No End to Learning

This morning was thrilling. Our speech therapist, Lauren, has been working each week on teaching V to use the Tech Speak voice output device to communicate by touching the pictures symbols on the device. A year ago, V thought the device was a toy and would touch random pictures to hear the words, but did not understand that it represented a way for her to talk. During speech therapy this week, she pressed the picture for "I want" and then the picture for "stickers" to form a complete sentence. Why is this a big deal? It is a big deal because, until now, V only used one word utterances,like a series of clues. She could not put two words together. Okay, it was in a speech therapy session, and that is great, by itself. But then, today, she did it again without prompting when the device was presented to her. So, she is transferring the skill of putting two words together to ask for something she wants as part of her day, instead of in a structured therapy session. For V, this is huge progress toward communicating more like the rest of us. She will be 23 years old next month. I remember, years ago, that professionals were trying to teach her this very same skill, and it didn't take. At that time, and in that situation, she was not receptive.
I look forward to continued progress and acquisition of skills for V over the many years ahead. The end of formal education for disabled individuals is an artificial boundary, just as it is for the rest of us. I believe it is important to continue to address areas of need with therapy after formal schooling ends and to make it part of any adult program. There is no deadline for learning and no point that it is too late to try for progress toward a better quality of life.