Straw #7 is the second to the last one in the TalkTools straw hierarchy kit. Matthew used this straw for 3 months, from April through June.
It must have been harder to drink with this straw as he didn't transition to this straw as easily as he did with the previous one. It seemed longer than coily straw #6. But as with the others in the straw hierarchy kit, he used the straw daily for most of his drinks, even at school. I sent one straw and cup to his preschool daily for him to use at snack time. He eventually warmed up to this straw and could drink a whole cup of orange juice, lemonade, or chocolate almond milk without any issues.
In the beginning of July, we started with straw #8. On straw #8, I noticed he regressed back to a pattern of suckling (straw resting on tongue when the tongue is too far forward then moves forward more, rather than back, when sucking on the straw) instead of sipping (using lips only). We went back to straw #7 for a day to see if we had moved on too quickly. He did just fine for the most part and easily corrected with verbal cues from me (as seen in the video). The speech therapist whom we work with in NACD suggested that we move on to straw #8 with more manual support and a tactile cue such as a lip block or medical tape 1/4-inch from the drinking tip.
The kids love the Super Sorting Pie. It's been a versatile toy since Christmas (2011) and great for learning colors, sorting, counting, fine motor practice with tongs, and even pretend play.
Three 2-sided cardboard inserts come with the pie and provides a good visual for the kids to remember how I am asking them to sort the fruits. The inserts are easily interchangeable by simply lifting the sectioned-off part of the pie.
Elizabeth enjoys sorting by color and by type of fruit.
I've even used it for simple addition and subtraction practice with Matthew.
When not sorting or counting, the kids play with it many days in the week pretending to bake a fruit pie in their play kitchen. Today, they were so cute playing together. Matthew was telling Elizabeth what fruit he needed and how many and Elizabeth listened, understood him (she usually always does despite his struggle with articulating some words), and played along. I would've taken a longer video but stopped right after Elizabeth announced, "I'm pooping." Thankfully, she still wears diapers.
As of today, it's selling on amazon.com for less than $20. It's also available on the Learning Resources website but it costs more.
In January this year, I emailed Matthew's physical therapist (PT) at school to ask how he was doing during his PT sessions. One of the things she said was that in the group he had difficulty staying in a tall kneeling (on knees, not sitting on buttocks) and half kneeling ( one knee up the other down on floor and balancing in this position).
When googling for information on tall kneeling, I came across Adaptivemall.com. We didn't need the equipment but it was very interesting to see that adaptive equipment to help with tall kneeling actually existed. Also to quote from the site:
Tall kneeling is achieved when someone is kneeling and the buttocks are not resting back on the feet. Tall kneeling can assist with the development of balance and leg strength. Note: This position can be difficult for people who have limited ankle bend (plantar flexion) or who wear ankle foot orthotics (AFO).
Matthew doesn't wear orthotics but he does have insole wedges in his shoes for ankle support since he has pronated ankles(but I don't think that matters). The gluteal/buttock muscles are needed to maintain the tall kneeling position. I imagine his gluteal muscles didn't inherently have the tone to easily get into a tall kneel and maintain it. He always preferred to sit on the backs of his feet to stabilize himself.
And of course, I wanted him to develop better balance and leg strength because that will make more physical play activities easier for him. So what do we do? We work on it at home!
How to Position?
His PT and NACD evaluator gave me a few suggestions:
- try kneeling at support surface.
- work on him imitating you go from sitting on heels to tall kneeling position, or in front of a mirror.
- (if he were still in diapers) try bridges, like when his diaper was being changed, ask him to raise his bottom up with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold the position for 5-10 seconds....move a train, ball under his hips to keep hips up.
- have him get on hands and knees and cross creep (crawl on hands and knees). Then while facing him, model getting up into a tall kneel and ask him to do it. From there play something or sing something while maintaining that position.
- practice kneewalking around the room to get things off of the sofa or low tables.
Which strategy worked for him? Asking him to cross creep and then get into a tall kneel to kneewalk and then pause in the tall kneel position helped him understand the concept of tall kneeling. So we played around with kneewalking a lot. He liked jumping and running on giant bubble wrap so I used that as our kneewalking activity motivator.
Within days, his kneewalking improved. More importantly, he was developing the balance and strength to maintain the tall kneeling position for longer periods of time. He'd still sometimes take 3-second breaks to sit on the backs of his feet but he could now easily return to the tall kneeling position without falling over.
Just yesterday, Matthew, Elizabeth, and I had lots of fun playing a fast-paced game of rolling the beach ball back and forth to each other in the tall kneeling position.
At age 2, Elizabeth had no trouble with tall kneeling at all. Seeing her easily play in tall kneeling was one of the many reminders of how much more work Matthew had to put in just to achieve what Elizabeth could do so naturally and effortlessly (relatively). It's at moments like that when one simply appreciates each child's development as it is and admires and learns from Matthew's determination and can-do attitude.
It's hard to tell if straw #6 is shorter than straw #5. Because of its coils, straw #6 doesn't stick out of the cup as far as straw #5. Matthew had an easier time drinking from this straw mainly because he didn't need to hold the cup out as far.
I also ordered two extra #6 straws as back-ups to replace the ones with internal residue build-up. Matthew easily transitioned from the previous straw to this one as they were the same diameter. Like the previous straws, he used this straw for most of his drinks including chocolate almond milk, orange juice, apple juice, and water everyday. The straw was sent to his preschool as well for him to use at snack time.
I'm not sure if I had mentioned it in any of my previous TalkTools straw posts but Matthew is on straw therapy as recommended in his NACD program. So we also used the straw as part of a set of oral motor stimulating activities specified in his daily program.
Matthew started on straw #6 during the Christmas break. He could've moved on to straw #7 after a month but I kept him on this straw for almost 3 months because there was so much going on that I just kept forgetting to move him on to the next straw in the hierarchy. It didn't hurt to keep him on the straw longer anyway. The instructions only discouraged from moving on to the next straw within a few days, which would be too fast of a transition. As of April this year, he was on straw #7.
I love great ideas, especially if it's a fun, productive, educational activity for the kids. I recently picked up two great resources for promoting fine motor skills from the facebook group "Educational Strategies for Children with Down Syndrome".
We tried the sticker activity from "hands on". It was a success! We used small stickers and $1 Shape Tracing activity books from Target. Since I haven't been working on handwriting with either of them, I thought this was a good opportunity to use the tracing books.
Elizabeth was determined to put stickers on the dotted lines to complete her square.
Matthew stayed focused putting stickers on the dotted lines for his oval.
Here is a list (and some video) of Elizabeth (2-yrs old) and Matthew's (4-1/2 yrs old) favorite apps these days. I've categorized them as best as I could. Some apps are listed in more than one category. Please feel free to comment and share your favorite apps with us.
Short-term Working Memory
NACD Simply Smarter
Expanding Knowledge
Mini Adventure Animals - I love integrating this app into our reading time, especially when we read about animals. Great real-life photos and youtube videos AND it's customizable.
Matching Jobs
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Earth Science (by kindergarten.com)
Sesame Street Podcasts - not an app but free short videos featuring the letter of the day and things related to it.
Learning Concepts
Photo Touch Concepts (by Grasshopper Apps)
ABA Problem Solving What Rhymes (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Problem Solving Which Go Together (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Which Does Not Belong? (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Function (by kindergarten.com)
Little Matchups Opposites (by Grasshopper Apps)
Little Matchups The Matching Game (by Grasshopper Apps)
Learning Patterns/ Critical Thinking
Caboose - Learn to Recognize and Complete Patterns
Little Patterns
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Little Solver Preschool Logic (by Alligator Apps)- this game gets progressively harder as Matthew gets more successful with the basic patterns.
Injini/ Injini Lite
Early Numeracy Skills & Math
KidCalc - Great app except I don't like the number tracing activity on this app. It's overly responsive and allows random screen swiping to trace the numbers.
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Grover's Number Special
Kinder Add
Line 'Em Up
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
PhotoTouch Numbers
123 Toddler Counting
Counting Bear (by Grasshopper Apps)
Montessori Counting Board (by Grasshopper Apps)
Speech Production & Articulation
SmallTalk Phonemes
NACD Apraxia
Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)
Just For Fun
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)
Grover's Number Special
Matching Job
More Breakfast
More Pizza
Cupcakes!
Your Teddy!
Balloonimals
Fruit Ninja
Scout's ABC (by Leapfrog)
Books and Activities
I Like Books (by Grasshopper Apps)
The Monster at the End of this Book
Another Monster at the End of this Book
Lightning Was Here Puzzle Book
Thomas the Train books - Some (or maybe all) of the books have a memory matching game that's both auditory and visual.
Sight Words
Verbs with Milo
Noodle Words
A+ Dolch Pre-primer and Primer Sight Words
300+ Sight Words
Little Reader Three-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps) - I just wish the words were in lowercase letters instead of uppercase letters.
Little Reader Four-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps)
Language Input/ First Words/ Phrases
My First Couplets (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First 1000 Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Vehicles flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Wear (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Musical Instruments (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Play With (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Actions (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Fruits & Nuts (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Vegetables (by kindergarten.com)
Noodle Words
Sentence Construction/ Reading Comprehension
Sentence Maker
I Like Books
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
Sentences Builder (by AbiTalk)
Drawing & Writing
Drawing Pad
iWriteWords - I haven't used this app with the kids yet because we're not actively working on writing yet. I downloaded it because I wanted to try it. I'll use it when we start working on writing.
Paint Sparkles
Letter/ Color/ Shape Recognition
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
123 Color
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (uppercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (lowercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Colors
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
Preschool Prep Meet the Shapes
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
Audiobooks
Tales2Go - Since both Matthew and Elizabeth like listening to age-appropriate audiobooks, I'll be using this app in the car so they can listen to books in the car instead of their usual kid music sometimes.
Object Identification/ Visual Scanning
PhotoTouch Toys
Little Finder (by Alligator Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Class (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Combined (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Feature (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Noun (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
Injini/ Injini Lite
Back in private swim lessons this first week in July, after having been in private swim lessons with the same teacher in the first two weeks of June, and this week he's putting more and more together. He willingly dove off the side of the pool this week - yes, head first. His swim teacher says that besides Matthew's cousin, Matthew is the only other kid who is enthusiastic about diving. Not bad for a 4-1/2 year old, right? I didn't learn to dive like he can now until I was 8 or 9 years old.
He is learning fast and getting better at coming up for a breath after jumping or diving in. He brings himself up to the surface and kicks his way to the side of the pool with just a little hand assist and no floatie. He can even get diving rings close to the bottom of the 3-1/2 foot shallow end of the pool. (Matthew is 37 inches tall.)
He is definitely more successful at learning to swim in just 3 weeks this summer than when he was in swim lessons at the YMCA almost all year last year. I think this rapid progression is because of a combination of factors:
- private swim lessons have much been better for him at keeping him focused and engaged during the whole lesson instead of having to wait his turn and being easily distracted during group lessons at the Y. If I could go back in time, I would get him in private lessons instead of putting him in group swim lessons last year.
- his current swim teacher has a no-floatie-method style of teaching. It's very effective with him. She also keeps expectations high with him.
- he's a year older and has better gross motor coordination and strength this year.
- he LOVES swimming and is fearless in and around the pool.
The Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks & Boards comes with 6 wooden shapes and colors - white diamonds, blue diamonds, yellow hexagons, red trapezoids, green triangles, orange squares - and 10 geometric patterns on wooden boards. The shapes can also be used to create more unique patterns without the pattern boards but for a 2-year old and 4-1/2 year old, it was simpler to start with a ready visual.
Not surprisingly, 2-year old Elizabeth can easily scan the box of mixed shapes to find all the needed pieces by herself. She can finish a pattern mostly by herself, with just a little help to reposition the pieces if they move out of place. They move very easily on the board and it may be frustrating for some.
Matthew's visual scanning abilities aren't as strong as his younger sister's and it doesn't help that he gets distracted easily. It was puzzling to me that he couldn't find the pieces he needed for the pattern he was working on even when I told him what shapes (and colors) he needed. Then I remembered that some activities weren't as overwhelming for Matthew if they were broken down into simpler steps.
To simplify the shape search for him, I had both kids sort all the pieces by shape/ color in separate piles. With all the like pieces together, he could now concentrate on counting how many he needed for the pattern he was completing instead of losing focus when digging through a jumbled pile of shapes.
We like to bring out this toy during queiter times in the day or when waiting for lunch to be ready. Elizabeth enjoys sorting the pieces by color as well as helping Matthew locate the pieces he needs.
Great for promoting mathematical thinking, creativity, visual scanning, shape and color recognition, and in our family, teamwork.
Straw #5 was the same diameter as straw #4. However, straw #5 was a little longer than the previous straw and used without a lip block.
There was noticeably less reminding on my part to use lips only, no tongue protrusion, when drinking. I had ordered two extra #5 straws, anticipating Matthew to be on straw #5 for at least a couple months. Since he uses the straw for most, if not all, his drinks including water, orange juice, apple juice, and chocolate almond milk everyday, residue build-up in the straw was expected no matter how well it was rinsed through after every use. I also sent a straw to his preschool for him to drink with at snack time.
He was on straw #5 for almost 3 months. He "graduated" to straw #6 during the Christmas break.
I don't know if Matthew will be an Olympic swimmer or even be interested in competitive swimming. He has always loved the water and we had him in the swimming pool since he was 8 months old. He uses putty-type ear plugs to keep pool water out of his ears. He's on his 2nd set of ear tubes.
He was in group swim lessons most of last year at the Y's indoor pool. This summer is the first time Matthew is in swim lessons this year - private lessons this time. I think the individual attention has been better for him.
My immediate goal: I would like him to be able to swim without a float or swim vest. He still needs to develop overall strength in his legs to be able to propel forward effectively when he kicks in the water. He's also still learning to put movements together like kicking while keeping his head in the water, not just one or the other. He'll improve with practice and other strength building activities outside the water.
Here's a short video of his lessons during the first week.
A few months ago, Elizabeth seemed to be taking an interest in sight words. She wanted to participate when Matthew and I looked through his sight word flashcards. She was recognizing "Matthew" and "Elizabeth".
So I jumped at the chance to make her a set of sight word cards. Unlike the picture/ word cards that Matthew started with, Elizabeth's word cards do not have pictures. Each is made of 5-1/2-inch x 14-inch white posterboard with huge red letters, patterned after the word cards described in Glen Doman and Janet Doman's book "How to Teach Your Baby to Read." But like the initial word cards I had made for Matthew, I used words that were of high interest to her.
It took me several evenings to make around 60 words and plan which ones to start with. Then I started with our sight words. After a few days, it didn't seem like she was really paying attention to the words. Maybe I took too long making the cards and she lost interest. Maybe she just wasn't ready to learn it. Maybe she was just interested in the idea of it - the "if big brother is doing it, I want to be part of it" thought process.
So I stopped and decided we would try again in a few months. We put the giant word cards away.
Recently, we rediscovered her word cards. But instead of using them as flashcards, we scattered a few on the floor and hopped on them. It became an addictive and fun sequencing game for both of them.
Taking turns, I'd give Matthew a sequence of 3 or 4 words to hop on. Elizabeth received 1 or 2 word sequences. She wasn't really recognizing all the words yet but with some guidance, she was happily hopping on the words like Matthew was. "What big brother can do, I can do too."
His very first remote control truck toy! At age 4, we felt he was ready for one. We found the Fisher Price Big Action Construction Site with Remote Control at Toys R Us. It's also available on amazon.com.
When we first started playing with this, controlling the truck using the remote didn't come naturally to him. Being a visual learner, it helps that directions are color coded on the truck and remote controller. To move the truck forward, he has learned to push the green button. He has learned that the red button makes the truck move backward.
Some limitations: the truck doesn't move diagonally forward or diagonally backward. The left and right buttons make the truck spin left and spin right. And we can only push one button at a time on the controller. It only comes with one controller and truck. I wish there were two (so I can play at the same time.) Elizabeth isn't very interested in this toy yet. In fact, she doesn't like the truck moving toward her.
The most fun part is driving the truck on the lower elevator, which goes up as soon as it senses the truck on it. Then the top elevator descends as soon as the truck is on it.
Overall, it's been an interactive and fun toy for learning basic directions and improving hand-eye coordination.
Materials needed:
white posterboard, cut into 8-inch x 8-inch square
colored posterboard, cut into 3/4-inch x 8-inch strips (2cm x 20cm)
ruler (for measuring)
pencil (for marking cut lines)
scissors and cutter
Cut out alternating strips on the 8-inch x 8-inch square posterboard so you are left with a frame containing vertical bars of paper.
The weaving activity may still be too challenging for the younger ones, like Elizabeth. But she still found it fun to play with the colored strips of paper - naming colors and watching Matthew weave his strips of paper "over" and "under" the white frame.
A fun family trip to the Moolah Shrine Circus this past Saturday ended in a trip to the Pediatric ER.
The seemingly harmless pony ride at the circus turned out to be the most terrifying ride of our lives. It was set up like a carousel except with real ponies. The kids were very excited about getting to ride on ponies.
We made our way to the pony ride area after over 2 hours of spectacular performances by the circus dancers, tigers, elephants, motorcycle daredevils, monkeys, dogs, magicians, clowns, and acrobats.
Matthew was overflowing with joy watching the show, expressing his excitement with lots of hugs, flashing him his biggest smiles, and applauding with the crowd. Elizabeth was in awe of the elephants and applauding when applause was due too.
Before riding on the ponies, Matthew, his cousin, and friends wanted to get on the inflatable slide first. So we did that and they had a blast! Matthew went down the slide on his bottom twice and then decided he wanted to slide down head first the rest of the 3 minutes.
Then it was pony ride time. Bill walked next to Matthew and his pony. I walked next to Elizabeth's. We were right behind Bill and Matthew. One or two rounds into it, Elizabeth's walking pony suddenly turned into a bucking pony.
I remember seeing Elizabeth starting to tip the other way so I reached out to grab her. But before I could get a firm hold of her, the pony kicked me right above the knee. I think I was still trying to get to Elizabeth then I got kicked in the right lower jaw, stunning me and sending me to my bottom. Bill scooped up a very frightened, very upset Elizabeth right after the pony's hoof came into contact with her right arm.
My crying, but conscious, baby girl was then brought to a very shaken, shocked me. The arena floor or event manager(?) was trying to do his job to keep everyone else from panicking although Bill and I didn't care at all for how he was downplaying what had just happened.
I'm told that it all happened in maybe a quick 3 seconds, from when Elizabeth fell off the pony to when Bill got to her. It felt like an eternity, like it was all going in slow motion and I wasn't fast enough to catch Elizabeth.
I heard someone explaining that they saw Bill trip over a piece of carpeting that was not laying flat like it should have, and the pony Elizabeth was riding tripped over the same patch of carpet. That's when it started freaking out and bucking. I was still so shaken and in severe stress at that point. My hands were cold and clammy.
An on-site paramedic was talking to me and examining Elizabeth on my lap. I pointed out the bruise on Elizabeth's right arm and her two swollen fingers on her right hand. They checked if Elizabeth could move her arm up and down without severe pain. She could. They didn't even know about the huge lump on the back of her head until Bill pointed it out to them. At that point, I didn't trust that the on-site paramedic could do a decent job. I got out my phone and asked my sister-in-law to help me get a hold of Elizabeth's pediatrician. Elizabeth was starting to calm down.
We filled out an accident report at the Family Arena (circus venue) and drove to a Pediatric ER. The ER doctor also spoke to Elizabeth's pediatrician on the phone while we were there.
The report: The lump on the back of her head was due to the fall, not from the pony kicking. If it was from the pony, it would be the size of its hoof. Her arm is not broken. The hoof must have just grazed it enough to bruise as it came down on her arm. A hand x-ray showed that she had no broken bones in her right hand but her fingers had deep bruising, hence the purplish swelling. No severe injuries to her internal organs, except for a little bruise on her back. She has a thumb-size bruise on her left thigh. Keep an eye on her for vomitting episodes, which would be a sign of a concussion.
No vomitting overnight.
Two days have passed and Elizabeth is playing like her usual self. My arm and back are less sore but my knee is still bruised. I shudder everytime I think of what had happened. The pony nightmares will continue for a long time.
We am very thankful that we escaped with a few bumps and bruises and a scarred memory. I am thankful my 15-week pregnant belly wasn't kicked. It could've been so much worse.
No pony rides for us in the near future. When we asked Elizabeth about ponies after the incident, she says, "I cry." Bill is right though. We can't let her (or myself) have a fear of ponies or horses because of this incident. We'll gradually introduce ponies again in the future, starting in a more controlled setting.
It has become tradition in our family to start a container garden every spring. We usually start planting later in April but it has been unseasonally warm this spring that we started early. The kids enjoyed helping plant some green bean seeds, tomato seeds, and Thai basil.
Matthew didn't stay out the whole time. He doesn't tolerate the heat very well. It was about 85 degrees on our back deck. He'd escape to the cooler 72 degree indoors when it was Elizabeth's turn to plant a seed and then rejoin the planting party when it was his turn again.
It was a nice relaxing day today after all the excitement (good and bad) at the circus yesterday.
Warmer weather is here. I'm so thankful for it! It means we can finally play outside and enjoy some new scenery beyond the walls in our house. The kids have been enjoying (almost) daily picnics on our back deck.
Something else the kids like to do on the back deck is play with spray bottles. They both like playing with water so this activity is very enjoyable for them. They spray the glass door and the glass table in an attempt to help me clean. They spray the chairs, the new seedlings, the deck, and the bbq grill just for fun.
Today, I wrote the alphabet on our wooden deck with chalk and they had fun spraying the letters. Matthew identified each letter as he squeezed the trigger on the spray bottle. I see every squeeze of the trigger helping increase finger and hand strength.
And as much fun as they have spraying each other, I like to remind them not to, especially since Matthew tends to point the nozzle directly at Elizabeth's face - at close range. She usually asks me, "tell Matthew do not spray Lizbeth." Then she turns around, armed with the spray bottle and the naughtiest grin on her face.
