom” on accident a lot. Again, ‘m’ sounds come very easy to him and he will say ‘mom’ as a sort of vocal stim when he’s tired/sleepy, upset/crying, or frustrated/struggling to speak. This is because it comes very easy to him, it doesn’t take effort to say the word, and usually accompanies vulnerability (whether he’s in a good mood or not) due to his past.
Ex. *tired/upset* “Kyle which one do you want?” “Mm…mom. N-no… mmm…momm….?”
He plays with words. Like repeating them to adjust to the sounds, Kyle will hum, mumble, and talk to himself, figuring out his speech and new words to try and get comfortable speaking again. If he’s in a good mood, he’ll repeat words that he likes (if he’s eating, ‘yum’ is a very easy word that he can say over and over in between bites), or if you say a new word and he tries it out and it actually comes easy, he’ll just keep saying it because he can and it doesn’t take too much effort to say. 🤷♀️ he’s silly like that
Ex. *after learning the word tree* “Mm.. t…tree! Tree, tree… tee. Tee, tee, ree… Ree, ree!”
He’ll shout words he’s confident with (or think he is confident with). For example, if he knows a word and is prompted by either that word or something that he can respond to with that word, he’ll blurt it (usually loudly). But he’s not always accurate with his pronunciation, or even the word he means to say, so he may accidentally shout random nonsense and ends up embarrassing himself, but the reader is always supportive of him trying.
Ex. “Do you want a bath, Kyle?” “MAT! Mm…no. Math?” “Bath.” “BATH!”
If he gets too frustrated with a word, he’ll give up. This usually happens after several failed attempts to say a word and he will usually exhale sharply and hide his face, embarrassment and frustration being the most prominent emotions when he struggles to speak.
He’s grown less embarrassed of his flubs and is more easy to laugh at them when you point them out. This is good but he still does get embarrassed when he fails to say things— Reader is usually careful to be encouraging rather than punishing when Kyle messes up in his speech and communication.
I will probably end up adding to this list! Totally feel free to adopt any of these as your own if you find them interesting and remember these are just my opinions, no need to agree with any of them! Thanks for reading 🩷🖤
start this exercise by taking a deep breath and saying “aaaaah” - try to extend this to 30 seconds. Now if it doesn’t go till 30, that’s fine. Aim to work your way to that. If you can work it up to 30, go for 45/60 seconds. Do this 5 times.
next.
Download an app called Metronome beats. It’s basically what singers/ musicians use for beats.
Settings:
keep beats/bar as 1,
clicks/beats as 1
start at 90. It will start with a click sound and continue “beeping.”
Match your words to the beep. One beep = one word. Now slowly, increase the beat by 5 till you reach 110. Increase it at your own pace but try to spend at least 20 seconds on each number (90 for 20 seconds; 95 for 20; 100 for 20….) That’s when you stop.
either start by reading something out loud and matching the beat, or select a topic and speak freely.
do this every single day. This will help with your breath, if you’re speaking on a topic it will help you think better and improve over time. The best way to further complement this exercise is to improve your vocabulary. Try to learn 1-3 new words a day and incorporate it in your vocabulary.
This is a great tool to use when learning new languages too. You can practice your speaking skills and see how fast you can remember/ read words.
Giving nonspeaking kids and kids with difficulty using oral speech access to AAC as soon as possible needs to be normalized.
Of course you want your child to communicate, that's fine, that's GOOD. But oral speech isn't the only way to do that, and refusing to give your child a way to communicate because it isnt the form of communication you favor isn't okay.
Its OKAY if your kid never learns (or relearns) to use oral speech. ITS OKAY.
"But I put them in speech therapy to learn to talk! I don't want them to use that tablet all their life. They need to learn to talk using their mouthparts." Why??
First of all, AAC is proven to actually help people develop language skills and oftentimes oral speech. So any concern about AAC hindering development of oral speech is uncalled for and irrational. But along with that, ORAL SPEECH ISNT THE ONLY GOOD FORM OF COMMUNICATION!! AAC is good. Sign is good. Etc.
Saying otherwise and/or preferring your child to use oral speech IS ableist, and yes, it IS harmful to everyone.
