School Conferences, Devices, & A Surprise Friend

Now it’s time for school conferences (March 2019).  The speech therapist at school and her teacher recommend a device/tablet that will help Payton communicate.  They tell us she wants to talk with her peers; and her peers want to talk with her; but she’s getting frustrated.  We talk with Axis about this.  Both our speech and ABA therapist at Axis think they’re a great tool in helping develop speech.  Both myself and my husband worry that she’ll use it like a crutch, and it’ll slow her speech development; but both her teacher and Axis tell us that’s never been the case in children they’ve seen use them; so, we take their advice.  The trial device we used was a bit frustrating; because we didn’t yet know what we were doing with it.  Basically, we needed trained on how to use it before we could ever think about getting Payton to use it; but the day our actual device came turned to be a great day.  Since using her device with Axis, she’s talking more.  It’s been a great help.  She’s only had it about a month and is already using it to request food, drink, and potty trips.  Moral of the story…  TRUST AXIS!

A surprise at conferences… she has a friend!  I almost start crying.  They tell us that when Payton won’t do something, they get this little girl to help; and Payton will abide.  This new friend even drew Payton pictures… okay, I’m crying again.  To have someone accept our daughter for herself is overwhelming and amazing at the same time.  Still to this day I can feel the judgment around me when Payton acts out.  Only down side here is that this little friend will move on to Kindergarten next year 🙁