They were asking for more mashed potatoes. I gave some to Sarah and some to Rachel. Rachel asked for the salt. After she was finished salting her spuds comma she said to Sarah, "Here, Sarah. Here's the salt for you."
I was so excited that I leaned down and started hugging her and said, "You speak so well! That was so awesome!" She smiled and giggled.
***END TRANSMISSION
(cavamil's note: This is awesome! The best part of it, for me, is that she did this entirely spontaneously: a full paragraph, one five-word sentence and her intentions was to help her sister by anticipating her need. Too cool.
I would also like to point out Mr. Vinca's response: big and loud and sincere in its praise of what she should do. The flip-flop in action.
And I would also like to note that this is Mr. Metallic Vinca's first post here. What a way to start. :))
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Conversations
The other day I was talking to Rachel. Or, rather, she came up to talk to me.
"What you gonna make?" she asked. It's her way of asking what the next meal is going to be and, though sporadic during the day, always shows up around bedtime. This happened to be near bedtime.
"I don't know. Probably oatmeal."
"No, Mom," she replied calmly. "No oatmeal."
"Hon--"
"I hate oatmeal. How about muffins?"
A little surprised since this is the first time she's offered an alternative, I say, "I don't have any wheat sprouted yet for muffins, so we can't have them tomorrow. But we will have them sometime this week, okay?"
"Muffins?" she asked, very happy and somewhat surprised as well.
"Sometime this week," I say. "But not for tomorrow's breakfast."
"Okay, mom. Well, I going to bed now."
I blink a couple of times and mentally start analyzing the conversation. She was very engaged, very attentive, eye contact was excellent, there was about four loops in that conversation (depending on how you count it), and, most importantly, she initiated making a deal. Up to now she's only accepted them.
It was the longest, true conversation we've ever had. And I'm thrilled!
***
This one was told to me by my husband. It seems that he found one of the puzzle pieces from the Valentine's day puzzles I had bought the girls on the floor. He picked it up and, since Sarah happened to be nearby, asked, "Is this yours?"
She said, "No. That's [insert sister's name]. I'll take it to her."
And she took it from my husband's hand, found her sister and gave it to her. Once again, involved, attentive, good eye contact.
***
They keep growing more and more each day. :)
"What you gonna make?" she asked. It's her way of asking what the next meal is going to be and, though sporadic during the day, always shows up around bedtime. This happened to be near bedtime.
"I don't know. Probably oatmeal."
"No, Mom," she replied calmly. "No oatmeal."
"Hon--"
"I hate oatmeal. How about muffins?"
A little surprised since this is the first time she's offered an alternative, I say, "I don't have any wheat sprouted yet for muffins, so we can't have them tomorrow. But we will have them sometime this week, okay?"
"Muffins?" she asked, very happy and somewhat surprised as well.
"Sometime this week," I say. "But not for tomorrow's breakfast."
"Okay, mom. Well, I going to bed now."
I blink a couple of times and mentally start analyzing the conversation. She was very engaged, very attentive, eye contact was excellent, there was about four loops in that conversation (depending on how you count it), and, most importantly, she initiated making a deal. Up to now she's only accepted them.
It was the longest, true conversation we've ever had. And I'm thrilled!
***
This one was told to me by my husband. It seems that he found one of the puzzle pieces from the Valentine's day puzzles I had bought the girls on the floor. He picked it up and, since Sarah happened to be nearby, asked, "Is this yours?"
She said, "No. That's [insert sister's name]. I'll take it to her."
And she took it from my husband's hand, found her sister and gave it to her. Once again, involved, attentive, good eye contact.
***
They keep growing more and more each day. :)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Update
Another illness is going through our neighborhood. A friend of mine had to cancel a visit today because of it. One of my kids is kind of sick, but they all seem to be staying healthy so far.
Rachel is now at the syllable level for the sound "ng". I've also put our speech therapy goals on 3x5 cards for both girls so that I can integrate all of them into daily activities. It's a lot to remember (each girl has 4 goals, 2 in comprehension and 2 in production) but it seems to be working while we try to get our homeschooling schedule back on track. She's starting to remember the names of colors (green, yellow, red and blue) and basic shapes.
I'm wondering how to get Sarah interested in cause and effect. She doesn't ask as many "why" and "what if" questions as her siblings at the same developmental age. I'm involving her more in my daily activities, including cooking which is a great source for "what if" and "why" questions, and asking more questions as models for her to follow, but so far I feel like I'm hitting wall. Any ideas?
Oh, yeah... and the TV is still off during the week. It's hard, but the peace in the house is sooooo worth it.
Rachel is now at the syllable level for the sound "ng". I've also put our speech therapy goals on 3x5 cards for both girls so that I can integrate all of them into daily activities. It's a lot to remember (each girl has 4 goals, 2 in comprehension and 2 in production) but it seems to be working while we try to get our homeschooling schedule back on track. She's starting to remember the names of colors (green, yellow, red and blue) and basic shapes.
I'm wondering how to get Sarah interested in cause and effect. She doesn't ask as many "why" and "what if" questions as her siblings at the same developmental age. I'm involving her more in my daily activities, including cooking which is a great source for "what if" and "why" questions, and asking more questions as models for her to follow, but so far I feel like I'm hitting wall. Any ideas?
Oh, yeah... and the TV is still off during the week. It's hard, but the peace in the house is sooooo worth it.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Quick update
Sarah's doing very well. She's been handling stress better for the past week. She's communicating enough now that I'm realizing I need to stress the difference between fantasy and reality (which means she's at a preschool level there). It's not a big deal because she's starting to learn the difference, which is awesome!
I had an interesting conversation with Rachel this morning. For the first time, she calmly tried to make sure justice was kept. It started when I took Sarah's practice pad into our toddler's room (Sarah was okay with this) for him to play with. Now, mind, I'm not used to talking to Rachel about such things because she has never argued with me before like this. In fact, I was stunned for much of it.
Rachel (walks up to me): That's Sarah's drum.
Me: Yeah, it's okay, Rachel. Stephen can play with it.
Rachel (emphatic, yet calm): That's Sarah's drum. It go ih Sarah's room.
Me: It's okay, Rachel. Stephen's not going to hurt it.
Rachel (still calm, still emphatic): But that's Sarah's. It go ih her room. (Points to make sure I understand.)
Me (finally catching on): I'll put it back after he's done playing with it.
Rachel looked at me for a few moments, then turned around and went back to her room. She seemed satisfied with my answer.
She's been more picky about rules lately. It's a sign she's progressed but it's wrecking havoc with the pecking order among the kids. Up to about a year ago, our third-born was the one who acted like the eldest, making sure everyone did what they should. That shifted as Sarah progressed and the two became sort of co-eldest. But now that Rachel is becoming more concerned about the rules and acting like the eldest child (makes sense since she was born first) everything is up in the air again.
And on a completely different note, Rachel's coordination has improved quite a bit since we started giving her the flax oil. Her running is smooth now, though I can tell there's a bit of muscle weakness we need to fix, and she's starting to skip through the house on a consistent basis. And that also looks smooth. :) I'm going to test fine motor skills this week and see if there's any improvement there as well.
I had an interesting conversation with Rachel this morning. For the first time, she calmly tried to make sure justice was kept. It started when I took Sarah's practice pad into our toddler's room (Sarah was okay with this) for him to play with. Now, mind, I'm not used to talking to Rachel about such things because she has never argued with me before like this. In fact, I was stunned for much of it.
Rachel (walks up to me): That's Sarah's drum.
Me: Yeah, it's okay, Rachel. Stephen can play with it.
Rachel (emphatic, yet calm): That's Sarah's drum. It go ih Sarah's room.
Me: It's okay, Rachel. Stephen's not going to hurt it.
Rachel (still calm, still emphatic): But that's Sarah's. It go ih her room. (Points to make sure I understand.)
Me (finally catching on): I'll put it back after he's done playing with it.
Rachel looked at me for a few moments, then turned around and went back to her room. She seemed satisfied with my answer.
She's been more picky about rules lately. It's a sign she's progressed but it's wrecking havoc with the pecking order among the kids. Up to about a year ago, our third-born was the one who acted like the eldest, making sure everyone did what they should. That shifted as Sarah progressed and the two became sort of co-eldest. But now that Rachel is becoming more concerned about the rules and acting like the eldest child (makes sense since she was born first) everything is up in the air again.
And on a completely different note, Rachel's coordination has improved quite a bit since we started giving her the flax oil. Her running is smooth now, though I can tell there's a bit of muscle weakness we need to fix, and she's starting to skip through the house on a consistent basis. And that also looks smooth. :) I'm going to test fine motor skills this week and see if there's any improvement there as well.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
update and farewell 2008
I was going to do a year in review until I realized that I had only started the baseline for this year in July so any official before/after will only reflect half the year. And anything before July isn't detailed enough to warrant a full post unless you go back to 2007 and then it isn't really a "year in review" anymore.
And then I thought why not do a "future goals" post? But by the time I'd finished writing it, I wasn't sure I wanted that much detail in a public forum, especially since Rachel and Sarah are so high-functioning they'll probably end up reading this blog within the next few years. And I've run out of time for anything else.
So, here I am with no idea what to post to my blog except the above ramblings. I guess I'll do an update.
Worked with Rachel yesterday catching her up in Saxon K. Because of the birth, I missed all of December and there's no way to catch her up in her meeting book before January. That's okay. I'll just keep doing the lessons in sequence because we're at the really crucial lessons now. Up to this point it's been mostly counting and shapes; yesterday we started learning about numbers and today we begin to associate numbers with amounts (as shown through pennies). I'm going to need to go slow for those lessons because I really want to make sure Rachel gets the concept. Plus, she's getting frustrated with herself. And when she gets frustrated she get starts giggling or sits there smiling at nothing in particular. I learned this is how she shows frustration when she burst into tears at the end of one of those giggle fits, saying she couldn't do it.
Point is when she gets frustrated, I get frustrated because she isn't even trying anymore and the whole thing falls apart. Better just to take things slower.
Haven't worked much in a formal sense with Sarah. I've been trying to get Rachel back on track first since she's the one I'm working the most with and the one who's most behind in her skills. Besides, Sarah has been learning a lot about the rules of interaction through her sisters, especially Becky. It's because of Becky that Sarah's beginning to relax when people don't do exactly what she wants. It's still a weakness of hers but she's starting to let things go when they don't go her way.*
So, that's where we are right now. Looking forward to seeing where the girls are at the end of 2009. :)
*It's not like she's being willful. I want to make it clear that she gets very rigid about how people act because she clings to structure as a way of feeling secure. Take away the structure and you take away her security in a very deep and real sense: it really freaks her out. In the past this has extended even to little things like when certain songs are sung. Apparently she's been feeling more secure because we've been able to reason with her more and more often regarding things she wants.
And then I thought why not do a "future goals" post? But by the time I'd finished writing it, I wasn't sure I wanted that much detail in a public forum, especially since Rachel and Sarah are so high-functioning they'll probably end up reading this blog within the next few years. And I've run out of time for anything else.
So, here I am with no idea what to post to my blog except the above ramblings. I guess I'll do an update.
Worked with Rachel yesterday catching her up in Saxon K. Because of the birth, I missed all of December and there's no way to catch her up in her meeting book before January. That's okay. I'll just keep doing the lessons in sequence because we're at the really crucial lessons now. Up to this point it's been mostly counting and shapes; yesterday we started learning about numbers and today we begin to associate numbers with amounts (as shown through pennies). I'm going to need to go slow for those lessons because I really want to make sure Rachel gets the concept. Plus, she's getting frustrated with herself. And when she gets frustrated she get starts giggling or sits there smiling at nothing in particular. I learned this is how she shows frustration when she burst into tears at the end of one of those giggle fits, saying she couldn't do it.
Point is when she gets frustrated, I get frustrated because she isn't even trying anymore and the whole thing falls apart. Better just to take things slower.
Haven't worked much in a formal sense with Sarah. I've been trying to get Rachel back on track first since she's the one I'm working the most with and the one who's most behind in her skills. Besides, Sarah has been learning a lot about the rules of interaction through her sisters, especially Becky. It's because of Becky that Sarah's beginning to relax when people don't do exactly what she wants. It's still a weakness of hers but she's starting to let things go when they don't go her way.*
So, that's where we are right now. Looking forward to seeing where the girls are at the end of 2009. :)
*It's not like she's being willful. I want to make it clear that she gets very rigid about how people act because she clings to structure as a way of feeling secure. Take away the structure and you take away her security in a very deep and real sense: it really freaks her out. In the past this has extended even to little things like when certain songs are sung. Apparently she's been feeling more secure because we've been able to reason with her more and more often regarding things she wants.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Vacation is over
Christmas was nice this year. We got a wonderful present for the whole family (our baby) and everyone had enough presents and food to satisfy but not enough to make people sick. :) I think the key to my happiness this year was chanting "Christmas is like any other day," over and over until I really didn't care if things were perfect or not. More on that on my other blog.
As for therapy, I'm starting it up again with Rachel and Sarah. I've already started work again on pronunciation with Rachel. She's doing really well with the "ng" sound. We had used popsicle (sp?) sticks to help her get her tongue in the right position. It's actually pretty neat... you put the stick on the tip of your tongue and push down and a little back. That little nudge puts the back of the tongue against the back of the mouth, closing it off. Between that and putting her awareness into her nose (I would pinch my nose to show her how the sound needed to only come through her nose) she started to get the hang of it.
My point with this long ramble is that when I did some therapy with her Friday, she didn't need to use the stick at all. She did the sound all by herself.
Yeah!!!
After she proves proficient in creating the isolated sound, we're on to syllables and then words. And then it will be integrated in her "regular" therapy, which right now includes using future tense.
As for Sarah, I've found a really neat RPG that I hope will help her with decisions. It could also make her dependent on rolling dice to make decisions and if it does that we'll stop the game. Anyway, it's called Shadows. Sarah's weakness is narrative. She tends to make lists instead of describing actions. My hope is that this game will help her create scenarios and especially help with "what if" questions and speculation. I'm also going to be stressing experiments more this year in school to create more "what if" opportunities. We will also continue our current "what if" generator: stories/books/movies.
Interaction is still a major weakness, though the girls have gotten a lot better at it over the past year. At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have even tried an RPG in therapy because of the lack of interaction. And I'm no longer worried about major fits if I take them outside (though I do worry about the lack of privacy since we live on a very busy road just off the highway and a person can easily see through our fence... when I have no energy to keep an eye on the world outside that fence, the kids don't get to play outside... must move...). Oh, and they are doing very, very well in our church's children's group (Primary). They have been joining in the group activities and their teachers don't have to keep as close an eye on them as they did in the past.
I mean, if we're considering taking off the locks and putting a simple chime/alarm in place, that says a lot.
Gosh, I'm tempted to do a "year in review" but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. Therapy has been integrated quite a bit into our life because of the baby; however, it's still time consuming. We'll see. Actually writing down some of the progress makes me really, really want to just lay it all out though.
We'll see.
As for therapy, I'm starting it up again with Rachel and Sarah. I've already started work again on pronunciation with Rachel. She's doing really well with the "ng" sound. We had used popsicle (sp?) sticks to help her get her tongue in the right position. It's actually pretty neat... you put the stick on the tip of your tongue and push down and a little back. That little nudge puts the back of the tongue against the back of the mouth, closing it off. Between that and putting her awareness into her nose (I would pinch my nose to show her how the sound needed to only come through her nose) she started to get the hang of it.
My point with this long ramble is that when I did some therapy with her Friday, she didn't need to use the stick at all. She did the sound all by herself.
Yeah!!!
After she proves proficient in creating the isolated sound, we're on to syllables and then words. And then it will be integrated in her "regular" therapy, which right now includes using future tense.
As for Sarah, I've found a really neat RPG that I hope will help her with decisions. It could also make her dependent on rolling dice to make decisions and if it does that we'll stop the game. Anyway, it's called Shadows. Sarah's weakness is narrative. She tends to make lists instead of describing actions. My hope is that this game will help her create scenarios and especially help with "what if" questions and speculation. I'm also going to be stressing experiments more this year in school to create more "what if" opportunities. We will also continue our current "what if" generator: stories/books/movies.
Interaction is still a major weakness, though the girls have gotten a lot better at it over the past year. At the beginning of the year, I wouldn't have even tried an RPG in therapy because of the lack of interaction. And I'm no longer worried about major fits if I take them outside (though I do worry about the lack of privacy since we live on a very busy road just off the highway and a person can easily see through our fence... when I have no energy to keep an eye on the world outside that fence, the kids don't get to play outside... must move...). Oh, and they are doing very, very well in our church's children's group (Primary). They have been joining in the group activities and their teachers don't have to keep as close an eye on them as they did in the past.
I mean, if we're considering taking off the locks and putting a simple chime/alarm in place, that says a lot.
Gosh, I'm tempted to do a "year in review" but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. Therapy has been integrated quite a bit into our life because of the baby; however, it's still time consuming. We'll see. Actually writing down some of the progress makes me really, really want to just lay it all out though.
We'll see.
Monday, December 8, 2008
New Baby
Yup. We have a new little one in our house. If I haven't already contacted you, please email me for details. My life is more than a little chaotic at the moment... I don't mean to be rude.
Thank goodness for my priority list. I would be very overwhelmed right now if it weren't for that. That and routines. Priorities and routines. Very good things. :)
Posts will be rare for the next month. Rachel is sick right now (can you tell we ran out of echinacea and didn't resupply?) and Sarah is recovering from a nasty fever, so chances are good therapy won't happen this week, not to mention we're still getting used to having a newborn in the house again. However, this bout with severe illness has been a surprising mark of progress. Sarah's ability to reason and listen to reason (like when she tried to argue her way out of taking any medicine) has improved dramatically: she bargains now regarding how much she has to take. We've used bargaining in other situations, but she's never been willing to bargain when it comes to any sort of medicine... even the ones that taste like candy. Now, we were able to get her to take some of the medicine willingly (we hid what was left in juice... I know... we're sneaky).
Rachel, during this illness, has been using her words in spite of her lethargy. And her improved pronunciation has paid off this time around in that she's able to speak pretty clearly, even when she's completely exhausted. Not everything comes out clear, but we can hear she's doing much better than even a month ago.
What's really creepy about this illness is we aren't the first to get it this time around. There were people at Rob's job who had come down with this and several of our friends who have been fighting it off for a few weeks now. It's a nasty bug that seems to linger forever and I'm surprised it took as long as it did to come to our house. I had been hoping we would miss it entirely.
On a side note, all this work we've done with Rachel and Sarah has come in pretty handy recently... a close relative of mine was involved in a four-wheeler accident and cracked his skull (idiot didn't wear a helmet). As I've been talking to yet another relative about his condition, his progress, his recovery, etc. I find myself returning again and again to things I've learned working with Rachel and Sarah. For example, I was really happy when I found out that friends and relatives have been playing games with The Idiot Who Didn't Wear a Helmet. They were doing it to help him get his mind off his current predicament, but I learned several years ago that games are the best way to help the brain develop new pathways and heal. The person who was telling me this also knows how helpful games are so it's nice to have that level field as well. With the new baby, I haven't been able to visit The Idiot. I'm not too happy about that. But I can do Google searches here at home and relay what I find if it's useful. And thanks to my past experience with this, I have a better idea of what's useful and what isn't.
Anyway, enough rambling. Baby needs me and I still have to get the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast. Then, I rest. Lots of resting this week.
Thank goodness for my priority list. I would be very overwhelmed right now if it weren't for that. That and routines. Priorities and routines. Very good things. :)
Posts will be rare for the next month. Rachel is sick right now (can you tell we ran out of echinacea and didn't resupply?) and Sarah is recovering from a nasty fever, so chances are good therapy won't happen this week, not to mention we're still getting used to having a newborn in the house again. However, this bout with severe illness has been a surprising mark of progress. Sarah's ability to reason and listen to reason (like when she tried to argue her way out of taking any medicine) has improved dramatically: she bargains now regarding how much she has to take. We've used bargaining in other situations, but she's never been willing to bargain when it comes to any sort of medicine... even the ones that taste like candy. Now, we were able to get her to take some of the medicine willingly (we hid what was left in juice... I know... we're sneaky).
Rachel, during this illness, has been using her words in spite of her lethargy. And her improved pronunciation has paid off this time around in that she's able to speak pretty clearly, even when she's completely exhausted. Not everything comes out clear, but we can hear she's doing much better than even a month ago.
What's really creepy about this illness is we aren't the first to get it this time around. There were people at Rob's job who had come down with this and several of our friends who have been fighting it off for a few weeks now. It's a nasty bug that seems to linger forever and I'm surprised it took as long as it did to come to our house. I had been hoping we would miss it entirely.
On a side note, all this work we've done with Rachel and Sarah has come in pretty handy recently... a close relative of mine was involved in a four-wheeler accident and cracked his skull (idiot didn't wear a helmet). As I've been talking to yet another relative about his condition, his progress, his recovery, etc. I find myself returning again and again to things I've learned working with Rachel and Sarah. For example, I was really happy when I found out that friends and relatives have been playing games with The Idiot Who Didn't Wear a Helmet. They were doing it to help him get his mind off his current predicament, but I learned several years ago that games are the best way to help the brain develop new pathways and heal. The person who was telling me this also knows how helpful games are so it's nice to have that level field as well. With the new baby, I haven't been able to visit The Idiot. I'm not too happy about that. But I can do Google searches here at home and relay what I find if it's useful. And thanks to my past experience with this, I have a better idea of what's useful and what isn't.
Anyway, enough rambling. Baby needs me and I still have to get the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast. Then, I rest. Lots of resting this week.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Another breakthrough
Sarah and I have been working on "what if" questions for the past month or two. I ask her a question, sometimes answer it myself, sometimes prompt her to answer it.
For the first time yesterday, she asked me "What if we didn't eat dinner?"
No prompting, and she was actually interested in the answer. :) Her first "what if" question. Too awesome.
For the first time yesterday, she asked me "What if we didn't eat dinner?"
No prompting, and she was actually interested in the answer. :) Her first "what if" question. Too awesome.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A few things I forgot to mention
Horse therapy won't happen. First, it's the summer and way too hot. Second, the waiting list is incredibly long (I know, I know, that's weak). Third, we need a reference from a medical doctor and we've been having a hard time finding a medical doctor since most are gung-ho about vaccinations (can you tell we aren't?). A lot of the parents I know (mostly online) either go with DAN! doctors (we don't want to do that protocol) or D.O.'s. I don't mind a D.O. but I really don't want to do chelation and I'm worried a D.O. would press for that. Plus, I'm not sure a D.O. would count (I might call back and ask). I have a possible lead on what sounds like a medical doctor that I haven't followed up on yet (bad cavamil) so maybe that last problem will change. And finally, fourth, and this is a big one, we don't have the ability to get the girls down there for therapy at the times we would need to apply for in order to speed up the process. I'm not even sure we could get the girls down there at all since we currently have outgrown our van. So, for right now, no horse therapy.
Too bad (and I don't mean that in a flippant way), but there are always other options. Anyway, here's an article about the place: Pony Sparks Fighting Spirit of Girl With No Arms. Maybe someday.
On a lighter note, Rachel has really taken off in her drawing. I mean, really taken off. She's dramatically improved in just a few months. No time today, but by Friday I hope to have a couple of pictures scanned in and either posted here or on my Flickr account. Until then, pray I don't get sidetracked or overwhelmed. :)
Too bad (and I don't mean that in a flippant way), but there are always other options. Anyway, here's an article about the place: Pony Sparks Fighting Spirit of Girl With No Arms. Maybe someday.
On a lighter note, Rachel has really taken off in her drawing. I mean, really taken off. She's dramatically improved in just a few months. No time today, but by Friday I hope to have a couple of pictures scanned in and either posted here or on my Flickr account. Until then, pray I don't get sidetracked or overwhelmed. :)
Friday, February 29, 2008
Update and Progress
This is going to be the first of two posts today.
Rachel has been showing a lot more interest and a lot more frustration with academics. She loves school and got upset with me this week when I didn't immediately have everything for school together right when she wanted it. :) Considering that last year she couldn't have cared less if I was teaching her numbers or letters, I'm very happy.
Also, she has been writing letters on her own. A year ago I had to figuratively pull teeth to get her to write anything at all. Now, she writes about 4-5 letters consistently (she's really fascinated by the shape of "A") and writes "letters" to me about various things. Her sentences this month have stayed at an average of 3-4 words in length. We're still working on grammar in many cases, but I'm thrilled at the sophistication I'm starting to see.
Sarah is doing very well with phonics and reading. Comprehension and sequence are a struggle (no surprise) so I'm going to make that a focus during the summer and in the playroom (we're figuring out a new schedule now that some time has opened up). In math, Sarah has been learning how to add two-digit numbers and has been doing excellent on her number facts. Her rigidity still shows up, but she's slowly becoming more flexible.
Sarah showed more progress a couple days ago: she wanted to watch a movie and my husband said no. In the past, she would have said, "But we HAVE to!" and threatened to lose it emotionally. In the recent past, she would have said, "But we have to!" and pouted, eventually finding something else to do. This time, she said, "But Dad, I like it. I want to watch it." She still kind of pouted, but she found something else to do. I hope that last response will become a new trend with her.
Both girls have been doing a lot better with company. I didn't even notice until we had a friend over this last Sunday. He said that the girls were a lot calmer and interacted better than they were when he first started coming by (two years ago). Sarah didn't climb on him and neither got into his face... much. :) I was very proud of both of them.
Although we've been using SR principles informally, I still have Getting the Playroom Going Part-time as a goal. The principles work, but the best results we've seen have been during time in the playroom. So, I've made a couple calls regarding babysitters. Hope I hear back soon. I'll let y'all know if anything pans out (sans details to protect privacy of babysitter).
Rachel has been showing a lot more interest and a lot more frustration with academics. She loves school and got upset with me this week when I didn't immediately have everything for school together right when she wanted it. :) Considering that last year she couldn't have cared less if I was teaching her numbers or letters, I'm very happy.
Also, she has been writing letters on her own. A year ago I had to figuratively pull teeth to get her to write anything at all. Now, she writes about 4-5 letters consistently (she's really fascinated by the shape of "A") and writes "letters" to me about various things. Her sentences this month have stayed at an average of 3-4 words in length. We're still working on grammar in many cases, but I'm thrilled at the sophistication I'm starting to see.
Sarah is doing very well with phonics and reading. Comprehension and sequence are a struggle (no surprise) so I'm going to make that a focus during the summer and in the playroom (we're figuring out a new schedule now that some time has opened up). In math, Sarah has been learning how to add two-digit numbers and has been doing excellent on her number facts. Her rigidity still shows up, but she's slowly becoming more flexible.
Sarah showed more progress a couple days ago: she wanted to watch a movie and my husband said no. In the past, she would have said, "But we HAVE to!" and threatened to lose it emotionally. In the recent past, she would have said, "But we have to!" and pouted, eventually finding something else to do. This time, she said, "But Dad, I like it. I want to watch it." She still kind of pouted, but she found something else to do. I hope that last response will become a new trend with her.
Both girls have been doing a lot better with company. I didn't even notice until we had a friend over this last Sunday. He said that the girls were a lot calmer and interacted better than they were when he first started coming by (two years ago). Sarah didn't climb on him and neither got into his face... much. :) I was very proud of both of them.
Although we've been using SR principles informally, I still have Getting the Playroom Going Part-time as a goal. The principles work, but the best results we've seen have been during time in the playroom. So, I've made a couple calls regarding babysitters. Hope I hear back soon. I'll let y'all know if anything pans out (sans details to protect privacy of babysitter).
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