DESCRIPTION: National Center on Deaf-Blindness. Paul's Story: Communication.
PAUL (FATHER): Say hi, Pop-posh. Say hi.
DESCRIPTION: Young boy wearing glasses waves his fingers.
ANGELICA: Hi!
DESCRIPTION: Waves again.
ANGELICA: Hi.
DESCRIPTION: Mom and dad sitting at dining room table.
ANGELICA: For everything, he's like, "Hi" [waves]. Because he is learning how to say "hi." So everything's "hi" or "bye."
PAUL (FATHER): Say hi.
ANGELICA: Say hi!
PAUL: [laughs]
DESCRIPTION: Paul waving.
ANGELICA: He doesn't say any words verbally. Sometimes he says "mom."
PAUL (FATHER): Kind of mumbles, yeah.
ANGELICA: But he does hum songs, so like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Bingo" song, so he hums the songs. And he just makes a lot of sounds.
DESCRIPTION: Paul and dad walking together outside.
PAUL: [nonverbal sounds]
DESCRIPTION: Paul smiling.
ANGELICA: We're hoping that he will eventually learn how to talk, even a few words. But at this moment he's not, so we communicate using pictures, sign language. And a lot of times he will guide your hand for anything he wants. He will hold our hand if he wants to go outside; he holds our hand and gives us a picture that he wants to go outside. Or whatever he wants to do, he's always guiding our hand.
DESCRIPTION: Outside, Paul grabbing dad's hand. Dad walking forward, Paul clapping and smiling.
ANGELICA: He does listen to basic commands. If I ask him to stop, he'll stop. Or, "Come on, let's go outside," and he'll follow me.
PAUL (FATHER): Here. Come here. Paul. Come here.
DESCRIPTION: Paul walking over to dad, whose arms are outstretched. Paul leaning in to hug.
ANGELICA: So Paul is a little stubborn, like many other kids. I mean, we don't have any other kids, so Paul is our only child, and we don't know any different than all this, you know, the special needs world. But Paul does know a few signs, but he only uses "more."
DESCRIPTION: Hands together at fingertips.
ANGELICA: You want more?
DESCRIPTION: Signing "more" to Paul. Paul signing "more" back, putting his hands together.
Walking with dad.
PAUL (FATHER): More?
DESCRIPTION: Dad signing.
PAUL (FATHER): More?
ANGELICA: I mean, we think he understands a lot of the signs, but he just doesn't use them. So we just, we use the basic signs like "want," "need," "do you want to go outside," all the basic signs. But even though he doesn't sign them, we still sign to him.
So pictures, which is called PECS. We use pictures. We've got pictures throughout the house, like he has a swing, so there's a picture next to the swing. If he wants to go swing, he'll grab the picture and look for me or his dad if he's around, and give us the picture. That means that he wants to go on the swing.
Want to swing? All right! Let's go on the swing!
DESCRIPTION: Paul taking photo of swing from wall.
Paul sitting in a red fabric swing hanging from ceiling, smiling and laughing.
ANGELICA: We also have a binder. Especially when we're in therapy, if he wants to play with a specific toy, he will open the binder and grab a picture.
DESCRIPTION: Flipping through binder.
ANGELICA: Come here, Paul. Come here! Tell me what you want. 
DESCRIPTION: Mom taking pictures of a controller, a train, a wagon, and a snail and velcroing them to the front.
ANGELICA: Come here. Come here. Come here. Tell me what you want. Hurry! Come on. Oh, you want your snail.
DESCRIPTION: Paul takes picture of snail from binder.
ANGELICA: So that's how we use pictures. I mean it's been over a year and two or three months that we've been using pictures. It took him a long while to get familiar, but now he is pretty good at it.
DESCRIPTION: Picture of tree on door. Paul removing picture, handing it to mom.
ANGELICA: All right! Let's go outside!
DESCRIPTION: Paul waits to take mom's hand before walking outside. Holding hands, they go out in the sun.
ANGELICA: Our goal is for him to also learn how to use an iPad to communicate. I mean, he loves the iPad to watch videos and play, but not to communicate.
DESCRIPTION: Paul holding iPad close to his face. Leaning back on the sofa, he taps a picture on the screen.