As it should be

The main goal of therapy for a group that I used to see was functional communication.  During one session, the clients were playing with toy cars on a mat. One of them used his talker to tell the others what to do with their play. He then laughed this infectious laugh when they did what he said to do. It was really adorable. Later in the session, we were going to play with a large ball that I had on top of a cupboard. I asked who could get the ball down. They all answered that they could. I then asked each one to get the ball down. The first child tried. He couldn't reach. One of the children ran over to the talker and hit the "oh no" button to say "oh no! We can't get the ball." He did this repeatedly. So, after about 5 minutes of this, I helped them figure out that only I could reach the ball. We then played ball and again one boy used his talker to direct play and comment. That is how augmentative communication therapy is supposed to work!