Doctor J!

From Amazon, a real stethoscope in ORANGE for him to listen better to our hearts and bellies. (He loves listening to our hearts!)

Our little doctor was assessed today for speech services and qualified. We don’t know the final scores yet but by the end of the testing they were asking him questions for a seven year old (and he was answering some of them correctly) which was very funny to hear. His receptive language skills are fantastic, it’s his articulation that is currently needing a boost.

Sensory Activities

Reflex:
– rocking horse, walking, carry ball under chin
– giraffe stretch
– superman
– popcorn
– wall lean

Locomotor:
– dog walk
– bear walk
– nudge ball w/head using dog/bear walk
– lame dog walk, one arm or leg in air, hopping through hoops
– duck walk (user rocker in hands)
– hopscotch
– hop & stop, one foot, holding
– ladder crawl
– ladder & stair practice

Board work & pre-handwriting/fine motor:
– kneeling, draw half circle on floor
– rainbows back & forth
– tornado (spiral in and out, both directions)
– horizontal waves
– spider web grid
– tornado grid
– paint w/water
– butcher paper on table, walk around while writing
– write laying down
– use different tools (chalk, paints, pen, pencils, markers)
– roll clay & shape into letters
– salt box
– hole punch
– scissor skills

Tactile:
– ball pit, crawl & roll
– cocoon crawl (fabric tube)
– swim & dry across floor
– ball buddy roll/massage
– finger ball roll sitting up leg/torso, over head, switch hands, back down
– massage feet & hands

Vestibular:
– spinning board
– rolling arms over head across floor, in and out of blankets
– rock & row with stick, cross legged or legs extended or on yoga ball
– roll on belly on yoga ball, pick up items from box in front/to side
– sit on yoga ball and pick up balls from one side, drop into box on other side
– rock/spin inside large bowl
– pull self across floor using jump rope laying on belly on scooter, hold ball & scoot and drop into container

Proprioceptive:
– count jumps on trampoline
– read or recite alphabet while jumping
– jump rope or hoop, alternate feet, make path to follow
– skip & hop toy
– teeter board
– left/right hand tap onto sheets taped to wall on trampoline

Balance:
– balance beam forward & back, sideways, one foot
– balance beam dropping items into containers
– balance beam w/bags on head and shoulders & arms, elbows
– rope walk forward & back, sideways, one foot, hopping, etc
– half angel balance (arm & leg extended, rotate, hold)
– baton pass on beams passing each other
– hop inside circle 10x, hope forward, switch legs, continue to next hoop, hop

Motor Planning:
– box hopscotch to designate numbers/colors/letter boxes
– hula hoop
– step on dome cones
– kneel & pick up box w/elbows, rotate & set down
– angle hopscotch, must rotate feet to align with line on square
– team shapes using string/rope held
– monkey hop, squatting and hop side to side on squares

Eye, Hand & Foot Coordination:
– flip & catch ball into cup, remind to hold body still & move only arms
– launch board (board & bean bag)
– ball tap on string, dangle over head & lay on back
– ball tap standing, with stick to tap ball
– ball tap on back using feet
– ball tap standing, on teeter board
– hole punch
– wand catch, toss back and forth vertically to self

Ball Work:
– ball in lap, lift pelvis & rest on arms, roll ball to feet
– punch balloon, while walking
– dribble, both hands, while walking, to each side
– dribble with ball inside square while walking around square
– ball crawl, lay on and rotate down length of body and back up, kneel on ball w/hands resting on floor (legs pulled under self)
– bounce ball in hoops arranged in circle
– lay on ball and using feet roll ball up & down wall

Misc:
– silly olympics
– obstacle course
– yoga
– dance
– parachute

Universities & PE

If you have any colleges nearby then I think it’s worth asking about student programs they may have. That’s how our children are able to get one-to-one (or two-to-one!) swim lessons all year at the indoor pool on one campus, the greatly discounted graduate student speech therapy services, and the adaptive PE. These are geared towards children with special needs but they also welcome siblings in the swimming & PE programs. We’ve been attending for the last couple years and it’s been a great experience. Here are some photos they shot of our wild ones this session:

It looks fun, huh??

I told you, some of these teachers are enormously big and muscled! 🙂 Which makes me laugh every time E’s instructing her football player sized teachers to skip or play follow the leader and they sweetly comply. (This session she had mostly women and she doesn’t have a preference – she seems happy with anyone that lets her make the rules. We’re working on that!)

E’s solo class, she likes to make them do yoga with her:

Some of our kids are handfuls enough to warrant three or four teachers to themselves. 🙂 If we’re not there, that’s sometimes 8 or more teachers without a kid, so we try to not miss!

We have LOVED the PE program and J is excited to start this summer or fall, depending on teacher to kid ratio. Sometimes there are teachers without a class and they’ve asked if they could have him to play with but mostly he stays with us (and gets almost uninterrupted iPad time, a much coveted treat around here.) But PE has been fun for all of us. If you’re in the area and have a 3 to 12 year old then come join us, email me for details. Special needs children, siblings, and their friends are all invited. There is a summer session this year, starting June 9th.

And if you don’t live nearby, check out your local universities! We learned about these programs all from other parents to children with special needs, so connect with the community network!

Preschool/Pre-K

Today was B’s speech time Valentine Party – they have a little girl that just joined so it’s five kids including Ben. They exchanged valentine’s & treats and he came home with a bag of goodies! He’s really enjoyed this group speech program and it’s worked out well. Though I do hope he’ll be ready to graduate after this semester, for his sake and for our budget’s sake. 🙂

I mentioned in that old link that each of our older kids had a year of preschool/pre-K the year they were four. Christopher attended a 3 hour once a week preschool that a friend ran in her home. It was Ben’s first winter at home and we couldn’t risk any co-ops or groups so it was good for C to have a chance to play and visit with friends (and Miss Amy was fantastically diligent about handwashing so C never caught a bug to bring home.) Moira attended a 2 hour once a week speech group/preschool that was just down the street from our home right after Emiline was born and it was really beneficial for her speech but also fun for her socially. And now Bennett’s in a speech program twice a week, 30 minutes of individual speech then an hour of the group (for 2 hours total with the other kids.) I can see how it’s helping his conversational skills and he’s connecting with the other kids.

I pursued the pre-K for C because of circumstances (fragile new baby) but it’s been nice that with the speech needs we could combine the pre-K and therapy for the next two kids. Also convenient since both times I had a new baby and couldn’t participate in a co-op that focused on that age.

I’m not sure if we’ll pursue a group of any sort for Emiline. She’s starting kindergarden in the fall and in so many activities already (PE, co-op, swimming) that I don’t know when we could fit it in or if it’s necessary, since she has so many social interactions anyway. I don’t think the pre-K is necessary for any academic reason, we did it only for the social (for C during our isolation) and for the speech therapy. I can see a benefit for extroverted first born kids to have that time but for subsequent kids, especially if they are introverted, I think it’s not crucial if they have siblings and social meet ups during the week.

Stretchy Sack Therapy

Cam

On a friend’s blog we saw a photo of their kids in stretchy sacks, good for proprioceptive sensory issues. I wondered if I could make one and when digging through my fabric stash I found this! A friend shared it from her fabric stash, it’s about 57″ long and a big tube of stretch knit. If I sew up one end and put velcro closures on the other end it just may work.

So far three of them have tried it out and LOVE it, they’re pretending to be in a cocoon or a caterpillar crawling about, stretching as hard as they can. Fantastic for sensory input – I love when I (a) get great ideas from friends (b) already have the materials on hand to make it happen!

Cam

iPad/iTouch/iPhone Apps

Sorry for not linking, I’m so tired… 🙂 These are not necessarily educational but have a learning element if that makes sense. Logic, problem solving, pattern recognition, art, etc. I’m copying as they dictate so you might need to verify spelling in the store to see if what you are buying sounds about right. I consider some of these therapy because Ben’s eye doctor said the up close focused work while patched was good for his eyeball. 🙂 These were all free always or free apps of the day unless otherwise notified:

Flash Tables ($2)
Fit It
browse the “puzzle” category of the app store
Alphabetic
Pop Math
Flash Bee
Super 7
Memory Cards (it has a fish, game of memory that Joseph loves)
Colour Fill
Adobe Ideas
Kid Paint ($1 from Haiti fundraiser)
Bookworm
Art Studio ($1)
Dots 4 Tots
FlashToPass
Flag2Map ($1 from Haiti fundraiser)
iChunk
Creamy Ice (Kit says it’s pattern recognition and therefore educational.)

piano games

Speech, Therapy & Preschool

When setting up Ben’s speech therapy for the fall they asked if I was interested in a group program. We planned for 30 minutes of individual speech therapy 2x a week but we could do that and then immediately afterward and with the same therapist he would attend a one hour speech based preschool program. They would have themes, story books, pre-literacy skills, games, etc. (I explained he’s been reading for a couple years and they said they would absolutely adjust and adapt that segment so that it challenged Ben and focuses on reading skills & articulation instead.) I worried it was all younger children than him but three will be kindergarden age but waiting another year so it is his peer age group. Five kids total and each will have a speech therapist with them.

I think this will be wonderful! Christopher had a year of one day a week in home preschool that his best friend’s mom ran and that was when we had Bennett newly home from the hospital and were in lockdown for RSV. It gave him some structured social and academic time with friends when we couldn’t get out of the house much. Moira had a year of one day a week in school preschool that was run by two speech therapists and was focused on her articulation skills but with the added element of social development of her speech – and she loved it. I thought Bennett would enjoy and benefit from something similar but had no clue how we could possibly manage that and then this fell into our laps!

My concern was Kit’s work schedule (but the time slot is manageable and he says we can do it) and the price. We’re paying for two individual therapy sessions a week but those PLUS an additional two hours a week of group therapy? Ouch, but much to my surprise and delight the group fee includes the individual fee and it’s less – LESS!!!! – than the individual therapy is alone! It’s speech based preschool 2x a week with his own designated therapist for the same price as individual therapy?? And 1.5 hours each day which I think is just about right for his attention span (since this is a more intensive, therapy focused program vs. preschool with free playtime and such.) Could it be more perfect??

I feel really, really grateful. I think this will be wonderful for Bennett

Reading Report on Mo

Now that we have it I’m feeling reassured. She is where we thought she was as far as peer comparison, though the supervisor told me she was far beyond with her comprehension (and they were testing her at 6th grade level, she said) but we’ll be focusing on decoding skills and sight words because those are two areas she needs work.

They are advising reading therapy but since we’ve not actually formally done any reading program with her and are inconsistent with our Spell to Write & Read (I was waiting for her results before I pushed that further and was just doing reviews of what we had already covered) I’m feeling confident that she does NOT need therapy. She’s within typical range for her age and since she taught herself to read and she’s there, imagine if we actually sit down and get serious about teaching her to read? 🙂 But I wanted to focus on her gross and fine motor skills and speech before I worried about pushing the read. She’s still so young but now that she’s graduated from speech and the reading test says there are no underlying indicators of a reading issue, I’m confident it’s READING TIME! We’ll be sitting down daily for some practice.