Toby's PECS

I'm braggin' a little....
I'm proud of myself for committing our family to this. This is Toby's PECS board (picture exchange communication system). Our little lad still doesnt talk. Well, he says "stop" and "baseball"; but those arent very useful for daily conversations unless you are a full time little league coach. Anyway, my friend and "autism genius", Kate (http://autismjourneys.net/) told me that Tobin needs to constantly be using PECS (and pointing/labeling) to learn to communicate and eventually he will learn to label and talk. She told me this several months ago, but i didnt really commit myself to doing the task of always walking around with PECS cards to communicate with the Tobester...until now. He was just throwing way too many fits for mine and Jakes sanity to handle and i knew i had to commit to doing something. So i made a gazillion PEC cards (i've learned to really love velcro), stuck them on a foam posterboard and plopped that posterboard in plain view of that little blonde boys eyes. And it works WONDRFULLY! He has been using these PECS for a couple of days and he has had about a fourth of the fits that he usually has. He's communicating, getting what he needs, and is content. I am so HAPPY! This morning Tobin kept bringing me cards of what he wanted- milk, cookie, fruit snack, movie... I was so thrilled that he was using his PEC board that his morning ended up consisting of a sugary breakfast and Pixar. YAY US!!!