Sunday, August 30, 2009

ideas borrowed, ideas new

My baby boy has turned into this beautiful toddler, and along with that comes the need for some more sophisticated language activities. I've been a busy, crafty mommy lately! I've been partly motivated by lots of great ideas from my blogging mommy friends, and partly motivated by my need to be extra organized and on-top-of-things with my new work schedule. Here's a list of new activities in our home, hopefully giving credit where credit's due!!!

I cleaned off the top half of our refrigerator and created our "family work board". Right now, it just has the list of strategies that we're supposed to be working on for the week with each of his therapists, and also the summary sheets for the week and/or the handouts we get from them. I picked up the white board and the cork board at the Dollar Tree. I got this idea from Briggs' mom originally, and here's another great example from Aiden's mom. I really like Tammy's idea about the ling sounds, and moving them as you get a response to each one throughout the day. I hope to expand this area with other ideas. But for now, it helps us focus on our strategies for the week.


I also decided, that with a change in Lucas's schedule, I should start a calendar with him, to help him prepare for what tomorrow will bring. He is still a bit young for this, but I know that he will quickly grow into it, and that his language will catch up with it, just like it has with everything else. I originally got the calendar idea from Ben's mom, but then I got the exact calendar idea from Tayten's mom. Here's another variation on the calendar idea from Nolan's mom. You can find that calendar here from the Listening Room, which has a host of other GREAT activities.




Also from the Listening Room, I found these two great posters. This one is for focusing on nursery rhymes and songs, and this one is a game for practicing the learn to listen sounds. We've really been enjoying these. Just today, when I started to sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," Lucas touched the star right away. I was so excited! Here are pictures of these two posters, that I've hung in our dining room and playroom, respectively.

Reciting nursery rhymes with Lucas twice a day is one of our strategies for this week. So, I took a clear plastic box (that I found at the Dollar Tree), put in all of the books that we have with nursery rhymes and added the handout on nursery rhymes, so that everything is in reach. Here's what the handout looks like, if you're interested:



We're also working really hard to condition Lucas to the Ling sounds. I feel we're past just waiting for a behavioral response (like Lucas looking up or pausing) and we should be able to get a conditioned response from him, like pointing to his ear or the sound association. I know it's possible, and Aiden has given me some extra motivation! So, I'm using 2 different activities to work on that. One activity is a meal mat from the Listening Room (there are 3 others, if you're interested). I learned about these from Alexander's mom, who apparently got it from Marielle's mom! I say the ling sound, put a piece of food on the appropriate picture, and say it again.. Sometimes I have Lucas try to put it on the right picture. He's been pretty accurate so far. Here's what it looks like:
I soon hope to graduate to this great resource. I used speaker cover material, that I got at the local fabric store, glued it between the two pieces of paper, and voila! Those are the same pictures as the meal mat, and I'm hoping he will start pointing to them soon. Here's what that looks like:


Lastly, I've created quite a few experience books. Lucas's teacher of the deaf has talked about them, I saw some examples at Great Start, and also got ideas from Drew's mom and Peas' mom. I made two of them on Snapfish. They're the flipbooks - you can write one short sentence on each picture, and they're pretty cheap. The other ones I made with photo albums from the Dollar Tree and flashcards with great pictures on them. The two flipbooks are called "Let's go to the petting zoo" and "Let's go to the pool."


The other photo books are "Lucas & family," "my favorite things," "food and animals," "my body parts," and "Lucas' ABC book" (I ran out of pages, so I had to make 2 books). Here's what the books look like (inside too).







While I was looking for links to all of these resources, I found this new activity that I'm going to go print now. How fun! Another source that I'd like to check out is Tune Ups (again from the Listening Room). I called to order it when Drew's mom first posted about it, but it hasn't come yet, so I think my order got lost somewhere. I will have to try again.

Thanks to all of my blog friends for all of the wonderful ideas! Sorry for the super long post. I hope I was able to share some new ideas too! And, I think we're set for a while. Do you have any other ideas you'd like to share?

10 comments:

leah said...

That is an awesome post! You put all the neat ideas into one area- I think I might have to bookmark it, lol.

You've been a very busy mama lately!

Julia said...

WOW!!! What lovely stuff! The Ling placemat is a great idea. Sometime soon I'll post about a Ling activity that our SLP does, involving one of those little plastic pill sorters and some puffy treats.

The Brights said...

Let the fun begin! Wow, you have been busy! I love experience the experience books. Snapfish is a great site - don't forget to search for coupon codes!

You deserve an award for this post...and all your hard work!!

Melanie said...

LOVE this post. I feel like we are all doing the same things at the same time. I am so thankful for my blog friends! WTG, Jennifer!

tammy said...

This is awesome! You sure have been busy and all with getting ready for a new school year too! Hats off to you my friend! I have the Snapfish experience books planned for this month, but I absolutely love the ones you made yourself for Lucas! Like Leah said, I'm booking marking this post so I can come back to it as time allows! I LOVE all this sharing of ideas!

Susannah said...

um, wow. i can't believe how many great ideas are in this post!!!

superears4evan said...

up.It's so awesome to see all these ideas in one place! I have been keeping notes on a lot of the activites and blogs that you listed and her you have them all in one post! I will have to reference this one a lot! I haven't had a great SLP so I plant to do most of it myself and am super pumped to be at a seminar by David Sindry...so sure I didn't spell that right...on the 30th. I love the listening room and am sure to add a lot to our activity tub then! You are doing GREAT work with him!

Bill and Shelly said...

Love, Love, Love the books. The ones I did for Jared and Allison were nothing like these. Way to go!!!
Lucas is truly blessed to have you for his mommy.
How has the 1st few weeks of school been for you?

Kat said...

Wow! I've been feeling like I've been in an AVT rut with Thomas. You have inspired me beyond belief...thank you, thank you for your post. It is so motivating...just what I needed! I just printed it so I can make some things for our little man.

Unknown said...

Unflippin'believable post...amazing pix of the different types of books and how you've put them together...beautiful-I think it's going Italian *smile*
You are amazing, kiss that boy!