My son, Halen, is learning to communicate by pointing to words on a (qwerty) letter board. A letter board is easier than an actual keyboard for a lot of individuals who have fine motor struggles as the keys on a keyboard are smaller, more compact and, therefore, make using a keyboard more difficult.

We started off with Halen taking my hand for support (due to the difficulties in his motor skills - this gives him a weight and more guidance). This method does not work for everyone but worked for Halen. We then faded my hand to encourage Halen to point himself and he is doing really well with that. We need frequent breaks and we are not always successful with Halen’s “spelling” to have his needs met as all of his senses need to comply to spell what he wants to say. But we celebrate the times we are successful and learn a little more about our son.

When I asked Halen if he wanted me to add to my website a page where he can share his form of communication in an attempt to help others, he quickly spelled out "YES PLEASE” (this is consistent with his passion for advocacy… 18 months ago he “spelled" that he wanted to be a special education teacher when he grew up “to help people like me”). So here we are, beginning Halen’s advocacy with much more to share in the coming weeks. We have named Halen’s advocacy as “Hanging with Halen” so stay tuned for some fun and learning with Halen.

DISCLAIMER: We are not professionals nor trained in this unique (to Halen) form of spelling. Spelling with Halen started off like many many families - just a parent trying to help their child in whatever way worked for them and, slowly but surely, our very unique way is working…