Re: prewriting

[Guest guest]

,

I Kept in mind your post about prewriting skills and upper body strength and

your experiences with Abby. I finally tried last week your suggestion of

giving the wrist some light support when doing " homework " with my daughter

Emma. She immediatly wrote her name as clear as it is typed above! I

practically fell off my chair and screamed. I never would have believed it

myself if i had not seen it. I did not guide her hand at all, just held the

wrist and she did all the rest. She also wrote the letters " d " and " f " --her

favorites :-).

I just wanted to share this with everyone as i still cannot believe it. this

is from a child who tests as an 8 month old in her communication skills. I

have never known an 8 month old to write her name. It really made our day. I

of course shared it with her teachers and OT and am having new goals written

up and to be implemented immediatly into her curriculum.

Jen Katapodis wife to mike and mom to my CHaRgErs emma (almost 6) and

diane (4). BTW diane has alot of trouble pulling her clothes on (shirts,

coat, shoes) I wonder if this is related also. She did crawl but with closed

fists, like a gorrilla and her wrists therefor weren't bent.

[Guest guest]

Way to go Emma!

Bonnie

[Guest guest]

Jen,

Way to go Emma. It is so exciting when our children do things, we just want

to jump up and down.

Janet

Wife to Matt

Mom to & (CHaRGEr) 7, nne 2 1/2

Mom to 16 months.

Weymouth, Massachusetts, USA

<A HREF= " http://members.aol.com/jpm4189/page/index.htm " >Our Family Homepage</

A>

[Guest guest]

Jen,

Well done Diane!!!! These kids are amazing.

It's funny that you mentioned the crawling with closed fists. Jack does this

too!

Elaine mum to Elise(7yrs) & Jack(28mths) CHaRGE

Dumfries,Scotland

[Guest guest]

Bonnie,

Thanks!!!

Jen K

,

I wouldn't have thought to stress to the teachers that she doesn't like hand

over hand (which she doesn't) and to use a light wrist support instead. I

will have to add that to my list. Just when i thought the post-it notes on

my computer were thinning out :-). I also like the idea of a green dot to

start the line and a red one to end it. A great way to incorporate 2 lessons

into one!

thanks!

Jen K

[Guest guest]

Hi Jen,

This is just another thought but something I do for Abby is to use Tulip

Paint on the large sentence strips (top and bottom). I write the letter I

want her to duplicate and then she can feel the top and bottom as she is

forming the letter. The first set I made I used red for the top and bottom.

Next time I will do them with the two colors. Something else Abby's teachers

do is to cut different shapes out of sandpaper so that Abby can color inside

and feel the boundaries in order to learn to color inside the lines. I have

traced coloring sheets with tulip paint to give her a better sense of the

picture. There are a lot of craft ideas and educational activities on the

internet. I could sit for hours and go through them. We made 24 red and

green links the other day with a cute little quick verse to read as we cut a

link down each day until we finally reach Christmas day. There are a lot of

templates that you can find to use for learning stations.

I know this is probably not the purpose for the CHARGE list, but I would love

to learn about activities others are using with their kids so that I could

try them with Abby. I am always looking for new ideas. Wouldn't it be neat

if we had a post it/message board where we could share ideas for each month.

Some of the educational sites have these boards. Casey is that a possibility

if others were interested? Even if we could just post a site where we find

neat ideas so others could check these sites out too would be neat. Just a

thought.

Appell

Mom to and Abby

[Guest guest]

Re: prewriting

> From: Jandmkat@...

.... is from a child who tests as an 8 month old in her communication skills.

I

> have never known an 8 month old to write her name. It really made our

day.....>

> Jen Katapodis wife to mike and mom to my CHaRgErs emma (almost 6) and

>

Dear Jen:

Hats off to Emma!!! All those early alphabet songs and signs from Grandma

too must have helped! Hand-over-hand is how I remember getting alot of the

kids to write, draw, etc... Besides the bit of physical support for the weak

muscles, hand/over/hand helps gives the cue, confidence, and the " stay on

'taskness' by working over them, the vision is more drawn to the proper

place and focussed, etc...

About the " 8 month old " stuff. Sometimes I scream at these age related

scales. That does send a negative message to anyone working with her. You

cannot compare our children with normal scales. Sometimes they don't even

develop in the same way or follow the sequential order of development and

hense this is one clear example.

Are they doing picture stories with her hand-over-hand to give her an idea

of how to develop them? What about filling in a circle face to match an

emotion?

Ann Gloyn, DB Specialist

[Guest guest]

,

I love the idea of the sandpaper to give her bounderies to know to stay in

the lines. That wouldn't work with diane though as she is still pretty

tactile defensive. Perhaps i could use the puffy paints i have seen on the

market to make bounderies for her? hmm. I never heard of " tulip paint " that

you mentioned . what is that and where can i find it?

jen k mom to my chargers emma(5) and diane(4).