Knowing the context

Sometimes, it’s a mystery what Jess is trying to tell me. Yesterday, she bounded through the door, tapped her Talker, and said,

“Police car, visited, carnival, pizza”.  I said, “sounds like you had an interesting day”!

Did you see a police car when you were having pizza? As for “carnival”, she did come home wearing Mardi Gras beads so, it’s anyone’s guess. Regardless, Jess was excited to talk to me, it all came out at once. Then she ended our conversation with “ha ha ha” and off she went with Roxy.

Jess’s comments may seem random but this is only because I don’t know what the context was. It made sense to her when she said it but it isn’t as easily understood if you weren’t part of the conversation. How many times have you walked up to people and didn’t follow what they were talking about until they brought you up to speed? It’s no different with Jess.

In the mornings, I try to have AAC modeling time. Recently, as soon as Jess sees me get my Talker, she leaves the room. Funny, I have an effect on people. I share a home with non-talkers…sigh…but…when they want something…they’re in my face and they won’t shut up!

This really is no surprise. People talk when it’s important to them. Reminds me of the joke about a boy who didn’t talk. Years later, he spoke his first words, the mother asked why he hadn’t talked for all these years? and he responded, “because up until now everything had been satisfactory”. (If you watch the video, there’s one comment that annoys me. Because he doesn’t talk, they think he’s “stupid” their words.  Seriously? These aren’t mutually exclusive. Just because someone is not talking doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent. It’s the same erroneous logic speaking louder to a deaf person. SMH)

Maybe life is too easy for Jess? Maybe I need to leave some things unfinished so she has something to complain about? Hmmm, I could get the husband talking more using this logic but I don’t need to go borrowing trouble. He already wonders what I do all day.

If Jess doesn’t clear her words on her Talker, I can see what she said, or I can go into the history feature which tells me everything, as well as when she said it.

The best way to get Jess to start monologuing though is to talk about what interests her. Once the pump is primed, the skies the limit!

“So, Jessie, where did you get those beads“?  She’s a straight arrow so I’m pretty sure all she did was smile to earn them.