Full Sentences
Not too long ago, I heard an interview with an autistic man who was talking about his childhood. He said, “My mom always insisted that I greet everyone whom I approached or who approached me. I didn’t understand why this was so important to her or why she got so upset with me when I didn’t abide by this rule. She kept saying, ‘Say “hi,” say “hi!”‘ and I could tell she was not happy with me. I just kept thinking, ‘What’s the point? They see me, I see them. Is there any need to say anything?'”
I love that. I heard that and knew immediately that many times, Adam is thinking along similar lines. It’s not that he is unable to speak in full sentences or even that he doesn’t know the little words that we all add to our speech, he just doesn’t see the point in them. He’s thinking, “Why should I say ‘I need to go to the bathroom,’ when I could just say ‘potty’ and be done with it?” He looks at me with that vintage Adam crinkle between his eyes (the one he’s made since he was born–like he exited the womb and thought “Where in the world has God sent me?”), and then obediently spits out several more words than he originally intended (though sometimes in an agitated “Why are you bothering me?” tone).
Of course, since my goal is to help him live in this verbose world and build connections with other human beings, this is a sticking point with us. It’s very important that it become a habit for Adam to speak in complete sentences and leave behind his more efficient two to three word phrases. When I got to this point with Riley, it was much easier. She’s so passionate about what she wants that all I had to do was start withholding things until she said the entire sentence. She’d get livid with me, but she’d say what I wanted her to say. When she quickly realized that I was going to do this every time, she just gave in to me. Though she was certainly frustrated with me, it soon became second nature for her to say all of the extra words that are second nature to the rest of us.
Adam has been much more difficult to motivate. He is so laid back and stubborn that when I started withholding things, he just looked at me pointedly and walked away. I knew that meant, “Fine. Keep it.”
Ms. Nancy (Adam’s teacher) and I were discussing this at a recent IEP meeting. The next day, she came out to the car and said, “Let me show you what I made for Adam. I think I’ve got something that might work for him.” I am so blessed to have such wonderful teachers for my children!! I can’t say that enough. They excel at solving these puzzles quickly and creatively.
When I saw Ms. Nancy’s solution, I knew immediately that it would be the right thing. She had made Adam a ring to wear on his belt that has sentence strips on it. There’s a sentence for each of the most common things Adam requests, and now even an important one specific to Adam: Check my blood, please. The sentences were written using a wonderful program called Writing with Symbols 
so each word also has a picture with it that helps Adam understand what each word means (he can already read almost anything, he just doesn’t necessarily understand what he’s reading). Adam absolutely loves this! It appeals to his hyperlexic nature, and it makes saying full sentences fun because he is reading them. Each time Adam tries to say something to Ms. Nancy using just a few words, she hands him the sentences on his belt and says, “Adam, what do you want?”
I was so sure this was going to be good for Adam that I made him a few sentence rings for home. He started with one that has sentences about things he likes or needs to do and another for meal choices. In the first few days we had those, I ended up serving him chicken nuggets, crackers, and pizza for breakfast one morning, all of which he requested himself using full sentences! Immediately the sentences did exactly what Ms. Nancy and I had hoped and showed Adam that complete communication brings powerful results. The next week I made a few more sentence rings though—one with breakfast choices and another for snacks.:) The girls have jumped in with us on the effort and refer to the rings of sentences strips as “Adam’s sentences.” Riley will be the first to say, “Where are Adam’s sentences?” and then “Let me get your sentences for you, Buddy.”
Adam is a very, very quick learner. The idea is that we’ll be able to move from handing him the sentences to just reminding him verbally (“Adam, what do you want?”) and that eventually he will start to use the sentences without reminders. From there, he’ll start to generalize sentence forms and be able to move on to making observations about his environment, etc. Already, Ms. Nancy and I have had some success with verbal reminders only. I’m at the point now where I always try that first. If Adam appears to be struggling, I reach for the sentence strips. Many times now, he’ll even use a full sentence on his own without needing a reminder. As you might expect, some days we have more success than others. I’m not sure Adam will ever understand why we want him to use so many words, but my hope is that eventually doing so will be second nature to him too. Pray with us that this will be so!
