Posts Tagged facilitated communication
See You Next Fall
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life on May 29, 2013
I was coming down the steps into our living room Sunday night, when I looked up to see Clay up to his elbow in a good scratch. Without going into great detail, let’s just say that the warm weather brings with it increased irritation in certain regions of the body that don’t get as much air as other parts.
While gazing at this vision, I neglected to put my foot on the last step and wound up face down on the wood floor with a crash so loud our neighbor Frank probably heard it. The book I was carrying landed across the room. Read the rest of this entry »
Dancing King
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life on May 20, 2013
Last Friday night, for the third year in a row, we took Clay to the high school prom put on by the Autism Cares Foundation, an amazing local group. The last two years went relatively smoothly, so we didn’t expect any surprises this time. Clay, of course, had other plans.
On Mother’s Day
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating on May 12, 2013
While I headed out after dinner to visit my Mom on Mother’s Day, my wife sat down with Clay in front of his iPad to see if he had anything he wanted to say.
Turns out he did:
“we so want to tell you happy mother’s day. we love you so much.”
A great start, but there was more: Read the rest of this entry »
Catching Up
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life on May 10, 2013
After working through most of last weekend, I decided to reward myself with a few hours off on Wednesday morning. Spring is in bloom at last in our neck of the woods. A walk at a nearby state park seemed like the way to go. Read the rest of this entry »
Hurricane Clay
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life on November 5, 2012
Clay’s Mom and number one fan, Roe DeLuca, provides an update today about how the little fellow weathered the recent hurricane. Thanks, everyone, for your patience. We hope to start blogging more frequently again in the near future.
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We should have known as we made the biweekly Saturday trip to see Clay’s typing teacher that we were experiencing the calm before the Hurricane Sandy storm.
It seemed as if everyone along our route to North Jersey was out driving—and all of them were in line getting gas for their cars and filling tank after tank to fuel their generator.
Once there, Clay quickly got to work and had a lot to say:
my typing is good today because my brain is very calm and my badly coordinated body moves better when my thinking is calm.
It was clear the hurricane was on his mind:
getting ready for disasters is stressful work but being home with your family is more important than wasting time at gas stations. this will be a interesting event that might be a historical event or a big dissappointment. i think a historical event.
That was Saturday, and with the storm scheduled to hit our area Monday night into Tuesday, it gave us some time to prepare. Read the rest of this entry »
Role Model
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating on September 24, 2012
“We are the perfect example of intelligence working itself out in a different way.”
– Tracy Thresher –
The night before we took Clay to see a presentation by Tracy Thresher, we asked if he wanted to prepare some questions or thoughts to share.
Tracy, one of the stars of the movie Wretches & Jabberers, learned later in life to communicate through typing and has been spreading the word ever since not to judge people with autism by what you see. (Wretches and Jabberers follows Tracy and his friend Larry Bissonnette as they travel to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland to type with others who have broken out of the silent world of autism.)
We figured he offered a rare role model for Clay. Clay’s typing teacher invited us to attend the presentation, which took place at a school run by Celebrate the Children.
Clay made it clear he didn’t want to prepare anything, but we hoped once we got there he might have some thoughts.
“It don’t mean a thing …”
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life, Silly Behaviors on July 23, 2012
Here’s the question: Where do you hang a swing that is big enough to hold six kids at the same time?
I wrote earlier about the demise of Clay’s beloved swing set this past spring. Clay can be tough to buy presents for, but when his birthday came along in early July, it was a no brainer to find a replacement swing. My wife did some online research and found a tree swing that looked like it would do the job (for a lot less than the professional ones that most therapists use.) The large size seemed about right. His Grandpop Tony offered to buy it. All was set. Read the rest of this entry »
You is smart
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating on June 29, 2012
Clay hasn’t had a lot to say at our every-other-week typing sessions over the last few visits. We’re not sure why. Sometimes its allergies. Sometimes he’s tired. Sometimes he just can’t get his body and head organized to share thoughts.
Then, sometimes, the words just come tumbling out. He sits right down, puts his arm out for support and doesn’t stop typing until his message is finished.
I don’t know if it was the two weeks off between school and camp. Or the beautiful, clear air. Or maybe the horseback ride that went so well that morning. All I know is that last Saturday, he had a lot to say. It was one of the good days. Read the rest of this entry »
You have to see the baby
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life on June 26, 2012
My wife was in our backyard with the dogs one morning last week, when one of the black vultures that have been living – rent free – in our garage popped into the window on the right.
Not that uncommon of an occurrence since our friends moved in last summer. But then something else caught my wife’s eye. Someone new peeking out of the window on the left. Read the rest of this entry »
Tight squeeze
Posted by Larry Blumenthal in Communicating, Daily Life, Silly Behaviors on June 4, 2012
Going for the loop-de-loop in sunnier times
When I heard my wife’s panicked voice calling me from the vicinity of our aging swing set Saturday afternoon, I had a pretty good idea what had happened.
I just didn’t know how serious it really was.
It all started earlier in the week. On Thursday I saw Clay by the swing set, talking quietly to himself, as I walked to the backdoor on my way home from work. He usually is at the gate—if he is in the backyard—when I pull in the driveway, but I didn’t think much of it. After getting changed, I headed out to fire up the barbecue for dinner. Clay was still over by the swings. It was unlike him to not be in and out of the kitchen when dinner was being prepared, making us a little suspicious. When I started cooking, and he was still over there, I got worried. He follows me like a lost puppy when I am barbecuing, closely monitoring the progress of his dinner, so something didn’t seem right. I jogged across the lawn to investigate. Read the rest of this entry »
Life With Clay 