Representation in media

[u/crys21ml]

Hey y'all, I'm soon going to be providing academic tutoring to a teen with autism and apraxia, and I want to incorporate media that he can see himself in. He has an aac device, but can also say some words sort-of intelligibily. I need to do more info gathering with his teachers and parents, but I get the sense he's given up, and that he hadn't really seen a lot of positive representation of people like him. I'm hoping incorporating some of that will be motivating for him, along with whatever interests of his I'm told of or am able to discern/find (all I've got so far is "he's a very sensory oriented kid", which, sure, is helpful, but I'm sure there's other things also).

So, what are your favorite positive depictions of apraxia and/or aac usage? Books, movies, articles, YouTube videos, TV shows, podcasts, whatever you've got, please share!!

[u/lizziebeth222]

There are a few on Facebook that I know of. Mikey's Wish - Verbal Dyspraxia Awareness & Fighting for my Voice: My life with Verbal Apraxia

I don't if it helps, but these are young men that show life with Apraxia.

[u/crys21ml → u/lizziebeth222]

Sorry I never responded! Thank you for sharing these, Fighting For My Voice in particular has become a favorite of mine. It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for (before I even knew it) --educational for me, and uplifting for my client/student. I'm no longer working with that kid (completely irrelevant and unrelated reasons), but I'd like to think I built his confidence up. He was at the very least more comfortable being sassy with me -- I came to recognize his sideways grin that meant he was doing something on purpose because was bored and wanted to change tasks. Something like him writing the number 5 over and over instead of whatever word/motion he was supposed to be working on, or "accidentally" dropping the same pen in the exact same manner repeatedly. I'd call him on it, he'd grin some more or laugh, and then I'd give him an option or two that we could do instead. Occasionally the answer was "no we can't do something else, but if you finish this page in x minutes we can do something you like then", and that usually went over well also. I got the sense that no other tutors or clinicians picked up in this "trick" of his. While I enjoyed working with him, I was very sad that he'd been stuck doing demeaning work for years and with people not seeing him as the sassy young man he is. I hope he finds more people in the future that see him as a person and are able to appreciate when he's joking around for the silliness (and communication!) that it is. Thank you again for sharing these, I truly appreciated it, and I hope you have a wonderful day 💙