Agents of Speech PTE.

My daughter was diagnosed with autism…

My daughter was diagnosed with autism at the age of 5.5 and was classified as non-verbal at that moment. As many here, I have started with free courses and my daughter started actually using some words we have learnt. But we did not manage to learn much of them because, it turned out, I overestimated the level at which she was at that moment. Also, learning sessions were rather chaotic - we did not take time to properly learn the vocabulary. In spring, we dived into the "Let's Talk More" program, with Joanne as a coach. And from the first weeks my daughter already had the improvements in the active vocabulary. We went very slowly, 1 week module could easily take us a month to master, despite daily exercises. But everyone have different starting level and learning pace. Half year later, my daughter still remembers these words. I did not expect much of the coaching before the start, but it turned out, Joanne was able to solve every complication we had. There were times when I wanted to switch the activities because my daughter just refused to do them, but Joanne offered easy and clear steps to actually make it work. So, don't be like me, don't try to break the brick wall with your forehead for several days in a row and just send a video to your coach right away. Now we're staring the last week. Results. Olga speaks with full sentences when prompted. She often says 2-3 word phrases without prompt, usually describing the world around. What I know for sure is that this would not have happened without AOS. Because even the speech therapist, whom we visit once a week, started teaching her to use the communication device. Which means they don't expect her to speak before the school. But I do. If we were able to move from single words to prompted sentences in 6 months, we can achieve fluent speech in a year. Thank you, Ming and Joanne! Maybe it would help if I share my minor complications along the way, they are very specific. First, translations. We are learning German, not English, and it sometimes took me 30-45 minuted just to cut and transcribe videos. I'm sure there are tools to make it automatic, but I was too lazy to search. Second, I only have BW printer. I managed to print flashcards in protoautomats in grocery stores, but for bigger sheets I did not have such solution - so I painted my own booklets.