The Small One

PAW FOLDERS PART TWO

1. small words

2. phrases

3. swears

4. queer

5. therian

BLANK PAW AND BLANK PAW FLAG:

If every nonverbal kid in your school is given a tablet and the same AAC app regardless of their personal needs and abilities, every adult who regularly interacts with those kids needs to have spent, at minimum, an hour playing around with the same version of that app so they know what it can and can’t do and how the buttons work.

Especially because I keep seeing scenarios where the communication options a kid uses at home are different than the ones provided and enforced at school. In those cases especially, it is your job as their teacher to understand the technology better than they do so you can teach its use.

If you wouldn’t duct tape someone’s mouth shut for repeatedly making annoying noises with it, you shouldn’t take a kid’s AAC device when they choose to use it in a way that annoys you.

I still believe in the above when other students are distracted. As much as possible, the consequence for that should be the same you’d give to another kid being disruptive and noisy in class.

If you want kids to feel secure using a specific AAC method to ask for help or talk about their feelings, access to that method cannot be contingent on good behavior.

My parents accepted me using it, but my dad said that I couldn't use it forever. That i need to be able to talk to have a job and such.

There was no malicious intent, he didn't know what aac was. He's also just really bad at wording things, what he meant (clarified years later) was "you can use it in safe spaces like at home but outside of that you're gonna need to speak because people won't accept using a notebook". Which is only mildly better tbh.

The thing is, aac was (and still is, though less so) unknown. You don't see aac users out and about, most people don't know what it is, that you can, in-fact, live your life without talking. My dad had no clue. How could he? Where was the indications that you could live a full life not speaking?

I wasn't very social as a kid; still aren't. Talking is fun but not all the time. Sometimes it's too hard, sometimes I can't, sometimes I just don't want to. I think little me would've loved aac. Loved it so so much.

I think about it a lot now. People who think disability aids are only for those "who really need it". Why can't it also be for those that "need it"? Why the "really"? Why can't they be for those "who benefit from it"?

I think this is a reason why we need more representation, for disabilities of all kinds. To show that it's ok to ease your suffering a little in ways that harm no-one. So that a little kid can ask for something that helps them, and so that an adult can feel no guilt for using something they "don't need" but benefit from.

PAW FOLDERS PART TWO

1. small words

2. phrases

3. swears

4. queer

5. therian

BLANK PAW AND BLANK PAW FLAG:

I just want to customize the images behind the words but seeing the amount overwhelmed me. Then I decided to just give up lol.

Then I saw I had to pay a fucking subscription for a majority, damn near ALL, of the words! Why tf do I have to pay $13 to be able to tell someone I want fries? 😭

Thankfully, I figured out a loophole to get every word for free but the amount of time that would take is time I rather not spare so I thought, “Why can’t I just have simple words in home and just type out the complex sentences?” I look in the app for some text to speech thing. IT COMES WITH THE SUBSCRIPTION

I’m gonna implode istg-

I just want to customize the images behind the words but seeing the amount overwhelmed me. Then I decided to just give up lol.

Then I saw I had to pay a fucking subscription for a majority, damn near ALL, of the words! Why tf do I have to pay $13 to be able to tell someone I want fries? 😭

Thankfully, I figured out a loophole to get every word for free but the amount of time that would take is time I rather not spare so I thought, “Why can’t I just have simple words in home and just type out the complex sentences?” I look in the app for some text to speech thing. IT COMES WITH THE SUBSCRIPTION

I’m gonna implode istg-