These past few weeks have been a mixed bag. I'm beginning to think that's just the way of it really.
On the rough side, Pod's day care provider told us that she hadn't made eye contact or interacted with her all day. She was worried about taking care of a kid who wouldn't even look at her, mentioned 'autism', and basically implied that if things are the same on Tuesday, we were going to have to reassess Pod's place in her day care. That was depressing. In addition to that, Pod hadn't eaten, pretty much at all, the whole time she was there. It's hard to figure out how to proceed with something like that, because we chose to send her to day care for two reasons. Firstly that she'd get the chance to interact with other kids (hopefully helping her social issues), and secondly that I'd get a break from her to work on stuff that I need to work on. As you might imagine, this was upsetting on a number of levels, and it ramped up my worry levels quite a lot. What about her chance to learn from other kids? To be incentivised to communicate? But if she's not eating and not making eye contact, that's distress, right?
The next day was the polar opposite. I took her to the library for the story time and she wouldn't leave my person. Not just my side, but my person. She insisted on sitting on me and wouldn't stand up at all. At one point, she picked up the carrier, handed it to me, and signed 'all done'. I told her 'no', that we were staying for the story and that it wasn't finished yet. She looked like she was going to have a meltdown but held it together really well. Looking around that room with kids all dancing and exploring and just being basically all things 'Italy', I felt a little sad that my daughter was so 'Holland' by comparison. She'd been signing quite a bit and I was so pleased and proud of her, it had made me feel like the road was a little less arduous - you know, until I saw the other kids. However, when all but three children had left, she began to come out of her shell, and then we had a major breakthrough.
Pod played with those other children in an interactive way for the very first time. Usually when she's around other children, she does what she's doing and basically ignores them. If they interact with her, it's almost like she sees them as extraneous as opposed to being friends to play with. This time though, she played with them. Still not initiating, but she played all the same. I'll take it.
On the Friday we went to the Play and Grow group, a kind of activity group for kids in the Infants and Toddlers Program that Pod is enrolled in. Looking around the room it was a set of different feelings that I felt looking at those kids. I saw parents struggling with the same things as us, but hiding it under a veneer of hope and positivity - like us.
And that's the hardest part.
When they're very small, it's not so obvious that they're different, but as they get older, the lack of verbal skills, the avoidance of play, the flapping, the high pitched screeches of excitement that make other children look at them funny, and meltdowns, well that all begins to show. That's when the looks start and the insensitive questions, and EVERYONE knows better than you just what's up with your kid.
You work your ass off, you learn sign, you laminate picture communication cards, make schedule after schedule, do activity after activity, take them to places that you think will be good for their development. You do all of that, and then any improvement because of the hard work you put in is seen as 'oh, they're not that bad off really' as opposed to something that your family *fought* for, that you worked for every day.
The play was the most spectacular win for us this week, but more significant has been Pod's increasing use of sign. She's actually beginning to communicate what she wants to us, and it's been amazing.
So far, she wants to play with the 'Knock Knock Box' ALL the time. Well, mostly because she wants to figure out how to blow up a balloon and blow bubbles. She wants to go outside, ALL the time, and thankfully the weather is getting better so we can do that more now. She also made her first schedule for herself tonight - repeatedly telling us she wanted to go to bed (it was far too early, but she was tired from running around dribbling the soccer ball and playing on the playground).
E told us on Thursday that we need to start working on her initiative when it comes to play, and that imitation is a good thing when it comes to setting down the foundations for that in children. So yesterday, I got her to help me clean up, giving her a wet wipe so she could clean the coffee table while I wiped down the other surfaces. Then we each took our vacuum cleaners and did the floors. She likes mimicking things, so I'm hoping the garden we have planned for this year will also help with her initiative. Hopefully it makes for a good learning environment for her.
Showing posts with label flashcards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flashcards. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
Little Wins
This week has been somewhat difficult. For most of this week, Pod hasn't said a word, and I had a potentially serious Dr's appointment looming that I really didn't want to go to.
The umpteen flash cards I made her also became a focus, not for what was on them, but so she could order them and arrange them in lines. Of course, I didn't give them to her *all* at once, but they're now pretty controlled and I'm introducing them far slower than before.
On Wednesday we went to the storytime at the library again, and I picked up some books on ASL to increase my vocabulary. This time, she was happy to sit on me for the whole session as opposed to dancing or going on little missions to steal books from the storyteller. She didn't seem upset or disturbed, just contented to be where she was.
However this week hasn't been all filler and no killer, we've also had some little wins too.
Throughout the week, we've had some nice wins with the schedule, it does seem to be a nice stress reducer for her. She also clearly understands what each card means and the timeline, so that's a plus.
On Wednesday she started to knock back on the 'Knock Knock Box'. The 'Knock Knock Box' is this awesome activity that E brought around that's designed to increase her capacity for cooperative play. Basically, it's a box, with various items in it that are connected to sound. For example, there are toy horses inside (among lots of other things), and their sound (the sound I'm looking to get Pod emulating), is neighing. The box has a few rules, like I remain in control of the box, one item at a time, and each activity is initiated with me knocking on the box and saying 'Knock Knock'. Pod is then to knock back on the box, and then we sign/say "Open up", before opening up the box and getting one of the items out. Before, she didn't knock on the box, I had to get her hand and move it to knock, but on Wednesday, she actually knocked on the box. I then moved her hands to sign "open" and continued with the rest of the game. She still doesn't say any other things or make other noises in the game (except for shrieks of delight when I blow up a balloon and let it go), but still, it's a nice step in the cooperative area.
Last night she said the first word she's said in days, "TV".
Today, she came to me and signed 'want' at me, I don't know what she wanted, and she just patted me like I was a simpleton and then walked off. We were working with flashcards earlier (telling today's story) and she said "TV" a few times, and "Teeth" (there are cards for 'watch TV' and 'Brush your teeth'), she also showed that she understood which one was which by pointing to the correct one when I asked her to show me (for example) 'go for a walk'. This makes me think that maybe down the line, I can use flashcards to teach her her alphabet. I'm also getting inklings of how to maybe teach her to read, but again, that's massively down the line, I think. I also laid them out in front of her and asked her what she wanted to do after she finished her lunch, and she pointed to the 'go to sleep' card.
She also gave me her 'more' flashcard when she wanted more food earlier, and I've introduced three more for her to carry with her for communication, 'Hello', 'I love you', and 'Follow me'. She pointed to each several times and I said them, then I used them to show her communicating 'Hello', and 'I love you'. She copied me, but we'll see if she understood what I was doing. When my husband gets home, I'll rope him into helping to model the purpose of these cards.
Earlier today, I was looking back at my memories from a year ago on Facebook, a year ago, Pod was saying words - in fact, a year ago today she Marco Polo'ed her dad! It's so easy to look back then and see the stuff she used to say, and compare her to younger children who are already forming sentences, and get so disheartened. That's really so easy to do. I mean, at the library a week ago, there was a little girl who was almost the same age as Pod who could read, like actually read. Now I know that there's no point in comparing children and that all kids are different and grow at different rates, but sometimes you can't help it, and sometimes you can't help but worry about it. All I ever seem to do now is worry.
But then Pod will do something.
Like come to me with two bottles, one that she likes and the other that she doesn't, and get me to transfer water from the one she dislikes into the one she likes.
Or she'll let me comb her hair without freaking out.
Or we'll have a cluster of those little wins.
And I'll feel a little less worried, a little more encouraged, and a little more like all of this could just work out in the end.
I think it's the little wins that keep us going.
The umpteen flash cards I made her also became a focus, not for what was on them, but so she could order them and arrange them in lines. Of course, I didn't give them to her *all* at once, but they're now pretty controlled and I'm introducing them far slower than before.
On Wednesday we went to the storytime at the library again, and I picked up some books on ASL to increase my vocabulary. This time, she was happy to sit on me for the whole session as opposed to dancing or going on little missions to steal books from the storyteller. She didn't seem upset or disturbed, just contented to be where she was.
However this week hasn't been all filler and no killer, we've also had some little wins too.
Throughout the week, we've had some nice wins with the schedule, it does seem to be a nice stress reducer for her. She also clearly understands what each card means and the timeline, so that's a plus.
On Wednesday she started to knock back on the 'Knock Knock Box'. The 'Knock Knock Box' is this awesome activity that E brought around that's designed to increase her capacity for cooperative play. Basically, it's a box, with various items in it that are connected to sound. For example, there are toy horses inside (among lots of other things), and their sound (the sound I'm looking to get Pod emulating), is neighing. The box has a few rules, like I remain in control of the box, one item at a time, and each activity is initiated with me knocking on the box and saying 'Knock Knock'. Pod is then to knock back on the box, and then we sign/say "Open up", before opening up the box and getting one of the items out. Before, she didn't knock on the box, I had to get her hand and move it to knock, but on Wednesday, she actually knocked on the box. I then moved her hands to sign "open" and continued with the rest of the game. She still doesn't say any other things or make other noises in the game (except for shrieks of delight when I blow up a balloon and let it go), but still, it's a nice step in the cooperative area.
Last night she said the first word she's said in days, "TV".
Today, she came to me and signed 'want' at me, I don't know what she wanted, and she just patted me like I was a simpleton and then walked off. We were working with flashcards earlier (telling today's story) and she said "TV" a few times, and "Teeth" (there are cards for 'watch TV' and 'Brush your teeth'), she also showed that she understood which one was which by pointing to the correct one when I asked her to show me (for example) 'go for a walk'. This makes me think that maybe down the line, I can use flashcards to teach her her alphabet. I'm also getting inklings of how to maybe teach her to read, but again, that's massively down the line, I think. I also laid them out in front of her and asked her what she wanted to do after she finished her lunch, and she pointed to the 'go to sleep' card.
She also gave me her 'more' flashcard when she wanted more food earlier, and I've introduced three more for her to carry with her for communication, 'Hello', 'I love you', and 'Follow me'. She pointed to each several times and I said them, then I used them to show her communicating 'Hello', and 'I love you'. She copied me, but we'll see if she understood what I was doing. When my husband gets home, I'll rope him into helping to model the purpose of these cards.
Earlier today, I was looking back at my memories from a year ago on Facebook, a year ago, Pod was saying words - in fact, a year ago today she Marco Polo'ed her dad! It's so easy to look back then and see the stuff she used to say, and compare her to younger children who are already forming sentences, and get so disheartened. That's really so easy to do. I mean, at the library a week ago, there was a little girl who was almost the same age as Pod who could read, like actually read. Now I know that there's no point in comparing children and that all kids are different and grow at different rates, but sometimes you can't help it, and sometimes you can't help but worry about it. All I ever seem to do now is worry.
But then Pod will do something.
Like come to me with two bottles, one that she likes and the other that she doesn't, and get me to transfer water from the one she dislikes into the one she likes.
Or she'll let me comb her hair without freaking out.
Or we'll have a cluster of those little wins.
And I'll feel a little less worried, a little more encouraged, and a little more like all of this could just work out in the end.
I think it's the little wins that keep us going.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Picture Communication Card Resources
Yesterday Pod and I met with E at the library to look at ways of supporting Pod during storytime. Unfortunately it was far busier than usual and so that, plus the addition of E at the session was quite disorienting for Pod.
E showed me some ways of helping her participate and not feel as worried around other children - which was good, and she also put me onto some great online resources for picture communication cards.
Today, the laminator arrived, so guess what I'm going to be doing tonight? This is reminding me of my days as an ESL teacher when I would make my own teaching mats. Print, cut, laminate, repeat.
So, here are some flashcard/picture communication card resources that I've found:
Super Simple Learning - E put me on to this resource, the flashcards are really nicely designed and often coupled with songs. However, when I went to download them, each flashcard was A4 sized. For teachers with a classroom full of kids that want to see, this is great, but for a mum just wanting to help her kid, it's a little much.
Kids Pages Flashcards - This is a fabulous page for action flashcards and basically any material for maybe creating a sequence of events to help explain what's going to happen to your child. There are so many different categories and for the most part, I think they're well designed. I also printed a few random 'round the house' type flashcards for a scavenger game idea I had (to check comprehension and vocabulary).
Practical Autism Resources - There are some communication gems in this collection. Many thanks to my friend Susan for the heads up on this one. Flashcards are photos rather than cartoons, which is also nice.
Living Well With Autism - My kid has no diagnosis, but it's really impressive how many resources Autism support groups have put together. I really like this pragmatic language board, I can see it being very useful.
We had another 'win' for the schedule yesterday (some of the above cards are going to also be used for making schedule v2.0). Bath time is an issue for Pod, and so I tried using the schedule to let Pod know what was happening. I went through it with her, and then said/signed "Ok?", and she nodded yes! She was still upset during her bath, I tried to use the emotions card that E gave me to ask her how she felt, but there was none for 'scared' and she was too wrapped up in her feelings anyway. Oh well, it was worth a try.
Speaking of the emotions card, she also indicated to 'calm' (at dinner), and 'tired'.
I'm counting those as 'wins'.
E showed me some ways of helping her participate and not feel as worried around other children - which was good, and she also put me onto some great online resources for picture communication cards.
Today, the laminator arrived, so guess what I'm going to be doing tonight? This is reminding me of my days as an ESL teacher when I would make my own teaching mats. Print, cut, laminate, repeat.
So, here are some flashcard/picture communication card resources that I've found:
Super Simple Learning - E put me on to this resource, the flashcards are really nicely designed and often coupled with songs. However, when I went to download them, each flashcard was A4 sized. For teachers with a classroom full of kids that want to see, this is great, but for a mum just wanting to help her kid, it's a little much.
Kids Pages Flashcards - This is a fabulous page for action flashcards and basically any material for maybe creating a sequence of events to help explain what's going to happen to your child. There are so many different categories and for the most part, I think they're well designed. I also printed a few random 'round the house' type flashcards for a scavenger game idea I had (to check comprehension and vocabulary).
Practical Autism Resources - There are some communication gems in this collection. Many thanks to my friend Susan for the heads up on this one. Flashcards are photos rather than cartoons, which is also nice.
Living Well With Autism - My kid has no diagnosis, but it's really impressive how many resources Autism support groups have put together. I really like this pragmatic language board, I can see it being very useful.
We had another 'win' for the schedule yesterday (some of the above cards are going to also be used for making schedule v2.0). Bath time is an issue for Pod, and so I tried using the schedule to let Pod know what was happening. I went through it with her, and then said/signed "Ok?", and she nodded yes! She was still upset during her bath, I tried to use the emotions card that E gave me to ask her how she felt, but there was none for 'scared' and she was too wrapped up in her feelings anyway. Oh well, it was worth a try.
Speaking of the emotions card, she also indicated to 'calm' (at dinner), and 'tired'.
I'm counting those as 'wins'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)