Friday, April 10, 2009

Big Plans this weekend

"He is reading the cue cards upside down" laughs E at our ABA therapy team meeting

She is referring to the set of index cards that they use to cue R to do things

They have these set of 100 cards or so which have instructions on them
like "Clap your hands"


Quick tutorial on VB/ABA
-spoken language does not come naturally to many Autistic kids - the idea is to teach language through repetition
you say "Clap your hands"
And then you put your hands over his hands to demonstrate the action clapping them and then reward him ( called Errorless teaching )
Ultimately the child starts associating the words with the action and also with the pleasurable feeling of being rewarded


Anyway - E and S shuffle the cards at the beginning of each session and were wondering how R seemed able to anticipate and do the actions even before they said the words

They finally figured out that he is reading the cards upside down !!!

That combined with Julie's post on visual schedules is the final impetus I needed to definitely do it this weekend

So this weekend I plan on the following:

1. Visual Schedule
2. I want to do a pretend play game
3. I also want to write a story for R about R

The story idea is also something I have been thinking about for a while but have done nothing about .You see the true tragedy of Apraxia is in its secondary effect - without spoken language the child does not develop the - crucial - ability to ask why, what type questions and therefore is does not practice reflecting about things

Example a typical child will listen to a story about Red Riding Hood and feel angry at the wolf, scared for RRH etc



Now a child like R clearly comprehends the meaning of written words - but his mind processes them by picturing them written rather than sounding them out

Is it possible that a child who cannot speak very much could think about these things if they were presented in writing ?

And so perhaps a written story ( really I am aiming for something very simple ) would help R think about events of his life in a way that will promote higher level thinking

I have big plans this weekend as you can see!

10 comments:

aninont said...

What a fabulous idea!
I have lots of ideas too for stories and schedules.There is a user on the forum .. I think it is Leanne? who had posted some of the visual schedules she has made using power point , she had pictures of walmart,Mcdonalds etc on the calendar.. it looked cool,
Visual schedules are also good for pretend play, dolly can go walking ,then she can go shopping with R etc.. the possibilities are endless.
I can imagine that upfront it will be a project to get materials.. so think about easy ways so it can be sustainable.
Good luck and I think R and your family are going to have a lot of fun communicating.
btw, how are the music lessons?
I have so much to write..
i will write tongiht, Thanks for the email earlier this week.yes it was tough.

Territory Mom said...

I love this idea. You are so creative. How do you get some of those cards?

Niksmom said...

What a great idea! I can't wait to hear how it goes. R is such a smarty! :-)

BTW, thanks for your email. I really appreciate that you took the time to ask your mama friends for input, too. You're so sweet. (BTW, I updated the post after talking to the neurologist this morning. Whew.)

Maddy said...

What a super idea! Mine can also read upside down and every which way, so curious.
Best wishes

Becki said...

A great idea to do a story about R for R! I have to put much of what happens in life into stories for Bug to understand.. and the visual schedule runs our world, LOL!

Have a great weekend!

danette said...

I love the story idea!

It took a long time to get our boys interested in stories, they much preferred to label everything in the pictures but weren't really interested in the story. Made-up stories about themselves did seem to catch their interest more readily than other stories... so I think you're on to something there :).

The "what" questions were a long time coming at our house... (with our twins, we're really not anywhere near that w/ Bitty yet) and the "why" questions were longer still. Now we get asked lots of questions, but what's funny is that often the boys already have their own theories about the answer before they ask (and sometimes they decide their answers are more believable that ours).

aninont said...

I was thinking of R last night and googled, "personalised children's books"and there were lots of links for books where they will put R, his friends, probably mom/dad and may even put his pictures in.
they may be pricey like $12.99 for one book( which is a lot) since he is a big reader and you are going to read a lot together.. but may be a good start to express imagination and pretend play.
In terms of the why and what questions, I am sure that he asks those questions with his searching eyes, those words just need to get out.
Keep us posted.

aninont said...

http://www.books-4u.com/create.htm

Found another one with a sample page.

Floortime Lite Mama said...

aninont those are some great tips
Territory mom - these are just index cards ( like the ones people giving speeched make notes on - let me know if you want me to share more on the VB program )

Montana said...

It's very cool how your child can anticipate the next instruction!

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