Counting my blessings - The gifts 2011 brought to me

I will ALWAYS remember 2011 for many things, but specially for 3 incredible blessings.

1. This is the year that my daughter discovered that her brother Tony is fun and that they could be friends and have a great time together.  I waited 4 years for this to happen, and .... it happened this year!
2. This is the year that my Tony overcame what appeared to be a road to an ADHD diagnosis, and healed his body and brain to have a wonderful school experience this academic year in Kindergarten. Because his body is more balanced, he can create relationships with others and is creating friendships with his peears at school and with his sister at home.
3. This is the year my Liam went from having multiple sensory challenges as the year started, to becoming now more assertive, more his own person telling us what he wants and doesn't want to do :) His sensitivity to light seems to be gone. His sensitivity to sound is getting better :)

I am looking forward to all the growth 2012 will bring them. Here are some of the last pictures of the year (hmmmm, I am not sure why with my new camera, I cannot get the pictures to be in portrait position ... will work on that ...).

Best Christmas Pictures EVER!

I am SO excited about the Christmas pictures of this year! One thing I  have always wanted to have are those pictures that moms of triplets have of their kids all coordinated looking so much like triplets in front of the camera :) Silly wish? Very silly. I finally let it go some time ago with the trust that one day I would have those pictures, when the time comes, not one day ealier, not one day later :)  Slowly but surely, the day is coming to me. I love the pictures of this year, not because of how the pictures look, but because I know what the pictures mean: healing is happening, awareness is growing, and, look at them, these are definitely, happy and very loved kids. Enjoy!

Our 2011 Polar Express Party

Our party was a huge success! Thanks all for coming and bringing such wonderful Christmas Spirit and love for our family! Enjoy the pictures!!!

Liam broke his arm - List of ideas for him and a few for Duch

Liam broke his arm on Wednesday jumping from a desk we had just put in his playroom. He is doing well. He was SO brave and calm and cried only a bit. He needs to wear a cast for 8 weeks. He broke both bones that go from the elbow to the hand.

We need to avoid physical games with him in the playroom, so here are ideas I got from Megan:
MEGAN: "I have been thinking about lower level non-physical games or things to introduce to Liam. Here are some of my thoughts: an etch a sketch, paints or some of those magical markers, puppet shows to entertain him, imagination themes where we dress up and stay in costume the entire time (e.g. clown, blow balloons, dance, laugh, Santa claus who bring lots of toy magazines to make a big collage for Liam's xmas list etc). Pin the red nose on Rudolph, OR decorate his own personal LIVE xmas tree, OR make ornaments and do a craft with glitter etc, OR make miniature xmas trees for the dollhouse etc."

Other ideas she gave me before Liam broke his arm:

- We can make big labels with big construction paper with the names of furniture that goes in houses. We could put those labels on things that are in his room, but we could label them INCORRECTLY, like the Mixed-up Room. So, you could make a big deal that everything is incorrectly labeled and go through the room correcting everything. You could even have a timer and correct things within a certain time.

- Create remodeling books. I got several decoration magazines this morning and put them on Liam's shelves. I also put big construction paper there. And got glue sticks and tape.

- One option is to start with empty rooms on the paper and to add furniture cutting from magazines.

- Another option is to start with a full room from the magazine and to add labels and glue them on the magazine page.

- We could use a spinner from the twister game, for example, and put labels there and then select what furniture piece we will find in the magazines.

- Another idea is to bring the dollhouse and to have incorrectly labeled things in the dollhouse. It would be the Mixed Up House and we could put all the labels back to the correct place.

- We could do collages of home rooms/classrooms again with furniture we are cutting from the magazines. I got glue and tape to create the collages.

- Since he likes school a lot lately, we could do circle time with his pillow-pets as other students. We could read books and we could pretend we are the teachers and sign songs or do activities where the animals take turns, too. For example, everybody could take turn drawing.

- We could color over leafs or use stencils for shapes and letters, or step by step drawing.

- We could do a memory game with furniture photos from magazines, too.

I asked Megan what to do when Liam wants to go back to using 1-word to tell us what he wants. This is what Megan recommends:

Have a little of an attitude with Liam, in the sense of telling him "I know you can say this" "Tell me more" "What else?" "I know what you are doing" "Come on" "You can do it" "You can tell me more" "I can wait"

She thinks that maybe Liam is thinking "What can I get away with here?" I have seen that sometimes he DOES say "I want" or "give me" but it is in a whisper. If you can hear the whisper, that's enough, congratulate him for saying a complete sentence and give him what he asked for. Megan thinks that Liam is challenging us back, so we need to challenge him back, too. He is exercising control and independence, which is great, but we can show him that sometimes we know he can talk more than one word.

If he says "brown crackers, YES", don't give him the brown crackers. That is the response to a question, but it is NOT a sentence. He needs to say "I want crackers" "give me crackers" to get the crackers. If one of us gives him crackers with "brown crackers, YES", he will continue doing it.

==== DUCH ====
For Duch, we had the issue this week of her escaping through the backyard gate to go see decorations at other houses. A neighbor brought her back on Tuesday. Megan suggested to create a game where she and her animals and you have to ask each other:

"What's your name?" What is your phone number?" "What is your address?" If we do it a lot, she will end up learning her phone address. I have to do the same with Tony, too.

Kristen had great success with the "voice memo" application on her Iphone recording Duch answering and asking questions. We will try with a camera, too. Megan told me to also try a "Talking Cat" application on her Iphone, which repeats everything you say in a funny voice, so it could be a way to practice asking and answering questions. Does anybody know that application?

Let's try all these things throughout December, ladies! We are aiming for Dec 14 for our mini-meeting and Polar Express Christmas party!

The 2011 Christmas season has started

The Christmas spirit has arrived! I remember the year when Duch got into Christmas! This could be Liam's year :)

Yes, this is the tree yoga pose in front of the Christmas tree :)

Only we know what this means to us :)

Thanksgiving 2011!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving! It was really the first time we decided to actually have Thanksgiving since the kids were born. The first four years, Antonio and I just sat at a table and ate whatever we found in the fridge. Last year, some friends did come and brought a turkey, but we did not involve the children. This year, we were super adventurous and went to Christy's house with everybody!!! It was a great first Thanksgiving for the kids! The pictures tell it all :)

Save the dates for Megan Simpson in January (6, 7, and 8)

We have booked a new outreach with Megan Simpson for January 6, 7, and 8. For those of you who are new to the team, Megan is a SonRise teacher who has come to our house five times in the past two years to play with the kids, teach us techniques, answer our questions, and give us ideas for new goals and new games. Please mark your calendars. If you are in town, we really encourage you to spend the most time you can with us during the outreach. It is a great training opportunity for everybody in the team, and Megan will also observe sessions and provide feedback. The last time she came, I know Jessie, Kristen, Kaffie, and Shelby enjoyed her feedback and learned a lot from her. As we get closer to January, I will have more info for you about the outreach.

Updates and Tips about the games in the playroom

We are excited about all the things happening in this house lately. Duchis keeps getting closer and closer to Tony, which is such a great miracle to watch! Liam is also showing such great interest in observing games and paying attention to what we do. His awareness and communication keep growing day by day. Tony is doing great in school and is such a great model for Duch. You should see him asking her LEGO questions! And she answers them all! Here are some latest news and ideas that seem to be working for the kids:

- Angela created a vehicle matching game with cards and played it with Liam yesterday. You can find it in a zip-lock bag in the lower-shelf on the left side, in a basket. They were matching pictures with words and talking about the cards and Angela says Liam was like 45 minutes with her putting all the attention to that game. She later tried the game again matching the cards with real vehicle toys in the room to create an extension of the game. Angela said she will try to create a similar game with cards of furniture and rooms of the house since Liam likes that theme a lot. Feel free to try the game with the cards.

- Jennie, the speech therapist, and Shelby have both told me that Liam loves rhymes! They write rhyming words on boards. Sometimes they use the cards. Jennie create a song like this: "sun - fun - bun - and run - -- they rhyme!"

- "Hullaballoo" has been a HUGE success with the kids. Duch and Tony do everything in the game. Liam is super excited watching and seems more and more open to participating, too. Keep trying in a fun way.

- Many people have been working on stories with Liam. He LOVES to contribute more and more to stories.

- Kaffie, Tony and Duch put on a Peter Pan show with the curtains-show idea.

- The "friend-Candyland" idea has worked beautifully with Duch and Tony. Thanks to Kristen and Jordan for helping me in its construction. I will create more questions to make it even more fun.

- Jeannie also created a dice with questions that Duchis likes! Celebrate her for answering questions and tell her to read the questions to you, too. Also encourage her to answer with longer sentences.

Next week, because Tony will be at home, we have a great opportunity to have more session with Duch and Tony together. Here are some tips I have received from Megan and from Alex, a therapist who works with Yulene. I participated a few weeks ago in a joint session with Alex, Duch + Tony + me.

- Play games that both kids are likely to like. If there is a situation in which each kid wants to play something else, explain to them that you can all take turns to play each of the games. Tell them you can play Tony's game for 15 min and then Duch's game for 15 min and then YOUR game for 15 min. Tell them that that is what friends do and that it is fun to play the games that each of them like.

- I want to teach them how to ask things from each other because right now they just come and take the thing/book/toy from each other without saying a word and they just leave. So, if you see a moment when Duch takes something from Tony or Tony takes something from Duch, try to repeat the transaction showing them what to say. So, you could say to Tony: "Tony, let's do that again, but this time you can ask Duch: "Duch, can I have that book, please?"" Another option is: "Duch, it is my turn to look at the book, please". So, try to des-accelerate the exchange, so that they take time to ask first. All of this in a very loving and funny way.

- If Duchis leaves the game, ask Tony if he knows how to call Duch back, like "Duch, come back to play with us". Or tell him, "tony, let's call Duch together: DUCH, DUCH, come back to play". Give him tools so that he knows what to do when she leaves.

- I saw that at the end of the session, Alex asked them questions like: "Tony, what was your favorite part of our play session? What did you like the most?" Then, she asked the same to Duch. Then she asked, "And what part did you like the least? What was the part that you did not like so that I know about it?" I thought that was a very sweet way to get them to think about their time together.

- We also noticed that Duch has something like "performance anxiety". We were playing circus with Alex in Yulene's house and every time we asked Duch to do something (like jumping in the trampoline or going on a swing) she said NO NO NO. But, when we would not be looking or would be looking at Tony, she would go and do it quietly. If we would celebrate, she would say: "I did it" looking nervous. So, Alex says that maybe she is self-conscious and does not want to do some things in "public" or maybe she does not want people to make a big deal of the things she does. So, Alex says that we could give her control of the celebrations by congratulating her when she does something in a quiet way, and then ask her: "do you want me to celebrate big or small?"

Have fun!!!

Summary of Group Meeting - November 5th, 2011

Hi everybody!
We had a great group meeting this Saturday. Thanks everybody for attending!!! I will be meeting with Shelby to bring her up-to-speed! I appreciate that everybody else was able to make it! I am posting here the notes that I distributed you so that you can always come back here to see them.

Duchis -- IDEAS FOR ASKING HER QUESTIONS AND FOR HER TO ASK QUESTIONS

1. Put a string across her room and a curtain.

• Stage: put shows together.
• Play Fashion Shows, Rock Concerts, Circus shows, Recitals and ask her questions about all the details of the shows. Ask question like: Who are the models? What outfits are they going to wear? Where could we go with the outfits?
• Ask her opinions.

2. Transform playroom floor into a board game, like “Friend-Candyland”

• Put 25 pieces of paper on floor, create a board game.
• Have a big dice with numbers
• Each paper has a question. When you roll the dice, you land somewhere.
• Each friend takes turns asking questions to the other friend.
• Questions could be like: “What do you like to ….?” “Where do you like to go …?” “What is your favorite …?” “How do we do …?” Also, cliffhangers like “Once upon a time, …. . What happened next?” “I saw the funniest thing happening on Saturday” … “What happened?”
• Some spaces are just going to say: “Ask a question about a favorite food”, or “Ask a question about the time when your friend was a baby”
• Other spaces are just fun stuff, like jump, run over, spin around.

3. Building things: “Where do this go?” “How do we do this?” “What part comes next?” And then … come on ask me a question” -- for example: Legos or the same car idea we have for Liam below.

4. Play reporters. Two microphones. “Today I will find all about you, and write a story” “We start by asking questions, isn’t that exciting” “First question is: What is one thing that you played today with your friend Mary” “Barbies” Did you play Barbie like going to the supermarket or like going to the circus?” “You just said Barbie, what does that mean?” And you act out the options. And then exaggerate like crazy the celebration when she responds.

Liam – IDEAS FOR SENTENCES PRODUCTION

Techniques are:
- Lots of modeling
- Lots of pausing and giving him a lot of time
- Giving choices: “I have this car, I don’t know what to do with it”
- Talking less so that he can talk more
- Use a game to introduce 1 or 2 key phrases per game.

1. Create your own book (big poster boards – like 2 for 4 sheets) using the flashcards for ideas. Make the book BIG. All sentences are connected to one story, like “Liam’s adventure”. Taking turns in creating the story. We could even stick the Baby Einstein flashcards as part of the story.

2. Take pictures of people doing things and use them for the story. What do you think these guys are doing right now? “Mom ran across Leo and … What do you think Leo was doing?”

3. Use a pillow case like a mystery bag. In the mystery bag we could put cards or things. The question is: If we had this, what do we do with this….? And then you get to do it. Parts of this: “what do we do with this part?”

4. Building a car with a laundry basket (RIDE BUCKET). All the parts of the car are made with paper: Wheels, lights, radio, horn, etc. “Let’s build a car”. Where does this go? What does this do? What do we need? Every time he gets a part, he gets a ride in the car. This idea can be applied to MANY vehicles. All the parts can be created with paper/poster board as part of the session. Will get some Velcro, too.

5. Build a TV again. Have a remote control. He clicks and point. You tell a story, act something out, something exciting. Fast forward, stop, slow you down, rewind, change channel. Then when they get behind it, they pick the topic. We pick the animal channel and see what they say about animals. We ask questions about animals when he is in the animal channel. In the music channel, he gets to sing songs.

6. Clown camp: banana peels, balls, fortune teller (“it looks like the next things mommy will do is: …. Banana peels”), magician, spinning, facial expressions.

7. Reduce the number of “What do you want?” questions and do other questions like “where did you go?” “Who has come to play with you today?” And then also combine: open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and yes/no questions.

8. Model 1 or 2 phrases in each game you play. That way it is easy for him to recognize the one thing he needs to learn from a game and when he says them, he gets something he really likes. Model the key sentences from a game. And explain to him: The reason I am explaining this to you and the reason I am repeating these sentences like crazy, is because if you say these sentences, you will get all these things. E.g.: let’s put _____ in the box.

9. Play SCHOOL with Liam, he loves it! Also, use the multiple ideas that came with his new card box.
 
Our picture was in honor of Duch and her love for YOGA!!!!!
 

Duchis' first Trick-or-Treating with Tony!!!

This was not a possibility 4 years ago, ladies! Enjoy the magic of it! Thanks to Shelby and Ashley for taking the kids while I was in my seminar!!!

Tony, the pirate!!!

Princess Duchis and Princess Shelby

Look at that smile!

Brother and sister together!!!

Ashley was a pinguin!!

Our 2011 Halloween party was a success!!!

Huge thanks to everybody who came to our Halloween party! It was great to see Tony and Duch trick-or-treating together from room to room!!!! And we got great pictures of Liam! Duch was much more confident with the party than last year and participated in all our activities!!! Thanks for sharing this party with our kids!! Here are a few pictures of the event!

Our Halloween Team

Liam and Jordan-Iron-Woman

Our 3 pumpkins!

Treak-or-treating and eating the snacks right away!

A witch and a princess

Halloween party, November Group meeting, and great news of the week.

Hi everybody,

Here are some dates to remember for the next weeks:

I will be out of town for my "Calm Amid Chaos" course at the Option Institute (home of the SonRise program) from Oct 30 to Nov 4. Any extra help you can give Antonio those 6 days that I will be away will be very appreciated!! :) I will post the schedule before I leave!

On Saturday Oct 29th, we are still planning to have our Halloween party at 5pm. We will have snacks, practice trick-or-treating from room to room and have our parade of costumes. If you have costumes at your home, please wear them. If not, come and wear our costumes from the dress-up box. I know some of you have commitments, so don't worry about it. If you think you can come, let me know so that we are ready with the snacks.

After I come back from my course, we will have our November group meeting on Sunday, November 6th (3:30pm to 5:30pm). Please let me know if there is a conflict, and we will try to accommodate everybody. As you know, attendance to the group meeting is super important so that we are all on the same page.

And now some great news of the week:

- On Monday, I will make copies of the ideas that came with Liam's new box of cards so that you all have more suggestions of games to play. He loves them and I give credit to that box with Liam starting to say YES pretty consistently!!!!! I came to his room with the box of cards and he immediately ran to me. I was holding the cards up to see what he would say. I heard something like "I want cards", so I said: "did you just say 'I want cards'?" and he says a big "YES!" !!! It was amazing!! Kaffie was there and we just started laughing! That night also, he was in his tent and I asked him: "Do you want your pillow in the tent?" and he says: "yes", I celebrate and run to get him the pillow. Then, I ask: "do you want your blue blanket, too?" I get another "YES", so I celebrate and run to get him the blanket. Then, I say: "what about the pink blanket?" and I get another "yes" !!! It was amazing! He was smiling with a BIG SMILE and LOVED to be celebrated for his yes-es. That was on Thursday. Since then, I have heard so many YESes!!!! Always appropriately! So, ladies, I am telling you, by the time of our group meeting, the YES/NO goal is going to be super mastered!!!! Let me know what you see with you. Don't overdue the yes-questions, though. Be natural, and celebrate big when he is using Yes/No appropriately!

- Liam also did very well in a trip Antonio took to Target on Saturday with Liam and Duch. Duch was terrified with the Halloween decoration and was covering her eyes. But Antonio said Liam walked very nicely in the store, responded when Antonio told him to come in his direction, pushed the grocery card, looked at things around him, walked on his flat feet, and never threw himself to the floor in fetal position like he was still doing last month!! So, we have this theory that things are changing in Liam's body!!!! Ladies, I am telling you, we will see great things from Liam in the next weeks and months! Also, because of the mosquitos in the backyard, he is spending more time in the house, and to compensate, he is relaxing by having more showers and baths!!! He had 4 today!!! :) He does use his language while he requests me to put the shower on or off or the bathtub on or off, and he even does it himself! I am just scared he may get hot water! Anyway, try to tell him that showers/baths will be after play time :) oh! And sensitivity to sound seems to be going down, too!!! We will have more appointments with the energy doctor for Liam and Duch this week.

- Finally, some Duch news. She did very well with her cousins, Diego and Nina!!! First time she pays so much attention to them! She was a bit sick last week, so she did not have her usual energy, but she had several play sessions with Diego and some of our team members, like Kaffie, Shelby, and Mary. It was great to see her with her cousins!!!!

Have fun this week! We are super excited to see how the kids keep evolving!! Enjoy these pictures of last week!

Celebrating Duch!

Those of you who have known me for the last 4 years know that a question that I asked everybody, doctors, therapists, teachers, other moms, was "how does it look when a kid starts to pay attention to other kids?" That was THE question for me. One SonRise teacher once told me that it would be a slow process that would start with the kid starting to look more at other kids. Well, it has been a realization for me, that after 4 years, I am not asking teh question anymore, I am LIVING the answer to the question. To see Duchis' face when she looks at Tony is AMAZING! This is the same girl, but her face is completely different!!!! Wow! I guess this is how the miracle of recovery looks like, one little step after the other.

To celebrate this moment, here are the news I emailed you last week about Duch:
"- On Saturday morning, all of the sudden, I see Tony chasing Duchis downstairs trying to tickle her; she is running smiling; he catches her and tickles her; she laughs and laughs and starts running away; he laughs and chases her; she grabs him by the waist; he laughs and keeps running; she tells me "he is tickling" ... it was very sweet and just amazing to watch!
- On Saturday at noon I take Duchis to The Little Gym to observe a class with 4-5 year old girls. I had already visited the place this week and they told me the class has 8 girls and one of the girls is also recovering from autism and does great in the class. Duch was a little bit nervous, but she liked the place. She participated a bit, she observed a lot, and she said she will come back next Saturday! The teachers at the Little Gym were super welcoming!! Almost surprisingly welcoming given all the times that I have been told that my kids are not ready and are not welcomed to be at a certain school/place... In contrast, these gym teachers were telling me to keep bringing her because the other girl also took time to get used but she is now super used to the class! So, this will be a new challenge for Duch! Every Saturday 12-1pm, Duch will be going to the Little Gym. Send her all your positive energy so that she gets used to the routine quickly.
- On Saturday afternoon, Mary brought her niece, Emma, to play with Duch. They played CandyLand. I observed through the camera. I thought Duch as a bit distracted with the potato chips (snack for the group) and ran a bit around and talked some scripts memorized. But, she came all the time when it was her turn and she won! I could only see Duch's back, but Mary said that Duch kept looking at Emma a lot. Then when I was chatting with Mary downstairs, Duch started to come smiling and would run into Emma and push her, then laugh and look at us and tell us: "that was funny"! It was a bit rough, but it was what she sees Tony doing sometimes: run around in a silly way and then kind of push her. Thanks God, Emma was patient, since Duch kept looking at her smiling and then running to her to push her and then run away. It was exciting to see the attention she was giving to Emma, since in the past she would have just ignored her and gone her way.
- Today, Duch spent time with Tony and me doing legos in Tony's room, and later on she went with Jordan and Tony to play musical missions and to read fairy tales in a "fort" with a flashlight while it was raining outside. The sessions with Tony are part of the weekend routine for her now!"

You may ask yourself, what about THIS week?
This are Duch's great moments of the week:
- Went to see Peter Pan, her first theater show! She did well. She was tired after 7 hours of therapy that day, but remained calm and attentive.
- Went to story time + craft time at the Manvel library with Kaffie. Did great and participated in dancing time with the other kids, observing them a lot.
- Went to The Little Gym again. She did not participate with teh whole group, yet, but was in teh class all teh time observing, and getting familiar with the teachers and teh equipment. She said she is coming back next week! The teachers have a plan to slowly invite her to participate with teh whole group.
- Played with Shelby and Tony with the Legos, and also played with Kaffie and Tony with painting.
- Is very comfortable with Tony, sitting with him, answering his questions about Legos, imitating him, and sharing things with him.

The best part of this process is that I get to see it again with Liam, when he is ready :)

Cheers to the princess of the house!

Summary of Group Meeting - Oct 2nd 2011

Goals for Liam:

1. Eye contact: Motivate Liam to copy simple exaggerated facial expressions
2. Communication: Encourage Liam to be consistent with his fuller sentences.
3. Communication: Inspire Liam to share feelings and emotions.
4. Interactive Attention Span: Motivate Liam to play new games (e.g., the Signing time pretend stories and themes)

o YES/NO: Let go for two weeks
o Games with pictures of team members for making new sentences or funny gestures
o If he rips books: he fixes them.
o Invite him to go to the bathroom before he leaves the room to go outside.
o Be very careful with the toilets and flushing!!
o Halloween games/crafts: Great opportunity to introduce Liam to dress-up and animal hats!
o Signing games: we have to books with signs and a chart with signs. Guessing games or “show me” games with sign language. Also youtube.com has examples of the signs from Singing Time.

1. Tip-toeing

a. Yulene’s exercises
b. Crab walk. Penguin walk. Walking backwards. Animal walk (except bear walk)
c. These animal walks could be combined with the animal cards and animal sounds games.

2. Expanding SIGNING TIME – Themes you can use in games with BOTH kids:

- Time to Eat: Grow - Garden - Every Day - Cook - Kitchen - Make - Fork - Plate - Napkin - Knife - Spoon - Cup - Bowl - Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner - Dessert - May I be Excused? - Egg - Sandwich - Soup - Popcorn - Peas - Tomato - Salad - Spaghetti.

- Welcome to School: Crayons - Scissors - Paper - Glue - Pen - Pencil - Table - Chair - Backpack - School - Line Up - Pay attention - Learn - Remember - Smart Principal - Teacher - Class - Student - Name - World - Numbers - Count - Draw - Paint - Read - Quiet - Rest.

- My House: House - Kitchen - Refrigerator - Freezer - Stove - Sink - Family Room - Sofa - Rug - Table - TV - Bathroom - Toilet - Bathtub - Shower

- My favorite things (Colors, Vegetables, Fruits, Activities): Colors - Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Purple - Rainbow - Fruit - Strawberry - Pear - Peach - Grapes - Watermelon - Vegetables - Corn - Lettuce - Beans (little/big) - Potato - Walk - Run - Sit - Swing - Dance - Sing - Jump - Swim - Soup - Noodles - Tomato - White - Black - Brown - Pink - Work - Practice

- Everyday signs: Hungry - Apple - Cookie - Cereal - Banana - Bread - Cheese - Cracker - Ice Cream - Candy - Help - Full - Hot - Cold - Dry - Wet - Like - Don't Like - Day - Sun - Night - Moon - Stars - Happy - Laugh - Sad - Cry - Boy - Girl.

- My neighborhood: Playground - Roller Skates - Picnic - Kite - Swing - Slide - Climb - Sand - Helicopter - Bus - Boat - Motorcycle - Slow - Fast - Store - Buy - Stamp - Mail - Library - Story - Office - Work - Restaurant - Firefighter - Police Officer - Doctor - Nurse.

- My day: Awake/Wake Up, Good Morning, Brush Hair/Comb Hair, Brush Teeth/Floss Teeth, Clothes, Get Dressed, Shirt, Shorts, Pants, Sweater, Dress, Skirt, Choose, Pretend, Imagination, Game, Blocks, Build, Puzzle, Fun, Clean Up, Pajamas, Bed, Pillow, Blanket, Light (on/off), Good Night, Dream.

- Who has the frog?: Frog/Hopkins - Lost - Who - Where - How - Why - When - Find - Which - What - Guess

- The great outdoors: Backyard - Explore - Tent - Trail - Bridge - Stream - Woods - Mountain - Porcupine - Raccoon - Deer - Bear - Owl - Skunk - Beaver - Wolf - Eagle - Fox - Bug - Ant - Fly - Spider - Bee - Worm - Mosquito - Caterpillar - Butterfly.

- Playtime signs: Friend - Play - Train - Doll - Bike - Bear - Please - Share - Your Turn - My Turn - Book - Read - Socks - Yes - No - Drink - Thirsty - Dirty - Clean - Potty - Bath - Hurt - Sorry - Stop - Go - Wait - Wash Hands - Thank You - Grandma - Grandpa.

- Family, feelings, and fun: Home - Family - Brother - Sister - Son - Daughter - Uncle - Aunt - Cousin - Tree - Wind - Leaf - Grass - Cloud - Rain - Snow - Coat - Boots - Gloves - Hat - Feelings - Grumpy - Surprise - Silly - Scared - Excited - Sick - Love

- ABC signs

Goals for Duch:

1. Communication: Inspire Duchis to share stories and have conversations about her favorite topics
2. Communication: Help Duchis by responding literally to anything she says
3. Interactive Attention Span: Motivate Duchis to play the Signing Time pretend stories
4. Perspective: Show Duchis how good it feels to be kind and helpful to others

*** Stories / conversations / pretending to talk on the phone

Conversations with Duch:

- “Let’s talk about our day. I will tell you what I did and then I would love to know what you did.”
- “Let me tell you what I did yesterday/today (or what I will do tomorrow)”
- “Let’s talk about our favorite things. My favorite ____ is ….. What about you? ….”
- Funny memories:
- “Let me tell you this funny story that happened to me on my first day of class ….”
- “I am going to tell you about my hobbies…”
- “I have such a funny memory of something that happened to me when I was playing with my brother/sister ….”
- Let’s make up stories! Once upon a time …
- If Duchis’ answers are very short, you can use: “And then what?” “What else?” “Tell me more”, or not verbal cues with the face or the hands.
- Remember it is not about asking questions all the time, but about sharing your stories, so that she incrementally starts sharing more.
- When reading books, ask some playful questions like: “Which character is the funniest?” “What is your favorite part?” Tell her what your funniest character is and what your favorite part is.

- Duchis’ scripting – From Megan: “Make what Dusya says applicable. Meaning, can you carry on with what she says in "script" and turn it into a game, interaction, conversation. Act out what she says and show her how it can come to life and be a brand new thing altogether. Responding literally would in fact be acting it out. (E.g. if she said, "It's Elmo's birthday." You say, "Oh yes! I forgot. Let me wrap a present for him. ssshh it's a secret. etc etc).”

- Playing with Tony: If you see a chance to play a game with Tony and Duchis about something that BOTH love, like LEGOS, start playing and see if they both come to join you.

*** Halloween Games and Crafts – Duch loves Halloween!!!

*** Handwriting without Tears materials

REMINDERS

- Closets with toys (shelves) – If you need to find new games/toys go to the guest room closet or the closet next to Duch’s room

- Clean up (toys/tables/food on floor) – please help us to keep the rooms clean

Thanks for coming!!!!!!!!!

Jordan, Tony, and Duchis' Musical Missions

Today, Jordan, Tony and Duchis had musical missions for the second time. It lasted 2 hours! They used the magic carpet to go to different countries. They used the cards with landscapes to decide where to go. They created a map to establish the route to follow. First, Jordan made the map, but then Tony made the second map. In the different coutries, they have different things to do. Duchis' dolls came in teh adventures this time, since she was into dolls today. In one adventure, Tony ended up dressed like Cinderella and Duch was dressed like a knight! In another adventure, they went to a ball. Jordan ended up dressed like Alice in Wonderland. I took these pictures at the very end. Tony and Duch looked tired, but the whole 2 hours were completely peaceful and wiht total engagement!!!! Keep visualizing with the visualization posters, ladies! :) And keep showing the kids, how much fun friends are! :)

Molly and Megan's first sessions

This week Molly and Megan had their first sessions with the kids. They got feedback and Megan got to see her video, too. Great start! The kids were excited and were open to new friends! Welcome to the team!