21 Days of AAC: Week 3

See week 1 here and week 2 here.

This ended up taking longer than 21 days, but oh well. I'm glad I did it, and I'm planning to do it again several months from now. It was a nice mix of challenges, some I found simple and some not.

I also feel a mix of relieved and let down, now that it's over. It was a kick in the butt to make me try some things I wanted to try but felt scared to, but university is starting and I'm kind of glad I don't have to worry about this stuff while taking my classes.

Task 15 - Describe 3 Beautiful Things

I've had trouble deciding what to describe and I'm also feeling very sick and somewhat depressed, so it's hard to get the energy.

First I said: “My old cat is beautiful. She is black, white and orange with yellow-green eyes. Her fur is thick and soft.”

Two days later I said: “I like the amazing song. It makes me feel good about myself because those children are like me, and the song says they are amazing. It shows autistic kids acting autistic and says they are amazing. It recognizes that stimming can be a good way to play. It also shows kids who are upset, and says it's okay to be upset sometimes instead of seeing this as a continuing thing about autism.”

And later that day, about one of my stim toys, I said: “It is a sparkly shiny silver colored necklace. It is too small to wear but I don't care. The thing at the end has sparkly pieces on a white thing and the back is smooth shiny silver. I like the way it looks and how it feels when I play with it.” (Added 'sparkly’, 'shiny’, 'lace’ and 'smooth’.)

Task 16 - Tell someone my plans for the day

I told my dad “Father I want to buy the carrier for this” (the AAC device) and then added “I also want to sign up for asl”. (The deadline to sign up for the fall ASL class in my area is coming up very soon.)

Task 17 - Summarize an article about an unfamiliar topic

Not sure if this counts as unfamiliar, but I haven't been focusing on it - the Syrian refugee crisis. I read an article by a humanitarian organization and said “I read about people who are in danger because of a war. They have to run away and find a new place to live. The story focused on the children in the war. Many of them are orphans. Many are getting hurt or killed. Some are being forced to have sex with adults or they are being forced to fight in the war. Many are getting sick because they are living in camps with too many people and no way to keep clean. It is a very sad situation but the people who wrote about it are trying to help.”

Task 18 - Say something that I wish I'd said to someone

“I knew you were there, I just wasn't expecting you to stop in the doorway.” I wish I'd said that to an old lady who started chewing me out for looking at my phone while walking. She'd stopped abruptly right in front of me and I just barely stopped in time, and then she said something snarky about me looking at my phone and not paying attention. Really, I'd have had just as much trouble stopping in time if I wasn't looking at my phone, because I didn't expect her to stop in front of me.

Task 19 - Give three compliments

Told my mother “you are a wonderful mom”. She has just been told that she is not getting renewed at her job, and she's taking it hard, so we're trying to comfort her. Then I checked and I have “compliment” under “tell”. I then told my brother, who was helping me comfort Mom, “you are a caring son [his name typed out].” Lastly, that evening, I said “I am lucky to have a wonderful brother”.

Task 20 - repeat of task 14

I got tracking unlocked for my AAC device, so I repeated that task. I had 'the’, 'a’ and 'to’, and chose the synonyms 'enough’, 'one’ and 'in’.

I said “I am good enough”.

Next day, I said: “the dog is in the house” and “one dog and one human go for a walk” (added 'human’). At lunch I said “I want in”, “I have orange drink in my bottle”, “I ate enough food”, “I had one piece of apple pie” and “Mom, have you had enough to eat?”.