Magic "C" Bunny

My dear sweet sister-in-law in the Czech Republic sent the boys puppets of the fantastic show Krteck for Christmas. One of his friends is this adorable bunny. In the Handwriting Without Tears program, there is the magic "C" bunny. They suggest wrapping a papertowel around your fist to make a bunny face. I suppose this lil' guy did a much better job teaching Turbo how to make Magic "C" letters much better!

Labels

This morning, we worked on lables. We labled body parts in our work book and then proceeded to lable things in house.






We now live in a very labled home "just in case someone comes over and they don't know this is a T.V. or a door." ~via Turbo.

BREAK THROUGH!

Friday last week was an amazing time-schoolwise! Turbo, although begged and pleaded to play computer games first before school, "caved in" and did some table work with me. At first, he was reluctant, but really got into the groove.

We have completed the entire alphabet for capital letters, and are progressing on to the lower case letters. Today's letter was "v". After finishing "v", he decided to continue on to the letter "w". One completed, and practice work was completed, we took to the window with window crayons. We worked on reviewing of letters and numbers and I even through in some number words (two, ten, etc.), each met with no fit or defiance!

Back to the table and it was review of our vocab words. Although his up to like 50 now, we don't review them all, I choose some he knows and then some he struggles with. After that, we read, "Where's Spot?". I am completely aware that he is probably "reading" from rote memory and definitely using picture clues, but he believes that he is "reading" a book. When he asked to read, "Spot Sleeps Over", I was hesitant, but he wanted to so badly. We introduced more words, and he sounded each word out. A lot of sight words were there, so I will probably begin using the 100 word sight list shortly. He did great!

Because he was self-regulated, he didn't bat an eye when I asked him to do some math. Giving him 10 problems of simple addition facts (all under 5 - 4+4, 5+1, 5+4) and using his fingers and nose to count he completed 10 facts in under 2 minutes! Not bad for a young 5-year-old! He completed the math session with practicing writing numbers, then it was off to the computer for some JumpStart games.

I took a long, hot shower while Tank slept.

"Mommy, can we do some school?"

All weekend, I reminded Turbo that school was going to start again on Monday. And all day Sunday he continually whined about starting school again! Monday morning came, and we sunk, ever so slowly, into our morning routine. When Tank went to sleep for his morning nap, only after he emptied the dishs, cups and plastic ware that the boys use out onto the kitchen floor, dumped all the blocks out of the school box on the shelf and proceeded to "stack" blocks on Turbo's beloved Hot Wheel Battle Force 5 Car, Turbo and I snuggled on the couch together. We talked about the day, his toys, and his friends, when he looked up at me, touched my face and asked, "Mommy, can we do some school now?" WHEW! Going back was a lot easier than I had expected!

We worked on the Letter G, and used our window crayons from Crayola to review some of our past letters. His lightbulb has gone on now that he realizes that the sounds of letters put together actually make a words, so he is hooked on writing and "reading" words. So instead of pencil and paper, we used window crayons and my sliding glass door. It really keeps his attention too! When I couple that with his Nerf Gun with suction cups, by asking him to shoot the specific letter/sound/number/word/color/or shape, I could keep him working for hours!

I have been compiling flashcards of all the words that are presented to him with HWOT, and quizzing him on them, and he is doing rather well. Although his impulsivity is still there by just blurting out words, he is beginning to look at the beginning and ending sounds and working through each word. P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S!!!! (can you hear me singing?)

We have challenged him to try 10 new foods. With each new food he gets a happy face. After 10 happy faces he gets a new Battle Force 5 Car. Today, he had 2 bites of cucumber! YEAHH!!! He didn't spit it out and go into covulsions either! He looked at me and said it was good but not great and that it wasn't his favorite! I wasn't going to push it, he ate a cucumber!!! YIPPEEE!!!!

In Tot School, Tank has been responding really well to multiple step commands, and as always is a joy! He recently found out that being pulled on a blanket is a rather exhilerating experience...thank you Nana... He also is doing great with the concept of block building.

I will begin more with Tank in the afternoons after nap, but for now, he just interested in remote controls, cell phones, mp3 players and my mouse...if it has a button, he wants it!!!!

Letter X

X-Ray, Xylephone. Two new words learned today.

Letter L

The Letter L was worked on this morning.

Using the Wet, Dry, Try method of Handwriting Without Tears:

Letter H

This morning was like trying to pull teeth to get Turbo to follow his morning plan after the crazy, hectic schedule of the Thanksgiving weekend. After conceding to mama, (whew!) he sat down and got to work. This was only after I changed positions with him as me the student and he the teacher. A mama's gotta do, what a mama's gotta do....short of duct tape!

We did a review of his letters. I'm not too confident in some of them, but I figured we would go back and review them after a week or so. Gives him enough time to get back into the groove of things.

I introduced a new letter, the letter H. This is what was produced:







After learning two new vocabulary words, HORSE and HOME, we made a HOME for his art project. I think his handwriting, (for even TURBO) is coming along nicely.

Letters R and N

This past week has been really good for us to get into a school groove. I'm really excited about actually digging in and planning school once therapy is done (5 more time), rather than throw things together at the last minute, or while Turbo is working. I also can't wait to get started planning Tot School...well not plan, but you get the idea - you know document Tot School!

We worked on the letters R and N.

Here is his workbook in Handwriting Without Tears for the letter R.


Here is his art project:


His workbook page for the letter N:


His artwork for the Letter N:


Usually, I write the word for the art project object, but today, Turbo did! He, with help, sounded it out, and using my writing as a visual. But still! He wrote it, and I believe, understood what he was writing other than doing copywork!

Handwriting W/O Tears - 1st lesson

Since our morning plans were foiled to hang out with some friends and (for my sanity sake - mommas), during Tank's nap, Turbo and I did our first lesson in the Handwriting Without Tears program. I had been looking over it to see how we could implement it into our day. We listen to the cute songs in the car while we are driving, which incidentally, there seems to be A LOT of driving time lately. This song we have been focusing on because Turbo seems to struggle with remembering that letters begin at the top, instead of where he usually starts them, at the bottom.

While Tanks slept and it being a beautiful day outside, we laid on the grass in the crunchy leaves and began practicing our Pencil Pick-Ups. We tried different tricks to pick up the "pencil", which was a crayon, so that it sat correctly in his fingers. Then we finished the already drawn pictures in his workbook. By lying on his tummy, he was able to sit still longer to work. He also was able to strengthen his core.




Next, we moved on to the letter "F". I showed him how the wooden manipulatives could help him create the letters on the blue mat while using the happy face at the top - hence the song - start your letters at the top.

He made the letter "F" with the manipulatives, and then we moved on to the small chalk board. Here, he watches me write the letter first (WATCH). Then he uses a small sponge to clean it off (WET). Then uses a paper towel to dry it off (DRY). Finally, it is his turn to write it (TRY). This process allows him to have the repetitiveness that he needs to learn the letters rather than doing copy work all day long.

Then we moved on to the sidewalk. I drew pictures as he was to guess what letter started with the object, i.e. Ball, Cat, Pig, Kite, Dog, Truck, Ant, etc. I would write the word leaving out the first letter, then he was to fill it in. This lasted for quite some time, actually.

Then we snuck off and played in the crunchy leaves for a bit.

Afterwards, we cleaned up our stuff and went inside to work on the computer. Someone shared with me this website: http://www.abcya.com that has age-appropriate games for different levels, along with some fun holiday games too.

My First EVER Curriculum

On Friday, a fantabulous package was delivered! Turbo's, and subsequently Tank's, Handwriting Without Tears for Kindergarten has arrived!

I couldn't wait to go through it and begin to use it with Turbo! When he woke up from his nap, I showed it to him, and he looked at me, and with a sigh said, "I knew you were going to get this." Kind of like, Mom, seriously...get with it!

Anyways, this week we have therapy MWF, so we are gettin' our groove on! I'm so excited!

OT: Day 18/30

This morning, Ms. Renee took us into the table top room to work on some stuff at the table. She also wanted to show me a great chair for Turbo and to show how he sits while sitting on a wedge with a food rest. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ideas! Now to make them a reality in our home!


She also gave me an idea for a hand strengthening activity that pretty much won't cost me anything. A tennis ball.



She used a steak knife to cut open a mouth, drew a face and VOILA! a homemade stress relief ball! She had some beads with letters on them that we was to use kiddo chopsticks to pick them up and put them into the ball's mouth. He couldn't do both, so they took turns.


We got to go into the large gym to play the game of SIT, JUMP or KICK. Turbo got to hang on a trapeze (hand strengthenin) while I rolled a large ball while giving a command. He had to think while trying to hang one, strengthen his core and develop his balance and vision. He loved the game a lot! After that hard work, he did his astronaut practice (vision practice). He complained after a bit that he was tired and that his eyes hurt but that is great news as he is beginning to process things! Just to embed the thought of number touches, we played Whack-A-Mole again. Then she introduced us to a new game by Cranium! It is Balloon Lagoon! What a great game! It tests a lot of skills, but it is just a fun game for the family and another opportunity for Turbo to lay on his belly in the prone position to strengthen his core, plus a game to add to our Family Night Stash!

Handwriting on the Wall?

Part of therapy for Turbo is to begin to strengthen his hands so that he won't get fatigued when writing. I first used this "paint bag" on the table and then the floor. We didn't get any where with writing as we both struggled with keeping on task and sitting still.

This morning; however, we used it in a different spot: the sliding glass door window. I taped it onto the window so that he could still write on the bag and see through the glass. IT WAS A HIT!






I think this is how we will work on writing our letters for awhile!

OT: Day 3/30

TOO SLOW!! JUST RIGHT!! TOO FAST!!

Today in OT was a doozy. He had been doing well up to this point, but today sent him over the edge, and Ms. Renee and I were able to have some specific insight to how Turbo functions. I knew right at the start that the activities chosen today were going to send him into HIGH activity mode; but, apparently that is just what she wanted.

Again, she started with the book, the plan, and the goal to make spiderman move to the end for a sticker. She chose Animal Scrabble. She asked him to sit on the huge bean bag while she dispersed the small animals around the bag. Then she gave him the giraffe and asked him to listen to what the giraffe says and the follow directions. The giraffe has 5 different games with 3 different levels each. His job was to "capture" (by putting the giraffe over the correct animal) each animal as the giraffe said his name or the sound that it makes. With him sitting on the bean bag, he got the proprioceptive feedback by moving and crawling over the terrain of the beanbag, as well as spinning in circles (which he loves). The next level was much like the game of SIMON. He was to follow directions in order. He really struggled with this one because of his impulsivity. He heard the first animal to capture, but didn't wait for the remainder of the animals to be listed off. He gave up many times because it was too hard for him to wait until his directions were completed. He did, with a lot of struggle and coaxing, but finally finished the game.

After the game was put away, he found a toy lying on the ground and proceeded to put it into his mouth (something else we need to work on - putting foreign objects into his mouth that shouldn't be there). Ms. Renee spoke with him about not following his plan and said that Spiderman had to move back a space because Turbo didn't stick to his plan. THAT was devastating for him. But, Ms. Renee encouraged him that if he stuck to his plan and didn't get sidetracked that Spiderman would indeed make it to the finish line. With that, we were able to move on.

We were able to walk to the large gym area where there are swings, zip line, climbing walls, etc. This is Turbo's favorite place, as it is not hard to see why. When we entered, his heart sank because next on his list was the zip line, but unfortunately, another little boy was playing with it. So, he had to change his plan by switching activities. This was difficult because now, after making sure that he sticks to his plan, now his plan was switched. Which is a good thing so that he can become flexible, but man, that was super hard for him. Once he settled down and understood that he could go to the zip line, but just in a different order, Ms. Renee hooked up a large swing, much like a hammock. It was made out of the same Lycra material, but literally looked like a hammock.

She gave him three 8x10 sheets of paper: RED, GREEN, BLUE. On the RED page, were images such as Lightening McQueen from CARS to illustrate TOO FAST. On the GREEN page was the image of Winnie The Pooh to illustrate JUST RIGHT. And on the BLUE page was an image of the turtle, Crush, from CARS to illustrate TOO SLOW. Turbo was given his meter reader of the same speeds that he made the day before. He climbed into the swing and held on to the RED page and moved his meter reader to red. The Ms. Renee and I swung him back and forth aggressively to simulate him going TOO FAST. This of course, made him super crazy, and he love every minute of it. His next step was to go to JUST RIGHT. Using the GREEN sheet and his meter, he sat in the swing and we swung him "JUST RIGHT". But of course, he couldn't do it. He struggled with the speed. Wanting us to go faster, wanting us to move this way and that. He yelled, screamed, (not mad) and kept getting distracted by other kiddos in the gym. He couldn't focus on what he was to do, and definitely couldn't calm down to JUST RIGHT.

To get him to JUST RIGHT, she asked him to hug his knees close to his chest, hug them hard, and to slow his breathing with deep breaths. This took, seriously 20 minutes to get him to go to JUST RIGHT. After that, we showed him what TOO SLOW looked like, and to him, it was just a waste of time, as he climbed out of the swing, and went to the book, and proudly proclaimed that the zip line was free and it was time for him to go there.

At the zip line he wore his music again, and was asked to ride it down and drop into a large ball pit. Here, his next step in directions were to put 10 balls into a bucket. Of course, he forgot this step because he wanted to climb out of the pit and onto the zip line again. He reluctantly counted to 10 and put the balls into the pit. Then began to climb out. But to get him to go to TOO SLOW, she asked him to bury himself in the balls to play hide-and-seek. It was here where he finally got to JUST RIGHT. He was absolutely still while underneath the balls. For about 5 minutes she removed the balls one by one until he was revealed. JUST RIGHT was finally achieved.

For the final activity for the day, he was drug back to another room and was asked to make some letters using Handwriting Without Tears. She asked him to use the lines and curves to put the "puzzle" together to make letters. This was to bring him down a couple more levels to transition to leaving. He did a few letters, found success and looked up and quietly said, now it is time to put my shoes on. He climbed into the "drag bag" and waited patiently for Ms. Renee to get the loose ends and drag him down the hall. She said that this was a good thing, because he is now accepting that his fun time comes to an end and he is okay with it. If she only knew that this time with her wasn't as much fun as he expected it to be! ;) Kidding, he had a good time, but I think he is realizing that this time with Ms. Renee isn't meant to just be fun and games but a learning process for him to help him function.

So, Day 3 was good, and progressive, but very hard, as our drama continued on the way home and throughout the evening. But, as small as it seems, I truly believe that progress is being made.

As for school this week, BLAH! nothing has been accomplished or even attempted. I knew that going into this week, but I'm not excited about it. Maybe after we get into the swing of things, we will find some valuable time to slip in some letters and numbers recognition!

E for "EXHAUSTED!"

This week is pretty much the last week of normacy as we begin our adventure in Occupational Therapy. Oi.

Yet, we continued with the letter E, as we didn't get to finish it last week. Turbo wanted nothing to do with school this morning, and quite frankly, with Tank getting up at 4:45 and Turbo getting up at 5:45...I wanted nothing to do with school either. However!...we pushed on...much to Turbo's dismay.

We started out with calendar time. Ugh! I must think of something else for this time, because pulling teeth is easier than this with Turbo.

We did our Memory Verse: "The Word of the Lord ENDURES forever." 1 Peter 1:25. Sang our song. Did the days of the week, month, etc. Seriously needs some work on circle time.... ugh!

For our FIAR (Five In A Row), we read, How To Make An Apple Pie and See the World, as we talked about the different lands that the little girl visited while looking at the map and the globe. He is very interested in that, we will have to do more with this book.

He needed to move next...surprise, surprise! So we worked on a floor puzzle.

Turbo has really been frustrated with writing. He does pretty well, but he presses and pushes so hard on the pencil/crayon when he writes, that he becomes fatigued and frustrated. So today, I decided to do glue letters. I think I picked this up from Handwriting without Tears, which I think I may need to consider picking up if we are going to struggle this much.

Anyways, here he is working on some letters and numbers.


Of course, he was tired at the end because he squeezed too hard! I must put this down for our goals for OT! ;)

Next up, sorting our colors. This seemed to get his attention and he really got into it.


By this time, he had been in Time Out 2 times, and had been distracted by a stupid green ball about 1,000 times. RING, RING! School DISMISSED!

I'm outta here...time for a nap.