homework notes 1/16 -4/15/16

Good morning my favorite educators and enlighteners of my sweet son! As I say every time I send these, I can not thank you enough for supporting this amazing child of mine. There is no doubt in my mind that he wouldn't be as successful as he is today without your love, patience, and expertise. I really need to send these notes weekly instead of quarterly! Yikes, not sure why I'm so behind with this. I've left the others below in case you missed them. 

With great love and appreciation,

Shari

4/13 speech

Who is it? Showing characters 

Let's do one more xx 

Use "let's" in a different context - Let's (use sign as well as verbal) get xx

Working with the round horn more 3 sets of 10

4/12 OT

try Knitted shirts with big buttons, they are getting smaller with the buttons they are completing

Safety, "Stop" or "Stop your body" While moving from activity to another, Worked on waiting while touching or standing on something

In the beans did vest buttoning so he could take a bean/sensory break 

(Beads in putty and out on pipe cleaner - Light write - these I overheard another therapist chatting about and I thought they seemed like good things to revisit/try, we haven't done this kind of thing for a while)

4/6/16

Ask yes and no questions modeling yes and no on the iPad. For instance are French fries animals, she tapped and said no, are French fries cars, no, then ask are French fries food the. He taps and says yes 

Warm up with the train horn hen move to the round one

4/5/16 OT and PT at NAPA

Getting better with Smaller buttons

Writing on chalk board copying letters then spraying off with a small water bottle and writing again

Working on handing a medicine ball over a rope and then picking it up from the ground. 

Using a loop on the ceiling and a rope as a pulley, hand over hand lifting a net bag with a medicine ball to the ceiling and then letting it back down with control

Continuing on an exercise ball, laying back and reaching over his head to a table to get puzzle piece. Sitting up only using one hand for support (or no hands) and placing the piece in the correct spot in the puzzle

3-17-16 Amy speech

Magnetic fish with pictures of activities, count them face down say "catch a fish" and talk about it

What is the boy doing? "The boy is riding a bike with daddy"

What is the boy wearing "the boy is wearing a helmet"

Working on the initial F more spontaneously responding to WH questions

Visual attention and completing task from beginning to end 

Awknowleging him 2x for what he wants after the task and then no more acknowledge until the task is done

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Buttoning felt hamburger 

Squeeze bottle with  water shooting ping pong balls off of golf tees

White board write first horn then brrrr

Music is on the right language is on left. When tapping or even singing the song or sing song version of speaking it helps 

Melodic intonation therapy 

Doing activity lots of fish in ocean and animals in the farm

Working on mixing in the where questions. Where are the fish. Include the sign for in to cue at the beginning. Stressing the "where" 

2/6/16 with Ali

when greeting him, she says hello and asks him how he is. he needs to answer via his iPad and often she brings him to the feelings page so he can type/or tap I'm feeling x

If he wants something, such as the Thomas book from the cabinet, she goes through the whole process of asking him what he wants, and where is it, and what do we need to do. He types it and says it after he types it. For instance:

I want the Thomas book please

(where is it) It is in the the cabinet (which is locked)

(what do we need to do) open the cabinet/unlock the cabinet

When reading or watching Thomas for instance, they will stop and look at a particular scene or picture and talk about it. For example:

Gordon is grumpy. He is dirty.

Thomas is silly.

2/5/16

Put the horn near the mouth and ask him to say ooooooou then have him go through some words such as moo, too, shoe, etc

Every time he says oops or whoosh, tell him not to forget to round his lips and model it

using the white board, write:

1st x (the non-preferred task)

Then y (write a choice of 2 of whatever he loves to do with you such as brrrr or whoops)

V and f are the same just voice or no voice. Just like the p and the b

Who is it, what are they doing, where are they? Drinking, eating, sleeping, take a bath, on the couch, on the slide, in the bed, in the bath

Abby, Elmo, Cookie Monster, big bird

Stick to one preposition at a time in/out on/off

2/4/16 Amy 

Ooooooo for shaping the lips bringing the horn up to the lips just for lip rounding

Work on rounding with oooops!

Write on the white board with a first box then 

Let's do one more brrrr 

Sign "may I have"

Work on what where and who in a random order

First choose a character, then 

Try putting straight finger in front of mouth while working on the f sound

1/13/16

First model sticking out toungue to get cracker then ask him to do it

Fish out an initial t word out and ask who he should give it to, give the towel to woody, etc

Then do potatoes with the hats give colored hats to each (w and s) and ask which color hat does the potato want

On Fri, Jan 8, 2016 at 10:07 AM Shari Abercrombie <me@shariabercrombie.com> wrote:

Happy 2016 fabulous supporters of my sweet boy! I find it hard to believe I've not sent the homework notes since October but I can't seem to find the email so maybe I haven't. I apologize if they are redundant but here they are: from October to yesterday, Jan 7th, 2016. Thank you for integrating anything you can from here into your work/play with him. Of course the more consistency we can have across all disciplines, the more successful all of our work will be.

And again, I can not thank you all enough for being the most wonderful, loving, fun team of experts in your field. I thank our lucky stars daily for the fact that we found you all and that you have taken on the task of helping my sweet boy progress. 

We both love you all!!! And I'm not just saying that. We both look forward to seeing each and every one of you for every session. His crazy schedule would not be possible if we were not happy to see you all. You can't force a child to enjoy therapy. It has to be a mutual enjoyable experience. I truly thank you for making it that!

Dec 2015 through Jan 2016

working on with iPad in the hospital especially - 

When he's perseverating on something verbally, type out "we are done with x, tell me about something else. (maybe include a question such as "tell me what the weather is like today" 

before they did anything non-preferred in the hospital, i would type exactly what was going to happen and put "first x then y" usually would be followed by iPad time or fav book or toy. we extremely helpful!

1/7/16 

1 set of 10 with horn #4 and 1 set of 10 with horn #5 alternating allowing him to move his mouth into the different shapes. Cover the 2 holes on horn #5 to get whistle noise

Use woody and sea horse as the audience, they want to hear your t's, write t's on a board and say them

Give woody and seahorse the hats that the potato heads can ask for

"Seahorse may I have the green hat"

1/6/16 

Put bubble wand in front of lips and ask him to say dooo and blow bubbles after

Work on getting him to stick his toungue out on command before finessing the th sound

Try sticking Cheerios on the tip of the tongue, at home ask Lila to model eating cheerios without hands, just sticking face in and using tongue to get them

12/17/15

On/off of the box, working on these concepts

In/out of the box

Using the iPad as a reminder typing out "out of the box"

Where questions 

3 Sets of 10 with the horn - do 3-4 sets of 10 cuing with huff and puff and blow the house down. 

12/16/15 Say Moo and blow right after to blow bubbles 

Shoe

Two

Boo 

To get the rounding

Final f work words like: chief, knife, leaf, roof, laugh, calf, loaf, thief, elf, cuff, 

Who has the green, etc. what color do you want.. Who has the orange?

12/15/15

Laying prone on forearms and writing in shaving cream and coloring

12/9/15

With the board asking who wants the bone, etc

More o or bow, no, toe, show in the mirror to work on lip rounding, same with ou shoe, boot, food, etc with some prompting

Ask for items and ask him to follow my eyes and use gestures to point him to where things are rather than pointing with finger. Trying to get him to pay attention to body language, etc.

12/7/15

Bilateral coordination, using a left hand as a stabilizer for the paper when writing. Make sure to concentrate on this while writing

Can do vertical surface, which will be very tricky. And also using the hand on a flat surface

Ripping paper with both hands then glue then put on. Making a Christmas tree. 

Over a peanut  ball on belly roll out with hands, to target cervical extension (prone extension) and roll out to a medicine ball then use it to knock over small towers of blocks. 

12/3/15

Pics showing item brought and the characters and Ian says "Benny brings milk" then bring items out along with 2 characters. Build pictures as reading the book. 

Take away pictures away and bring 2 characters and 1 food Then ask at the end who brings the milk

When blowing bubbles he uses a long blow... Warm up with bubbles to get air flow going and the lips rounded. 

Then say he huffs and puffs and blows, have whistle and bubbles ready and switch them out

12/2/15

Dora book sharing day talking about who is bringing what, she has different characters with all the different items they are bringing

Bring a bag with a shirt, shoes, pants, etc and amy will have hers and we will ask WHO'S SHIRT IS THIS, WHO'S SHOE IS THIS. Even doing it while folding laundry etc

12/1/15

Tongs to pick up felt pieces and move them over to a box

Playdough making an I

Rolling  Laying on belly on scooter board picking up pieces

Putting shoes on and off by himself - getting better at using the thumb in the back and sequencing the steps to bend the leg 

Stepping on the top hats 

Backwards on the treadmill

Jumps with the belt connected to the cage but much lower setting so really only giving balance support 

11/17/15

Sensory integration module listening program

11/12/15

Have him lean against the wall keeping pillow against the wall with the pillow while blowing to keep him from leaning into the horn

11/10/15

Dark room with listening program 

Using brush on body asking him how it feels and what is Erin brushing? Hand leg and back. 

11-9-15 Lisa OT

Taking him in a dark room and have the listening program. 

Do focused listening put it in different part of the room 

Play with the flashlight one night

Do some sensory/tactile stimulation of different kinds like vibration, etc

Try to get him to use central vision

Hand over hand pulling himself towards something on a scooter board 

when he's physically out of control and dropping on the ground, say - Stop "your body is not safe right now"

Listening program on an all Craig's list maybe get it for cheaper

Biggest impairment is getting him to focus on non-preferred 

Get him more organized from a central processing 

During the brain break try an eye mask or in a dark room

When play iPad time limit to 2-4 programs or just do one with guided access 

When watching tv try using headphones. 

5 toys to access only 

11-5-15 

Horn #3

Try to keep him with better posture and only the tip of horn inside. 1 down, take and then 1 up counts as 2 reps. She did 5 sets

Just showing pics of boys and ask who is it? Then asking what is the boy doing towards the last few. Helps to include the puppets doing what the boy is doing 

11-4-15

Still working on boy and girl. Who is it? Pointing at the girl in picture. Then have a bus and a girl, put the girl in the bus and ride her around. Then ask what is the girl doing. He answers "the girl is riding the bus"

Is this a boy or a girl?

11-3-15 Peter

When he's flipping around with his hands around say "I see you have busy hands"  and give him a fidget toy and ask him to clap or quiet hands

10-39-15 Amy

Horns 3 sets of 15 for #2 horn

Read "Say Boo" working on the oooo blow a bubble to get his lips Rounded. Put the bubble wand in front of him and his lips rounded automatically and then worked on:

Dove says: Coo, Coo 

Bat says : Boo Hoo, Boo Hoo

ghost says : Boo Boo

Owl says: Hoo Hoo

Cow says: Moo, moo

10/28/15

Working in pics looking at boy and girl helping with visual cards that read "boy" and "girl"

10/27/15 teacher Peter 

Use a Pom Pom while eating so he picks up that first then picks up a grape so he can only get one at a time with his pinscher grasp

Maybe add a grip to the fork and make sure no scooping, only stabbing

Keep a napkin in his hand while eating so he doesn't stuff with the left hand. 

Use a sensory item like the pink pokey cylinder 

Try different forks

10-20-15

home

- Lots of issues with stealing food from the kitchen so we are now implementing a tap/tap and asking to go into the kitchen. Otherwise not allowed in the kitchen until we get it under control.

- Continuing to implement what Amy suggested, the "stop (signing stop when saying it), look (pointing at eyes) and listen (pointing at ears)" with a someone fast pace and bit raised voice to get his attention when he's totally gone.

- When perseverating on names and things and I have the iPad handy, I either type the name he's saying and bring him to the "describe" page or if I don't have it handy, or it's not appropriate, I just look around me and start talking about what I see. i.e. I see a bus, I see a tree, Wow look at the leaves, aren't they beautiful. If he doesn't join in, I ask him to by saying "tell me, what do you see?"

- When reading, using the iPad again to extrapolate on what's happening on the page. (I might type- Bad Kitty looks and bring him again to the describe page.) Sometimes he will take himself to the typing page and type out what he sees or feels. 

10-16-15 with Ali working on Where questions with iPad. Where is the Thomas book (in the cabinet)

10-14-15 amy in speech

Working on boy and girl

What is the girl doing? "The girl is brushing her teeth." 

What do we use to brush our teeth (showed toothbrush and spoon) he chose spoon so we need to work on that

Typed out full sentence on iPad "girl is brushing teeth with a toothbrush" then saying the sentence

Asking what do we use to color (crayons/pens/pencils), what do we use to cut (scissors), 

Have been working on who is eating, 

10-13-15 with Erin, painting with Q-tips (holding down the paper with the left hand) working on bilateral coordination, and swinging on tire swing

10-2-15 Ali AAC

Watching a show, pausing it and talking about what's going on in the scene with his iPad, starting sentences and allowing him to finish them. Or asking him what someone is feeling, etc. Asking him to type it out.

Word wizard is good for phonics