The Grace App Blog

Gracie’s own voice

Written by Lisa on March 29th, 2012 in Uncategorized 1 Comment

Why I wanted to prompt Gracie to use her own voice with the pictures to support her..

 

Grace App is a non-voca because I wanted to encourage Grace to continue with her own attempts at vocalisation with the pictures there to remind her of the words, and to ensure I knew exactly what she wanted, even when she wasn’t so clear at saying them. These days she can say “I want Chocolate” independent of the App because that has been a highly reinforcing exercise for her. When you say more you get more! (see the Guide to Grace App: Manual for Differential Reinforcement)

She is also very clear on water, bubbles and shower. All things she finds highly rewarding.

Whereas her vocal approximations for “Brush” meaning hair brush or tooth brush are a little less distinct.. (Grace does not like getting her long hair brushed)

In developing her core-vocabulary under the supervision of an experienced Speech and Language Pathologist, I took a list of the sounds that Gracie needed to practice. I then paired them with highly reinforcing items such as foods she likes, TV characters she enjoys watching and things she is obsessive about controlling. It gives me the maximum amount of opportunities to reward her in context, when she makes the effort to say them. For example, she may not like getting her hair brushed, but she hates it when her Daddy takes her hair brush off the dresser to use it himself, because he can’t ever find his own. So she will come to me and request help finding it. That’s a chance to practice the sounds together, while pointing at the pictures and knowing exactly what she wants.

Practically speaking, I am going to get a lot more chances to practice that “B” sound with her if I pair it with an activity that she does like and now that the weather is warmer, I have the perfect opportunity:   “B-each” starts with the letter B and she loves going there. She still needs to make the sentence on her Grace App though, otherwise people might think she is saying something else.. (think about it)

xx