A mother tattooed a keyboard on her hand to communicate with her autistic son

Not wanting her autistic son to lose his ability to communicate, Jessica Fletcher tattooed a keyboard on his arm so he could point to each letter.

Jessica Fletcher lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick with her 11-year-old son Hunter. The boy is a non-verbal autistic child who usually communicates using an AAC-enabled device (tablet). This device helps him choose letters and symbols to order food and express thoughts and feelings.

One time, mother and daughter went out to eat at a restaurant, and the tablet ran out of battery. Jessica wrote the alphabet on paper, but because the letters were not in the right position, Hunter turned the back over, redrawn the keyboard from memory and used his finger to point to each letter to order food.

"I cannot let my children rely solely on technology because the device can malfunction at any time," she said.

Jessica then went to a local tattoo shop and got a full keyboard tattoo on her left hand. In addition to the letters, the tattoo has symbols of happy and sad faces and a heart shape meaning "I love you mom".

The first word Hunter put together when he saw the tattoo was "Mama". Since then, when he couldn't use the tablet, he pointed to each letter in his mother's hand to communicate. Tattoos work well in places where you can't bring electronic devices, like swimming pools or water play areas. Unlike a tablet that emits sound, the keyboard in his mother's hand helps Hunter communicate privately without being heard by people around him.

In early July, Jessica posted a 13-second video recording her son using a tattoo on social networks. In the video, Hunter combines the phrase "splash pad" to say where he wants to go. The video attracted more than 1.5 million likes. Jessica said she is willing to endure many tattoos if it helps her son have more ways to communicate.

After the video went viral, she partnered with a local business to produce shirts with a keyboard printed on the sleeves. Some of Hunter's classmates wanted to wear this shirt to chat and share secrets with him in the school yard.

Jessica also received messages from families with children with autism and medical staff in many countries. Some tattoo artists offer to do keyboard tattoos for free for parents of non-verbal children.

Ms. Maddy Dever, President of the Canadian National Autism Network, assessed that appropriate communication methods will help autistic children express their abilities.

Jessica views tattoos as a backup plan, not a replacement for AAC devices. "When communication barriers are removed, non-verbal people have the opportunity to show who they really are," she said.