Communication Challenge

If you couldn’t talk, how would you let your mom know you were hungry? Or how would you let your dad know you wanted to go outside? Your parents would probably be very discouraged trying to guess what you wanted!

Do you remember praying for our outreach in the Dominican Republic? Well, at that outreach, there were 58 kids who faced that exact problem! They couldn’t tell their parents they needed help getting to the bathroom. They couldn’t say if their shoes were too tight or if they just wanted a hug. Their disabilities kept them from letting their parents know what they needed! But when those 58 kids came to get a wheelchair from Joni and Friends, not only did they get a wheelchair, but they received the ability to communicate!

Just how did our team help them do that? With communication boards. A communication board is a tool that has lots of little pictures of things you might do in a day, spread out so you can see. It might have pictures of a glass of water, a pizza, a bed, and a bunch of other things. When a boy or girl wants to ask for a drink, but can’t say those words, he or she can point at the picture of the glass of water. Download these instructions for making a simple communication board, and see if you and a friend can understand each other just using the board. And then tell us about it!