Encouraging My Daughter With a Disability to Use Her Voice

Well, today it happened. One of my worst fears realized. When Jess came home, I noticed there were no words on her Talker. I looked in the history (on her iPad) and sure enough, she did not utter a word all day.

Upon this discovery, I turned to her and said, “If you do not use your voice, then someone will talk for you. If you do not make your own choices, someone else will decide for you. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Jess dropped her head in shame. She pondered this for a few minutes, then she said, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

I know Jess hasn’t been feeling well, she stayed home yesterday; she did not eat and napped on the couch. I know it’s a struggle to talk when she is on the go with a group. I know sometimes she feels when she talks people are not always listening.

However, as her mom, I will encourage her to use her voice. I don’t wan’t her to take her AAC voice for granted.

For the rest of the afternoon, Jess wouldn’t shut up and we were both happy.

I’m so glad we had that talk.

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