Field Trip

I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to see Barb and Lois. I have some experience with students with autism, but I don't have any experience with nonverbal students. I thought that nonverbal really meant no noise/no sounds at all, but Barb is verbal, she just doesn't use verbal expression to communicate. I think the entire presentation was helpful as a model of how to appropriately and respectfully interact with someone who does not communicate in a conventional way. Lois and Barb obviously have a rapport that extends much beyond a professional relationship and so they are very practiced and comfortable with this, but there are still a lot of lessons to take away from observing their interactions.
I was surprised first of all by the amount of time it took in order for Barb to type things. I had though surely if she coauthored an entire book and was continuing to write, that even though the communication was facilitated it would not take that long. But her communication wasn't just that she was simply typing, she had to have assistance focusing on the typing and be adjusted and have contact with Lois at all times while she was using the keyboard in order to finish a thought. The process seemed very involved and I had no idea it was complex. I'm interested in what it is like when Barb is writing with the whole team that she said helps her on a regular basis.
It concerned me that I might not yet have the tools to identify what communication method might work for a student who is nonverbal because meeting Barb showed me that it can be really hard to figure out whether or not someone can understand you and communicate with you - it obviously was a long process for her family and physicians to get to that point.
I strongly agreed with her thoughts on the way that people have evolved and what purpose autism plays in the role of human evolution. I've had the same thoughts for a long time but I hadn't been able to really put them into a concrete statement of any kind, but the way she put it was very eloquent.
I have heard of hoaxes associated with assisted communication before and am glad that Barb took steps within her own life to prove to others that she was not the victim of that kind of deception, however it is heartbreaking to hear that her brother is still suspicious of her and doesn't want to communicate with her any more. In our own encounters with students who are nonverbal, as teachers we need to be prepared for that kind of reaction from students' families and learn how to mediate between student and family if necessary.

I think we all got nervous about asking questions because we all had some but didn't know whether or not we should ask because they didn't seem important or seemed too trivial or we were worried about taking up too much of her time - and I think there are a lot of these sorts of questions and anxieties related to talking to nonverbal individuals which we have to learnt to navigate more smoothly.