Activities Round Up and Reaction

These are the suggestions from E and L (our specialists that come and help me learn how to help Pod) so far:

General

* Give a warning before finishing an activity she likes so as to give her fair warning and allow her time to put coping skills into play.

*Label emotions in a very concrete way. For example, when she's upset by something, include "Oh, you're sad/angry/upset." Then reset limits and explore options.

*Look up CSEFEL.vanderbilt.edu as they have great parent articles.

*Continue going to the library story time for social interaction and stimulation.

*Create picture cards in order to let her know what is going to happen before you do it so that she can be ready.

Speech

*Hold objects to mouth/point to mouth so that she can see how your mouth moves when making a sound.

*Continue to work on prompting the word "up" when she wants to get out of the high chair. Look where her eyes are looking and try to get a read on if a tantrum is brewing. Remove her before a tantrum.

*Use the 'Speech Box/Knock knock box' to work on cooperative speech skills.

*Sign when saying key words.


Sensory


* Incorporate daily water play. Start with a small bowl of water, a piece of paper, and a paintbrush. Have Pod dip the brush into the water and let her 'paint' on the paper with the water. Try to progress to dipping fingers in.

* Find other textures to play with: dried rice or beans, Play-Doh.

* Play with fingerpaint.

* Try and get Pod to brush her hair with your help.



This somehow seems less overwhelming when written down like this. I've found a simple "All done" while signing to be a very good way to end an activity. Sometimes Pod even hands me the stuff to help me clean up now. Labelling her emotions has also been good because now I can say "Sad choice" to her when she's doing something that will end badly and she's starting to get it, I think. I go to the library (weather permitting), and just made a picture board for her so that I can try giving her a kind of basic schedule to help avoid meltdowns.

Out of all of the areas to work on, I'm finding the speech the hardest. Probably because it's the area I'm the most stressed out about. But it's also the area that requires the most consistent reinforcement and the adoption of new habits. Things like remembering to sign key words while saying them, and pointing to my mouth to draw attention to the shape of my mouth when speaking are actually kind of difficult to sustain. I know it's just a matter of time before I get it. The Knock Knock box is perhaps the easiest out of all the activities to do.

As someone whose kid doesn't really play in a cooperative way, I love the sensory activities because it's becoming the nearest thing to play for us and I think Pod really enjoys them too.

Yet to do:

*Look up articles on CSEFEL.vanderbilt.edu
*Create sensory boxes with farm animals and dried goods.
* Continue working on the speech stuff.

Own ideas:

* Add two horses to the Knock Knock box with the associated animal sound.
* Create some little shakers and add them to the Knock Knock box. "Shake", "Shake"