PLUS SHOCKING NEWS! I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT!

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Hi All! Happy Spring and Celebrate Women’s History Month!

Have you ever wondered about old clients you’ve worked with when you first became an SLP? I think about a few often. I received the shock of my life when a family from 1977 reached out to me several weeks ago! This is what they wrote to me: Matt is now 49. (He’ll be 50 in October.) Yet the passage of years has taken nothing away from the gratitude we have for your helping Matt and us so long ago. We talk often of what you did. He's in a good place now, a supervised apartment and is quite happy. We see him weekly and it is great. Sorry we never got up to see you back then but it will happen, with Matt! All the best, despite the lack of contact we think of you often.

LOVE & DEVOTION: We had lost touch for about 17 years! I couldn’t believe so many years went by! We arranged to meet them in my old home town and we were thrilled to see each other! The biggest shock was when my husband and I went to visit them 2 weeks ago, Matt was waiting at the door with a big smile and used my name sign (R across forehead for my bangs!) He remembered me!

MATT & RICKI

MATT AT 4 YRS

MATT with brother AT 3 YRS

MATT'S SYMBOL BOARD

Their son was 3 years old when I started working with him. I graduated with my BS in 1975 and got a job in a Pilot Highscope preschool program in Jan 1976. I met Matt in 1977. He was non-speaking, was sensitive to noise & too much visual input , and screamed when he couldn’t regulate. He did not respond to toys, but loved pictures and visual supports. I tested out a few signs which he picked up quickly. Sooo I immediately enrolled in a sign language class and he was very responsive to sign for the next few years we were together…. the rest is history. He has been exposed to a variety of communication options, but he chose sign. He knows many signs but prefers to finger spell or write answers on a piece of paper. I also hand-made a symbol board and covered with contact paper. (Here’s a pic of a few pages left, family had from 46 years ago!) We didn’t have GOOGLE or copy machines or computers or laminators or voice activated AAC devices. If I wanted to research what to do I had to drive 45 minutes to Rutgers or buy lots of books! (More of the latter!) After he left the preschool program I continued to work with him privately for about 3 more years. I was researching Occupational Therapy at the time when it wasn’t a “thing” and I found Barbara Knickerbocker in Princeton, NJ. I had read Jean Ayers’ book and Barbara’s book called A Holistic Approach To The Treatment of Learning Disorders. The family connected and he started receiving OT services as well. Here are some additional interesting facts about Matt:

Matt has had the most loving, devoted, nurturing and supportive parents I have ever known. They weathered through so many challenges! Matt is an amazing young man because of them and the support they received.
He was officially diagnosed with Autism at 11 years old by Dr. Isabelle Rapin (passed in 2017), neurologist at Montifiore in Bronx. She advanced our understanding of autism and was an expert in pediatric communication disorders and autism! He had been to Children’s Hospital in Phily at 2 years old and other hospitals as well. Everyone said it was NOT Autism.
Matt can produce a few beginning sounds, but he is considered a non-speaker.
Matt learned sign language at an early age. By 8 years old he could write. But his writing consisted of repeated loops of thoughts. Think of strands of connected ribbons in his brain which keep repeating themselves. When school did attempt a Tobii device, he just wanted to type all the words he thought of vs using for communication. He continues to have loops of memories to this day….his family, old baby sitter, yearly July party, visit to see his 2 brothers in Washington, DC, teachers in his preschool …including me, naming the states and where his relatives live. He has learned loops for previous jobs too.
Matt has anxiety. He is aware that he doesn’t have control over what happens next. He is more calm when he can see a schedule to know the sequence. He loves the calendar. Sometimes he brings the calendar to his parents for interpretation. If he is not satisfied with an answer or thinks they have forgotten to tell him something, he signs the word AND. I watched him do this and usually parents forgot to tell him he was going back to his apartment afterwards. Matt has decreased his anxiety since COVID - his schedule is less busy now and he is much happier.
Matt loves his family and they love him. He signs everyone’s name and where they live. Matt loves looking at family photos. He enjoys filling in colors in the iPad app paint program.
After Project Happy preschool, he attended the Midland School until he was 18 years old. He was then brought back to their local high school in which he was the only student, accompanied by a personal aide. Parents pushed for a job coach and he got a job through the ARC of NJ. He worked at Shoprite putting out produce 3-4 days a week for 5 years. He is currently working 2 days a week at a Jewish Community Center. Matt was living at home until he was 36 years old because they could not get approved for a supervised apartment. They were on a waiting list for 13 years! He lives in a 2-bedroom apartment with a roommate and 1 supervisor.
We all had lunch together and Matt provided 1 word signs when asked how he liked lunch, etc. Afterwards he sat and looked at a box of photos for a while and then he was on the move around the house and tapping the piano keys in the living room, always coming back to the table with the AND sign - I think he was ready to go back to his apartment! Well…it was time for us to go. I looked at Matt and he gave me the biggest smile and grabbed my hand and we said bye to each other. He melted my heart! I made a difference in this family’s life and they impacted my life too! I hope we continue to keep in touch!

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Enjoy!

Ricki