Spelling Out Messages on Her NOVA Chat

This girl has such a mind.  She may not be able to speak verbally, but she has so much going through her head that she would just say if she could physically do it.  I thought this might happen one day as our girl is so bright, and here she is..typing out messages on her nova chat to us. She typed "good job help bite" because she is all about chewing right now! I know that she has been working hard on CVC words at school, and we reinforce that at home, but here is a complete message spelled correctly with many different kinds of words.  She may have picked up the spelling while working on core words or just by selecting them on her NOVA..either way it is AMAZING!

As she gains more and more skills to help get out her words, I am so thrilled to be able to catch a small glimpse of her thinking and heart.  Her first language was sign language, and it was darling the other day to see her signing to herself while she translated those thoughts to her NOVA.  I didn't have my phone to video, but she would sign "dirty hand wash".  Then she would find garden dirt hand wash on her NOVA.  All the while I was beaming.  What a precious treasure our girl is to us!  We are thrilled to see her transferring some of her communication skills to her NOVA as it is much more widely understood.  This girl is so incredible, and we are thrilled to hear each and every thought she is sharing with us!  What a few weeks she has had!

Using Her Voice

The other night I had both girls by myself as Daddy and Em were out of town.  I was doing my best to keep up with both of them as always, but tonight Jillian wanted to watch her favorite Elmo song, Siesta, on the computer.  The video is about a minute and a half long and she loves to watch it again and again.  Well, as I was chasing after Anna Mei, getting her in the bath, dressed, and ready for bed, I couldn't always keep up with restarting Jill's song.  Sweet girl would just sit at the computer signing "Momma" until I remembered to check on her.  She seriously is so cute just sitting there signing momma thinking I could hear her doing that.  This lead me to get her "voice" (aka NOVA chat) for her.  I showed her the path to the momma button and then sat back and listened for my baby girl to call for her momma.  Call for her momma she did!  Each time the video was over, she would hit that momma button and the voice would call out for her signaling me to restart that video.  I would hear and come running which really made her happy.  She is so very pleased with herself when she can voice things.  I tried to catch it on video and it wasn't a completely natural use, but getting it on the spot was hard.

 

This certainly led me to give thanks for this incredible technology and the chance she has to use it!

It's Back

Her voice is here!  We had a trial last month meaning that we were given four weeks with this incredible, amazing device.  During that four weeks, our speech therapists called our trial "the most successful" she had ever seen.  My baby girl carried this voice everywhere on her own without prompting.  She used it to name fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle at the store, used it to tell me she didn't want to drink oj a million times a day as I made her try it when we had the voice and she did not like it, and so much more.  When the trial was over and I had to send her voice back, I packed it up, dropped it off at UPS, and cried the whole way home.  I knew Jilly would miss it.  I knew her ability to communicate most effectively would now be gone for 4-6 weeks, but God has been working full speed to reunite my darling girl with her voice.  Our insurance approved her purchase stat and it just so happened that a brand new voice was ordered weeks ago and was just finished being built  for a client who would have to cancel their order this very week when my Jilly's approval came from our benefits!  They were able to transfer her saved files to it right away and we do not have to wait for another to be manufactured for her!  Praising God today that her voice is back!  When I signed for it, I teared up again probably causing the UPS man to think I am a lunatic and maybe I am, but I am thrilled to have it back!  I called her in the living room to open the box.  I tried to video her face through my tears, but baby girl has the sliest smile while she looks down at the machine.  The first thing she said was "I don't want to drink orange juice" which just about caused me to split my pants I was laughing so hard.  She then started running back and forth down the hallway talking with this incredible device!  I am so thrilled for her and praising God for all He continues to make possible for her!

Job 37:5

God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.