What is Rett Syndrome?

What are the Causes of Rett Syndrome?

Why does Rett Syndrome mostly affect females?

Is Rett Syndrome hereditary?

How to Diagnose Rett Syndrome?

• Loss or impairment of fine motor skills
• Loss or decrease of verbal speech
• Gait Abnormalities such as toe-walking
• Repetitive hand movements including wringing, rubbing or clapping

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Rett Syndrome?

Stage I

• Less eye contact
• delays in sitting or crawling.
• Hand-wringing
• Decreasing head growth

Stage II

• Repetitive hand movements such as wringing, clapping, or tapping
• Breathing irregularities
• Autistic-like symptoms such as lack of social interaction and communication deficits
• Unsteady walking
• Slowed head growth which is noticeable

Stage III

• Apraxia
• motor problems
• seizures
• This stage may also see improvement in behavior and communication

Stage IV

• Reduced mobility
• Curvature of the spine
• Muscle weakness, rigidity
• Communication and cognition generally do not decline in stage IV.

• Occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy
• Management of gastrointestinal issues
• Evaluation of Scoliosis
• Antipsychotic medications
• Resources for Parents

Setting  Expectations

Choose the best AAC App

Talk to the Child About How an AAC Device Can Help

Embrace AAC as a Family

Get Help from Experts and AAC Users

Modelling 

Create Opportunities to Use an AAC Device

Ensure Consistent Availability of Device

We Want to Communicate, Even If We May Not Be Able to Do It Well

We Have Self-Stimulating Behaviours. So, Please Don’t Stare at Us

Most of Us Have Sensory Challenges. So, Please Be Considerate

We Do Not Lack Empathy. So, Don't Be Judgemental

Don’t Club Us All Together. Each One of Us Has Unique Traits and Challenges

Photo Credit: Nathan Anderson

What is Cerebral Palsy?

Causes of Cerebral Palsy

Congenital CP Risk Factors

• Low Birth Weight

• Premature Birth

• Multiple Birth Pregnancy

• Assisted Conception Methods

• Infection During Pregnancy

Acquired CP Risk Factors

• Meningitis or encephalitis during infancy.
• Brain injuries due to motor vehicle crashes or falls,
• Cerebrovascular accidents such as stroke
• Birth defects of the central nervous system

Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy

Types of Cerebral Palsy

• Spastic Cerebral Palsy

• Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy

• Ataxic Cerebral Palsy

• Mixed Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral Palsy Treatment

• Physical Therapy

• Speech and Language Therapy.

• Assistive Technology for Cerebral Palsy

• Medication

• Surgery

What is Dyslexia?

 What Causes Dyslexia?

What are the Signs and Symptoms of Dyslexia?

Symptoms of Dyslexia in Preschoolers

• Delayed onset of speech.
• Trouble remembering letters of the alphabet.
• Difficulty identifying letters.
• Difficulty recognizing rhyming phrases.
• Mispronouncing familiar words.

Symptoms of Dyslexia in Children Aged 5 and 6

• Difficulty understanding that words are broken into sounds.
• Trouble understanding the correlation between words and sounds.
• Finding reading laborious.
• Difficulty with pronunciation.
• Trouble with sounding out simple words.

Symptoms of Dyslexia in Children Aged 7 to 12

• Slow reading.
• Difficulty learning new vocabulary.
• Confusing similar sounding words.
• Mispronouncing complicated and unfamiliar words.
• Difficulty comprehending words they read.
• Complaining of words jumping around as they read.
• Trouble remembering and following instructions.

 Symptoms of Dyslexia in Young Adults

• Trouble finding the right words during conversations.
• Making frequent spelling and grammatical errors.
• Delay in responding to questions.
• Not doing well on written tests in spite of being intelligent.
• Difficulty remembering and recalling names.

Symptoms of Dyslexia in Adults

• Difficulty with time management and organization.
• Difficulty in reading and writing reports.
• Trouble focussing while reading.
• Hesitation to read out loud in front of others.
• Experiencing visual problems with the colour of paper or fonts.
• Lack of interest in reading.

Dyslexia Therapy and Treatment

• Multisensory Instruction methods that teach children to use all of their senses while learning.

• Special educational programs that help the children identify the sounds associated with words.

• Reading aloud to the child to improve fluency and accuracy.

• Using fonts, background colours and paper colours that make reading easier for people with Dyslexia.

• Schools and offices can include accommodations such as audiobooks, additional time to finish tests or text-to-speech technology for people with Dyslexia.

• Using Dyslexia Apps like the MDA Avaz Reader that provide research-based support and hints to enable individuals with Dyslexia to read independently.

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The Need for AAC

• People with speech difficulties are not able to make themselves heard.
• Mingling with friends or attending regular school becomes tough. Their inability to mix with peers leads to poor self-esteem and a life of exclusion and loneliness.
• Their preferences are often taken for granted and intentions are second-guessed. People's expectations of them are generally lower, for no fault of theirs.
• This leads to poor self-esteem and confidence. This further prevents the individual from leading an inclusive, fulfilling life and reaching their potential.

Who can Benefit from AAC?

• Children and adults with speech and intellectual disabilities - non-verbal, partially verbal and single word communicators.
• Children and adults with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down’s Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, PDD-NOS, Aphasia, Apraxia or any other condition that affects speech.
• Adults with speech difficulties due to Throat Cancer, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Neurological Disorders
• Children with delayed development indicators
• Other genetic disorders that affect speech

How Does AAC help?

• Gives the ability to communicate
• Reduces anxiety
• Reduces tantrums and behavior issues
• Increases independence
• Boosts self-confidence, self-esteem
• Provides access to education by helping class participation and academic progress
• Improves attention
• Provides access to equal opportunities at education and work
• Empowers the individual and helps achieve one’s goals
• Improves social relationships
• Improves overall Quality of Life by living a life with Dignity and Inclusion

Types of AAC

• Low Tech AAC The use of simple tools such as a picture board or pencil and paper falls under the low-tech category. These tools do not require electric power or electronic components for their functioning. The user’s method of conveying a message through the communication boards or books largely depends on their motor skills and physical abilities. The user selects appropriate phrases, pictures, letters, words, and symbols listed on the communication boards to construct their message. The user selects using a body part, eye-gaze direction, pointer, or a head/mouth stick. In some cases, the user also communicates by answering Yes or No questions as a caretaker goes through the options on the board.

• High Tech AAC High Tech AAC comprises of strategies involving the use of electronics and other technologies. This includes computers, speech-generating devices, and tablets. A communication app for iPad or Android with pictures and text is an example of high-tech AAC.

• Avaz AAC products 
• Avaz FreeSpeech
• MDA Avaz Reader for Dyslexia.

Why can Symptoms of Autism be Missed in Girls?

• Looking for telltale signs of autism by using the same diagnostic criteria as boys. However, the symptoms of autism present themselves differently in boys and girls.
• Girls are brought up to be better at masking their difficulties. They can go about their lives showing little indication of their struggles in socializing.

What are the Possible Symptoms of Autism in Girls?

Some of the obvious symptoms of autism girls can exhibit include:

• Substantial speech and language difficulties.
• Self-stimulating behaviours such as hand flapping, repetitive behaviours, spinning,  rocking etc.
• Lack of adequate social communication skills.
• Severe cognitive challenges.

• Obsession over a particular subject and interests limited to a few topics.
• Atypical sensory responses to stimuli such as loud noises, bright lights, and certain textures. Keep in mind that sensory challenges can also be a sign of other disorders.
• Unusual passivity. Girls with autism can refrain from expressing their opinions because they are uncertain about the right thing to say. While passivity may be one of the symptoms of autism, it must be noted that there are people with autism who are quite assertive.
• Being withdrawn and unusually quiet. Many girls can be inherently shy because it is a part of their personality. Therefore, it is important to consider the extent of the child’s shyness and how much it impacts her social life.  

How can the Signs of Autism Differ in Boys and Girls?

• Girls can be better at responding to non-verbal cues and gaze following.
• Girls can be capable of focussing more and are less likely to be distracted
• Boys can struggle with social communication from a very early age. Girls, on the other hand,  tend to be more adept at dealing with social challenges during childhood. They might find it tougher to tackle social obstacles as they enter their teens.
• Both girls and boys with autism can have obsessive tendencies. The extent of the repetitive and restricted behaviours may be lower in female children than their male counterparts. That said,  the topics of interest in the case of girls may not stand out as much as they do among boys.
• Girls tend to display less aggressive behaviour than boys. In fact, girls with autism can be very passive. However, since society considers passivity an acceptable trait for girls, such attributes might go unnoticed as symptoms of autism.

Why is it Important to Diagnose Early?

Source: https://www.verywellhealth.com/differences-between-boys-and-girls-with-autism-260307

• Avaz AAC products 
• Avaz FreeSpeech
• MDA Avaz Reader for Dyslexia.

Child Assessment

Awareness of Parents

Navigating the Physical Environment

Building an Emergency Kit for Children with Special Needs

• • • Medication

      The emergency tool bag must contain nebulizers or masks for children with respiratory illnesses, medicines for children with diabetes, and medication for children prone to allergies and epilepsy.

    • Stress Busters

      The emergency kit must include a toy or a book that can comfort the child and keep them engaged during the lockdown. Music players with headphones can reduce anxiety in children with special needs. For kids with sensory needs, including sensory toys such as chewelry (chewable medical grade jewellery)  and stress balls can help them control their vocalizations.

    • Communication and AAC Apps

      For kids who use iPads or other AAC devices for communication, having such devices in the bag can help them communicate to first responders if needed.

    • Food and Activities

      Packing the favourite snacks and treats of the children along with colouring books and crayons can keep them occupied and calm during the lockdown.

Team Work, Planning & Coordination 

Teacher Education

Preparing the Child

Talking to Parents

Assessing Potential Barriers and Solutions

Making it Fun is One of the Vital Strategies for Implementing AAC in the Classroom

1. Communication requires effort, be patient while listening

2. Communicate with the person, not the system

3. Help manage noise

4. Take care not to dominate the conversation

5. Don’t presume incompetence

6. Ask before touching their AAC system and respect screen-privacy

trained to mediate and closely observe during mediation. The peer tutors are typically the same age as the children requiring support.

1. Stay near their partner
2. Engage with the partner
3. Talk with the partner by commenting on the activities and respond to their partner’s communicative efforts.

1. Introduce each skill one at a time.

2. Associate each skill with a simple visual you can refer back to when implementing.
3. Model each skill for children and allow them to practice.
4. Provide positive and constructive feedback for the children.
5. Allow peer tutors and target children to practice each skill with their partners.

Create a Photo Album

Favorite TV Shows

Favorite Food Items

Read a Book Together

Discuss Routines

An inclusive society is about the dignity and worth of every person. This is the backbone of ALL human rights. Though there have been some improvements in our society over the last few years, disabled people and their families still confront isolation and exclusion. They continue to be pushed to the fringes of society.

To overcome this incongruous situation, we as a society need to change our attitude, begin a shift in perspective even. An inclusive attitude and behavior enable us to overthrow prejudices and raze down barriers that we have created overages.

Inclusive Society – What is it?

A socially inclusive environment is a place where everyone is welcomed. It is one where one feels comfortable enough to realize their identity and express their feelings. Social inclusion assures that one’s opinions are honored, just like anyone else’s.

Why is an Inclusive Society important?

Social inclusion plays a crucial role in determining the health of a person. Without inclusion, people are more prone to poor mental health, loneliness, isolation, and poor self-esteem.

Social inclusion enables a more positive and healthier human experience.  

Social inclusion enables people:

• To feel a sense of belonging.
• To feel worthy of their roles in the community.
• To be an active participant of the community.
• To have peers/companions and not feel being left out.
• To build social relationships.

Some crucial ways to nurture a more inclusive society:

Here are some of the ways through which greater inclusivity can be brought about. If each one of us can stay aware of these steps and keep pushing for them wherever we are, an inclusive world would no longer remain just a dream.

Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities

Providing equal opportunities for people with disabilities would enable in creating a more inclusive society. However, the disability community is still discriminated against at work from being refused a job or denied a final interview. This can be overcome by training the staff and creating awareness among the employers to view the person as an asset and not a liability.

Increase Disability Representation in Political Setting

People with disabilities encounter architectural, attitudinal and technological barriers when exercising their right to vote, including, no automatic door openers, narrow doorways, and inaccessible voting machines to name a few.

We need to encourage our younger generations with disabilities to become politically involved. Political parties need to encourage persons with disabilities in their cadre and eventually give them platforms to contest in elections. All this would help to create a more inclusive political setting.

Integrate Disability History in School Curriculums

Disability history needs to be integrated within the school system so that the disability community will be fully acknowledged. With the inclusion of disability history, the community can be embraced by everyone and it enables mutual respect and empathy towards each other.

Promote Social Inclusion in Schools

As a society, we have the responsibility to promote the inclusion of our differences and it should be instilled in young minds. We should celebrate our peers for their differences and it should be taught at a young age. This will result in less discrimination and more social inclusion.

Provide College Scholarships to Athletes with Disabilities

Athletes with disabilities should be scouted and receive scholarships based on their athletic abilities. People should be acknowledged for their abilities rather than their disabilities and should be encouraged to participate in more events.

Realize that People with Disabilities are Humans

The most essential change that is needed in society is to see a person with a disability as a person and realize that their disability does not define who they are and it is only a part of their life.

People with disabilities have desires, skills, talents, heartache, and emotions, just like everyone else. This should be the basis of every person’s understanding and interaction with people with disabilities. That we all share these similarities which include people with disabilities as well.

Creating an inclusive society may not happen in a year or a decade, but it is not impossible to attain. Taking the first step and moving towards creating an inclusive society will bear fruits for the coming generations. With proper training, awareness, and acceptance, an inclusive society is certainly achievable.

Do share your thoughts on this subject with us, in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you :)

Quite often, young people with disabilities need additional support with things that peers their age can do by themselves. This love and support that they receive should be given in a way that empowers them to be as independent as possible. It should be the kind that reaffirms their individuality, personal dignity, and agency. And this is where the idea of self-advocacy comes in.

What is Self-advocacy?

Self-advocacy is to feel empowered to make and express one’s life decisions and choices. It also refers to an individual’s ability to effectively communicate, convey their interests, desires, needs, and rights. Self-advocacy involves making informed decisions and taking responsibility for those decisions.

The goal of self-advocacy is for the individual to decide what they want and then developing and carrying out a plan to get it. It also means that they can seek and get help whenever they need or want it.

Why is Self-advocacy important?

Self-advocacy skills enable children to have more control over their lives and make decisions that they desire. It empowers a child to speak up for themselves and make sure they have a choice in whatever decision they want to make. Also, research has found that there is a clear link between teaching children self-advocacy skills and their ability to be happy, well-functioning adults.

Self-advocacy plays a crucial role in the development of a child, so as caregivers it is our responsibility to enable children to self-advocate!

So, how can you help children to learn to Self-advocate?

The primary step towards encouraging self-advocacy skills would be to include the child in their  Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) process.

All students must be included in the IEP process to the best of their ability. Using simple language or pictures to help them understand their strengths and areas of need goes a long way in enabling them to be an active participant in the process.

It is never too early to include children in the meetings, even if it is just for a few minutes. Have the team members speak to or discuss with the student rather than the student.

Give children the freedom to make choices

From an early age, present your child with choices. For instance, when it is time for breakfast, you can ask them what would they like to have and give them options like oatmeal or toast. This enables them to be the decision-maker and enables them to be in control of their decisions.

Let children know that they have the right to say NO. This enables them to deny the requests that are unreasonable to them.

Teach Self-advocacy skills

It is essential for a child to know about their disability and how and when to disclose their needs to others. As a caregiver, ensure that you teach them all about their condition and how to disclose them when the need arises.

It is also imperative that they are encouraged to be part of groups and communities of neurodiverse youth. Such communities give them a chance to be themselves and exchange experiences. Being a part of such a community also helps to create a strong support system in addition to creating opportunities for healing and growth in the midst of peers.

Make use of a checklist to determine what skills a child already has and the skills they need to learn. This can help them to focus on a particular skill and develop it.

Encourage children to do activities that they can do on their own as independently as possible. This will also boost their self-confidence and enable them to be more participative in learning the activity.

It is never too late to start teaching your children about self-advocacy. Self-advocacy can enable your child to have the highest quality of life possible, even when you are not present to advocate on their behalf. One important point to be mindful about is that teaching self-advocacy takes time and the support of the community but it is achievable with constant practice and hard work.

How do you think self-advocacy can be taught? What are some of the ways in which you have promoted self-advocacy skills? We would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and stories in the comments below.

Guest Post by Priya Sasi Murali

When Pranav was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD-NOS) as an 18-month-old baby, his father and I felt lost and disheartened. But as the days passed, we were able to gather our courage. We began working through the emotional turmoil bit by bit. And it was around this time that we began our search for answers to how we could support Pranav to live his best life.

The Beginning of our Journey

Initially, we were overwhelmed by the range of therapies and interventions, especially since not many of them seemed to be scientifically proven. As my search for more proven and sophisticated approaches continued, I came across a diploma course in Special Education with a focus on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) from a reputed school. I immediately enrolled in the course. This gave me a better understanding of ASD. Learning about the various conditions, characteristics, behaviors and proven teaching methodologies for children on the spectrum helped me better formulate ways in which I could support my son.

As Pranav grew older, so did my desire to empower my son. I continued to educate myself. I used to read a lot of books – from autobiographies of high functioning autistics to parent experiences, research articles, blogs, and other related writings. My thirst for knowledge and my will to empower my son led me to attend a lot of conferences. I interacted with senior professionals and experts in the field and gained many valuable insights.

My Goals

When Pranav was about 9-years old, I formulated two primary goals for us. One for Pranav and one for myself.

• For Pranav, the goal was to make him independent, functionally and financially.
• For me, it was to support Pranav as he worked to develop his personality and individuality.

With these goals in mind, we began working on a few areas we felt were essential to achieving them.

Functional Independence

To work towards independent living, we started with functional independence. We realized that his sensory issues are a huge hindrance for his Activities of Daily Living (ADL) independence. He was highly sensitive to some simple activities like washing his face, cutting his nails, a haircut among others. The loud sounds from a pressure cooker and blender also bothered him. We worked on normalizing these sensitive activities through constant modeling. Today Pranav has come a long way from where he started. He now helps me with chopping vegetables and watches calmly as I make chutney (a spicy Indian relish that requires the use of blender). At times he even operates the blender on his own with my presence.

Financial Independence

The next area of focus is financial independence. When Pranav was 10, I requested his school to move him to the vocational stream. I believe that this will enable Pranav to learn the skill set required for him to be financially independent. He is now getting trained in 3 or 4 vocational skills in his school and I make sure to work closely with his teachers in building those skills.

Safety

Safety is another area that is important while learning to be independent.. We started teaching him about household safety to begin with. Initially, we taught him not to touch anything that was hot. Steam was, therefore, a useful indicator for us. Pranav learned that if steam is coming out of any object/item, he should not touch it. Next, we moved to handle stoves. After a lot of hard-work and modeling, Pranav can now safely operate the stove by himself.  

Road safety is something we practice regularly. I personally believe that every child should be taught road safety measures. Every day, we go for a walk for about half an hour and I never hold his hands. He walks straight on the footpath. Pranav has also learnt to cross manual signals and he is learning to cross automated signals as well. He is used to traveling in all sorts of public transport with an adult and loves it!

Working to Develop Pranav’s Personality

I want Pranav to be a self-regulated individual and to achieve this, I am teaching him to take care of his emotions. I have enabled him to understand, over time, to take NO for an answer. Especially if they involve his favorite items. This has enabled him to adjust to every situation he encounters. For instance, when our relatives visit us, he has to sleep in our room and has to give up his bed. Through regular work, we are now at a place where such requests do not trigger him.

Also, as I was teaching him to identify and make do with his emotions, I realized music helped him. That it was serving as a coping mechanism for him to regulate himself. Now he goes for regular music therapy sessions in a reputed musical team which works for children with special needs.

Pranav’s Rights

As Pranav works towards leading an independent life, we are working to create an awareness in him that he should be proud of who he is. That he has a whole community of people he can take support from. And that he, unfortunately, would have to work harder than others to secure his rights.

To this end, we make it a point to participate in all awareness drives and activities. We want him to bring to light with all pride and dignity that he is autistic. As a mother and as a person committed to social justice, I’m determined to enable Pranav to fight for his rights and create an inclusive society.

This is What Independence Looks Like

This year, on World Autism Acceptance Day, Pranav and I went shopping at Big Bazaar. He had his shopping list with him on Avaz. I had helped him create the list with options so that he could choose between two items of his choice. He was able to pick the items of his choice and get them billed. He also interacted with a couple of people around the store! Through the whole experience, Pranav remained calm and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Truly, given a supportive environment and the right tools, children with autism can happily socialize and interact.

Did I mention that this was his first-ever shopping experience?

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKSJIID-scU[/embedyt]

I  took immense pride in what Pranav was able to achieve that day.  It was an indication to me that we are moving in the right direction. That I am bringing up my child in a  way that empowers him. I also feel blessed and pray to God to guide me in bringing him up in a way that he empowers himself as well as his community!

Priya is a qualified Special Educator specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). She lives with her family in Chennai, India. Her son Pranav is 14. He is non-verbal and has been diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD-NOS) which is one of the four Autism Spectrum Disorders.

We are grateful to Priya for having shared her story with us. Her journey would give some of us new ideas to try with our own children while opening the eyes of some others to the possibilities. 

We would love to hear your thoughts and the kind of journey you are on personally or with someone you care for! If you or anyone in your circle is interested in sharing their story, do drop us a line! We’re listening! :)

Drop a comment or write to us at support@avazapp.com

“Awareness is easy but acceptance comes from a place of understanding.”

April has always been very close to my heart. With the entire month being observed as Autism Acceptance Month, it brings to the fore the sheer diversity and vibrancy that represents the autism community. A time to celebrate the incredible strides made by the community and their allies towards creating an equitable and just society. Not only for themselves, but also for those will come after them. 

It also brings into sharper focus some other things. For instance, the fact that the important conversations we have during this month must continue all through the year. That these must translate to commitment and action on the part of every member of society.

We, at Avaz, take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to continuously support the autism community, as well as the larger community of people with disabilities, in all their endeavors through our work and beliefs.  

At the core of all our work at Avaz is the belief that whatever we create should enable equal opportunities. We commit ourselves to keep creating products that enable anyone on the autism spectrum to be able to unleash their true potential.

Through our work, we will constantly strive to help break down barriers that arise from society’s misplaced notions about disability, and what equality and accessibility really mean.

All the technology that we have been able to create has been possible only because our users and their families tell us what they want. And we have never stopped listening.

I would like to reiterate our commitment to constantly work with the autism community and the larger community of people with disabilities. And do so to create products that work with them towards realizing their dreams.

I take this opportunity to invite you to join us, partner or collaborate with us. To create solutions. To create acceptance. To create change.

The future that we envision is one of acceptance and inclusion. It is about creating a world where people with disabilities can participate in everything. Where equal opportunities are the norm.

Thank you for letting us journey with you thus far. We look forward to travel further with you in your work towards creating an accepting and inclusive society for all.

In solidarity,

Narayanan

CEO, Avaz

P.S. On account of Autism Acceptance Month, Avaz and free speech are now available at a 50% discount. Click here to know more.

In our previous blog post, we spoke about Mindful Parenting – a technique that melds the practice of mindfulness with approaches to parenting. We discussed how this can enable parents to manage their stress and attend to their wards in a more effective way. If you haven’t had a chance to have a look at the various techniques of mindful parenting shared in that blog, you can take a quick peek here: Mindful Parenting.

Mindfulness is for everyone, regardless of age. Children, especially those on the autism spectrum, can immensely benefit from making the practice a part of their lives. In this week’s blog, we will be discussing mindfulness techniques that you can teach your kids. Mindfulness can enable your child to recognize their emotional responses to stimuli. Using this knowledge, they can over time, learn to respond more effectively to situations and stimuli.

How Mindfulness and Autism are Connected?

Many children on the spectrum struggle with three critical areas: motor skills, sensory regulation, and socialization. They have difficulties in gaining control over the relationship between their mind and body. This is where mindfulness can help. Mindfulness lays the foundation for the skills required for building awareness of the body. Practicing mindfulness gradually enables children to take control of their body. This, in turn, leads to better sensory regulation and a decrease in social anxiety.

Benefits of Mindfulness – For Children

When done properly, mindfulness has several benefits over time, including:

• A better awareness of what is happening inside them, emotionally and physically as well as the happenings around them.
• The ability to identify and control their own emotions.
• Tools to handle their anxiety by helping them to pause, breathe and anchor themselves to calm their mind and body.
• Improving attentiveness while learning.

How to teach Mindfulness to Children on the Spectrum?

There are many ways by which a child can learn to be mindful. The following ideas can be used as a foundation to come up with more customized techniques that suit your child the best.

Here are some simple ways in which you can teach your child to practice mindfulness on a regular basis:

Breathing Exercises: Come up with a breathing exercise/game for your child. For instance, ask your child to cuddle their favorite toy to their tummy and see if they can make it rise slowly up and down using their breath. This enables them to easily concentrate on their breath.  

Another instance would be to use a balloon. Hand over a balloon to your child and ask them to blow it up slowly. As the balloon expands, invite them to turn their attention to the balloon. Once they are done, you can slowly release the air from the balloon and call their attention to the balloon’s contraction. This is a great way to teach children to concentrate. You can build upon this technique and come up with similar or better methods!

Bell Listening Exercise: Ring a bell. It could be a physical one or one from an app. Ask your child to close their eyes and listen to the vibration of the bell. As the sound of the bell declines, invite them to slowly shift their attention to any other sounds they hear for about a minute. This is a simple yet effective exercise that shifts your child’s attention to the present moment.

Soles of the Feet: This technique was developed by researchers to manage angst, anger, and aggression. When your child is faced with emotionally stimulating situations, you can teach them to redirect their attention and awareness to a neutral part of the body such as the soles of their feet. This technique helps calm and clear their mind during stressful and stimulating situations.

Calm-down Jars: For this activity, fill a clear jar halfway with water. Top it off with some glycerin or baby oil. Finally, add some glitter to the jar and screw the lid on tight. You can also glue the lid on to prevent spills. If you have a snow globe handy, that would work perfectly as well.

When your child is going through a stressful experience, ask them to shake up the jar and watch as the glitter settles after the swirling chaos within it. This technique allows them to relate their internal state of mind to a visual object. As the external calms down, they too will be able to calm themselves down effectively.

With regular practice, children on the spectrum can benefit greatly from mindfulness and can take control of their body and mind coordination. Also, mindfulness has several benefits and helps them to approach an unexpected or stimulating environment with a calm mindset. Mindfulness, when practiced regularly, can enable children to be more efficient in their activities.

Are you practicing any mindfulness techniques already? Share your thoughts with other readers in the comments section below. :)

Parenting can get pretty stressful and challenging. Yet, as many parents would vouch, it is one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences in life!

Parenting a child with disabilities comes with its own unique set of challenges. Parents of children with autism and other related disorders have been known to experience high levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Parental stress is a serious issue, but it is often ignored. Self-care gets neglected and parents often end up with severe burnout. This might lead to a situation where parents may no longer be in a position to provide their wards with care and support to the best of their abilities.  

Key to be able to manage this stress is, self-care. And one of the most impactful approaches to self-care is through mindfulness. In today’s blog post, we will discuss what mindfulness is, its benefits and a few simple mindfulness practices that one can integrate into their daily lives.  

Mindfulness – What is it?

Mindfulness, in simple terms, means paying attention to or being in the moment, without passing any judgment.

What are the benefits of mindfulness?

Consider a situation where your child is having a meltdown when you are at the park or in a store. The most ideal response would be to first, realize and accept your anxiety and frustration at the situation. Next, you would want to focus on how to respond to their meltdown, without letting your thoughts affect your decision-making. This is one instance of mindful parenting

Practising mindfulness, can over time, enable one to approach any issue in a calmer, more systematic manner. It can help you to deal with tough times with greater strength and resilience. The ability to cope with any given situation improves significantly.

Mindfulness also promotes the ability of greater acceptance. Practising acceptance reduces stress. It also helps in better focusing on the present rather than worrying about the distant future.

In essence, mindfulness empowers one to look at oneself and life situations with kindness, love, and forgiveness. When the same mindfulness permeates all aspects of life and becomes a part of the way one approaches parenting, it is mindful parenting.

How to Practice Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is not a destination, it is a journey. It needs to be built slowly and steadily. And it will take time. Here are some simple ways in which one can start inculcating mindfulness into their lives:

Mindful Walks:

The best place to begin mindfulness practice is by simply taking a walk! Put aside a few minutes every day to take a short walk. On the walk, will yourself to notice things around you and the act of your walk itself. While you are doing this, try to concentrate on the smallest details. Things that you would normally miss while being lost in your own thoughts.

In the beginning, it might seem rather tedious. Over time though, this will cease to seem like a task. You may even come to look forward to this walk! Slowly, try replicating the same during the routine tasks you undertake on a daily basis – be it brushing, bathing, cooking or driving.

Such conscious intake of your surroundings enables you to clear your mind of the constant swirl of thoughts and worries in there. As you master this technique, you can try observing your thoughts with similar concentration.

Bonus: This can be a great relaxation technique as well!

Breathing Exercises:

Simple breathing exercises can help with developing mindfulness. The basic exercise that you can start with is just the observation of your breath. Time yourself as you do this. Start at 20 seconds and slowly move upwards. There are many guided meditation apps that you can use to support this practice. These apps will give you guidance as well as tips to improve your practice.

Mindful Bedtimes:

During bedtime, try to include an app-guided meditation a couple of times a week. Body scanning technique is a great way to start practising mindfulness. This promotes great sleep, which is an added bonus!

With everyday practice, mindfulness can immensely help parents be more effective with their children. It also enables one to look at the bigger picture and not get caught up in the smaller things.. Mindfulness has several benefits and has absolutely no side effects. It can provide parents with useful coping techniques and help one to be more efficient in their daily activities.

Do you practice mindfulness? What are the techniques you use? Share your thoughts on this subject with us, in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you :)

Human beings are social creatures. Social Skills, therefore, are considered to be one of the most important aspects of human life. These skills are deemed an integral part of functioning in society. One begins to pick up these skills from a very young age. This, in turn, prepares one for a lifetime of healthier interactions while enabling the capacity to make meaningful connections with others.

However, the very nature of social skills is subjective. The capacity to pick up these skills at a level that is socially acceptable varies from person to person. Given this subjectiveness, persons with disabilities may find it challenging to understand and demonstrate these skills.  

What are some of the ways in which such skills can be developed in a manner that is reaffirming? Team Avaz has been researching this and we have put together some proven ideas that you can try out for yourself.  

Modeling

The importance of modeling, in every aspect of life, is worth stressing on repeatedly. There is no doubt that it is the single most effective technique to teach any kind of skill to your child. As a caregiver, you can help model different kinds of social interactions by enacting them to or with your child. Enacting is a great way to familiarise children to a new environment and it enables them to be prepared for a new or unexpected interaction.

Pick one scenario to enact and model your child until they are able to interact with ease.

Self-Modeling

While modeling involves an active role by the caregiver, self-modeling is where the caregiver takes the back seat. One way of self-modeling would be to record the student while they perform or practice the social skill.

Begin this process by first breaking down the interaction to smaller segments. Have your child perform one piece and record it using your phone. You can also prompt or model when needed.

Finally, combine all the pieces together to create a seamless recording. Play this video back to the child. As they watch themselves performing the task from start to finish, they will understand the concept better.

The video can also be used as a tool for reiteration.  Backed with practice, this technique will support the child’s effort to generalize any social skill that they are looking to pick up.

Cartoon Strip Social Interaction

Cartoon strip conversation is a technique innovated by Carol Gray. It is a way to let children(or any learner) fill their thoughts in speech bubbles before they role-play a conversation. Cartoon Strip Social Interactions support all levels of challenge and help with improving the fluency of social skills. Research has shown that cartoon strip interaction is an effective way to enable students to improve social interaction skills.

The comic strip below can be used as a guide. There are many such resources available on the internet for free. Use one such comic and guide your child to fill in the bubbles in the boxes. For non-verbal children, you can use the same technique hand in hand with their AAC technology of choice. Prompt them to tap out responses on their AAC device.

With this method, you can introduce a whole range of interactions including greetings, requests, initiation of social interactions, and negotiations to your child.

For instance, you can practice Greetings like “Good Morning” or “Hi, I’m Johnny”.

Another example would be a Request like “Can you please help me?”.

Role-Playing

The practice is an essential tool for building social skills. Role-playing offers a great way for a child to practice a social skill with another person in a controlled and safe environment. By exposure to other people’s responses, the child will get to grasp the interaction from different perspectives while broadening the scope of their understanding of the skill.

The comprehension and demonstration of emotions, expressions, and interactions can seem quite daunting for a child with a disability. But patient guidance and support will enable them to develop such skills over time. Coupled with practice in a safe and affirming environment, children can acquire the skills to identify emotions as well as their causes and effects in various scenarios.  This will enable them to build healthier and more meaningful relationships with their friends and family.

What are some of the ways in which you have tried enabling social skill learning?  We invite you to share your ideas with us and our readers in the comments section below! :)

References:

https://www.thoughtco.com/cartoon-strip-social-interactions-3110699

https://www.thoughtco.com/teaching-social-skills-3110705

It is a known fact that children are excluded from many school settings because of disability, race, language, religion, gender, etc. But every child has the right to be educated and thrive in an environment that is inclusive irrespective of the differences. Nowadays, parents are more inclined towards inclusive education, but there isn’t much awareness of this topic.

Keeping this in mind, we are going to try and demystify inclusive education and its importance.

Inclusive Education – What is it?

Education is deemed to be inclusive when students from diverse backgrounds learn side by side in the same classroom. Students with different physical and learning abilities are placed in age-appropriate general education classrooms. They participate in field trips and after-school activities together and attend the same sports meets and plays.

It is the teachers and the school administration who recognize that children with disabilities have equal capacities to learn and perform just like their peers without disabilities. To this end, they provide adequate support, resources, and infrastructure to facilitate their education.

Why Inclusive Education is Important?

Inclusive education is about appreciating each child’s differences. It involves taking cognizance of each child’s unique set of strengths and limitations. Inclusive education enables children to understand and live in harmony in a world filled with people different from themselves. An inclusive school is the perfect training ground for real life as the dynamics of the school imparts children with life lessons, values, and morals.

Some important values that inclusive education imparts are:

Greater Sensitivity

Children who grow up in inclusive education dynamics become more sensitive by learning side-by-side with their peers with disabilities. They understand how words can affect a person. They get to practice patience and develop empathy. This also inculcates strong bonds of friendship among the children and helps them learn social skills.

Better Understanding of Strengths and Weaknesses

Children in inclusive schools learn that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. This gives all the children a chance to learn to appreciate such differences. Children with disabilities, especially, are able to develop a positive perception of themselves from the get-go. All the children in such a setting, learn the importance of collaboration to accomplish something. As children of different abilities learn and grow together, so do their values of respect and acceptance.

Learning Together

The primary aim of inclusive education is to enable children to learn and equip themselves with skill-sets that fits their interests. Such an approach benefit everyone. Children learn at their own pace and style within a nurturing and supportive environment.

Creation of an Inclusive Society

Introducing inclusive education into the classroom leads to the acceptance of children with disabilities, thereby enabling them to lead their lives in a more inclusive society. When children are exposed to inclusive education, it imparts the values, skills, and knowledge to include others who are different from them. Children start to perceive the differences in a positive way. In the long run, these future adults will be instrumental in ensuring that equal opportunities are made available to ALL.

Inclusive education is of great importance and schools should not exclude students with disabilities. Children with disabilities should be provided with quality education just like children without disabilities.

With continuous exposure, inclusive education not only enables children but also parents and teachers. Also, inclusive education meets the requirements of every child in the system thereby creating a bright future for this approach. With proper training and support, schools can implement inclusive education with ease and success.  

Share your thoughts on this subject with us, in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you :)

Love & support from family and friends can make all the difference in our lives. This is especially true for those who find processing even day-to-day activities overwhelming.

To care better for your loved ones with autism, we have compiled some tried and tested tips that can help you to show even more love in your caregiving role. This way, you can shower your love not only on Valentine’s Day but also all year round :)

Express thoughts clearly

It is a very human tendency to drop subtle hints or convey our thoughts in a not-so-straightforward way. For people with autism, the task of reading between the lines is a challenge. So, it is always best to communicate thoughts and opinions in a clear and straightforward manner with them.

Being transparent and upfront helps them stay focused on the immediate present in addition to giving them a clear idea of what was communicated.

Say NO to surprises

When a change is presented in a rational, gradual and logical manner, it is well-received by people on the spectrum.

On the other hand, they would find coping with sudden changes in routine difficult. They do best when they know what to expect. Even when a “happy” surprise party is thrown, they would need time to thoroughly consider and walk through the events unfolding in front of them.

A change of plans brings with it an immediate sense of uncertainty. This, in turn, could lead to confusion and discomfort. Hence make all plans keeping this in mind.

Create opportunities for activities to look forward to

The anticipation of an enjoyable experience (things they are already familiar with) keeps them going throughout the day. The thoughts of an upcoming happy time would help counterbalance anxiety and panic-driven situations.

Simple things such as their favorite meal, lunch with a dear friend, or a day to sleep in and rest – looking forward to things like these keep them going. So ensure that you create such enjoyable events for your loved ones on the spectrum.

Have things in order

Having things organized in a systematic and consistent manner is essential in providing comfort. Make sure the immediate space – such as rooms, paperwork, school bag, wardrobe and such are organized in the same fashion every day.

While this might be a bit tiresome for you, this also means less anxiety brought on by challenges with object permanence that your loved ones on the spectrum face. Simple things like knowing what to expect when they enter a room or when they open the dresser drawer prevents anxiety. Not having to guess and process the excess of information before, during, and after an encounter goes a long way.

Give them ample time to process

One of the most important things you can do to support your loved ones is to provide them with adequate time to process information at any given point of time. People on the spectrum need time to process their own emotions and expectations. Without the time to process the events of their life, they might not function to their fullest. So it is essential to give them ample time and space to let them understand the unfoldings of both internal and external events.

Give them unconditional love and acceptance

People on the spectrum need to be understood, accepted and loved unconditionally! When they are forced to do things they don’t want, it might lead to meltdowns. Instead, provide them with space to follow their pursuits and special interests. Let them have their “Me” time, and make sure that you do not disturb them or push them to do things that you may think is best for them.

This Valentine’s Day let us show our love and support to the adults and children with autism and make them feel loved even more! The above-mentioned ideas are just one way of doing that. We hope that you find these tips useful and implementable for your loved ones. Together, let us make sure that Everyone is being Loved & Cared for!

Do you have any ideas that you have used with your loved ones? Feel free to share with us in the comments section below!

At 21, Ummul Khair decided that she no longer wanted to stay at home. She picked up the phone and dialed an inquiry number. But it was not an easy task to find Vidya Sagar (formerly – The Spastics Society of India). Many calls later, she boarded a train to Chennai. This is the journey that changed her life and made her the person she is today!

Almost two decades later, Ummul is now the Coordinator of the Disability Legislation Unit (DLU) at Vidya Sagar. She works on advocacy for people with disabilities. A student of Sociology and a graduate from the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law College, Ummul now eagerly awaits her enrollment in the Bar Council. Ummul is an independent, outspoken, and knowledgeable woman who aims to make our community more accessible, one audit at a time.

Team Avaz had the privilege to interview Ummul and get to know more about her, her journey and her work. So sit back and get inspired by the life of this woman of substance!

Team Avaz (TA): Who is Ummul Khair? What is she like as a person?

Ummul: I have a disability. Yes! But I’m not a disabled person. I have my strengths and weakness and I would like others to accept my abilities. Accept me for who I am and accept me as a Person with Disability.

I used to be an innocent child and always depended on others but now I am able to help others and that makes me happy!

TA: Tell us a bit about your childhood? Can you please share some of your fondest memories?

Ummul: As a child, I was always on the bed. My mother used to carry me to every place. I didn’t own a wheelchair. So, I never had the chance to leave my home on my own. My parents worried too much because of my disability and never left my side.

On the bright side, I was favored by my parents more than my brother. Whatever I wished for, was immediately done! But I secretly yearned for education; to be independent and to help and care for others!

I don’t remember most of my childhood, but I do know that I loved eating curd and my favorite candy, Gems. I always looked forward to playing with my cousin!

TA: Starting your education at 21 needs lots of courage. Can you please tell us what motivated you?

Ummul: I wanted to know what the world was like. I wanted to meet people and make friends. Since I spent my childhood inside my home, I never knew how to handle any situation nor did I know how to interact with people. I wanted to know what rights I had as a woman and as a woman with a disability.

I couldn’t go to school because my parents were overprotective. It did not help that people around me believed education was of no use to me. For many years I saw my cousins reading, but never had the opportunity to read those books. I remember reading the subtitles while watching movies and soap operas.

There was this particular soap where the protagonist was a woman with a disability. It portrayed her journey and how she overcomes the challenges. Watching it day after day, kindled my spirit and I wanted to become like her! I wanted to break the stereotype.

“To express my thoughts, come out of my boundaries, and break the stereotype, I wanted to pursue my education.”

TA: Talking about education, you did Sociology and now you have done Law. Who or what inspired you to choose this path?

Ummul: Do you agree that Rights come by birth? I didn’t know my rights for a long time. I thought it was rude to refuse a favor(though I never asked for it). But now, I don’t accept any favor unless I have requested it.

I believe in human rights and that’s what I fight for. Not just for persons with disability but for everyone! This is the reason behind me taking up Law – because no one should be denied their rights.

Helen Keller has been a huge inspiration as well. Her writings have had a great influence on me.

TA: What, according to you, has been the biggest challenge life has thrown at you so far? And how did you overcome it?

Ummul: I used to speak only in Hindi or Urdu. Hence learning a new language, English,  and improving my proficiency in it was a challenge. Also, at times, I forget. Imagine being a forgetful lawyer! That’s my biggest challenge. (laughs)

On a more serious note, accessibility is another challenge. Not only for me, but also for every person with disabilities.

The attitudinal barrier is another predominant challenge that needs to be addressed immediately. When I was at Madras High Court for an access audit, the security person stopped me from entering a particular room as it was not accessible. But that was exactly the reason why I was there!

People take one look at me and think that I am struggling in a wheelchair.

“People fail to see ME, as the disability is more visible to them!”

TA: You along with the Disability Rights Alliance played a primary role in making the Besant Nagar and Marina beaches in Chennai accessible for wheelchair bound folks – Can you tell us more about this effort?

Ummul: Pushing a wheelchair on the sand is very hard. I used to sit near the footpath and a volunteer would have to stay back for me – every time I wanted to visit the beach! These experiences sparked the idea to work towards making beaches accessible for people with disabilities.

I researched various accessibility projects around the world. Then I started writing petitions to all the concerned authorities. But it was really hard to get their attention as I was a lone student. This is when I came to know about the Disability Rights Alliance (DRA). I collaborated with them and worked with Chennai Corporation as well. After lots of research, follow-ups, and processes we were able to celebrate World Disability Day at the beach with our students.

TA: What kind of changes would you like to see in our society? What is your vision of an inclusive society?

Ummul: Equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Every place should be made accessible. When I was in the US representing India for a one-month student leadership program, everything was accessible to me. I was able to go wherever I wanted to and that is something we should work towards.

My idea of an ideal inclusive society is where people with disabilities not only seek help but are also able to contribute to society and give back to those in need.

TA: That’s really a great vision! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Before we close, is there any message you would like to share with our readers?

Ummul: Most certainly!

“Don’t ignore us; talk to us and not behind us.

Remember! Everyone is interdependent and no one is completely independent.

Everyone needs support, everyone needs suggestions. So value each other.

Give us the opportunities to show what we are capable of. ”

Together, let us strive to Make Every Voice Heard!

Siblings are critically important not only in childhood but also over the course of an individual’s lifetime. They form a child’s first peer group, enable the development of social skills and provide valuable life experiences. Siblings of children with disabilities take up the role of secondary caregivers and provide emotional support and physical care to them.

Such young people who carry out or support caregiving duties are recognized as Young Carers. To raise awareness of the challenges faced by young people, Young Carers Awareness Day is observed around the world on January 31.

This year’s theme focuses on the Mental Health of young carers. Most young carers have more responsibilities than other young people. As a result, they experience more stress than their peers, some of which they might not be able to handle by themselves.

Here are some ideas that you can try out to ensure that young carers receive all the support they need.

HAVE AN HONEST TALK WITH YOUR CHILDREN

Communication is vital to build and develop any relationship. Therefore, the importance of communication should not be underestimated when it comes to young carers. Talk to your children about mental health and help them understand how important their mental health is. Ask them if they are feeling stressful or depressed. Discuss with them what you can do as a family to help them feel better.

Tell your children that you are proud of them for taking up responsibility and supporting their sibling. Talk to them about specific incidents which made you feel this way.

BREAKS FROM RESPONSIBILITIES

Most young carers are children who grow up faster than their peers. They try and understand the hardships in life at a tender age. But these hardships should not be a reason to miss out on a happy childhood. To create a positive impact on mental health,  regular breaks should be provided. If family outings are not possible, let them have fun with their friends.

Most importantly, give them breaks from responsibilities when they are tired or feeling low. Let them know that they are also children who need to enjoy being a child.

SUPPORT THEIR STUDIES

Young carers, because of their caring responsibilities, might need support in school to keep up with their peers. Talk to their teachers about the caregiving responsibilities and request them to provide extra help whenever the child needs it. As a parent, you could help your child with assignments and homework. If they had to miss school for a day, ensure that the classes are covered and the concepts are made clear.

HELP THEM SOCIALIZE

As a young carer, your child may miss out on opportunities to play and spend time with friends and classmates. This might lead to them feeling isolated, and they might find it hard to make friends. Hence it is important to find other young carers with whom your child can relate and talk to.

Meeting other young carers can be an excellent way for your child to make new friends, share their experiences, rebuild their self-esteem, and have the social opportunities that children their age should have.  

This Young Carers Awareness Day, let us make sure to recognize the efforts of our young carers who help to care for their siblings and parents with disabilities. Spending a little more time with the young carers and supporting their needs would go a long way in promoting their well-being.

The above-mentioned ideas might help you to strengthen the bond with your children and help you to support them in better ways. Together, let us make sure that Every Voice is being Heard!

Do you have any ideas that you have used with your young carers? Let us know in the comments section below!

Making a positive difference in the society we live in is something we all aspire to in various measures. That said, we see a lot of change makers in our day-to-day life but hardly have any time to acknowledge their efforts in making this world a better place. One such group of people who toil day and night without much appreciation are the programmers or developers behind many of the apps we use all day.

January 07 and September 13 are observed as International Programmers Day in different parts of the world. We are dedicating today’s post to give a huge shout out to our amazing team of programmers, here at Avaz. 

“Being a programmer requires a lot of patience and everlasting love for coding.”, says Balaji, Senior Software Developer at Avaz.  

The Development Team or the Dev Team as we call them, are the ones responsible for making Avaz what it is. They are the ones who work with the Product Team to turn user feedback and expert recommendations into features on the Avaz app. From understanding the requirements of the users, ideation of the various elements involved, researching the best approaches, designing the components from scratch, implementing the features to testing the usability of these features and finding issues in them, the Dev Team does it all.

“I have always wanted to create a product that serves the community. And Avaz gave me the opportunity to do it.”, says Abu, Senior Software Developer at Avaz.

Creating the best possible app for the user has always been the primary goal of the Avaz Dev team. The will to serve the community and the ability to deliver the best to our customers has helped them stay motivated throughout this journey. There have been times where they have had to stay up all night or forgo vacations to ensure that some customer requirements go out urgently. But they do all this without complaining. Because as Narayanan, our CEO puts it, “There is a lot of joy in seeing something that you have coded making a huge, real-time difference to a child’s life!”

All of us here at Avaz are very proud of our Dev Team. We take this opportunity to thank each one of our developers for all the hard work and commitment they have put in over the years.  

Here’s to Abu, Balaji, Kavitha, Abdul, Narayanan and all those who worked on Avaz before them, for their unceasing efforts to Making Every Voice Heard!

PS – Any day is a good day to express your gratitude. So take this opportunity to thank those who have been supportive of your journey and remind them that they are just AWESOME for being the way they are! :)

Siblings are our first friends, and at times, our closest friends. Researchers have found that siblings heavily influence each other and the type of person they eventually grow into. And in the lives of children with special needs, siblings have an especially important role to play.  

Involving siblings is a great way to enable children with specialized needs to experience a dynamic and supportive environment. As they build their communication, it helps the siblings to build a deeper relationship with each other. Many a time siblings of children with special needs end up feeling left out because of all the focus and energy being given to the latter. This manner of involving them can be one of the ways to enable them to overcome that feeling.  

Here are some tried and tested ways by which siblings can engage by using AAC –

Collecting Frequently-used Messages:

Ask the sibling to help you brainstorm messages that their brother or sister might want or need to communicate. This can make your work simpler as siblings are closer in age and know things about each other that adults might miss!

Recording Voice Outputs:

Recording voice messages is a fun way to engage your children. Listening to a familiar voice, makes your child want to use the AAC device more. When a sibling records a message using AAC, it develops compassion and a sense of belonging in your children.

Guiding the Siblings:

While most siblings might not love being bossed around, they can engage in games that involves giving directions. Such games teach critical thinking and encourage self-discovery. And games are great ways of coming together and having fun! By using a sequence of messages on their device that you can load beforehand, the children can take turns to play an inclusive version of games like “Simon Says” and so on.  This will give the child a sense of control while letting the siblings be actively involved in the game.

Bedtime Stories:

You can get the help of your child to record a sequence of messages and add relevant images of a bedtime story. Later, the child can “read” the story to their sibling by selecting the pictures in a sequential manner.

Lullabies:

Just like the bedtime stories, you can record some of your child’s (who uses the AAC device) favorite lullabies on the AAC device. During bedtime, the sibling can select a lullaby and sing along as the device sings the song. This is a great way to improve the bonding between the siblings.

With little preparation and support from your end, you will be amazed how incredibly passionate siblings are about helping their brother or sister to communicate more effectively. These activities will also help bring out the caregiving qualities of your children. AAC and AT are very helpful tools for increasing children’s opportunities to engage meaningfully with their brothers and sisters. And Avaz is one such tool striving towards Making Every Voice Heard!

Do share other methods you use to enable communication and bonding between siblings with the help of AAC or AT!

Each New Year brings with it immense promise. A promise of fresh ideas and a renewed energy to bring those to fruition.  And 2019 is no different. After a deeply meaningful 2018, all of us here at Team Avaz are extremely excited about the coming year. 

What are some of the things that will have the greatest meaning for our users – this is the question we asked ourselves as we planned for 2019. After much thought, here are some of the things we have decided to focus on, in this brand new year.

PRACTICAL INSIGHTS 

One of the biggest focus areas for us in the coming year would be to provide you with the best resources, information and research that you can use to equip yourself to become even better at what you do. Whether you are a parent, a caregiver, an educator or a therapist, we will strive to bring you the most relevant and useful content through the year. We would love to hear from you about what it is that you would like to know more about. Do tell us that in the comments section below and we will get cracking to bring you just that!

CREATING BETTER COMMUNICATION PARTNERS

Continuing in a similar breath, but with a more specific objective, this year we want to work with you to enable each one of us (ourselves included!) to become better communication partners. To do this we would need to create many communication opportunities. Additionally, use strategies that would enable those who we work with to communicate better and do so at their own pace. To this effect we are looking at –

• Creating online and offline opportunities to interact and learn from each other.
• Conducting workshops, training webinars and demonstrations to create greater understanding of AAC in general and Avaz in particular.  
• Creating tried and tested pool of resources and content on effective communication partnering strategies.

We believe that such opportunities for all of us to engage and share knowledge will go a long way in making all of us better communication partners for the people we work with.

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENTS

The year gone by saw some big ticket improvements to Avaz. And this we are hoping to top that and are raring to go to make Avaz even better. We are already working on adding many new languages. In addition, expect to see some really powerful new features that a lot of you have been requesting for. And of course, we will keep working to iron out the creases and tweak the existing features to give you a better Avaz experience, every time!

Stay tuned to this space for news on updates and new features ☺

NEW PRODUCTS

At Avaz, at the core of everything we do, is the belief that technology can empower any individual with special needs. To that effect, we have been working on many new product concepts and prototypes. This year we expect to release at least two new products. We will share with you more on this soon!

In 2019 we recommit ourselves to our mission of Making Every Voice Heard.  As usual the user will be at front and center of all that we do. Avaz is here to stay and grow with you, every step of the way!

Here’s wishing you and all your loved ones a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

In our pursuit towards making every voice heard, 2018, we believe has been a milestone year. We made some big updates to existing versions of Avaz for Communication to give you a product that learns, gets better and grows, just as each of our users do. We have released some new languages in Avaz for Communication and have many more in the pipeline. We are excited about this as we believe that language should never be a barrier in communication. With every new language, we get one step closer to creating barrier-free communication for all. We love interacting with our users to understand how we can make Avaz work better for them. In this regard 2018 saw us reaching out to more parents and users through our workshops and showcases. This, especially, meant a lot to us.

So here’s a quick round-up of 2018 – the year that was!

Collaborations and New Products

Team Avaz has always believed in bringing together great ideas to create products that enable and empower. 2018 was deeply significant in this regard. This year saw some incredibly powerful collaborations with multiple domain experts that led to the creation and release of two amazing new products.

• MDA Avaz Reader – The Madras Dyslexia Association is among India’s most respected and experienced organizations working with children with Dyslexia. With over 20 years of expertise in dyslexia education and support, they have created a variety of tried and tested modules to enable struggling readers to read better. To make this expertise available to more children via easily accessible technology around the world, Avaz has collaborated with MDA to create the MDA Avaz Reader app. The Reader app enables dyslexic children to read independently through methods and features that have proven to be powerful and hugely effective over the years. You can download the app here – Apple App Store & Google Play Store

• Avaz Vietnamese – We partnered with Viet Dynamic Connections to release an AAC app that is customized and localized for the users of Vietnam. The app was released in less than a year of collaboration. We are very excited to have been able to expand the repertoire of languages on Avaz. You can download the app here.

Avaz Community

2018 saw a rise in the number of support groups being formed by parents of Avaz users. These online and offline groups are completely driven by parents who have come together to support each other and share insights, tips, and resources related to Avaz  and communication. We are grateful for these communities. They help us stay grounded and inspire us to keep improving Avaz. 

Workshops & Events

2018 was a year in which we conducted multiple workshops for parents, caregivers and therapists around the world. These workshops were held both in person as well as remotely in the form of webinars.

The aim of the Avaz Workshops are two-fold –

1. To introduce the concept of AAC and how it is beneficial for children as well as complementary to work done by caregivers and therapists.
2. To run through the various features of Avaz.

The workshops cover all aspects of AAC and Avaz. Right from setting up and customizing the Avaz app for each user to giving ideas on how AAC like Avaz can be integrated into daily life, the workshops give training and information that is informed by years of user inputs. We have been receiving feedback that these workshops have been immensely useful for the attending parents, special educators and speech therapists. They have also been very effective in addressing doubts related to various aspects of the app and its use.

If you would like to have our team conduct a workshop or webinar for your school, team or for a group of parents, do drop us a mail on support@avazapp.com :)

The year also saw Avaz participate in a number of events & showcases, some of which you can read about here  and here. We were also present at the Global Autism Convention in Bangalore, India among other really interesting events through the year.

App Updates

The first quarter saw us overhauling in-app support on Avaz. You can now reach out to us easily via chat while using the app itself. The Avaz Live function was made completely functional and easily accessible. Avaz Live can be used for remote therapy sessions with speech therapists. The therapist, in turn, can also use Live to operate Avaz at the user’s end to take them through use and learning activities. These two features were rolled out for Sri Lanka, Denmark, Australia, France, India & US over the year.

The Avaz App was made fully compatible with Android devices. What’s more, the App is optimized to be used on Android devices of ANY screen size. Some Android only new features are the option of sharing messages created on App with contacts on WhatsApp and the Bubble feature, with which a user can always quickly access Avaz, without having to close the app they are using.

Coming to version specific updates, Avaz Sri Lanka had a comprehensive Sri Lankan Tamil Vocabulary added to it.

As we look back on the year gone by, we cannot wait to do much more in the coming year. Thank you for supporting us and continually pushing us to bring you only the best! We look forward to having you join us as we move ever onward towards Making Every Voice Heard in 2019 and beyond!

• Planning and Preparation

You can show them photos of expected visitors. You can also create a social story that highlights the happenings of the day.

• Autism-Friendly Decoration

• Be Ready with Familiar Food

• Prepare Your Family

• Plan for a Sensory Retreat

– Ms. Radha Ramesh, Director, Vidya Sagar.

– Shankaran  Nair, Chairperson, Vidya Sagar

“I feel that society only gives us 30% opportunity. While we have to put 130% effort to be capable! We don’t want to take a jump ahead nor do we do we want to lag behind. What we want is to walk together with everyone in the society.” – Dipak Ghosh, Disability Rights Activist

A few weeks ago, we had a chance to present our work and attend Empower 2018 – an Assistive Technology conference in New Delhi, India. Thinkers and innovators from the  Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP), National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), as well as those from various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), among others, were present. It was a great learning experience for us, to be able to interact with brilliant minds from across the country.

The interaction and new friendship we cherish the most from Empower was the one we had (and continue to have!) with Dipak. Dipak is 33. Having completed his BCom. (Hons.) in Accountancy, he is an accomplished artist and musician. He is also among India’s foremost advocates for equal rights and opportunities for persons with disabilities.  

Dipak was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when he was an infant. He was almost three years old when he was able to sit up. Because of CP, he has very limited use of his hands. This, however, was hardly a deterrent for Dipak. Being a creative child, he taught himself to use his legs to write, paint, play and engage in his daily routine.

(From Right) Narayanan (from Avaz) with Dipak (centre) and his caretaker Sumit – Empower 2018

As a child, Dipak was quite naughty, often getting into trouble. He passed his secondary education from the Center for Special Education – IICP. He attributes a large part of his success to the support he received during his schooling here. His school life was full of excitement and fun in the company of his friends and teachers. An academic topper, he received several medals in the sports as well. It was here that Dipak learned to draw and play musical instruments with his feet.

Dipak also began using the keyboard very efficiently with his toes. But this was getting extremely demanding and tiring for him. Hence he began searching for a simple and effective communication tool. This was when Dipak came to know about the Avaz AAC app through IICP. He was thrilled when he found Avaz easy and effective to use for his specific requirements. Dipak began using Avaz in 2013 and there has been no looking back since! You can watch a video of him using Avaz here –  

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0iIyB4ACw8[/embedyt]

Dipak’s mother is a huge influence and inspiration for him. She has always believed that there is no greater dignity than serving others. Taking a page out of his mother’s beliefs, Dipak is today a well known and respected advocate for the CP community’s rights, inclusion, and opportunities. As a public speaker and activist, he has inspired many by his example. He is currently working on a project called the Media Lab in collaboration with the National Resource Center for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (NRCAAC). This project is looking to formulate a new concept of understanding and expression of ideas, aspirations, feelings, and thoughts.

For all his accomplishments, Dipak was awarded the Surrendra Paul Memorial Award for Courage. He was declared The Most Creative Adult by the Governor of West Bengal.

• Plan as much as Possible

• Prepare Your Family

• Make Sure to have Familiar Food

• Prepare for Sensory Needs

• Have an Escape Plan

care to the best extent possible.

• Support Groups: Look for support groups, in-person or online. Interact with others facing similar challenges. This peer group could help you feel supported, connected, and provide relief, as you share your difficulties with those you can relate to. These groups help you realize that you are not alone. They help you build the confidence that you will find a way. Some of the parents we work with have found such groups to be extremely helpful. Find a list of such groups at the end of this post.
• Professional Support: Therapy or counselling can help you manage your fears and anxieties. There is no shame in seeking professional help. Seek out a therapist or counsellor who can help you work through specific challenges and issues you face as a caregiver.
• Support Closer Home: Catching up with friends and close family you enjoy spending time with is a great way to destress and show yourself some love.

1. Some of the gaps that exist in our own work and
2. The long way we collectively have yet to go, in making accessibility of every kind, a reality in all aspects of life.

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• Let them know that there will be loud, unfamiliar noises, lots of people, bright lights, a change in routine and so on.
• If your child responds to visual aids, you can use photos to create a story that illustrates the activities you will be doing that day.
• Share with your child why you are excited to celebrate Diwali. Talk about what you enjoyed doing as a child.
• Let your child take the lead in deciding what they would like to do :)

• In the run-up to the big day, consider watching videos of fireworks while gradually turning up the volume over time.
• Prepare a comfort pack containing toys, books and other objects of comfort close at hand so that your child can try and focus their attention away from the noise.
• Consider purchasing good quality ear plugs and headphones for your child. Noise-canceling headphones are the most effective because they replace irritating environmental noise by producing calming white noise.
• Identify safe spaces that soothe or calm your child. For instance, it could be your room or theirs.
• Plan indoor activities beforehand to engage their attention away from the noise.

• Make use of headphones and earplugs.
• Pull out the comfort pack you readied earlier to offer some relief.
• Take your child to the safe spaces you identified earlier, to calm them down.

• Take your child for shopping to pick their own clothes, if that is a possibility.
• If that’s not possible, show them the new clothes picked out for them. Let them feel the cloth, the textures in it, enjoy the colors, and get familiar with it before the festival.

• You could help your child wear new clothes over the clothes they already like, to increase their comfort level.

• Request your friends and family to visit over a couple of days, as opposed to everyone coming on the same day.
• Similarly, you could plan your visits to others’ homes over a couple of days.

• Involve visiting family and friends in activities that your child enjoys so that your child too can have fun in their company.

• Use your discretion before taking your child close to fireworks or to see them.
• If they wish to watch fireworks in the sky, get them to wear noise-cancelling headphones before heading out.
• Do maintain a safe distance from fireworks. The bright sparks may be triggering for some children even with noise cancelled out.
• If your child is not keen on fireworks, you can always switch to some quiet and comfortable indoor activities which you pre-planned.

Halloween is an exciting holiday for the kids. They love trying out different costumes and going trick-o’-treating in their neighborhood. Costumes, decorations, music, and candies are the highlights of this holiday! However, the same may become overwhelming, and at times challenging experience for children, who are on the autism spectrum. 

• Create a visual story of what Halloween may be like for your child, with some pictures or drawings. This will help your child prepare for the day’s activities.
• Try on costumes before Halloween or let your child pick their favorite costume. If the costume is uncomfortable or doesn’t fit right, it may cause unnecessary distress and ruin their fun.
• Consider a Halloween costume that fits over your child’s regular clothes. Have them wear it for short periods of time and at increasing intervals over time.
• Practice going to a neighbor’s door with your child, ringing the bell or knocking on the door and receiving candy.

• Understand the comfort zone of your child and plan accordingly. For instance, if your child is not comfortable trick-o’-treating, you can start by going to three houses. Assess how your child is doing and build up to more houses the following year.
• Partner with family and friends that your child likes.
• Take your child to an activity in an already familiar community, such as a school festival or a neighborhood party where the child is comfortable and knows the people around.
• If you are giving out candy at your home, give your child the option to give a piece of candy. During the day, practice greeting people and giving out candy.
• If your child is afraid of going out at night, plan Halloween activities that can be enjoyed indoors or during the daytime.

Pooja’s Journey

Pooja was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome at a very early age. Among other characteristics typical to this diagnosis, she was non-verbal. She faced many transition issues in her daily life. Furthermore, Pooja also had certain behavioral challenges. 

Gita Arvind is a scientist by education. She lives in Redmond, Washington with her husband and two lovely girls. They keep her curious about everything, from Disney characters to human nature!

Being a mother of a child with speech challenges, Gita is also deeply passionate about advocating for access to AAC for children with special communication needs. She wishes to share her daughter, Swati’s journey with AAC. The following is her account of this journey.

Introducing Swati

Swati is a happy, nonverbal 10-year old, who loves going up to people and asking them to sing to her the songs that she likes. The way her face lights up with a smile when they oblige, is a sight that instantly warms my heart. Don’t you think that is what communication is all about? That is, being able to convey a message that helps you satisfy a need? 

Swati using Avaz

Just so you know, in the instance above, Swati did not use speech to communicate, as she is nonverbal. Then, how did she do it, you might ask? Well, she used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) – specifically, an AAC App on her iPad. And this is something that I would like to talk to you about today.

This is something very close to my heart. It was born out of a desire to ensure that other parents in India, do not have to go through the same heartache and pain that I went through when Swati was about 4 or 5 years old and was still not speaking a word. Each new speech therapist that we consulted, suggested a different approach. But, no one talked about AAC until much much later. They only insisted on trying speech.

Finally, when Swati was around 6 years old, we tried Sign Language. But I found that it was a challenge for her because of the language’s heavy reliance on fine motor skills – and this was an issue for her. Furthermore, it is only understood by those who know sign language, to begin with. We then tried the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). That brought with it a different set of limitations. Swati mastered it so quickly, that we were running out of space on her picture books within no time! It was after seeing a bunch of speech therapists and professionals, reading and trying to gather as much information as I could, that I decided to try out an AAC App on my own, with Swati (who was around 7 years old then).

Since then it has been a long journey to get to where we are now. Today, I finally feel validated in my decision to have introduced an AAC App to her.

How AAC has helped Swati

Swati has benefitted in many ways since she started using AAC. Some of those benefits are explained below:

• Behavior

Today, Swati is able to independently make a sentence, to communicate what she wants. She does this on her device, which in turn speaks it out for her. At age 4 or 5, when she still wasn’t speaking, she would probably have had a meltdown while trying to communicate the same thing.

• Fine Motor Skills

Her pointing skill has improved. She is able to choose 1 icon from a grid of 4×8 buttons.

• Attention

Swati has to create sentences by choosing all the words required to communicate it. She is able to pay attention to the screen for the entire duration it takes for her to make a sentence.

• Demonstrate Cognition/Intelligence

Swati’s receptive skills have improved because she can now show what she knows, by choosing the appropriate button on her device. Her expressive skills are also improving, as she learns to express more about what she knows, using her device.

• Self Esteem

Most importantly, she is confident of being understood by anyone around her when she uses her device to communicate. That in itself contributes to an increase in self-esteem!

Why do I want to make this case for access to AAC before speech? 

I have seen how Swati’s life has improved for the better since she began using AAC apps. Given this experience, I strongly feel that it is my responsibility to educate and inform more parents and caregivers in India about AAC. I want to stress whenever and wherever possible about giving children access to AAC at an early age. I sometimes wonder how much more progress Swati could have shown, had she been given access to AAC at 3 years of age or even earlier- the typical age when children start to speak. And it bothers me that even today, speech therapists and other allied professionals in India are still unaware of these advances in technology. It is disheartening that they continue to insist only on speech production to parents of children with speech delays.

The app that we used for Swati was the Avaz App. This App is widely available in India and can be customized as per each child’s requirements. It is also available in many of our regional languages. That being said, Avaz is also more affordable compared to other AAC apps in the market and is much more user-friendly. Finally, I request all parents and caregivers out there not to be skeptical about AAC. Proactively consider introducing AAC to your child at an early age. 

• Adding the entire sentence under a single picture could restrict communication to only the pre-programmed sentences, thus inhibiting spontaneous communication. What if the child wanted to say something else about the chips or the candles, and not actually want them?  For example, what if you or the child wanted to talk about how yummy the chips were? We will not be able to do that if the whole sentence/request was embedded in one icon that says “I want chips”. So, it would be best to separate the words and model different ways to use those words.
• Furthermore, the child taps an icon and it pops up, the child sees the icon of a candle but hears the sentence “I want to blow the candle”. This could lead to confusion about what they hear and what they see. Instead, if the words candle or chips are learned and used independently, this problem may not arise.
• As the child starts using Avaz or any AAC tool, they will eventually attempt to say the words they hear. When that happens, it will be difficult for them to say an entire sentence to start with and might discourage them from trying. Instead, making a start with different individual words would motivate them to try speaking out loud.  

Avaz app being used to model

• I would make it a habit to model on AVAZ as much as possible. Especially the items my child wants or uses regularly, like food or toys. When they pull me to the item they want, I would open Avaz, and ask them what they wanted. I would encourage them to answer by using AVAZ. If they do not know how to use it, you can model the answer with them in a hand-over-hand manner. For this, I would also try and keep the device at an easy reach always.
• Say, for instance, your child grabs your hand and takes you to the cookie. You will then have to pick up the device and draw their attention to it. Then proceed to press the words, “I” “want” and “cookie” while speaking the words, “I want cookie”. Over time and with repetition, they will realize that AVAZ is the way to make themselves understood. And when they get here, they will use it!

• You can choose their 5 most favorite items. Model asking for these items. With time and progress, make sure that they get these items only when they communicate through the device.

• 50% off on all individual app purchases (and in-app purchases)
• Additional 50% off on purchases of 20 copies or more through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program
• Valid until October 31st!

Community ties, sharing and learning has always been an important part of how caregivers are able to better support children with disabilities. While being a great source of strength, communities also build knowledge that is grounded on experience and context. The beauty of such knowledge is that it is dynamic and keeps growing as more people add to it. This is the kind of knowledge that is deeply relatable for many on a personal level. And easy to adopt, given that they have been tried and tested!

A couple of weeks ago, parents organized a Q&A session on an Avaz messaging group in India. Parents posted questions about communication and getting started with AAC. Some of these questions were answered by a few of the more experienced parents on the group. As the process went on, we realized that this Q&A is relevant for parents, therapists and teachers worldwide. And we would love for this knowledge to keep growing. We are posting some of those questions here and inviting you to weigh in with answers based on your experience and expertise. Do chime in with your thoughts and answers on the queries that follow, in the comments section below.

Q2: How to encourage communication? To encourage communication – I have put together the whole sentence – “I want to blow candles” under the single picture of candle. Likewise “I want chips” under the picture of chips. I did this so that the complete sentence is spoken out by one touch. Is this OK?

Q3: I have started using Avaz since few days only. I created a home screen for my child with his picture with the caption “I want” and then added toilet, water, food and some of his reinforcers like mobile,TV etc. I guided him to use Avaz. When I served him spicy food, he immediately came and touched the water picture. Now, should I insist on touching the “I want” picture or just myself add “I want water” to make him hear the complete sentence.

We have been conducting multiple Avaz trainings around the world over the last one month! This has been possible thanks mainly to enthusiastic parents and partners, who are going the extra mile to help us spread the word.

“Learn about Avaz” was conducted by Lalitha, who leads the Customer Success team at Avaz at Redwood City, California. The session included how to set it up, customize it for the child’s needs, the latest features of Avaz

We are very excited to share today’s post, which is written by Smrithy Rajesh, a special educator and mother of 10-year old Advaith’s (Addu). Advaith is diagnosed with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder and ADHD.

A proud entrepreneur, Addu sending thanks to his customers using Avaz. For most of his customers he used to send items by speed post. After that they send pictures and messages to him. Then I show him those pictures and explain to him. After that he sends messages to them using Avaz. He is fully connected in all steps and is able to understand. You can see, how happy he is!! We made this video by using his videos and some of his customers’ pictures.Most of the pictures got deleted, but we are thankful to all. Through this his communication skills are also improving and he is connected with more people.

What are some of the activities that we can do with our child using Avaz? 

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPnhZ7DFwTM[/embedyt]

Today’s guest post is from Chitra Paul, a parent who uses Avaz with her son. 

Tarun’s Avaz personalized for his needs

We are very happy to present today’s guest blog post from Julian Laferrera.

Julian Laferrera is a junior at Mount Holyoke College. She is majoring in mathematics and is in the teacher licensure program for secondary math education. She is a Peer Fellow in the college’s AccessAbility Office, where she mentors and supports other disabled students. Julian has been learning American Sign Language (ASL) for seven years, and is currently studying for a semester at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.

• 50% off on all individual app purchases (and in-app purchases)
• Additional 50% off on purchases of 20 copies or more through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program
• Valid for purchases on Android as well as iPad
• Until April 30th 2018!

Queries?

–       Kahlil Gibran

V. Balakrishnan is an alumni of the National School of Drama (New Delhi), and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Theatre Nisha (Chennai), which has staged over 100 plays in the past 17 years. He has been using theatre as a tool to improve communication and combat learning disabilities for the past 16 years. He has directed over 200 plays, acted in over 150 plays and written 10 scripts. He was recently awarded the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching 2017, completed his inquiry project on Theatre Necessities and Application: Role Play for Liberation from Indiana University.

There seems to be an inherent stress to view the world in a fixed way. This exerts excessive pressure on people with special needs to respond to the world only in ways that others are familiar with, than through modes of expression that they are comfortable with.

There is a growing need to change this to make the world more inclusive. With that in mind, Avaz has launched – World Through Their Eyes, an initiative to create awareness about viewing the world through the eyes of persons with special needs.

We will bring to you different and unique perspectives of persons with special needs and trendsetters in this space, as interviews, ready-to-use strategies, infographics, research and much more over the course of the next few weeks.

Join hands with us in sharing this initiative and spreading more awareness about looking at the World Through Their Eyes!

If you would like to be a part of this initiative, let us know in the comments below so that we can get in touch with you.

1. By repeating and expanding the child’s language, you are staying within the realms of responding without directly “correcting” him/her.
2. By repeating- you’ve acknowledged that the child successfully conveyed something to you and will be motivated. Step it up very gradually i.e. expand using more words, bend words (Ex: go- went) as you go along. And keep modelling!

•      If the child says “Dog run!” you could say, “Yes, the dog is running. He is running fast.”
•      If the child says “Red block.” You could say, “Yes, you have a red block. The red block is shaped like a triangle!”
•      Another example, if the child were to say “yellow doggy” you could say, “Yes you see a yellow doggie! The yellow doggie is big and fluffy.”

“My wife had a severe stroke a few years ago and her Speech Therapist downloaded your APP together with other similar apps, to provide steps in her rehab to improve her speech and communication. After a period of 6-9 months she made sufficient progress and improved beyond the need for any of the APPS. Currently my wife is still having speech therapy; her communication skills are much improved. There was a time when it seemed that it may be necessary to rely and subscribe to each of the Apps. “Fortunately” this was not required. I have to recommend you and your team in making such a product available; the positivity that this gave my wife is immeasurable and has helped in her rehabilitation. (It) helped tremendously in recognizing words and sentences and the structure. At times my wife used the App to either ask a question or respond if she was unable to remember how to say a word or sentence.” – S.M

“My daughter is a 11 yr old child with Down Syndrome, PDD and is nonverbal. We have always had to deal with the frustrations of her not being able to communicate her needs/wants. As frustrating as it was for us as parents, it was ten times more frustrating for her.  We were reluctant to purchase the app because she had an Augmentative communication device when she was younger and neither she nor I found it to be “user friendly”. I did a lot of research on both Avaz and a competitor and found tons of positive reviews on both. I did come across many people who said that Avaz was just as good as the costly competitor and since I had reservations I went with the least expensive. This ultimately has been a decision that is worth it’s “weight in gold”. My daughter has nearly mastered the navigation, so much so that one day she brought it to me to show me she wanted Taco Bell for lunch. This made me cry. My child had a voice for the first time. Thank you for being the one to give my daughter that “voice” – A.K

• Greeting– Hi, Have a nice day, goodbye etc.
• Requesting information– What is that? Where are you going?
• Requesting for an action – Can you give me a cookie? I want a cookie.
• Refusing/protesting – Stop the music. Don’t touch my toy. I don’t want to eat.
• Promising – I am going to play your favorite song.
• Informing– I am making a sandwich. We are going to paint this wall.

• Presenting information (background details, facts) to an unfamiliar listener: Hi, my name is Randy. I’m here to meet Sue.
• Presenting information (background details, facts) to an familiar listener: Hi Sue, I read the storybook you gifted me. I loved it.
• Speaking differently depending on the listener: a small boy speaking to a friend of his age vs an adult- “Joe, give me a cookie, please.” vs “Mrs. Stevenson, could you please give me a cookie?”
• Speaking differently depending on the location: speaking differently in a classroom than on a playground. “Hey Greg, could you please pass me a copy of the worksheet.” vs “Greg! Pass the ball.”

• Introducing topics of conversation: “Yesterday I went to the movies with my sister…”
• Staying on topic: “Oh, you drew a horse? I drew a dog!”
• Rephrasing when misunderstood: “The time is quarter to five. I mean four forty-five.”
• Using verbal and nonverbal signals: Nodding to agree, pointing the index finger to identify etc
• How close to stand to someone when speaking: Explaining physical space, appropriate touch etc.

It seemed like 2017 only yesterday. It is February already! We wanted to welcome this month of love by sharing with you something essential to the expression of love – the different components of language. After all, most often, it is language that aids us in the expression of love.

So we have put together an infographic explaining the different components of language  – Pragmatics, Semantics, Syntax, Morphology & Phonology, integrated as a whole.

What do you think of this representation? Did we miss something? Leave us a comment below.

• Venue– if you are hosting, give the child time to take in this new temporary re-arrangement and do this a few days ahead. Create a designated “my spot” for the child, with their toys and comfort items. If you are going to a different place, get the child accustomed to it, by showing pictures and talking about the place.
• Clothes– stick to a familiar and comfortable outfit for you and the child.  If you want to try new holiday wear- get the kid to wear it a few times before, make sure it is familiar and comfortable.
• The holiday itinerary- Even though this is a holiday, try and stick to the usual routine as much as possible- like play time, meal time, nap time. Do the 2 o’clock dinner too, but as an add-on to the usual routine.
• Setting expectations and the holiday mood –  Have some fun story sessions of how you are going to spend the day, using visual aids – e.g. car activities on the drive to the venue, whom you are going to meet, what you are going to eat, the parade on the television etc.

• Faces– Show the child a lot of pictures of the family and create an excitement about meeting them all. It helps jog their memory, as well as prep to meet the newer people.
• Greeting– One recommendation would be to ask a few people in advance to wait and greet one-on-one, once you settle in.
• Volume– Pack your noise cancelling headphones! You never know when the party would liven up, so be conscious of the noise levels and use them when required.
• Conversations– it always helps to role-play greeting, answering questions and the dinner table talk with the child before the holiday. You can also prep your relatives by telling them the latest topics that interests the kid.

• No harm in having some chicken nuggets– Sometimes, it just helps to bring food they usually eat and are comfortable with, especially if your child is a fussy eater. You can always top off the familiar with some holiday specials.
• If you have a food-enthusiast in the house– Some kids tend to get distracted with the overwhelming options and may not know when to stop snacking or eating. You can do the plating and serving at the kitchen rather than putting the dishes out on the table.
• Don’t forget- at every step to give the child a lot of positive feedback! In slow and small doses, your kid got to experiment and have fun. Appreciate their efforts – take notice, give him hugs and, kisses. And remember- if they are overwhelmed and you have to take a break, it’s okay. Or if they are sitting with their toys the entire time- that’s okay too. That’s their way of celebrating the day!

• We all know how important modelling is. So, we’ve introduced a feature by which you can learn to model a word using the Search bar in Avaz. This feature will help you remember how to find that word easily. Catch a sneak peek here – https://youtu.be/XoVToM3uCqw.  (Hat tip to Kate Ahern for this suggestion.)

• You can now use AirDrop to transfer your student’s vocabulary seamlessly across devices. (Huge shout out to the users who wrote in requesting for this.)(Psst… and this is just the start!)

There is no better communication partner for children than their parents. That’s the main reason that much of the recent research in autism management focuses on parent mediated intervention as a way for a speech professional (like a speech therapist) to maximize communication outcomes.

Below is an infographic explaining why parents are the best communication partners for children.

We believe, as a matter of faith, that one of the end-points of AAC(Augmentative and Alternative Communication) is the development of literacy, i.e. the ability for a non-verbal child to read and write.

• Avaz – Pro – 50% off – $149.99 – $74.99

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• Why is communication the most critical skill for a child with Autism?
• Integrating communication-opportunities in your child’s daily life?
• Modelling and why is this critical for the child’s communication development?
• Measuring the vocabulary improvement of your child

• Customize Avaz for each child’s needs
• Learn how Avaz helps reinforce learning
• Discover Avaz features for children who need consistent motor patterns
• Find out what makes Avaz child-friendly

• Is a vocabulary based on core words different from a pragmatically oriented vocabulary?
• How do we deal with multi-graded vocabulary that a child has to grow through? Which color-coding works best for AAC vocabularies? Is it possible to combine high-tech and low-tech vocabularies for the same child?
• Our webinar demystifies this terminology and the process of selecting or building an AAC vocabulary based on the latest research findings.

• Use the same words that your child has used and in the same order
• Maintain the same meaning
• Add the missing words to complete the simple sentence that is being conveyed

The reason we posed this question was because it throws up a number of interesting subtleties in AAC strategy, which every parent should know. First a disclaimer that the ‘correct’ answer depends on the child, and you should consult the child’s therapist for the best advice.

It has been a wonderful month for us so far, and we conducted our first webinar last Thursday. Special educators and SLPs participated from around the world. We talked about the various elements of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and how Avaz addresses them.

We started with a quick introduction to AAC, and about its importance in the broader context. Participants took a quick tour of Avaz to learn about its features, and the webinar ended with a great question and answer session.

Our webinar participants shared interesting ideas regarding communication pragmatics,language acquisition via motor planning (LAMP) etc.. Some of the participants were very interested in the Track Session feature and wanted more details, so they could make the most of it.

If you weren’t able to attend, here is a link to the webinar. Check it out and share your thoughts with us.

Also, stay-tuned for news on our upcoming webinars.

I received a heart-warming email today from a mother whose two sons, both with autism, have been using Avaz for nearly a year now. Her email had one detail in particular which will probably remain with me for a very long time. She spoke about her elder son — let’s call him Harry — who is seven years old, non-verbal, with sensory issues and delays in fine-motor and gross-motor skills. Harry hardly initiates speech, so his mother was often left wondering what he was thinking about. But a couple years back, she and Harry’s speech therapist made an astounding discovery. They realized that Harry had taught himself to read, and he is now able to communicate — autonomously and, to a large degree, independently — by using Avaz.

Harry’s mom went on to write about all the wonderful instances where he’d used Avaz to astound his family, his therapist, and his baby-sitters. But I think the most important takeaway from this email is a validation of an AAC guideline that we may have heard about but don’t put into practice often enough. And that’s the advice to presume competence. Presuming competence is so important that I think it deserves to be called an AAC mantra. And it’s probably a good idea for you to repeat this mantra to yourself five times before you start your day with a child: “I must presume competence. I must presume competence.”

Date: 10-Nov-2014

Kære Avaz – Dansk Brugere,

Vi har netop udgivet en gennemtestet stabil opdatering af Avaz Dansk i app-butikken – version 3.2.1 og det er sikkert at opdatere. Den seneste version af denne app vil give mange flere folk som har specielle behov, muligheden for at opleve og drage fordel af Avaz.vaz Dansk er gået fra at være en betalt app til en gratis app, med mulighed for in-app køb. Dette skift har dog givet visse af vores brugere nogen problemer. Vi beklager meget, hvis du har oplevet nogen problemer i forbindelse med denne opdatering.

1. The promoter is: Avaz Inc. whose registered office is at Stanford Financial Square, 2600 El Caminao Real #403, Palo Alto, CA 94306
2. Employees of Avaz Inc. or their family members or anyone else connected in any way with the competition or helping to set up the competition shall not be permitted to enter the competition.
3. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
4. Closing date for entry will be 17-Oct-2014. After this date the no further entries to the competition will be permitted.
5. No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason.
6. The promoter reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition and these terms and conditions without notice in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil or military disturbance, act of God or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.
7. The promoter is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition.
8. No cash alternative to the prizes will be offered. Prizes are subject to availability and we reserve the right to substitute any prize with another of equivalent value without giving notice.
9. Winners will be chosen by the staff of the Promoter. The decision of this team is final and conclusive in all circumstances and no correspondence will be entered into.
10. The winner will be notified by email/on social-media platforms within 28 days of the closing date. If the winner cannot be contacted or do not claim the prize within 14 days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
11. The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
12. By entering this competition, an entrant is indicating his/her agreement to be bound by these terms and conditions.
13. The winner agrees to the use of his/her name and image in any publicity material.
14. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
15. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Network. You are providing your information to Avaz Inc. and not to any other party. The information provided will be used in conjunction with the following Privacy Policy found at https://www.avazapp.com/privacy-policy/

• Graphic UI for Track Therapy: Until now you were able to view only text reports of the therapy sessions you were tracking. In Avaz 3.3, apart from a sleeker display of the report itself, you will see analytics of the therapy sessions with graphs measuring mean length of utterance, percentage of core words used etc as well, thus giving you a better insight into the child’s progress.

Thanksgiving is a time to simply say, Thank you. It is a time to take a moment, stop and think about all the wonderful blessings in our life and be grateful for our family and friends. And to make this season a little more special for you and your family, we’re offering you a 25% discount on Avaz. Do avail of this offer by making a purchase between 28th November and 2nd December 2013.

Thank you all for participating in our Fourth of July – Independence Day contest. We were overwhelmed with the response!

A $50 iTunes gift card is on its way to Toby & McKade, who sent in this winning entry of McKade using Avaz to tell his parents what he would like to do each day. Toby also wrote a few lines to tell us he loves Avaz and how it has helped everyday interactions for him and his wife with their children.

“Thank you. Avaz is our preferred AAC app. I have been so grateful to have found it. I love that there are different levels to use in the app. Thank you for what you all do for families like mine.”

McKade, age 9, uses Avaz to tell us what he wants to do each day!

1. Track your therapy sessions

2. Backup & Restore

3. Use Dropbox to synchronize your Avaz content over multiple iPads

4. Share messages

5. Color coded vocabulary

6. Enhanced vocabulary

7. Add your own voice to messages

• Individual attention is the best kind, but group sessions help build social interaction skills.
• Being consistent with the AAC normalizes the device to the child, so they’re able to acclimate to it faster.
• Give the child as long as they need to ‘discover’ the device. Do not be impatient, and do not immediately prompt.
• Set short term and long term goals for the child’s progress using the AAC device.
• Do not get comfortable. If you see that the child has mastered the picture mode, for example, challenge them by gradually shifting to text. Challenges keep kids motivated, especially when they’re able to overcome them!