Communication For All

“Sanjith is a non-speaking autistic kid. We started using an AAC App a while ago but it was mostly limited to requesting for breakfast, lunch & dinner. We couldn’t take it any further. I came in touch with Subodha through Facebook. We started online sessions with Subodha and boom!! Anjana, our therapist introduced navigation on the AAC system through customising different folders, facilitated language through games, conversations, shared writing, making up poems, stories and more!! A boy who was almost written off for being non-vocal has now presented at a conference by autistic individuals. He is being noticed by kids in our community and his ability to communicate better has helped him regulate himself better than before. We are happy to be able to converse, play and have fun together. All thanks to Subodha.”

“After Leira acquired very basic speech, we noticed a stagnancy and her speech never progressed beyond words like “I want+ noun”(very few nouns, mostly mands for food). She would also use words and phrases but without context or meaning. We approached Subodha and Anjana, our therapist could pin point that Leira is a gestalt learner (learning language in chunks) and possibly that was the reason why she was not able to typically combine words. Based on our therapist’s input, we customized AAC to break up the existing phrases into words and recombining them and at the same time exposed her to many words multimodally. Now her language has picked up and has extended to small phrases with 2 to 3 words and she looks a lot more confident and happier.”

“Earlier, my voice was very feeble & words came out gibberish. I met Anjana, from Subodha in 2018. She provided virtual speech therapy to me. She started with letter & word formation for me. With the techniques given by her I was able to speak more clearly & loudly. She helped me with more complex language too.. giving me tools & techniques eg. describe the event, steps of recipes as I am very fond of cooking. Best part for me was she included Meditation with speech therapy which helped me manage my anxiety. I communicate using keyboard, but she taught me to communicate using spoken words too. With strategies given by her, I try to focus more on my verbal expression too. Thanks to Subodha for all your support. Keep doing the great work and helping other kids.”

“My main concern was that my son was not communicating independently; there was a heavy dependence on physical prompting. I wanted guidance on making him an independent communicator. That’s when I was referred to Subodha. The therapist used a prompt fading approach. Through Subodha sessions, I gained some insights about my son through their neurodiversity approach. He is able to express himself by typing without prompts through their video conversations. My son feels the AAC App, and Subodha are helping him communicate better. He sensed the trust and respect the therapist holds for him. I am thankful”.

“We have had multiple speech therapists and were never satisfied. After we got started at Subodha, we did not have to look any further. Our therapist Anjana’s greatest strength is her structured approach, empathy and patience. She is the only speech therapist we could really trust as she understands our child. Our son likes the online sessions with her and we have seen a drastic improvement in our child’s speech and confidence”

“The sessions started with detailed assessment so there is clarity from the beginning about the goals. So initial sessions were about visual perceptual skills and getting comfortable with coughdrop AAC App. Slowly as Gopal got used to the sessions it got a bit complex. To be honest, I was a little anxious as I wasn’t sure about Gopal’s receptive language skills because he is a non speaker. But Anjana was very assuring and conducted the sessions giving ample time to Gopal. She observed each and every action of Gopal very minutely to understand him better. The best part is every time she added icons to Gopal’s device was with his permission. The topics were very relevant for Gopal, so he started to open up. I also liked the way she encourages him to use keyboard. She constantly modifies his AAC App for easy usage and very well versed on latest technologies used for non speakers. She always talks to me after the session and plans sessions according to his needs. I am happy that Gopal is clear about his choices now and able to express his choices through coughdrop in public places too, which is making him more relaxed now so he is able to learn better and also people were beginning to respect him as he is communicating on his own through his device. For me it is great relief seeing him relaxed and happy. Still a long way to go…..but with Anjana’s support we have started our journey on a good note and getting stronger each passing day. Looking forward to learning and communicating more”