Impromptu by Request

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Our Budding Maestro--Wordless/ful and Special Exposure Wednesday

He is gifted. He has no models at home. I would love to play a musical instrument but I have rhythm issues. And Dave...well, I think he aspired to play the guitar when he was younger...Jack has a natural gift for music. Percussion instruments were his favorite for the longest time but he has recently branched out to the lap harp, guitar, and keyboard. It's not random banging of the keys either. It's purposeful. He sits there tapping the keys and he'll lean in to listen to the sounds like he's just absorbing it all. It seems that each time he sits at the keyboard he expands his playing a bit. Maybe he's composing his first symphony?

Click for more Wordless Wednesday, Wordful Wednesday, and Special Exposure Wednesday posts.

Don't forget to check out this week's Life is Therapy.

What Happens at Home....

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.

Several of my Life is Therapy posts so far have focused on the many ways children can learn when they are out and about away from home. But life at home is great therapy too!

This last weekend, I was still too worn out from being sick and trying to work and just make it through life thought that Jack needed a quiet weekend at home to wind down from all the hustle and bustle of the holidays and trying new things. It was a rainy weekend and we barely left the house.

It turned in to a very musical weekend. Jack loves all his musical instruments. However, this weekend, the triangle held some special fascination for him.

So we....
talked about and identified the shape triangle

did a little speech therapy [Jack would say triangle in his way. I would say triangle with an emphasis on the part that wasn't very clear when he said it. I did not say it in a correcting way or ask him to repeat me. He would then repeat me and we did this back and forth as long as he wanted. Each time he was clearer in his pronunciation.]

had a science lesson [Jack experimented with different ways of holding both the triangle and the stick (or whatever it is called) so that it would make the best sound]

worked on fine motor skills [Jack dropped the wand a few times and had to pick it up. Also he had to learn to hold the wand tightly so he would not drop it while playing.]

worked on hand eye coordination [Jack has poor depth perception because of the difference in vision in his eyes so he had to figure out just where the triangle was in relation to the wand that had to strike the triangle]

and of course, playing the triangle is definitely sensory therapy as you feel the vibration from the triangle and hear the sound.

We may have just spent a day at home but a few minutes of playing the triangle provided lots of therapy that will take Jack much farther than our front door. What happens at home doesn't stay at home and it's easy to fit in "therapeutic/educational" boosts into your daily play!


Recent Life is Therapy Posts can be found at:

Learning from Others
Get Out There
Going to the Movies

For more Life is Therapy Posts, check out the left side bar.
So what have you been playing?
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He's on His Way Now....

We have some friends who were nervous about their first meeting with Jack because, you know, he's a rock star! I laughed when they told me about that and said, "Oh, he's just a kid." Some of our friends have decided that Jack really should be a rock star so they gave him his first guitar.

It was supposed to be a Christmas present but I knew he would love it and couldn't wait.

This short clip is made up of a bunch of pictures from the first time we opened the guitar case and showed it to him.

And here he is giving a performance of his skillz a few days later, surpisingly in the exact same outfit. Rock Stars are funny people.

Thank you so much Rodger, Carol, Ethan, and Adam! Sorry that we did not wait for Christmas. :)

Check out the newest Life is Therapy installment here.

PS. Anyone who wants to donate carpet cleaning to us so that these pictures and videos will be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, please contact me at empwrn@bellsouth.net.