Technology Speaks

Welcome to the October 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Kids and Technology
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about their families' policies on screen time.

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More than most families, technology is a central facet of our lives.

We have oxygen machines.

Machines that breathe when they can't.

Machines to suck out the mucous when a child can't blow their nose or cough it up.

Pumps to feed children through tubes in their bellies.

Machines to keep track of oxygen saturations and heart rate.

And we've agreed that we aren't about to let these things get in the way of our attachment to our children. We've worn them while carrying oxygen and feeding pumps. We've even occasionally (gasp!) Co-slept with a ventilator.

To be fair, we also watch a lot of videos - video helps with Acorn's comprehension, because he's so visually oriented and struggles with receptive language. They're part of our anti-anxiety routine for doctors visits and part of how we're learning sign language. More videos than I would ever have agreed to years ago. We're picky, though, in terms of what we watch.

But sometimes technology can bring us closer. The new gadget in our lives lets my son talk to us - to anyone.

While most parents rejoice in a child's first words, they still take them for granted. They expect words to come pouring out of their child, and eventually they start focusing on teaching them not to talk unless it's the right time or place. They learn to talk, and then to read and to write and to type, the flow of words moving faster and faster.

Communication is part of what makes us human. Communication binds us together. While sign language has served us well...Acorn's fine motor skills are not keeping up with his need to tell us what he's thinking.

To learn to use this device, we've spent a lot of time playing video games on tablets and phones - working those fine motor skills such as they are, finding their limits, and then trying to push further. Learning how to navigate tablets with their taps and swipes and different screens. Learning that touching different spots makes the device do different things....make noises, move, talk.

This isn't the sort of decision we make lightly, but we know Acorn has a lot to say, and it's nice to give him the opportunity to speak his mind.

And it doesn't hurt that there's less complaining at dinner when he can ask for exactly what he wants.

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants (list will be updated throughout the day on October 8):

• Has Technology Taken Away Childhood? — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama worries that technology is intruding on the basic premise of childhood - active play in all forms! Join her as she takes a brief look at how play has changed as technology becomes more integrated into the daily lives of our children.
• Fostering a Healthy Relationship with Technology — Jenn at Adventures Down Under describes her children's love of screen time and how her family implements their philosophy and policies on technology.
• Kids Chores for Tech Privileges — Crunchy Con Mommy shares how tying chore completion to iPad privileges worked in her house to limit screen time and inspire voluntary room cleaning!
• Screens — Without the benefit of her own experience, sustainablemum explains her family's use of technology in their home.
• Screen Time - The Battle of Ideologies — Laura from Laura's Blog explains why she is a mom who prioritizes outdoor natural play for her kids but also lets them have ample screen time.
• The Day My iPhone Died — Revolution Momma at Raising a Revolution questions the role technology plays in her life when she is devastated after losing her phone's picture collection from her daughter's first year.
• Finding our Technological Balance — Meegs at A New Day talks about how she finds balance between wanting her daughter to enjoy all the amazing technology available to her, without it overwhelming the natural parenting she's striving for.
• Raising kids who love TV — Lauren at Hobo Mama sometimes fears what children who love screentime will grow up to be … until she realizes they'll be just like her.
• No Limits on Screen Time? Is that Natural? — Susan at Together Walking shares misconceptions and benefits of having no limits on technology and screen time in their home.
• Screen Time — Jorje of Momma Jorje shares what is currently working (and what hasn't) regarding screen time in her household.
• Positive Use of Technology with Kids — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells about her family's experiences with early technology, shares helpful resources from around the blogosphere, and speculates on what she'd do as a parent with young children today.
• why i will never quit you, TV — How Emma of Your Fonder Heart came to terms with the fact that screen time is happening, and what balance looks like between real and virtual life for both her toddler AND herself.
• Technology Speaks — Janet at Our Little Acorn finds many uses for technology - including giving her child a voice.
• 5 Ways to Extend Children's Screen Time into Creative Learning Opportunities — Looking for a way to balance screen time with other fun learning experiences? Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares 5 fun ways to take your child's love of favorite shows or video games and turn them into creative educational activities.
• What parents can learn about technology from teachers — Douglas Blane at Friendly Encounters discusses how technology in schools enhances children's learning, and where to find out more.
• 5 Tips for a Peaceful Home — Megan of the Boho Mama and author at Natural Parents Network shares her favorite 5 tips for creating a peaceful home environment.
• Technology and Natural Learning — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling writes about the importance of technology as a tool for natural, self-directed learning.
• Babies and Technology — Jana Falls shares how her family has coped, changed their use of, relied on, and stopped using various forms of technology since their little man arrived on the scene
• Kids and Technology — Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis talks about the benefits of using technology with her preschooler, and includes a few of their favorite resources.
• Using Technology to Your Advantage: Helping Children Find Balance — At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy discusses how technology can be used or abused and gives a few tips to help children learn balance.

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Milestones

Normally around here we talk about inchstones, but in this case, I think it's really time to use the word milestone.

Earlier this week, sitting in the waiting room for the speech therapist, Acorn got out his communication device, and from the main screen, he hit the following buttons:

Quick Talk (a page with lots of sentence starters)
I want
to eat
snacks
chips

"I want to eat chips"

A whole sentence. By himself.

When I told him we didn't have any, he said it again - several times.

Eventually, we went back to our speech therapy session and he said the same thing to the therapist. She found him some cheese puffs, and then asked for more, saying both "more" and "I want that" with his device, and with sign language, multiple times.

Hooray for breakthroughs!

It's Birthday Season!

Leaf's birthday was 3 weeks ago. Acorn's was just 2 days ago. And it's been busy.

Acorn's final few days of special ed preschool were this week. We've had lots to organize, including making sure he'll have access to his communication device through the summer - a recent trial shows that while he uses PECS at school willingly, he flat out refuses to use the pictures at home. I guess the fact that he uses them at school is a testament to the communication difficulties he's had with them all year - as soon as they gave him something that they actually wanted him to use, he took off in telling them his needs.

I've been working with several others on a Pagan set of PECS images. I'll have to figure out where we put them on Acorn's device, but they will make having even a basic discussion with him about Sabbats and altars much more useful.

After last year's experience, we're skipping ESY. Knowing how many families fight for their summer hours, it makes me a little skittish about the whole thing, but it's just not a good setup for Acorn. It's a short day, and only a couple days a week. Instead he can hang out at daycare (who is really geeked about using his communication device), and play in the sprinklers and make friends.

Leaf is finally walking, so we're suddenly finding that she's into everything - she's tall enough to see over the edge of the dining room table, so not even the table is a safe place to put things.

And while we're again missing what I'm told is an awesome local Pagan festival this weekend, we're just not in a position to swing it with Leaf's gear this year. Maybe next year...maybe we can do a day trip next year. It's hard to get out and be a part of the community this way, but we will have plenty of time in future years.

Picture Communication for Pagan Kids

Those of you who have been reading here for any amount of time know that my 4 1/2 year old, Acorn, is diagnosed as non-verbal (he says a handful of words only) due to a complicated medical history. While we all think he will eventually talk, we are working on ways for him to communicate right now, because he has a lot to say, and we'd like him to be successful in kindergarten next year.

One of the ways we're doing this is with an electronic communication device - a device with a synthesized voice and buttons to touch for each word that you want to say (sort of like the device used by physicist Stephen Hawking, but more updated, and more appropriate for a child to use).

His device comes pre-loaded with some basic vocabulary, and it's expected that we'll add words related to things he does every day and things he'd like to talk about. There are several thousand words available to us already using a picture symbol set called PCS (picture communication symbols) developed by a company called Mayer-Johnson, but we can also add our own pictures for things that they don't cover.

As you can probably guess, there are lots of symbols in this set for Christians (I've seen church, Jesus, nativity, and more).  There are menorahs and a symbol for Hanukkah. There are symbols for dozens of holidays. But no Pagan ones of any sort.

While I could print out lots of different pictures from the internet, we'd really like to keep the images we're using on Alex's device similar in style to the existing images to minimize confusion...and to minimize drama with the school, who also gets access to add, change, and delete things on the device.

So...to get to the point. I'm looking for 2 things:

1. an artist or two who can mimic the style of the PCS images, such as the ones found at http://www.childrenwithspecialneeds.com/index.php/downloads.html - while I'd love someone who would volunteer, I know that's not very realistic, so I'm willing to negotiate payment for the initial images that we'd like for our own use. If I end up paying someone on my own, I will make the images available for a small fee for others to use. If we can crowd fund or find volunteers, I will make images available for free for others.

2. others who are interested in developing a word & picture list. Our family is nominally Wiccan, so that's where I'm starting on words we'll eventually need, but I'd like to be able to introduce other Pagan faiths & key concepts as well.

Interested? I've started a community on Google to discuss vocabulary and strategies. https://plus.google.com/communities/104217928623812417364

This communication stuff is complicated

On top of everyone being sick, again, it's been a week to deal with communication around here.
Yesterday we got approval for Leaf to use a speaking valve, and she does really well with it. She was back on the vent full time 2 weeks ago with an illness, and the amount of babbling she did was striking compared to her normal near-silence with a trach nose (a known issue - the air escapes through the trach before it gets to her vocal cords). So we're thrilled that she tolerates it so well, and we hear more of her voice, which means we will be able to work more on speech.
Acorn, too, is in the communication loop this week. He's added quite a few spontaneous signs, along with sentences. And we started talking about vocabulary for his new communication device, which should arrive any day now.

In exploring a device set up the way his will be set up, I was amused to find, on the places page, that "church" was near the top (and the top is supposed to be where we put things that children use most frequently). Clearly that one can get deleted for now, leaving space for other things.

I was also amused at the extensive list of holidays. Groundhog Day was there - I'm guessing it's a pretty typical list of holidays that school kids talk about, but still...Christmas, Easter, and Hanukkah, but no holidays for other faiths, which around here is kind of surprising, given the large variety of cultures in our school. I'm guessing it's just a standard load from the manufacturer, but you'd think our county expert would have that well in hand. So we'll have to consider how we add our own holidays in -  changes to the device, by mutual agreement, will be made once a week with both school and family input, so adding them will require a discussion with his teacher and his SLP at school, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

It would be so much easier if he talked.....