Full Disclaimer: I am NOT a speech therapist although at times I feel like one. I'm just a mom who was desperate to have her child speak. This is MY experience and journey and what we did on the road to speech. Gemiini has NOT endorsed this.
Olivia is now 13 years old and has Down syndrome and apraxia. Apraxia is a MAJOR motor planning speech disorder that affects about 30-40% of people with Down syndrome. Speech is SO hard for our kids. Speech doesn't just flow out. To get them talking they need to say a LOT (upwards of 50 and maybe more) repetitions of the SAME word before it gets into their long term memory. It's ALL about coordinating their mouth, tongue and air flow to say words. The things we don't even think about to talk - it just naturally happens for us. For kids with both Down and apraxia it doesn't just naturally happen. We have to make it happen for them. I have literally taught Olivia how to say every sound and every word. And I mean EVERY one!! I remember one day when I came to this realization, that I was going to have to teach her each and every sound...that it wasn't going to come naturally. I remember thinking how am I going to DO THIS and being VERY overwhelmed and sad. :( Then...I read about Gemiini on Facebook. It said it was for kids with Autism, but I figured, why not give it a try and I have not looked back.
I tried a LOT of tools to get Olivia talking. The one that worked the BEST was Gemiini.
Gemiini is an online video modeling tool with over 100,000 videos available (in English) to choose from. You can create your own videos sessions OR you can use some of their pre-set video sessions. Many of these individual videos are less than 20 seconds long. You can combine them to create one long video session.
Here is how I first started using Gemiini to get my child, then five years old, to go from barely talking (she had about 10 words), to now saying well over 10,000 words eight years later.
First I created a list of words that were motivating to her. Things she REALLY wanted and asked for via sign or pointing! Words like cracker, ball, play, outside, mommy, daddy, etc. Then I made a video with just ten words. They have different versions of each word/sound/phrase. Each video serves a different purpose. I used the Full version of the video and the close up. The close up is especially important because it shows the child how to form the words and sounds with their mouth. There is no distraction from anything else. The child just focuses on the lips. So a session would look like this:
- Opening video with something of Olivia doing something that I uploaded to Gemiini from my phone (here's how to do that)
- Ball (Full video - combines all three videos below)
- Ball (generalization video - includes various different types of balls)
- Ball (close up video)
- Ball (mid-shot video - child saying the word from the mid part of their body on up)
- Another video of Olivia doing something that I uploaded to Gemiini to keep her engagement high
- Cracker (four videos as outlined above)
- Another video of Olivia doing something that I uploaded to Gemiini to keep her engagement high
- Play (four videos as outlined above)
- Another video of Olivia doing something that I uploaded to Gemiini to keep her engagement high
- and so on...
- I would end the video session with a praise clip like great job or you did awesome
Since it took her more than a week to learn these words, I would reorganize the video each week (took about ten minutes), so it seemed like it was a brand new video each time she watched it. I don't' know any other tool that you can do this with. You can't do this with a DVD - it's static. This is important to preventing boredom. Now Gemiini has playlists on the app where you can make shorter videos and then reorganize them to prevent boredom.
⇒The key to these videos is watching them three times a day twice at each session. We would watch them at mealtimes and in the car (portable iPad or Android with the Gemiini app). She is watching the video six times a day. She is getting a LOT of input hearing and seeing these words.
How I got Olivia to use the words from the Gemiini video aka Generalization.
Anytime she wanted one of these items in the video, I MADE her use the words. So, for example, if she wanted crackers (her favorite food), she had to ask for it. She couldn't just sign or point to the item. Here is how it would go:
- Olivia would sign or point to crackers.
- I would get down to her level, touch her lip and say "you want a cracker? You say it, cracker".
- I would touch her lips again.
- Then I would be quiet and wait about 15 seconds. The key here is to be quiet. Don't keep asking the child to say the words over and over. They need time to process. If she didn't say anything I would repeat 2 and 3, but only one more time.
- If she said "kuh" I would heap lots of praise on her and then would give her a cracker. If she never said anything, I would say, 'Good trying here's a cracker'. Eventually she would say cracker. And for the LONGEST time she just said 'kers' under she could say a two syllable word. We would give her a cracker for saying 'kers'.
By doing this over and over, she learned that using her words would get her what she wanted.
I remember when we first started Gemiini. Olivia couldn't even say D words. So what I did was create a session that looked like this (starting out with a personalized video as before):
D - close up sound only
Dance - Full video
D- close up sound only
Dance - close-up only video
And so on with various D words that had meaning for her. I have done this with many sounds that have been hard for her. CH was one we (the speech therapist and I were working on). We combined a Gemiini video with exclusive CH sounds and words along with a Speech Buddy and within about a month she could say the sound. Now a month might seem long, but in the world of apraxia it's actually quite short. We have also used Gemiini for reading, saying two and three syllable words and pretend play.
I remember one time when we were driving and Olivia was listening to the D word video and she was copying from the video and she said Dance clear as day. I had an AHA moment, thinking we are getting speech therapy in the car!!
There are SO many different ways to create a video that your child will like and respond to. This is what worked for us and we had massive success with it. You may have to play around with the system to see what works for your child.
I have heard a LOT of concerns to using Gemiini over the years.
#1 My child didn't like it.
My first response to this is so what. We as parents often do things their kids don't like that we know is good for our kids. The way to fix this concern is to add your own videos that are probably already on your phone to ease the boredom. Always open with a video of your child doing something and then add one of your videos to Gemiini about every four videos or so to keep them interested. I really believe adding my own videos to the Gemiini ones is the KEY to having your child like and become comfortable with Gemiini.
#2 Looking at a screen is bad for kids.
Well there is SOME truth to this, but Gemiini is different. It's e-learning. Your child will copy from the screen at some point so they are actually learning. It's not like watching Elmo or Mickey.
#3 I don't have time to figure this thing out.
Honestly, you don't have time not to figure Gemiini out. It's worth your investment of a few hours to get your child talking. Request a call from the Product Specialist team. It's only 30 minutes of your time to get started on the right foot. They will ask you questions about your child and then guide you as to the best place to start. We all have as much time as we need. The key is to prioritize. Gemiini is amazing for busy parents. Spend about 30-60 minutes initially to figure out the website and get comfortable with it. Then spend about ten minutes a week to set up a new video. Show it to your child at mealtimes and in the car. It's the EASIEST tool I know of where I don't have to sit down and work directly with her. That takes time that I don't always have.
#4 My child isn't saying what he/she saw in the video and transferring it to the real world.
Yes, this is quite common. This is called generalization. We, as parents, have to help them transfer it. Follow the Generalization technique above and you will have success. It might take some time depending on your child, but don't give up!!
#5 I tried it for a few months and it didn't work.
Every child is different. Yes my daughter responded within the first week or two. BUT she already had a strong base of skills to start with. She is a huge copier/imitator and she started copying from Gemiini right away. Not every child has that skill set. If they don't have that ability you will want to really work on strengthening those imitation skills and encourage them to mimic from the screen. Praise all their attempts to copy. Also be sure to keep your expectations in check. If your child is non-verbal they probably aren't going to get to fluent conversational speech in a week or even in a year. We have been using Gemini for over eight years and while my daughter is not non-verbal, she is still not fully conversational. She speaks sometimes up to five word sentences. We are working on back and forth communication. So far the most I have had is about four or five back and forth exchanges. She started speaking in sentences (yes memorized sentences), but still I'll take it. There are nine levels to get to fluent conversational speech. Gemiini made a video outlining each level. It really helps to understand all that goes into speech.
Here's the bottom line. Gemiini is a TOOL that helps get your child talking. For many kids it's ALL about repetitions of sounds and words. Gemiini allows your child to get those repetitions in during their down time such as at meals or in the car. It's an amazing system that is working for thousands of kids.
Lastly, Olivia and I were featured on the news. It's a great video which will inspire you. I wish you and your child MUCH success with speech. It's a rewarding, but challenging journey.
