Re: Post-it Notes and other stuff

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/21/00 11:22:01 AM Central Standard Time,

jennie@... writes:

> Are people waiting for the kids to

> know the words first, or using it as a means of labeling in the natural

> environment for fun

Jennie,

When Colin was three he tuned speech out. I was trying to teach the

Lovaas curriculum but could not make progress because he just did not process

the words I said. He tried to use only visual information so in order to

make my words visual, I wrote them on cards and showed them as I said them.

At the same time, to emphasize the idea that words had individual meanings, I

put 3x5 cards on everything in the house. Even the therapists wore name tags.

If you did this, Isaac could match the sticky note to the word card.

Eventually the labels all over your house will disappear--you'll use one for

a grocery list; your daughter will take a phone message on another. Replace

them with smaller ones or none at all as Isaac learns them.

Another program Colin liked when he was learning to read was matching

photos of his favorite places with their written names. We tried to take the

photos with the sign or logo visible so there was an element of matching here

too.

We taught phonics very early too. We had Colin make the sounds he could

and when he couldn't or wouldn't, we would make the sound and have him point

to or type or use a voice output device to say the letter name. Even now

when he tries to say a word he makes the sounds as well as he can in order.

He is really spelling but substituting the sound for the letters.

I don't know if it might help but I try to hire therapists who want or

need to go to grad school. I let them know that I will write them a letter

of recommendation and get our ABA provider to have it prepared on his

letterhead and signed with his Ph.D.. My last two leads have gained

admission to their med school of choice.

One of my therapists is graduating from the UW psych program in May and

looking for some options for next year. Most grad psych programs want a year

of related work experience. She went to high school in or near Boston though

I think her family has since moved from there. I printed your post about

needing people and I'll give it to her. She could be interested or know

someone. She has worked with Colin for two years. She is excellent. She

has occasionally been late but NEVER a no show.

[Guest guest]

If I ever have time without having ten things to do at once, I hope to go

and check on the post-it notes and see if they have any larger than the

traditional yellow ones I see around. Are people waiting for the kids to

know the words first, or using it as a means of labeling in the natural

environment for fun, and also working on the sight reading separately. (I

know Colin already is a reader, but what about the kids just learning?)

Isaac has a slowly growing sight word volcabulary, but he has a great

decrease in hours lately due to a variety of factors, and I haven't got

much emotional stamina left to add a new program right now without some

support.

Secondly, I am getting really p---ed off at people in the field. I feel

like nobody takes it nearly as seriously as they say, and the absences and

cancelations really take their toll on us as a family.

How can we make people get this without being insulting or rude!

I about to blow my top, trying to be reasonable and understanding and yet

getting way to many people not showing. I know it is not just me, because

this is a very big complaint with many people. My son's education and

quality of life DEPEND on this. I was thinking of starting to offering

raises or bonuses every other month if people showed up faithfully for

every shift. Nothing major, but an extra ten or twenty dollars, etc.

We're worn out. Now, my good news is that I am slowly doing the ABBLs

again, and it has been four months, and now a couple days. So far, Isaac

has moved ahead in 3/4 of the areas we checked, and even gotten a coupkle

1-2's filled where he had nothing before. (Not many, but a few.) He has

made a good amount of progress on auditory stuff and some cognitive

concepts. ly our manding still stinks, however, slowly, in bits and

spurts Isaac has been making some more random comments or words/phrases

that are delightful to hear, but so unpredictable and not at all reliable

for echoics, etc. Signing is going nowhere fast, and I may have to go back

and really focus on PECS, becuase the reality is with short hours,

unreliable staff and not getting it myself well, and being so tired, I may

have to use the method that is fastest and most gratifying for all of us,

myself included.

This weekend, Isaac said, " Whadda ya know! " about something, and just a few

minutes ago he said, " I see Daddy? " and Daddy is relatively recent, a long,

long lost word. And I said, " After work! " and he beamed. Yet, he has

apparently lost or is hiding the cookie and cracker I was so proud of in

January. We are going to have to go on a manding junket big time. I just

don't know what to think.

We're seriously looking at a neuropsych exam, because more and more we are

thinking he has a specific noun retreival aphasia, which is why he has way

more comments and delayed echoed liked responses he hears that are NOT

requests. In fact requests and nouns still are the LEAST of his language,

and I know it is supposed to be the other way around.

In the car, he said, " A cute guy, " which I said he was, which he hears me

say about him all the time, and he is saying more little things like this,

but almost never asks for things he wants. I know he has the capability to

echo somewhat as he is improving slowly and he has the delayed echoalia for

a lot of the phrases he hears us say.

Jennie

[Guest guest]

Jennie,

Hang in there! You might really think about video taping the items

he uses or you would like him to use for mands (start with nouns).

I just place a small table against a bare wall, place the item on the

table along with

an index card with the word of the item on it and zoom in as close as

I can on both. I start recording, say the word, pause the recording

and move to the next item. I know this now makes 11 things for you

to do but sometimes the T.V. is the most reliable therapist. Since

you had luck with PECS it could be a start to a solution for some of

what you're facing.

> If I ever have time without having ten things to do at once, I hope

to go

> and check on the post-it notes and see if they have any larger than

the

> traditional yellow ones I see around. Are people waiting for the

kids to

> know the words first, or using it as a means of labeling in the

natural

> environment for fun, and also working on the sight reading

separately. (I

> know Colin already is a reader, but what about the kids just

learning?)

> Isaac has a slowly growing sight word volcabulary, but he has a

great

> decrease in hours lately due to a variety of factors, and I haven't

got

> much emotional stamina left to add a new program right now without

some

> support.

>

> Secondly, I am getting really p---ed off at people in the field. I

feel

> like nobody takes it nearly as seriously as they say, and the

absences and

> cancelations really take their toll on us as a family.

> How can we make people get this without being insulting or rude!

> I about to blow my top, trying to be reasonable and understanding

and yet

> getting way to many people not showing. I know it is not just me,

because

> this is a very big complaint with many people. My son's education

and

> quality of life DEPEND on this. I was thinking of starting to

offering

> raises or bonuses every other month if people showed up faithfully

for

> every shift. Nothing major, but an extra ten or twenty dollars, etc.

>

> We're worn out. Now, my good news is that I am slowly doing the

ABBLs

> again, and it has been four months, and now a couple days. So far,

Isaac

> has moved ahead in 3/4 of the areas we checked, and even gotten a

coupkle

> 1-2's filled where he had nothing before. (Not many, but a few.) He

has

> made a good amount of progress on auditory stuff and some cognitive

> concepts. ly our manding still stinks, however, slowly, in

bits and

> spurts Isaac has been making some more random comments or

words/phrases

> that are delightful to hear, but so unpredictable and not at all

reliable

> for echoics, etc. Signing is going nowhere fast, and I may have to

go back

> and really focus on PECS, becuase the reality is with short hours,

> unreliable staff and not getting it myself well, and being so

tired, I may

> have to use the method that is fastest and most gratifying for all

of us,

> myself included.

> This weekend, Isaac said, " Whadda ya know! " about something, and

just a few

> minutes ago he said, " I see Daddy? " and Daddy is relatively recent,

a long,

> long lost word. And I said, " After work! " and he beamed. Yet, he has

> apparently lost or is hiding the cookie and cracker I was so proud

of in

> January. We are going to have to go on a manding junket big time. I

just

> don't know what to think.

> We're seriously looking at a neuropsych exam, because more and more

we are

> thinking he has a specific noun retreival aphasia, which is why he

has way

> more comments and delayed echoed liked responses he hears that are

NOT

> requests. In fact requests and nouns still are the LEAST of his

language,

> and I know it is supposed to be the other way around.

> In the car, he said, " A cute guy, " which I said he was, which he

hears me

> say about him all the time, and he is saying more little things

like this,

> but almost never asks for things he wants. I know he has the

capability to

> echo somewhat as he is improving slowly and he has the delayed

echoalia for

> a lot of the phrases he hears us say.

>

> Jennie

[Guest guest]

At 06:34 PM 3/21/00 -0000, astralweeks1@... wrote:

>From: astralweeks1@...

>

>Jennie,

>Hang in there! You might really think about video taping the items

>he uses or you would like him to use for mands (start with nouns).

>I just place a small table against a bare wall, place the item on the

>table along with

>an index card with the word of the item on it and zoom in as close as

>I can on both. I start recording, say the word, pause the recording

>and move to the next item. I know this now makes 11 things for you

>to do but sometimes the T.V. is the most reliable therapist. Since

>you had luck with PECS it could be a start to a solution for some of

>what you're facing.

>

,

That sounds like a project for the weekend. I could use favorite things he

likes. I know people get sick of hearing this and I hate to whine over it,

but manding is really not going far at all, and in fact, it seems to

becoming a negative trying to get anyone to do it.

I realize we are disjointed and there isn't a really knowledgable person

involved right now, beyond myself, and I am beyond being much support at

this point and time.

However, this is a doable project. After you do this with the objects and

the word, would you run through them with just the cards for identifying?

Isaac can identify probably 25-30 cards between70-90 percent of the time,

and matches them all in fields of three too, but we need them now to become

more functional and have meaning to the objects in his world. We did pick a

lot of words he cares about, family members, therapists, soda, donut,

popcorn, movie, etc. He likes his sight words, but we're just trying to

figure out how to move it ahead.

Jennie

[Guest guest]

Jennie,

When you say identifies do you mean receptively or expressively or

both? How is his echo?

> >From: astralweeks1@...

> >

> >Jennie,

> >Hang in there! You might really think about video taping the items

> >he uses or you would like him to use for mands (start with nouns).

> >I just place a small table against a bare wall, place the item on

the

> >table along with

> >an index card with the word of the item on it and zoom in as close

as

> >I can on both. I start recording, say the word, pause the

recording

> >and move to the next item. I know this now makes 11 things for

you

> >to do but sometimes the T.V. is the most reliable therapist. Since

> >you had luck with PECS it could be a start to a solution for some

of

> >what you're facing.

> >

>

> ,

> That sounds like a project for the weekend. I could use favorite

things he

> likes. I know people get sick of hearing this and I hate to whine

over it,

> but manding is really not going far at all, and in fact, it seems to

> becoming a negative trying to get anyone to do it.

> I realize we are disjointed and there isn't a really knowledgable

person

> involved right now, beyond myself, and I am beyond being much

support at

> this point and time.

> However, this is a doable project. After you do this with the

objects and

> the word, would you run through them with just the cards for

identifying?

> Isaac can identify probably 25-30 cards between70-90 percent of the

time,

> and matches them all in fields of three too, but we need them now

to become

> more functional and have meaning to the objects in his world. We

did pick a

> lot of words he cares about, family members, therapists, soda,

donut,

> popcorn, movie, etc. He likes his sight words, but we're just

trying to

> figure out how to move it ahead.

>

> Jennie

[Guest guest]

At 07:22 PM 3/21/00 -0000, astralweeks1@... wrote:

>From: astralweeks1@...

>

>

>Jennie,

>When you say identifies do you mean receptively or expressively or

>both? How is his echo?

>

>

I am sorry I wasn't clear. I go on and on, and lately so dismally, I

figured it was clear. LOL Sorry. Receptively. Expressive is rarely under

any stimulus control. He did say, " A cute kid, uh? " this week several

times, which is nice to know he has appreciated my compliments over the

last few months. LOL He is showing very gradual improvement with echoics.

Expressive in general and manding in particular is awful most of the time,

and signing is worse than verbal which is not so great either. I think he

is catching on to echoics, but gets way too little practice, and we're at a

loss. Or maybe he is fine, and we're just lost causes. Ummmm. That is a

thought.

Jennie

[Guest guest]

Jennie,

Are you using the same cards to ask him to expressively identify?

If so, are you using errorless teaching? If you feel like he isn't

gaining but that he has skills you can work with you might consider

looking at therapy as a chance to play. You're right, in your other

post, that you need to SEE things in action. We're in the same boat

in many ways with manding and expressive. My child shut down and

we lost instructional control. My fears were causing me to place

demands on him that out weighed the reinforcement. We went back to

basic pairing. " Through me great things happen and all you have to

do is try a little. " Just as easily, our kids can pair us with

stress, demands, and all kinds of negative things. I know it's hard

but

in the face of all this joy can be your best friend. Don't hate me

for saying that! I know you're having a hard time and I hope nothing

but the best for you.

> >From: astralweeks1@...

> >

> >

> >Jennie,

> >When you say identifies do you mean receptively or expressively or

> >both? How is his echo?

> >

> >

>

> I am sorry I wasn't clear. I go on and on, and lately so dismally, I

> figured it was clear. LOL Sorry. Receptively. Expressive is rarely

under

> any stimulus control. He did say, " A cute kid, uh? " this week

several

> times, which is nice to know he has appreciated my compliments over

the

> last few months. LOL He is showing very gradual improvement with

echoics.

> Expressive in general and manding in particular is awful most of

the time,

> and signing is worse than verbal which is not so great either. I

think he

> is catching on to echoics, but gets way too little practice, and

we're at a

> loss. Or maybe he is fine, and we're just lost causes. Ummmm. That

is a

> thought.

>

> Jennie