Revving Up the Coloring

Jack is not known for being a big fan of coloring but he is well known for enjoying playing with anything with wheels. I saw Vroom Vroom at No Time for Flashcards and it reminded me of a great idea a friend had given me to have Jack color with car crayons. I never found any so I was thrilled to finally get to try out the idea.

I already had candy molds that I used to make Jack dairy free chocolates back when we thought he was allergic to all dairy products. And I had some crayons that we had previously melted to make thinner and easier for his little hands to hold. I just remelted them.

Here was my finished product.

The truck, airplane, and train turned out best. Next time, I won't use previously melted crayons. I think I would have gotten better results. I also probably won't use the muffin cup liners. Last time I melted the crayons straight in the pan and that seemed to work better.

And a little tip....if you are messy like me and excess crayon is cruded on your candy mold, just boil some hot water and pour a little over the mold just where the crayon is stuck. It melts the excess and you just rinse it away. (That is okay since crayons are non-toxic, right?)

I chose the best looking ones to present to Jack.

We got a bit of zoom zooming out of them.

Jack wasn't really thrilled with them though and he has learned a grasp that works for him with regular crayons. I'm not sure that he could really tell what they were supposed to be except for me telling him because of his visual limitations. I do think that a visual child would love them though. So we'll be filing this away under creative gift ideas.

Sorting by Color

As I was scouring the web for ideas, I came across The Easiest Toddler Color Sorting Activity. I loved the simplicity yet effectiveness of the activity.

I do have construction paper and various colored pegs and what not around and could have done the activity just as laid out here but I decided to try it with Jack's light box hoping that it would help him to more easily distinguish the colors.

 I pulled out the blue and red overlays,

the red and blue pegs,

and also the red and blue bowls*.

*Jack has fine motor issues and difficulty distinguishing colors so I decided to decrease the challenge a bit for the introduction of the activity. I pre-sorted the pegs into their correctly colored bowls.

Here's the set-up with the overlays side by side on the lightbox.

Here's what it will look like with two of the pegs correctly placed.

Jack seemed to have real difficulty with this activity.



I helped him place one blue peg in the correct spot to get him started.



He really acted as though he did not get what I was asking him to do. I previously mentioned that we were concerned that he might be color blind. At times, he seems to recognize colors in isolation but it's not 100%. Even though he knows color names now, it's hard to tell if he's not paying attention (looking at the object) or he just doesn't know the color.

Off to the web I went to try to understand why this task might be difficult. I found this comparison of what a person with and without colorblindness might see when looking at a color wheel.

See how similar the red and blue appear?

So the big question.....was the activity difficult because he just plain old wasn't interested or is he color blind and finds it difficult to distinguish the two colors?

And I wonder if using the light box and light box materials exacerbated the difficulty of identify the colors.....

I'll take any suggestions especially from those of you who are color blind.

Sensory Play

I've seen this idea on lots of different sites and lots of blogs so I don't really remember exactly where I first heard the idea but here's our incarnation.

You need a large container of some kind.

We had this great cookie tin that our neighbor gave us last year. I chose it because the beans make a nice sound when stirred around in the tin.

Add your beans.

Select some small toys and/or prizes that will motivate a reluctant kiddo to reach in for the sensory play.



Bury your toys/prizes.

Hmmmmm......if you are like me and you run out of beans and your toys are not buried, add rice.

You can do surprise digging from here or you can make picture and/or word cards to give the kids a specific item to dig for.

I elected to make cards to encourage Jack to dig. I then labeled the cards with black marker and braille.

Since I had cookies in the "sensory tin", I waited until after lunch when the inevitable cookie request would be made. I explained that we were going to play a game to get his cookie.

I showed him the cards to show him what was buried.

Then I introduced the tin....



Hmmmm....I am not impressed.

He was a little hesitant to stick his hand in so I helped him move the rice and beans around hand over hand.



Got what I'm after!

 Once he found the cookie, he was all done! Well, at least he did not fuss and did reach his hand in. I'll save our rice and beans in the tin for play another day.

Hodge-podge of Stuff

First up, I recently discovered ABC Jesus Loves Me which has a nice preschool home school curriculum for FREE if you are looking for a specific plan to follow. We do not follow a regimented curriculum but rather work learning experiences into our everyday fun but the site has great information regarding handwriting. Then, a good friend recently introduced me to I Can Teach My Child. There are lots of fantastic ideas on that site! I combined ideas from these two sites to create our own no fuss handwriting practice.

Jack has found immense enjoyment playing dot to dot on his Ipad. When I saw a post on Christmas sticker letter dot to dots.  I thought that the idea presented a perfect opportunity to capitalize on this new found enjoyment.  It reminded me a little of the handwriting worksheets from  ABC Jesus Loves Me.

So I combined the two ideas....
1.  I used a highlighter and wrote out Jack's name at the top of  a piece of construction paper.
2.  On the bottom of the paper, I used the highlighter to draw three straight lines for Jack to practice.

3.  I used sticker dots to create the start and end dots for the letters of Jack's name.
4.  I used larger stickers to create the start and end points for the straight lines.

and added an idea or two of my own....
5. I put it on a fairly light colored construction paper so bright white or some other bright color would not     cause Jack to turn away from it.
6. I put the "worksheet" on Jack's textured clipboard. Back when Jack was still receiving therapy through our local school system, his vision teacher gave us some textured contact paper that we put on a clipboard creating a textured writing surface to give Jack some sensory feedback when writing/coloring/drawing.
7. I used a fat piece of sidewalk chalk as our writing utensil. We have recently been enjoying chalk drawing together and I was hoping that this activity could be an extension of that.

We traced his sticker dot to sticker dot name hand over hand then we did the first sticker to sticker straight line hand over hand. The other two he did readily without any assistance at all. The entire thing took just a couple of minutes. He did not fuss one little bit and seemed pretty proud of himself when he was all done.

Next up, I had a "how-to" idea of my own. I have been trying to find something to put on Jack's jacket zipper pulls to make them easier for him to hold onto while learn to zip and unzip.

I saw this cute little charm on clearance for $2.

Most jacket zipper pulls have some kind of hole on them somewhere.

I attached the charm to the hole in the zipper pull.

He's still getting the hang of it but at least now hanging on to the zipper is not the problem.


Finally, I leave you with a picture of our favorite kind of "sensory" activity.....

We call it pile o'friends and if you look carefully, Jack is in there!

Fishing Rodeo

Thanks to AAPVI (Alabama Association of Parents of Children with Visual Impairment), Jack had his first fishing trip on Saturday. It was sweltering hot and Jack was having a difficult "allergy" day but we still had a blast!

Oaky.... so he really wasn't all that interested in fishing but he humored me for a bit and sat with me.

Uncle Noah WAS all about the fishing. This is just one of the many fish that Noah caught that day. Unfortunately the lighting, the lake, and the color of the fish did not combine to make great pictures so it was hard to see the fish in most of the pictures we got of Noah and his fish.

Jack and I caught our first fish when we had put our cane pole down to get a picture of Noah with his fish. Here I am trying to get Jack to pose with the fish. That poor fish had the misfortune to be spinning around when I put it in front of Jack so Jack gave it a whack with his hand and sent it spinning some more! LOL!

Oma and Opa took Jack for a walk and look what I did!

Jack's favorite parts of the trip were the interesting brick tiles in the stable, the drain in the stable, just generally running to and fro and eating hot dogs and COOKIES!!! All in all it was awesome. Each of these little adventures helps Jack to see how much fun it is to hang out with other people and try new things.

Where the Beep Beep Went Wrong

You might want to review last week's Where the Beep Beep Went Right. And then the intro....

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

You might remember this and this and this

from last year's Beeping Easter Egg Hunt. I was NOT making the same mistakes this year! If he did not want to hunt Easter eggs or pose with his basket, that was fine. We would just enjoy being outside and he could run along the yellow tape to his heart's content.

*As a quick aside, anybody notice that my kiddo has had another growth spurt?*

So that's it...I did everything right and we had an awesome time with no issues at all that day! Yeah, right!

Not long after he began running around in the grass, Jack started asking me to carry him. I tried and tried and tried to tell him to walk but oh no he wanted Mama to carry him. I thought maybe it was because the sun was too bright and I forgot his sunglass clip ons. When the sun is very very bright he tends to get clingy or he gets rooted to one spot or the shade. I relented and carried him around a bit until we happened upon the trampoline and he declared, "Shoes off, jump, jump!" as he frantically pushed at his sandals.

He slowly worked his way up to a standing position on the trampoline as I snapped pictures

.

That's when I noticed how big (relative to how small they were) his feet are getting. I checked out his toes and sure enough his little piggies were rubbing against the inside of those sandals. No wonder he did not want to walk!

A fairly short time after we started jumping (relative to the amount of time we usually spend jumping on a trampoline every time we get a chance), someone announced that the tactile puppet show was about to start. I'd had my heart set on Jack experiencing the tactile puppet show. I gave him the 10 minute countdown and we went inside where he immediately began fussing about going back outside.

It was a bit loud with the live music and people just coming in for the puppet show. I told Jack that this was new and fun. I told him that I wanted him to give it a try before he decided that he did not like it.

A musician brought a drum over and Jack began banging away in about 15 seconds of pure joy but then it clicked...I guess he thought I tricked him. He began getting all upset again and the musician just did not know what to do. Frankly, I didn't either. I was playing all this by ear. I told the musician to go ahead and move on to the next participant since I did not think Jack wanted to play anymore. I tried for another eternity five minutes or so to get Jack to calm down and feel the puppets but he just wasn't having it.

A sympathetic mom offered that her son also gets overwhelmed in large noisy crowds like that one. While I thought that some of it was tantrum (about wanting to be outside), I had to agree that the environment was a bit overwhelming. I took him just outside the door in hopes that he would calm down enough to return. He did calm down but he wasn't going back and that's when we headed for the swings and he was happy again.

So where's the therapy in all this? Well there was the new experience, the jumping, the running around, the listening to instructions (sort of) but mostly there's the review....overall Jack had fun. I know the parts that he enjoyed the best. In review, I can tell you where I went wrong--too small shoes, no sunglass clip ons, not really giving him clear information about the puppet show and how there would be lots of noise and lots of people. Each time, we try something new it prepares us both for the next time we have that experience and if I take the time to review what went right and what went wrong, then I can do a better job the next time. I'll never anticipate everything. I'll never get everything right. It's part of the parenting journey. And now I'm a little further along on the journey. Each experience better prepares for the next especially if we take the time to think over just what happened.

Next time an event doesn't go like you planned, I encourage you to take a little time and review.

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:

Boring Life
Spring Break
Code Words
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and leave your link in the comments. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Code Words

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

What are code words? Code words are those "magic" little phrases that are the substitute for a long drawn out explanation. For example, I have a little boy who loves to stand up on a basketball, stand in a rolling office chair, jump up and down in the bathtub, flip on the bed....you know...if it's unsafe he is all about it. A phrase that is often heard at our house is "Jack! Stay safe." "Jack! Stay safe" means "Jack, do not stand up in that office chair. That chair can topple over and you will crack your head open on the filing cabinets. Get down now!" AND it means "Jack, do not use Irish as a step stool to lean over the upstairs railing. You could topple over the side!" It also means "Jack, do not even think about going out into the street without me." AND "Jack, do not touch the stove." The phrase reminds Jack to stop and think about what he is doing. It focuses his attention (for a moment anyway) and makes him remember what we've told him.

How do you develop "code words"? Choose a very simple phrase that succintly sums up what you want to say. Our "Jack. Stay safe." arose from constantly telling him that we wanted to keep him safe. Eventually we narrowed it down to "Jack. Stay safe."

Next, you form the associations with the words. Every time you encounter a new situation where the phrase applies, you say the phrase, ("Jack. Stay safe."), confirm that you have the child's attention, and then give a simple yet longer explanation. For instance, Jack's latest trick is jumping on the bed. When he first tried to show me this nifty trick, I said "Jack! Stay safe.", helped him to the floor, and said "Jump on the floor." He climbed up on the bed again later and I repeated, "Jack! Stay safe. Jump on the floor." Soon enough, the association was created and if I saw him stand on the bed I would say only "Jack stay safe" and he would sit down on or crawl off the bed.

The great thing about code words is they are portable from person to person. We told the school our "Jack. Stay safe." phrase and they are using it there too.

His teacher taught us a phrase she uses to get a child to give her his full attention. "Look at my face."

We also use "Pay attention" to let Jack know that we need him to really focus on what we are saying.

Jack has evidently learned these code words really well. Last weekend, he said, "Pay attention" and gently turned my face toward his. It worked. I took notice and began paying attention.
Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Just Snuggle
Get Your Boredom Going
Spring Break
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and leave a link in the comments. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Spring Break

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

It's Spring Break in our local community. This week, I'm just encouraging you to go be silly with your kids.

Later, when you reflect on the silly fun you had, you may realize just how many "Life is Therapy" moments you had. Come back and tell me about them! Get out there!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Boring is Good
Just Snuggle
Get Your Boredom Going



For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and put a link to your post in your comment. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

You Too Can Have a Boring Life!

I know it seems like just a dream but you CAN make it happen for you! But first, the intro....

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how Boring is Good. Since then, I know you have all been scratching your heads wondering just how completely crazy I am why David and Jack put up with me how you might make life a little more boring for your family. I came across this blog post that showed an awesome organizational system for keeping the house a bit tidier but also letting everyone know what to expect next.

It actually inspired me to get out some old picture cards that I made a LONG time ago that Jack did not really respond to much.

In the first column, there are pictures that illustrate time to potty (told you these were old), time for night night stories, and time for medicine. The next column is time for teeth brushing and time for bath.

Now that he is a bit older and better able to focus, it seems that the cards help him to process my verbal instructions regarding what comes next. I keep the cards in a little folder and just pull out the one that represents the next activity. They could also be used to create a visual schedule as Jenn did in her guest post on Raising Memories.

Picture cards can also be used to aid your child in making choices. For instance, if you are giving your child the choice between playing with play-doh or coloring, you could present him/her with a card with a picture of play-doh and a card with picture of crayons. The visual representation along with your spoken words may help your child process exactly what his/her options are. This choice making method can also help you to better understand a child who is in the early stages of talking or has some other reason that he/she is difficult to understand verbally.

You don't have to make your own cards. There are a few sites on the internet that have ready to print images. Heather Lynne mentioned All About Me. There's also Do2Learn, English4Kids, and Teach Children ESL. Don't be intimidated by the fact that these sites mention autism and foreign language speakers, the cards can be used for whatever purpose you have in mind.

Go check out the sites and have fun creating your boring life!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
The Grocery Store
TV is NOT the Enemy
Boring is Good
Just Snuggle
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Just Snuggle

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you know that we have been bombarded by virus after virus after virus this season. We don't seem to get over one before another has started. Some are mild and we rock right along and others just knock us down.

The latest virus is of the knockdown variety but I'm glad to be getting some relief from today's trip to the doctor so that I am able to put up the weekly post.

This week I want to remind you what's most important about Life is Therapy. It's about the connection. The more you are connected to your kiddo, the more you can enter his/her world and see what interests them and use that to teach them skills they need for the world around them. And sometimes having that connection means it's time to drop everything, throw a blanket and some pillows on the floor and just snuggle....

*Yes, he is so tall that his feet reach down to my knees but when he is sick, he thinks he is still just a tiny baby* laying on his Mama’s chest. *Yes, I am aware that he was never a tiny baby.

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:

Boring is Good
TV is not the Enemy
The Grocery Store
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Boring is Good

Nobody likes to do the same thing day after day after day, right? No, wrong. We'll get to that in a minute. First, the intro....

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Children actually do love to do the same things over and over again in the exact same way. That's why many, many parents complain that their heads will explode if they have to watch [insert friendly TV character from kids show] ever again. It's the same reason that night after night after night, kids choose the EXACT SAME book to be read as a bedtime story. That's why they ask you to read the book AGAIN as soon as you finish.

But this is so boring! Why? Why do they do it? Are they trying to drive us nuts? Make us go crazy? Yes! It's all a plot that they have all devised to bring us parents down so they can take over and eat all the candy they want. Of course not. Children just like to know what to expect. As adults when there is so much mundane routine to life, it's hard to remember that everything is new to children. They are constantly bombarded with new information and new abilities that they did not know they had.

Routines, repetition, and sameness give their world stability. When you are reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see for the fortylevenmillionth time, your child knows the next line is I see _________ looking at me. It's comforting. It helps them to feel confident that there are some things about this great big world that they do know.

AND when your child is able to draw upon that confidence, you will see them dare to do a little more.

For instance, Jack is a late talker. At 4.75 years old, he talks in mostly two to three word phrases with occasional longer phrases thrown in. But when mealtime comes, he can say an entire 22 word prayer with very little prompting/assistance. In fact, he begins by telling everyone to put their hands up, hands down, hands together. I know, "It's a miracle!" Well, yes, but it's a miracle brought about by the God given gift of routine. We say the same prayer the same way at EACH meal and it is the same one that they use at his school. Because David and I followed the school's lead and used their prayer, Jack was able to know what to expect at each meal. He ventured out a little at a time growing confident with each attempt and as the routine continued he said more and more until he did the whole thing. He even lead our small church in prayer one Sunday evening. He needed a little more prompting that time because it was a bit out of the norm but the prayer itself was so routine for him that he was able to apply it to the new situation.

So the next time, you think your head might explode by your child's insistence on doing something exactly the same way AGAIN remember he/she has a great big world to learn about and this is one way of making it all manageable.


Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
TV is NOT the Enemy
The Grocery Store
Know When to Stop

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

TV is NOT the Enemy

Yes, I said it. TV really is not the enemy. But before we get to that--the intro...

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

I know. I know. There are all kinds of studies out there that say that tv viewing is bad for children. I completely agree that plopping your child down in front of the tv (no matter what the program) for loads of unattended time is not good. Watching Baby Einstein videos alone will not make your baby an Einstein.

But TV and video viewing can be a great time for you and your child to interact and learn about things outside your world and even take a different look at everyday things around you. This is true whether your child is 4 or 40. The important part of the equation is you. Join in your child's tv/video viewing. Talk about what you see on the screen. Talk about your values. Talk about how you would have done things differently or the same as the characters. Act out the different character's parts together with your child. TV/video viewing can be a great bonding time.

Jack is a late talker. He is still trying to figure out how to tell the rest of us the many thoughts that are floating around in his head. His DVDs have been a great springboard to communication and a better understanding of the words he has been saying. When a triangle is on the screen and Jack says "Try ay kul", the light bulb goes on and suddenly that word he's been saying makes sense!

Children in the early stages of talking often have difficulty holding conversations because they don't know what they are supposed to say. They have to think about what you said, think of the words they need for a response, and then get their muscles working together just right to form the words that are needed. Playing out the storylines from videos are a great way for children to practice turn-taking speech. One of the hardest elements of conversations has been eliminated--coming up with the words. It's predictable. They know what you are gonna say and they know what they are supposed to say. It's a confidence builder and a great way for a child to learn to practice waiting for the other person to take their turn in conversation.

Instead of bemoaning your child's love of that flashing box, try joining them for a bit and see where it takes you.

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Try Something Old
Know When to Stop
The Grocery Store
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

The Grocery Store--Life is Therapy

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

I've been rolling around this idea in my head since I wrote about how much Jack loves Publix. Then Erin's cute post just reminded me how much kids get from tasks like grocery shopping that we consider quite mundane.

It's very hard to remember that the entire world is new and different to our kids. It's much easier for them to encounter things they've never seen before. Also, because they grow and get taller and a bit more independent at each visit, they see new things or old things from different angles and it is all amazing.

As Jack gets older and bigger (over the wieght limit for most shopping carts), he is being allowed a little more freedom to roam. I used our friendly neighborhood Publix where most of the staff know us as a good testing area for deciding when he was ready to first walk beside and not sit in the cart. It took a few times of trying it before he was truly ready since he would often try to break free and run.

Once he did show enough self-control to follow my safety instructions, grocery shopping became a wonderful time to practice orientation and mobility and physical therapy. With Jack's visual impairment, he is still adjusting to his lack of depth perception so he had to learn to guage the distance between him and any objects in his path and adjust himself accordingly. It is very easy for Jack to see something he wants to get to and develop tunnel vision (as in he only focuses on whatever it is and takes off toward it ignoring anything in his path). In the grocery store, there are other people and their baskets as well as display racks and sometimes stocking boxes to be avoided. Going up and down the aisles has been great for enhancing impulse control as well as remembering to focus on the immediate area to check for people and other obstacles to navigate.

The grocery store also supplies numerous oppurtunities for practicing speech therapy by labeling the many things available in the store. I usually allow Jack's level of interest to dictate the amount of labeling we do. One day I was getting a little frustrated because it appeared that Jack was just rooted to one spot moving his head up and down. After a deep breath, I watched for a moment and realized that he was actually looking at the vegetables but appeared to be trying to find a good angle to see them. When I slowed down, we had a delightful time, looking at, touching, smelling, and labeling the various fresh vegetables--speech therapy, sensory therapy, vision therapy, occupational therapy.

Since we frequent the same store often, we have really gotten to know the staff and they've gotten to know us so it is not at all uncommon for a staff member to come up for hugs and conversation. This is a great time to practice appropriate social behavior. Each time, Jack is more enthusiastic about interacting with the staff. He's actually much more interactive with other customers too. The familiarity of the people and the location makes things a lot easier.

So next time, you dread thinking of taking your kid to the store, see if you can slow down a bit during your shopping and enjoy the wonder that your child experiences. It will take longer to get through the store but I think the payoffs are awesome!




Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
What Happens at Home
Something Old
Know When to Stop



For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together.

Gotta Know When...

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Who doesn't get excited when a child surprises you with a new skill? And what kid isn't excited to learn a new skill? Most of the time kids are pretty excited to show off their new skills and we (their parents) are very excited to see them do it and will ask them to do it again repeatedly.

Jack has recently begun jumping with two feet off the ground. He was joyously jumping one evening and I was, of course, excitedly encouraging him. He did this over and over and over again. When suddenly I remembered that I needed to get it on tape so that I would be able to use it on the blog in order to preserve this precious moment for posterity.

When I reviewed the tape, it reminded me of something very important. Sometimes you gotta know when to stop asking for more more more more. Jack WAS having fun jumping and had been having fun jumping. Then I got the camera out and wanted him to perform even MORE so I could show off so all of you could delight in his accomplishments too because I knew that he would enjoy watching himself on video later. But really when the new skill is getting old or your kiddo is just plain old tired, give it a rest. The skill is not going to go away overnight and they'll be much more willing to do a repeat if you don't wear them out. So just remember, if it's not fun anymore and it's just a performance try backing off. You will get to see it again. Just give it a little time.

Jack's still jumping and getting better at it all the time. I'll get more video of it later when he's in a jumping mood!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Going to the Movies
What Happens at Home
Try Something Old
For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.

Try Something Old

New to the Life is Therapy series? Here's a quick blurb to tell you what it's about:

Sometimes we parents can get bogged down in the notion that the teaching of our children must be done by professionals. Parents of children with special needs are particularly vulnerable to this idea since children with special needs often have to learn and develop quite differently than children with typical needs. This series centers around the idea that learning can and does occur most effectively through everyday life experiences at home and out in the community--for children with both typical and special needs.

Doesn't it feel good to accomplish something when you've worked really hard at it? Does it surprise you when you think about how second nature certain tasks become when they were so hard to learn? Do you get a sense of pride when you sit down and quickly accomplish a task that used to take you a lot of concentrated effort?

Kids are like that too! The difference is that we don't always remember to stop and celebrate all the things they've learned to do. They've learned to do absolutely everything. Think about it--take a step, walk, run, climb, jump, drink from a cup, eat with a spoon, take off a sock, etc. Everything they do on a routine basis took time and effort to learn. And we are constantly exposing them to new things and expecting them to do more and more. Kids are absolutely amazing in their ability to try so many new things at once. After all, everything is new to them.

With all the newness, I think it's a good idea to sometimes just take a step back and do something old and familiar. You'll be amazed at how happy your kiddo will be when you break out an old toy that they have not played with in a while.

And they'll surprise you with all the new things that they know and can do since the last time they played with it.

It's been a while since we got out Jack's "baby keyboard" and played the games that come with it. He sat down right away when he saw it and began insisting on Beethoven. I thought he was confused and told him that this was a game not his Baby Einstein movie. He kept insisting on Beethoven.

We got him started on one of the games and he played happily but kept saying, "Beethoven, Beethoven". You know what? On one of the games, when you hit the right button, a little conductor shows up and the shapes play a familiar tune written by you guessed it....Beethoven!

It's been fun to see how much Jack remembers from playing the games before and now that he talks he points out things that we did not even notice before (like the shapes playing Beethoven).

So I encourage you, don't think that all learning has to take place with new things. Get out something old and familiar. Revel in the accomplishments that have taken place since the last time you and your child played with the item and watch out because they'll probably show you something new too!

Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:
Get Out There
Going to the Movies
What Happens at Home



For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.

Now it's your turn to participate. This is where we share our ideas and stories with one another. We're all in this together. Let's laugh together, motivate one another, and stimulate each others ideas. If you have a blog, create your own "life is therapy" post and link to the specific post in the Mr. Linky below. If you don't have a blog just leave a comment with your life is therapy story.