A Letter for the Holidays

I found this through the Daily Autism Freebies Blog that I love.

This letter really helped ME understand what Dew1 goes through on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day basis, let alone during the holidays.  I had to share.

The original source is HERE:  My Beautiful Child Griffin & Autism

A Letter to Family and Friends for Holiday Gatherings

Sensory: Pillow Pal fun

My SIL gave the Dews Pillow Pals for Dew1's birthday.  A Puppy for Dew1 and a Tiger for Dew2.  They love them, needless to say, and they are in bed every night.  Dew1 sleeps on top of it, like an actual pillow, and Dew2 rolls around with it.

Disclaimer:  I sneak in every night after they fall asleep and take them away as they are super soft and have rather deepish plush.  I don't want either of them to end up face down in one, or have it entirely cover their heads / faces.  I know that they are old enough to turn away from it to breathe, but why tempt fate?

But here's the interesting thing.  I never considered the Pillow Pal to be a great Sensory tool.  But Dew1 loves his Pillow Pal, and last night I realized what the deal was.  He's soft.  He's squishy,  and He's very sensory.  I never expected this!  He is a wonderfully soft and furry that he's a sensory activity on the go - and not terribly expensive, either.

Language - Hockey 3-Part Cards

It's that time of year.  Hockey time.
We are living in Canada now, and decided that Dew1 should enroll in the TimBits hockey league (he's 4) so he can learn to skate and start playing.  Before signing him up (thank goodness) we took him to the store to try on equipment.  It was at this point that we realized he wasn't ready.  He just isn't at the point where following directions isn't something we can count on, and it's way too many new things at once.  Learning to skate, trying on and wearing equipment, using a stick, listening to a coach, participating with a team ... all very complex and confusing to a spectrum sensory kid.

So we decided that baby steps were the way to go.  We bought a street net and street sticks and started playing in the driveway.  We thought that this would be a good way for him to learn the basics.  As we predicted, he'll play for a minute or two and then just run around chasing the puck.  That's fine because he's gotten up to about 5 minutes of playing over the past weeks since starting, and could you imagine if we'd paid all that money for him to play on the ice and he was pulling this?  He does have skates, so we are going to take him to open skating throughout the winter so he can become familiar and comfortable with that.  Then we'll start buying his equipment and wearing it piece at a time to get used to that.  By next fall, he will hopefully be ready!

So we stopped off at the local rink on Saturday and watched some of a practice.  He was fascinated - it's all starting to make sense to him.  But I realized that making a set of Hockey Language Cards for him would be exactly the right thing - he learns very well through his cards.  I've never made a set before but a quick google search found this template for me at My Montessori Journey, and away I went.

And, in a few short weeks, it will be time to start watching it on TV!  Yea for Hockey Night in Canada ... hmm, shoulda made a Don Cherry card *hee hee*.
Oh, and you might notice that just about every card is related to the Philadelphia Flyers.  That's because of our family allegiance.  But you can just google images replacements if you like :-).  When I have a chance, I'll make a more neutral set ... but done is better than perfect.

ps.  speaking of which, I just wanted to mention that I just realized that they are a word doc ... that works if you want to alter the pictures but not if you don't have word.  If you'd like to see them as a PDF just let me know and i'll post both.





Hockey 3 Part Cards

Milestone - First day of Junior Kindergarten

It's hard to believe, but Dew1 has officially started Junior Kindergarten.

He has been going to a typical preschool since he turned 2 (he's an August baby by birth but was a September baby by due date ...)  His first year went well - it was 2 mornings a week, and  his delays were not as apparent as there were not many demands placed on them that year.  It was more social, and getting used to be away from Mommy for a while.  They did activities and such, but didn't have circle time or anything.  He had a great time and it was very good for him socially.  It was during this year that we took him to the Easter Seals Step-Up program as well. (more about that another time.)

Then last fall he started the 3 year old program.  We decided to keep him at 2 mornings a week because we had to register him in February and he was transitioning in the Early Intervention program to the Intermediate Unit.  We didn't know what they were going to provide for him in the way of therapy and we wanted to keep his schedule as open as we could.  Turned out that he got 3 hours a day of in home therapy so it worked out well.  He did alright, but by December his Behvioural Consultant determined that the situation wasn't working as well as it could be.  We looked into switching him into an IU Classroom, but really wanted to keep him as "Typical" as we could.  In the end, we got an Aide into his room, and it was the perfect solution.  He started coming home with completed assignments, he was joining circle time, he was being more social with his peers, and having fun. 

We registered him for 5 day a week 3 year old programs for the fall.  We decided to do a combination of 2 day and 3 day programs and keep him back a year to let him catch up with his peers.  Then, the year after, put him into 5 day 4 year old preschool, then off to Kindergarten a year behind his age mates but in with his developmental peers.  He wasn't potty trained yet because his language wasn't ready for it yet, and we weren't worried about this.

And then it happened.  We decided to move back to Canada.

Suddenly it was a whole new world.  Instead of 2 years before Kindergarten, he was going to be going to Junior Kindergarten this fall!  Whole day, every other day, alternating Fridays.  And he had to be potty trained! 

We had contacted the school in June, as soon as we knew where we'd be living and made as many arrangements as we could for him.  We prepared them for his special needs, and while they weren't able to get him his own Aide (mostly because it was June and that planning happened in April, but even more mostly because he's not officially in the system yet for service. .. and that could take years...) but they paired him in a classroom with a little guy who does have an Aide, so that Aide will work with both of them.  Which is good b/c I don't believe that he needs a Full Time Aide, but just one to keep an eye on him and guide him a bit.

So it's been a busy summer with the potty traning (another post to come!) and this past week he he had his orientation.  He did really well (or so the school told us.)  He didn't use the potty while he was there and they were concerned that he was holding it (which i think he was.)  They gave us a great booklet that they have prepared that is a photograph tour of the school.  He loves to read his "school book" and I'm going to put a template together to share here for everyone to see.  I think that all kids, typical and non-typical alike would benefit from it.

I can't wait to see how things go next week!

Thrift Shop Find: Fisher Price Animal 2x2 Game

Another great find at the local Thrift Shop.

I just saw the blue Fisher Price case and knew that something great was in it because it was the same case that Barnyard Bingo is in.

So when I got home and opened it up, I was thrilled to find what was inside.  A Matching / Animals / Memory / Tic Tac Toe game!  Perfect for our family.

So the game comes with 24 "coins", each of which are half of a whole.  They match up by animal (turtle, zebra, bumble bee), and then they fit together to make a whole coin.  At that point, you can also look at the shape on the coin that matches to the slot on the top of the ark.  It then drops into the ark like Connect 4.

This is such a great game for any child, but especially for a Special Needs kid.
Fine Motor:  not only does it take good coordination to put them into the ark, but matching them up is tricky too, and then keeping them together while putting them in is yet another level of skill.
Memory:  you can flip them all face down and play it like a memory game.
Matching:  we put three in a row (eventually four, then five, and so on) and have the boys match the one we hand them to the choices in the row.  We could also turn the choices over so they can start to learn to remember where the match is or isn't.
Colors/Shapes:  once the animals are matched, you need to talk about colors and shapes to get them into the ark.
Manding:  so easy to have a child mand for the coins simply by "coin" (or use the sign for it), by animal name (or sound!), or by shape name or color.
OT: make it a sensory activity!  Put the ark on one side of the room and hide the coins in the rice table on the other side of the room.  Dig for a coin, run it across the room and put it in the ark.  Or roll across the room.  Or pull yourself across on a scooter board.  Or put them in a bag and have the child reach in and pull them out one at a time.  Or put them in a baby wipes box and have the child reach in through the slot in the top to pull them out (Huggies wipes have a great rubbery slot that little hands reach into nicely and easily but also provide good resistance.)

So, while I hate it when other people post about great thrift shop finds that I will never have a hope in finding, I've discovered that you just never know what you might find, if you just open your eyes a little bit.

Thrift Shop Find: Dot the Dog

Well, I'll start with Dot the Dog - A Matching & Memory Game.  Not my first find, but today's find and sitting right here beside me, so why not start there.

I found out about Dot the Dog when I was researching Tic-Tac-Tony (another post for another day.)  I believe it was Playskool's answer to Fisher Prices' popular puppy.  Both are wonderful for autistic kids for various reasons.

Dot the Dog was made in 1995, and I was lucky to find her on my Thrift Store shelf today.  Not only was she marked at 3.50, but she was tagged in green, which was half price this week!  A real bargain at 1.75!  I've seen her on ebay for upwards of $15-$20, but who knows what she really goes for.

And back in 1995, Playskool was doing it's "Ages & Stages" thing, which, as I read through the instructions (yes!  it had the original instructions in the package!), really helped me out a lot.

Dot is designed with a series of dots on her body.  When you pull down on her tail (Wag her tail), the pattern of dots (and fleas) changes.  On the back of her body hangs a series of cards (ingenious storage spot) which depict each possible pattern of dots and fleas.  Each pattern has a name, which is hidden behind the plastic dog tag hanging around Dot's neck.

So Stage 1 of play is simply to match the fleas.  You turn all of the cards face down, wag her tail, and have your Little One turn over a card.  If the flea size and colour matches, they get to keep the card and try again.  If not, it's the next person's turn, until all the cards are exhausted.

Stage 2 of play is to match the colour (and eventually the words) on the dog tags around Dot's neck.  It's similar in play to Stage 1 in that the cards are put face down and the tail is wagged, but this time you are looking to match the color of the tag.  Cards are turned over until a match is made, and then the tail is wagged to change it up and the play continues.  This is also memory oriented as you'll want to try to remember where the red tag card is for when it comes up, for example.

Stage 3 involves matching the dot and flea patterns.  The cards are all placed face up on the table, the dog tag is closed, and the tail is wagged.  Each player takes a turn, examining all of the cards to find the one that matches the dot and flea pattern.  When a match is made, the dog tag is opened to check if the player is correct (this is, of course, self corrected privately until it's confirmed to be right so the other players don't get a peek ... in case they were wrong the answer isn't blabbed to everyone.)  As this gets easier, you can alter it so that every player is racing to find the right card.

So for Dew1 especially, this game has a lot of great aspects.  As far as OT goes, the wagging of the tail is great fine motor skills.  Matching and memory work is what this game is all about.  It will work in with his ABLLS work nicely, as well as just working on his observation skills.  Not to mention manding.  But ultimately, games are great for learning about turn taking, following rules, behaviours regarding sitting at a table for a period of time, and winning and losing.  Plus, both Dews love to match and love dogs, so this is right up their alley.

So keep an eye out for Dot the Dog by Playskool.  It's a keeper!

(and yes, I stole the pictures from Ebay.  I'm feeling a bit rushed today.)