We made a communication board just like Melody has.  We used our thumbs to “talk” using the communication board to have a conversation.  The board was limited to only 50 words with the alphabet and number chart above.  We did this activity to build empathy for Melody and her situation.

I used words like homework, teacher, and your.  These are words I thought would be used in a scenario like the one me and my partner did.  If I had the opportunity to do this again I would be smaller words on the board like what, not, and is.  Since I wrote in mostly big words on the communication board and a small amount at that it was hard to communicate easily.  I mostly had to spell out words and it made understanding what I was saying more confusing for my partner.

Sometimes it was easy to understand what each of us was saying if it included words we wrote on the communication board. It was okay if we had some words written on the board and then had to spell some out.  It was difficult when we just had to spell the words out since they weren’t written on our board.  I thought it was very frustrating because it was slow to get out a sentence and even then we sometimes couldn’t understand what the other was saying.

I’m surprised Melody has made it this far with limited amount of words to say.  I would have gone crazy by now and she has been able to do it for years.  It feels like you have to much to say or and overload in your mind not being able to talk.  I feel bad for Melody and understand how she feels never talking her whole as opposed to me not talking for 2o minutes.  If Melody starts to get angry that she can’t talk or express herself in the story I won’t judge her.  I wouldn’t blame her for being frustrated that she doesn’t have a voice.