SHADES OF AUTISM #8: From Spelling Words To Writing Sentences

Update!

Background:  
This 6 year old boy was helped during last summer, by this speech and learning specialist, to do the following: 

- Move from an interest in letters (with all academic areas addressed in an ABA class in June 2013) to being mainstreamed for spelling class by the third week of first grade in September of 2013. 

Note: At the beginning of September he could barely hold a pencil and had difficulty pressing hard enough to make legible writing samples.

Within weeks he was so motivated, by being included in the new class for spelling, that he was writing single words on his own and earning A's on his spelling tests. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fast Forward:
March 2014:
At a local CVS store I noticed an item in the Valentine's Day section that was on clearance.  It was a small metal mailbox with superheros on it.

I picked it up for 39 cents, knowing its best use would come to my mind eventually.

On the way to Alejandro's house an idea formed in my mind.  I was excited to show the activity I had thought of to his mother, and had a good feeling that it would work out well.

Alejandro LOVED the mailbox. - Motivation - CHECK!

I took a piece of paper and wrote: 
May I have ________

Since he was used to using an open sentence to cue his speech, he said, "juice."  

I said, "Okay.  Write juice."  

He needed some help with the spelling after the j and the u, but he wrote it.

I said, "Put it in the mailbox where Mommy can find it."  

He put it in the mailbox and put the flag up [without prompting :-) ].

I told him, "Tell Mommy, 'You have mail!'"

He said, "You have mail" to his mother.

She opened the mailbox and read the sentence.
She asked him to read the sentence to her and he did.

She went to get him a little juice (very little), and when he had drank it I asked him if he wanted more.
  
Since it had only been a sip or two, he said, "Yes."

I gave him a paper that said, "May _______."

He wrote, "May I have juice." 

He put it in the mailbox, followed my directions to say, "You have mail" to his mother (again putting up the red flag on the mailbox).

He received a little more juice.

I again asked if he wanted more (which he did), and gave him a blank paper. 

He wrote: "May I have juice."

Wow! All this learning!

In less than 30 minutes he had moved from only writing single words to writting a functional sentence (with some support).

That was Saturday, March 8,2014

Homework 

For homework I told his mother this:
"Whenever he comes to you to say something 
say, 'Write it and put it in the mailbox.'"

When I returned exactly 2 weeks later his mother informed me that he wrote his first complete sentence independently (without any support) only TWO DAYS LATER, on Monday, March 10th and his second set of sentences on Tuesday, March 11th.

Here they are:

The first is:
Mom I want to play with iPad.

The second written communication is actually two sentences:
I want to drank some juice. Can you open, please?

Absolutely amazing! A million smiles  :-)

Note: Step by step learning and ABA works in many situations with certain children.  It is evidence-based and has numerical data behind it.

However, when you know a child is intelligent and you suspect that he can do much more than he is doing within his ABA sessions, it is YOUR JOB as a parent or professional to reach for MUCH HIGHER levels of FUNCTIONAL learning. 

You must do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make the learning process interesting, motivating, fun and practical.  It should be directly related to successful social interaction, successful communication and successful functioning in a typical classroom.

In this way children can be mainstreamed more quickly with the support that they need to be thriving and flourishing alongside their typically developing peers.

If you need assistance to do this then write to me, (put QUESTION in the subject line).

You can also text or call me @201-919-4805.  

As always, I love my job and I'm always willing to help a family develop a plan with their local specialists to move their child to the highest level of functioning possible.

Please comment!   I'd love your feedback.


Also, SUBSCRIBE to this blog, so I know that you're interested in me writing more posts :-) 


CLICK to SUBSCRIBE to This Blog by Email


You will receive an email only when there's a new post.

Sharing the link helps me to get these techniques to more parents and professionals:

http://superbtherapy.blogspot.com/2014/03/shades-of-autism-8-from-spelling-words.html
 
Thanks so much for reading, subscribing and sharing!


Noelle Michaels, MA, CCC-SLP, LDT-C
Speech and Learning Specialist
www.superbtherapy.com
www.superbtherapy.blogspot.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/superbtherapy












 

Assistance With Apraxia - Post #1: Too Much Saliva

A child with verbal apraxia may seem to have "too much" saliva.  

As I see it, he is not swallowing enough, so the saliva pools in the front of his mouth.  If he has an open mouth posture while concentrating on a toy or activity (and then tilts his head forward) the excess saliva spills out of his mouth onto the surface or object that's in front of him.

In most instances this problem may come and go, with some days being a high frequency drooling days and other days not so much.

When this happens with a 2 year old, or a child who doesn't really understand the meaning of the word "swallow," I use the following technique:

-  Sit the child in a stable place
-  Take a liquid the child likes to drink.
-  Put some into a small spoon
-  Put it in the child's mouth and say, "Swallow"
-  Repeat a few times during this drink break
-  Repeat several times per day

This will help the child associate the word "swallow" with the action of swallowing.

Once a child understands the meaning of the command "swallow." You can move on.

Introduce the fact that the larynx (Adam's apple) moves during swallowing:

"Mommy's going to swallow."
"You can feel Mommy's swallow."
"Put your hand here in front of my neck."
(Mother swallows)
"Did you feel it move?"
"Isn't that amazing?"
"You can do it too!"

Allow the child opportunities to feel his own neck when he swallows during eating or drinking.

When he's good at checking his swallowing you can use it to get rid of the saliva pooling and/or drooling.

While playing face to face with the child at a table, keep your eyes on his mouth and watch for the saliva to begin to pool in the front of his mouth.

Say, "I see a lot of saliva is in your mouth. It's time to put your lips together and swallow."

You can watch his Adam's apple to see if it moves and look at his mouth to see if the saliva is gone.

If he doesn't swallow you might say, 
"Touch your throat to make sure you're swallowing." 

Verbal reminders are given during the remainder of the play period ("Swallow"), whenever saliva pooling is noticed.

During the day, if a child drools, say, "Remember, if you swallow then it won't fall out of your mouth."

If he is trying to speak and it sounds wet or slushy say, "I can't understand you.  Can you swallow and then say it again?" "Oh, that's better!"  "When you swallow first I really can hear you and understand you much better!" :-)

I'm Noelle Michaels, a Speech and Learning Specialist currently in Northern New Jersey, and I enjoy sharing tips, activities and success stories with you.

If your child has Verbal Apraxia and your school district is saying it's "just articulation," having a copy of my book "Verbal Apraxia" may help you to explain to them that it's more than just articulation.

If you are interested:

My Verbal Apraxia book is available as a soft-cover book for $10.70 by mail (includes tax & postage) 

or as part of a 3-book E-book Volume entitled "Superb Therapy!" which is just $3.75 and available at:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/369469

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you would prefer the soft-cover Verbal Apraxia book:
follow the link below and 
look for and press the "Buy Now"  Paypal Button that is ABOVE the Verbal Apraxia Title:

Order Soft-Cover Books: Pick the Title You Want

**Also, text me at 201-919-4805 with "Bought Book," so that I can get it out to you immediately.

Website:
www.superbtherapy.com
Email:
noellemichaels@hotmail.com
Facebook: 
Superb Therapy, LLC
Radio Show:
www.blogtalkradio.com/superbtherapy

The BEST Way To Teach Colors

Once a child shows awareness of colors (that's STEP 1 of my Learning Colors Hierarchy), and is able to sort colors (STEP 2) she is ready for STEP 3: learning to show an understanding of color words [Ex: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, etc.].  

When a child can show understanding of certain words her receptive language vocabulary is growing.

Here is one activity to begin with, as I explained it to a little boy's father:

To begin Step 3 use an empty coffee can and solid color items. The items must be identical, with only the color differentiating them. 

If the items are thin (like plastic poker chips) cut a slit on the plastic cover of the can that the poker chips can snugly fit through. If the items are bigger, like one-inch cubes, cut a larger opening in the top.

If he is sensitive to noise don't use a metal container. Some children like it if I shake the can when the items are in it and others don't.

Decide on the first color. I usually pick red. Pick a contrasting color-one that is very different (NOT orange). I usually pick blue. 

Put 12 red and only 2 blue on the table.

Hold the can with one hand, so you have good control of it. Say, "Give me red" and point closely to a red item, so it's clear what you're asking for.
Hold out your hand and take the red one he gives you. Put it in the can.

Note: On the second turn you will let him put it directly in the can himself. Point to the opening of the can and have him put it in (guide him, if necessary).

On the first turn, after you put it in, say, "More red" and offer the can. If he picks up blue in error and starts toward the can quickly block the hole with your hand and say, "No. That's BLUE. No BLUE. I want RED." Point to a red item and repeat, "Give me red."

Do this until all red items are in the can. Say, "YES! You found all the red ones!" Celebrate then say, "NOW, give me BLUE." (And point to BLUE).

Each time he does better add more blues to make it more challenging until there are mostly blues and only a few reds that he must locate.

When he can get all red with no errors then go back to the beginning, this time starting with 12 blue and only 2 red items and ask for BLUE.

When that is mastered try 12 yellow, 2 red and 2 blue and ask for YELLOW.

In my experience, most children learned the first color, red, in one to three sessions. :-)

There are more activities for teaching colors in my book: The Best Way to Teach Your Child Colors.

It is available as a soft-cover book for $10 by mail (within the USA) - Call me to order: 201-919-4805

or the Teaching Colors book 

is included in my E-book SUPERB THERAPY! which is $3.75 and available through Smashwords.com at the following link:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/369469

Note: These steps can be used to learn letters, numerals, animal names and more.  For example, just say cat and dog instead of red and blue..."Give me the cat."  "Give me the dog."
Step 1: Awareness of Different Animals
Step 2: Able to Sort Different Animals
Step 3: Able to Understand the Names of Animals
SEE STEPS 4 THROUGH 6 IN MY BOOK!

I'm Noelle Michaels, Speech and Learning Specialist, and I truly love my job!