Talker

Shortly after Nolan was diagnosed with autism I took a deep dive on Google to l figure out what was ahead of us. I kept seeing the word "nonverbal." Nolan had about 10 words before he started regressing when he turned one. By the time he was 18 months old he didn't say anything at all. When he was diagnosed at the age of two he babbled a lot but there were no words with real meaning.

The word "nonverbal" scared me to death.

Did this mean my child would never talk?

Did it mean I'd never hear "I love you," "mama," or "daddy?"

How would we know when he was hurting or how his day was at school?

How would he be understood if he had no words?

You can see the spiral of anxiety and worry I was headed down.

I eventually learned that autism is a huge spectrum which means some kids who are diagnosed talk non stop and others may never say a word. And there is no way to know what will happen to your child. You just have to wait and see.

At first, this lit a fire in me. I was determined my child would speak like the others. I read and researched and talked to so many parents about what would help. We did supplements, diet, all kinds of therapy, and so much work at home for years. Many of these things helped but there wasn't a "magic bullet" that just changed it all.

Right now, at the age of eight, Nolan is considered nonverbal because even though he uses words, most of them are requests such as: run, popcorn, eat, phone, cup, sleep, etc. I prefer to use the word "preverbal" though because he uses new words everyday!

Nolan uses nonverbal communication very well and always has. Hugs, cuddles, eye contact, touching our face: that means I love you. Crossing arms, scowls, and screams: that means he's mad.Patting his head: that means he is sad or hurt.There are still so many heart breaking times that we don't know what's wrong or times in the car I want so badly to know how he day was. But with every year comes new words and more understanding on our part of what he wants and needs.

The most recent development in our world of communication is an AAC device. That stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It is basically an app that has icons and words on it. He is able to push the button and the app says the word out loud.

We are still learning where all the words are, and it will be a process for sure, but I'm so excited because it gives him another voice! We have only had this device for a few weeks and he has already started using it on his own. He likes to tell people about Kate (our dog) by showing them the picture of her on the app. While we waited on his teacher to come to the door at school he pressed the button with her name on it! And the other day he pressed the "sleep" button and went and got in his bed! Us and his teachers are all training on this device and hopefully will start using it in school next year too! So instead of pointing to the correct number he will be able to put it in his device. Research shows that hearing and seeing the word he wants helps him to use words on his own too!

This "talker," as we call it, is a new ray of hope in our world of autism. As I've grown as an autism parent I'm certain there is no "magic bullet" for speech. There's no "one thing" that fixes anything. Just a bunch of patience, hard work, and the willpower to never give up and keep trying new things.

I had a point about a year ago where I had the thought: "What if Nolan never talks?"

Thinking about this wrecked me when he was first diagnosed.

Now it is okay.

As time goes on so does progress.

And slow progress is always better than none so never lose hope!

This is what the device looks like! It goes everywhere with us!

This is what the Home Screen looks like. Each button goes to another page for every more options! The main ones he loves to use now are sleep, eat, drink, our names, ride, and for some reason he likes the hot air balloon button!

And because Harper wanted to be in the picture too and Nolan thought it'd be funny to wear a frisbee as a hat! haha! I'm proud of Harper too as she has been using his talker a lot too! She loves to try to talk to me on it and say silly things! The more Nolan sees other people use it the more likely he will be to do the same.