Night School

So, last night Lil Man was very interested in school. We worked on different things for about 2 and 1/2 hours! This is very unusual for him. I think he has some teeth cutting in and he has been VERY lovey (and slobbery) for about a week.

We worked on a wooden shape puzzle. I talked about the shapes, but mostly concentrated on the colors. He was very good at picking the correct colored piece when asked. He is still working on getting them into the spaces, but getting closer. I have to point out the correct place and he "aims" for it. He would probably do a little better with the puzzles with the big chunky handles on them, but picking up the little knobby ones helps to work on the pincher grasp.

Lil Man had a stroke sometime close to his birth, so his right side has always been a little weaker. When he was a baby, it was very obvious. Now, you have to know what you are looking for. He has become very adept at getting what he wants/needs by any means. Since he also had two open heart surgeries by the time he was 14 months old AND spent 6 months after the first one with his arms tied down (to keep from pulling out his ventilator or I.V.'s), he doesn't always reach across his mid line very well. We were working on that last night too. If you get him to playing a game, he doesn't realize he is actually having therapy.

Santa brought him a Toss Across game for Christmas this year. He hasn't quite figured out the game board part, but LOVES to toss those beanbags! We played "Catch" for about a half an hour. I was able to get him to use both arms and reach across mid line to get the beanbags. He REALLY doesn't like to do that. It makes him feel unstable. He was having so much fun zinging the beanbags at me, he was too excited to worry about falling over. He was also in his little chair.

We love, love, love this little chair! It is actually a booster feeding seat. You can strap it to a regular kitchen chair. It has a tray, a nice high back, and can recline to three positions. We just sit it on the floor and he can sit for hours in it! He always wants that tray on, though. He will try to put it on himself if you aren't fast enough.

He also put his coins in his piggy bank (thanks Aunt T). It is a large piggy bank with giant coins. The pig plays a little tune when you get the coins in the slot. He has to be in the mood for that one, otherwise he just throws it. All of the coins are primary colors, so once again, the exercise was two-fold. Part PT/OT, part color review.

We read 3 different books : The Three Little Pigs, Baby Bop ABC's, and I Can, Can You? The last one is a board book that is all pictures of children with Down Syndrome doing different things. If you are interested, they are available at Woodbine House www.woodbinehouse.com or Barnes & Noble. We looked at pictures in a few other books, mostly about baby animals. That seemed to be the theme for Barney last night.......all 3 of them. :) W also went over the pictures in his sign language book. This was always the last thing that his teacher, Mrs. Bobbette, used to do before she finished his lessons.

He was worn out after that, but wouldn't go to sleep . He just needed to relax a little and play with all of his musical toys. Hopefully, we can keep this trend up! I need to make some more lesson plans - he just blew through the entire week's worth last night!


Steph