Friendship Circle

Communication Challenges and the Informative Pointing Method

I have tried many different therapies for my son. I don’t want to say that they worked miracles or that they were a waste of time and money. With autistic children it’s not easy to see if or how they benefit from it. So we (the parents) continue to pay astronomical fees, running around looking for the next best thing because “this time it will work!” I do know that for years I have been told by teachers and therapist that Autistic kids are very smart. When I asked how they know this they would say something like “I can see it in his eyes”. Ok, so I am a mom and I want to believe it more than anything in the world but after 7 years I have never had one real tangible conversation with my son. So I continue my search for the “magic pill.” Sabian has been in the school district since Early on age 2.  He was diagnosed AI (autistic impaired) at age 3 and has been in an AI class ever since. The method used in most of America for nonverbal children is PECS (picture exchange) which is exactly what it sounds like you have a card with a picture of an apple and card with picture of banana. You show it to a child and from the picture he is supposed to choose what he wants, apple or banana? This system has worked for many children but never for Sabi. After 5 years of PECS he still will not properly make choice from cards. A few weeks back, I searched “nonverbal autistic” on the web. I do this every few months when I feel like I should be doing more for my child.  A link came up called thestrangeson.com. This was a website written by a mother Portia Iverson who has a nonverbal autistic son. Portia found a way to communicate with him by using IPM – Informative Point Method. The more I read, the more I realized that this would be perfect for Sabi. My first thought was, can Sabi read? Is it possible?  So I sat him at a computer and started asking him questions and slowly he started answering them.  Some days he was great and gave me a lot of one word answers and some days he gave me nothing.  As he started understanding that we were connecting to him and understanding him we saw small positive changes in his behavior. Now remember that I started the entire process in the middle. I got great results but realized that I need to go back from the beginning and learn for myself and teach Sabi how to beneficially use IPM  so Sabi can fully communicate. Then I found another website called Everykidcan-ip.com. It has videos of an OT named Heather Clare working with all these Autistic kids who were so much like Sabi. Answering questions, comprehending and showing how pleased they were to be understood. I knew that we needed to get this lady to come to Michigan and teach every family, respite worker, teacher, therapist and anyone else who wants to learn. I immediately thought of The Friendship Circle, and approached them about bringing in Heather for a seminar where all the FC families can learn this technique and hopefully open communication for many silent Autistic children. The seminar and learning session will take place on December 12^th at The Shul (directions) from 6-9pm.  This opportunity is funded by Friendship Circle and is open to the entire public. Please tell your school district, your teachers, your doctors and your friends. You can register for this free event below. Last week when I was out of town, I wrote my son an email that his sister read to him. I asked if he was being a good boy? Do you like fish? His reply that he typed was “I am a good smart boy” and “I don’t like fish but they pretty”. I think I found Sabi’s magic pill.