New Video of Philip Typing

This is a quick video I taped today to include in a talk I will be giving next month.  Enjoy!

Philip's Baptism Video

This is a short clip from Philip's baptism on August 24, 2014 which was shown at our church the following week.

Video: Philip Typing About News in Iraq

Transcription:
Lisa: What is going on in Iraq?
Philip: In Iraq there is fighting because Muslim terrorists are openly persecuting the minorities.
L: What should we, as the US, do?
P: I think we should fight to help them.

Philip also typed today:  I want to type well because it is utilized in many situations.  Real world uses the typed word all the time.  For we come to communicate by texts, facebook, and emails.  I am now part of the digital age.

Yes you are Philip!  How exciting it is to see Philip progressing in his knowledge and skills, and becoming more and more included in the greater world.  Philip is the first to tell me he is not exceptional.  He has had the opportunity to learn to communicate because of Soma.  He now wants to make sure all those who cannot effectively speak can have the same chance to communicate through spelling and typing.  Philip wrote on his Facebook page last week:  I am not being notable being a learned kid with autism. There are many like me.  Heading to mean to rescue them from their silence.

*  For those of you wondering, Philip uses the iPad app called Assistive Express and the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard.

Letter to the President

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Philip.  I am writing to tell you that I am autistic and I want to change the way autistics are taught.  Time to listen to autistics.  No stopping us now.  Standard of teaching has to change.  There is too much senseless drills.  There are not interesting subjects fostered.  Sometimes I want to learn with normal kids.  I miss autistic classmates who don’t talk.  They can’t be at my school because they can’t communicate.  I need lots of support to spell thoughts.  Not having a voice is hard.  It is hard to be the only non-speaker in my class.  Not talking is geared to nothing.  Not having a chance to learn is cruel.  Please govern fairly.  We need you to protect our right to happiness too.  

I am really lucky to have learned from Soma.  I mean to help other autistics to learn RPM too.  To start RPM you learn to listen to normal lessons.  You learn to spell answers.  Then you learn to notably spell your thoughts.  I lower myself to help others.  Learning is so important for our success.  

                                                                                                           Yours truly,

                                                                                                           Philip Reyes

Lisa’s addendum:

The morning this letter was written, Philip spelled this request:  Will you look at understanding right gears for reaching out to president for registering RPM as academic model for autistics?

Philip has been able to make a breakthrough into full communication by Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) which he learned from its creator Soma Mukhopadhyay at her HALO Clinic in Austin, Texas.  Prior to RPM, Philip received an education based on Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) from ages 2-10.  At an early age he  was able to learn the building blocks of learning through ABA, but was only able to functionally make simple requests.  By age 4 he had maxed his capacity to progress in ABA and was stuck learning the same things such as letter and coin recognition year after year.   Philip has expressed his mind was intact all along and he has been soaking up knowledge like a sponge.  However, his inability to speak and to control his body well, made him appear as if he knew very little.  As Philip grew older, this only became more frustrating and lead to more difficult behaviors.  

As Philip  mentioned, RPM is a technique that begins with a regular education and presumes the person is intelligent and competent.  As the person becomes proficient in showing what he or she knows by choosing answers from choices, spelling is introduced, and eventually full communication emerges.  Philip now communicates on a letterboard and ipad (emerging).  He has been able to enter the local public middle school where he attends classes with both autistic (speaking) peers and typical students.  Philip is proud of his accomplishments but is not satisfied with being the only one to benefit.  He thinks often of the classmates he left behind at his old school and those around the world who have no effective means to communicate yet.  He has made it his cause to advocate for them so that they may experience the same benefits he has been so fortunate to receive.    

          Letter to President Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 

Photography/ Forrest Sargent

One of Philip’s New Year’s resolutions is to find a pastime.  I think photography might be something to explore.  My Dad is an amateur photographer.  He loves to take pictures on the many trips around the world he and my Mom take now that they are mostly retired.  He belongs to a camera club and enters his photos in competition.  

This year, Philip made Christmas presents for the family by writing poems or letters for them.  For my Dad, Philip wrote a sweet note in which he appreciated my Dad’s pictures.  He wrote:

Dear Lolo,

I am touring places with you when I see your pictures.  I like them a lot.  I am interested in photography.  I want to accompany you on your shoots.  

                                                      Love, Philip

On Christmas Eve, we had dinner with extended family and family friends at my parents’ house.  After dinner, my Dad showed some of us his pictures he took on trips to Brazil and Thailand.  He was trying to figure out which ones to enter into a competition and what he should name them.  My Dad picked out this photo he took in Thailand as a possible entry.  He asked Philip, "What do you think I should name it?"  I held up the letterboard for Philip as he spelled,

 

"Catching Light Opulence"

We all sat in shocked silence for awhile.  For me, my thoughts were a combination of "Wow, that title really makes you think about the picture" and "How did my 10 year old son come up with that!?  How does he even know what opulence means?"

My Dad was blown away.  He loved the title and decided that should indeed be its name.  My Dad was now having fun with Philip and decided to ask him to title some other pictures.  More and more of our family came to join in and see what all the hubbub was about.  Dad would ask everyone what to title each picture.  Most of our suggestions were pretty mundane:  monkey on a branch or lunchtime.  Philip continued to come up with the best titles. 

"I Am King"

"A Fruitful Day"

"Each Vine is Alive"

For the last picture, my Dad asked Philip why he didn't mention the monkey.  Philip spelled, "The monkey's tail is being camouflaged by the vines."  

My Mom was impressed with what she was witnessing.  She asked me, "Aren't autistic people supposed to be unable to generalize concepts?  They said if they show someone with autism a picture, they focus only on one aspect, such as the doorknob of a door and not the whole picture.  Philip sees the whole picture and more than any of us too."  

It certainly does seem we are all learning a lot of things about Philip that are contrary to the book or "what he is supposed to be."  I think of the last picture above as being an illustration of the individual being camouflaged by autism.  What we readily see are the symptoms of autism: flapping hands, jumping legs, unfocused eyes, and a mouth that does not utter intelligible ideas.  It all too easily masks the sharp mind, the keen eye, the gentle heart, and the unique personality of each very much alive human being. It is about time we focus on the human being and treat autistic individuals as individuals, not autism.   

On that note, I leave you with an extra treat about Forrest Sargent, a 22 year old non-speaking autistic photographer who also communicates via RPM on a letterboard.  I want you the reader to know there are many autistic individuals, even non-speaking ones, living meaningful and satisfying lives.  But I also want you to know that for each person like Philip and Forrest, many more non-speaking autistics have not yet been given this opportunity.  They desperately need our help to bring effective communication into their lives.  It makes a world of difference.  Click here to read Forrest's inspiring story from frustrating silence to liberating self-expression through RPM and photography in Seattle's Quirksee magazine.

Underground Railroad and Progress Videos

This week Philip has been studying the events leading to the Civil War.  We have done lessons on slavery, abolitionism, Frederick Douglass, Missouri Compromise, The Compromise of 1850, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  We are following the Complete Book of United States History, Grades 3-5, by McGraw Hill Children's Publishing.

I ask Philip a lot of factual questions about the material, but what is really interesting is now being able to ask Philip's opinion on various matters.  Two days ago, I asked him what he thought of slavery.  His answer:  IT IS WRONG.  IT CARRIED TO EXTREMES A LOT OF (human) NATURE TO ALLOW MISTREATMENT OF PEOPLE.

I have not been much of a video maker, but I have gotten many comments, suggestions, and encouragement to take some videos of me working with Philip.  I was even more motivated after I dug up a video I made last May (click here) which I had forgotten about.  Watching it back and seeing the progress we have made is a great feeling.  I won't make videos a lot, but I'll try to do them once a month or so.

Click here to see Philip answering some questions after a lesson on the Underground Railroad.  

Afterwards, Philip created a story based on the picture below of a slave family being hidden in a snow fort by children of abolitionists pretending to play.  In the distance are two men on horseback searching for the family to capture and return to the slaveholders.  Click here to see him spell his story on the letterboard and transpose it onto a computer by typing. 

  

I am a slave. I am running away. A escape seems to be impossible.  A little child is helping me satisfy my desire for freedom.  She is covering me with snow.  I want to play but I cannot risk being seen so I manage to ask Harriet Tubman how to escape from the south.  She smooths the way to the north.  I am frantic to leave.  I am a slave soon to be free.     

*  A special Thank You to my daughter Lia, age 8, for always being my enthusiastic helper, my videographer, and Philip's greatest cheerleader.