PECS mania at our house! Before the Diagnosis (12/21) we were anti PECS. How can this help him speak? If we give him cards with pictures to communicate, won't that teach him it's ok to NOT speak? We want him to speak more! No PECS. Denial and desperation for a non ASD world is a powerful thing. This was when we still harbored hope that we were dealing with a mere speech delay. (I'm not minimizing speech delay- we deal with it, it's NOT minimal. But when compared to ASD- well you get what I'm saying right?) Fast forward several months to today- We have EMBRACED PECS. So guess what I'm doing right now- ordering a PECS system. Wow, they're not cheap! Using some of our tax refund on JD. Would be nice if medical assistance covered it.
He has PECS in his special instruction preschool and he loves them! He runs to his chore board, to his schedule board. He loves his rewards board. He puts his coins in the bag when done. He points to them and says the words out loud. I'm doing this then I'm doing that. "Mama, I did _____ and then we did _______." Anything that gets a whole sentence out of him is an awesome investment! I AM A PECS BELIEVER. It makes transitions much easier, helps him remember chores and schedule. It calms him- minimizes meltdown incidences.
Does he have anxiety disorder? I don't know. He doesn't appear to. But who knows, there's so much he still can't convey to us. Would it surprise me to have an ADHD diagnosis when he's older- nope. I'm sure there's lots of other labels that JD will have once he's older and we can more aptly see where he is developmentally and where we'll likely end up. But you know what? I don't care how many labels they can put on JD. As long as he gets services to improve the labels- label away I say. We'll EMBRACE the labels!
I know crazy right? So many parents out there who fight the "label". Is it a form of denial? I think so. It's a parents natural reaction to resist the change in their reality- well to the awareness of their reality. Fighting the label- to me, is pretty dumb. How can the act of getting a label/diagnosis change the reality of what you're already dealing with? I mean- you are seeing the specialists because you need help, you believe there's a problem- right? Because otherwise why would you go to the specialist? If your doctor told you to go to the specialist and you thought the doctor was insane- you probably wouldn't go see the specialist right? So the fact that you are seeking help- means that you believe something is wrong even before you get a diagnosis. So you're scared of confirmation- that yes indeed there is something wrong. You're scared of the DIAGNOSIS. When really you're scared that the issue/problem is not going away anytime soon and your child isn't "normal".
Is anyone normal? Let it go. No one is normal. We're all kinda weird aren't we? Everyone has a quirk. Let me tell you a secret- embrace the label. You want to tell me my son has ASD, developmentally age 2, cognitively age 2, speech at age 2, hyperactive, oppositional disorder (I've only heard this one once), ADHD, apraxia, motor apraxia, PDD-NOS (only once- CHOP and I agree that he has classic autism. Nothing not otherwise specified here. At least not with this kid. Whatever labels, acronyms, abbreviations, letters, you want to throw after his name- go for it. Now tell us what we get with that! What do I mean? Well-
My son is so much more than the label. We've come to view "the label" of ASD, cognitive delay, global delay, speech delay, whatever delay, as an aid to get more services, just as PECS is an aid to improve speech. Labels are a way for us to get more aid to fix whatever behaviors are causing the label. Without ASD we would not be receiving ABA, OT sensory, or medical assistance. So for us, the label is a good thing. At least so far. It might change when the label prevents us from getting a service. But still- labels aren't bad. Our reality is the "bad" which we have to deal with. Not the label. Post label- life is much easier and stable than before- because at least now we know what we were doing wrong and we know how to make it somewhat better.
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| http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019CUD3C/ref=gno_cart_title_1 |
http://www.tacanow.org/family-resources/pecs/
Where to buy PECS supplies-
Amazon- search for PECS
www.pecs4autism.com
http://www.pecsproducts.com/catalog/
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