The Weekly Review: Week 27

Post I Found Visually Amazing

I came across 21 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped at cracked.com. I loved the images and the true stories behind them. They really are extraordinary pictures of some amazing things.

Sibling Moment of the Week:

Typical school mornings involve getting the children dressed and fed in pretty quick succession. They tend to be underfoot the entire time we're getting ready. Then we drive first Ava, and then Michael to school. Yesterday morning I went downstairs to make some oatmeal for breakfast. I didn't really pay attention to the relatively leisurely time I was having making breakfast until I realized half an hour had passed, the oatmeal was cooked and had cooled and there were no children attached at my hip. I eventually found them together in Michael's closet with some toys and flashlights playing sleepover. I do love the joys of independent sibling play.

Ava Names a New Kitty:

Ava has her mama kitty and her baby kitty. She has recently discovered Hello Kitty. She likes Hello Kitty bandaids and a Hello Kitty shirt she was gifted as a beloved hand-me-down. I noticed though, that she calls Hello Kitty, "Hello." When choosing a bandaid she requests "Hello." When picking which shirt to wear, she wants the one with "Hello" on it. It is difficult to figure out how to explain to my 2 1/2 year old that the character's name is "Hello Kitty" and not simply "Hello." It sure is cute though. Too bad we had to ban the bandaids. As it turns out, her skin reacts to the adhesive with huge red welts.

The Weekly Michael

Michael read the first Bob book to me tonight. I am so proud. He's been spelling for a while now. If I help him sound out the individual phonemes he can instantly tell me the letters that go with the sounds. Every time he's on the computer playing with the paint program he switches into font mode and tries to spell something. A few days ago he ran in the kitchen saying, "Mama, come see! I made zoozoozoo!" Sure enough, he had typed in exactly that.

At the easel today he wanted to write boom. I asked him what it started with. He said, "B." And then he attempted to write a "B". Then I told him that two letters together make the "oo" sound and asked him if he knew what two letters do that. He responded "O" "O" and proceeded to add two Os to his word. Finally he put the "M" on as well. I am amazed at how good he is at this stuff. (Of course, "boom" looks more like "doom", but he tried.

Projects of the Week:

1. I figured out how to add both audio and video to the site.
2. I completed two hours of continuing education credit. Both hours were on Childhood Apraxia of Speech topics.
3. I created a short screening tool for my own use with the kids that tests each phoneme in initial and final position using only 22 CVC words and administered the screening to both children. I am using the results of the screenings to decide what to work on next.

Wishing for Another Year (Upcoming Evaluation Anxiety)

In quiet moments I am beginning to experience a sense of unease about upcoming changes. In five and a half months Ava will age out of early intervention. Before then she will be evaluated by our local school district to determine if she will continue to qualify for services.

Things are going so well right now. Ava has been making steady progress in speech. We finally identified a need for OT and are just now beginning to receive those services as well. The combination of speech and occupational therapy services is powerful and she is making progress.

I am both profoundly grateful for that progress and somewhat fearful of it at the same time. I am happy that Ava's ability to communicate is improving and her frustration is decreasing. I am happy that she's making progress towards her feeding goals. I am delighted to see her become a bit bolder with sensory exploration and a little less overwhelmed in environments that used to be overstimulating for her. At the same time, I am afraid that she will have made just enough progress that she will not qualify for services at the next level.

I feel like we are standing before a diverging path. One path takes us down a road where we can continue intense intervention through these early years and maybe, just maybe find ourselves in a place where she no longer needs extra help later on. I desperately want that path for her.

The other path involves being denied services. We will try to provide her with as many services as possible without help from the school district but it won't be the same. I worry that the second path will involve less intense intervention that results ultimately in her needing extra help for a much longer period of time.

I know it isn't that simple. I know there are always options even if they aren't the ones I want most. I just feel like this transition from the early intervention program happens so quickly. Many children are just settling into a program of services when they "age out" and have to go through another round of testing. Then, even if they do qualify, they go through another round of getting to know new therapists when the old ones were working perfectly well to begin with.

I find myself wishing that early intervention went just a year longer. Of course, I'm sure I'd still dread the transition even then, but at least she would have had the same set of therapists for 18 months rather than for 6 months by then.

It Was An Innocent Idea - Honest

I decided to recreate the success of the shaving cream in the water table day. Except this time I thought it would be fun to bring the water table up to the increasingly complete deck. I just thought the kids would enjoy the change of scenery and I knew I would love to sit on my swing while watching them instead of perched in a lawn chair in the yard down below batting away gnats. Also, for another change of pace, I decided to try cool whip (or some generic brand that was cheaper) instead of shaving cream.

First, let me say that the children did have a wonderful time. From their perspective, an hour flew by in absolute bliss as they flung first cool whip, and then water all over most of the deck. However... I don't think I completely understood how difficult it would be to remove cool whip from the wood after it had been sitting there a while. I innocently assumed that it would spray away easily with the hose. It took a bit more effort than that. Let's just say that my husband wasn't delighted with the experiment when he heard about it that evening.

As much fun as the children had with the activity, I found it interesting that they were much less bold without a friend over to model playing in it with her hands. They mostly used spoons and other various kitchen implements to play in the cool whip. They also ran over to the hose to rinse their hands and bodies off frequently. Baby steps I suppose. I need to invite friends over for these sensory activities more often.

Speedy Progress Right Off a Cliff

So Ava continues to do well with her feeding hierarchy. She's pretty much just accepted that she has to take a bite of the food she doesn't like in order to receive more of the food she wants.

Her technique so far has been to pop that food in her mouth and let it sit front and center on her tongue as if I had put something horrendously nasty in there. She grabs her milk and swallows it down as if it were a pill-tasting it as little as possible. In the name of substantial progress, I was letting the fact that she was treating perfectly yummy food like dirt go.

Well, yesterday morning, in the middle of our weekly OT session I had set her plate up with small pieces of sausage. They were the size of large blueberries. A bowl of cheerios to use as a reward had been set to the side. She asked for cheerios. I told her she'd need to eat a small bite of sausage first and I stepped away from the table to grab a knife. Usually I cut a tiny sliver off the larger piece of sausage for her to try.

Well, when my back was turned she popped the entire piece of sausage in her mouth and tried to swallow it whole by gulping several large gulps of milk. I turned around to see her choking back up all the milk and finally (thankfully) the piece of sausage too right back into her lap.

I calmed her down, cleaned her up, and told her I was proud of her for trying such a big piece. I then tried to explain that we can't swallow such big pieces without chewing them first. I'm pretty sure she didn't really get it.

So now we're working on teaching her to put food in the side of her mouth and to chew it up in an exaggerated way. We're teaching the technique with foods she likes first. Once she's really good at it, I'll have to insist she actually chew the things she doesn't like before swallowing them and getting a reward.

I'm pretty sure that this next step forward is going to be a big struggle.

Is it that I don't remember?

I had the privilege of holding a three week old little girl last night. As she snuggled in my arms I watched all of the fleeting facial expressions and listened to the grunts and snuffles and sighs. It was so sweet.

I don't remember my babies being so expressive so young. To be honest I don't remember them being so expressive even much older. Is it that I just don't remember? Is it that I was too sleep-deprived and stressed to notice? Or does the apraxia start to show so early if you know what to watch for? Do the problems with motor-planning show up even as tiny infants? Apraxia is neurological in origin. Presumably it is there from birth. How does it impact their infancy and our introduction to motherhood?

Nine Months Ago

After listening to Ava sing the Itsy Bitsy Butterfly, I found myself trying hard to remember what she was like before.

Ava - 21 months old - Childhood Apraxia of Speech before therapy

At 21 months of age, you want most typically developing children to have a spoken vocabulary of at least 10-24 words. By 24 months of age you want to see 50 spoken words and some two-word combinations. You also expect those words to contain almost all vowel sounds and a wide variety of consonants. You would expect a typical history of cooing, laughing, smiling, and babbling as an infant.

Ava did not have a typical history of cooing, laughing, smiling, and babbling as an infant. At 21 months she used no more than 4 different vowel sounds and 3-4 consonant sounds. Her spoken vocabulary at that time is well represented in this video I took one day (11-30-2010 to be exact) while we were reading a story before bed. She had about three words: "de" (that or there), "uh" (used in a variety of ways for emphasis), and "oh no".

I remember taking this video. It was after I had finally accepted that there was a problem and I needed to pursue getting Ava evaluated. I took the video thinking it might be helpful to show it to someone because I knew she often wouldn't "talk" at all in front of strangers. As it turned out, I never used the video for that purpose, but I wanted to share it now. It is a good representation of what Ava's expressive language looked like before we started intervention.

Who wins?

She wins
I knew it was too quiet...

I win
Finally, I get something in the girl's hair! And she's happy about it. And she wears it to school!

My Favorite Toddler Jeans

I have favorite winter toddler jeans (for the children). We've been using them for Michael two years in a row now. They are usually $25, but they are on sale at Old Navy's website this weekend for $15. They also have a coupon code that stacks that brings the price down to $12.75 if you're spending less than $100 or to $12 if you're spending over $100.

They have adjustable waistbands and wear incredibly well. They're cozy and warm. They have three colors for boys and three for girls. We picked up 4 pairs for each child. Two for this winter and two a size up for the winter after that. The deal was just too good to pass up.

They also have lots of other baby/toddler items on sale too and most of those stack with the discount code as well (ONSAVEBIG).

I know this is a departure from my usual type of post, but I wanted to make a public service announcement in case any of you are looking to pick up some fall/winter clothes at a good price.

The Weekly Review: Week 26

Weekly Blog

I discovered a new blog: The Long and Winding Journey. I don't remember exactly how I stumbled upon it. It is sad and fills me with a desire to turn back the clock and change one moment in time for this family. At the same time, this mother's blog about her precious daughter is a chronicle of strength and hope. Reading it brings some perspective, balance and wisdom to my own life. My prayers are with their family as they journey through their life.

Michael's Moment

We often serve banana pancakes for breakfast. To increase their nutritional value a bit and help breakfast stick with the children, we sandwich some peanut butter between two layers. Some days they get a whole circle, and some days when we're running low they only get semicircles. Occasionally, when only one pancake is left and both children want a little more, they get quarter circles.

Yesterday morning, Michael had an entire circle (two full pancakes with peanut butter in between). On a whim I asked him how many semicircles were in a whole circle. He answered two without a pause. I thought that was pretty smart, so I decided to ask a couple of follow up questions. I asked him how many quarter circles were in a semicircle. He thought for a brief moment and answered correctly, "two." Finally I asked him how many quarter circles were in a whole circle. After a short pause he replied, "four." I was so impressed. Here we are laying the foundation for fractions at breakfast.

Ava this Week:

One moment Ava is full of snuggles, sweetness, songs and giggles and my heart melts. I wrap my arms around her, smell her hair, and savor the moment. Mentally I try to bottle it up and save it for the time in the future when she no longer wants my arms wrapped around her all the time.

At least three separate times this week, as I enjoyed a few moments of quiet conversation with my husband wrapped in a mutual hug, Ava glanced up from whatever she was doing and rushed over to us. At that point she would squeeze herself in between us prying us apart and look up at me expectantly waiting to be picked up. It cracks me up every time. It cannot be coincidence.

And then there are the frequent moments when Ava pushes me away because she insists that she do something, "on my own." This girl has an independent streak a mile wide.

Therapy and Hierarchies of Difficulty

In general, therapy consists of breaking complicated tasks down into a hierarchy of components and then working on those components from easiest to hardest. So in speech therapy we start with sounds in isolation, then at the syllable level, then at the beginning, middle, and ends of words, then in phrases, then in sentences, and finally in conversation.

In OT we've been working on getting Ava to try new foods. Prior to OT, the only options I could think of were to try to make her try a bite (ha, ha) or to just put it on her plate and hope that eventually she'd try it if she were hungry enough and if everyone else around her was trying it. Well, nothing was working. She was never hungry enough to try something out of her comfort zone. She didn't respond to playing (let's play airplane type activities). She didn't respond to comments that her brother was doing a good job trying it. She didn't even respond to bribery (eat just a little and I'll give you a treat).

Our OT introduced a hierarchy for getting Ava to try new foods. I never would have thought of it on my own, but it is working.

The lowest level is just getting her to touch the food. I used tricks like asking her to test if it is too hot for me while pretending to be busy pouring a drink so I couldn't do it myself. I wasn't asking her to eat it yet - just to touch it.

The next step was to get her to just give it a kiss. She didn't have to eat it, just kiss it. Now this required a combination with bribery. We needed to fill her plate with something she didn't like and something she did like. She didn't get more of the food she did like until she gave the other food a kiss. This step took a little longer, but eventually she realized that giving food a kiss was not a big deal.

The next step was to give the food a little lick (if it is solid - this would't work with a pudding or anything like that). So when she wouldn't eat sausage, I could put a piece on a fork and she'd lick it. Again, we have to bribe her to do it for a second serving of something she likes.

The next step is to eat some of the new food. Sometimes we cut it into a very, very tiny taste and put it on a fork for her. She'll put it in her mouth and wash it down with a big gulp of milk. She doesn't actually chew it, but still it is a big step in the right direction.

Other times we use a food mill. You can put food in it and the children can help grind it up by turning the handle. We tell them they're making "magic" food. Then she can try a small taste of the magic food before she gets to eat something else.

A month ago Ava would absolutely refuse to touch or even consider trying anything outside her comfort zone. She honestly preferred to go hungry. She rarely ate more than 1 out of 3 things on her plate. A month ago our OT introduced the hierarchy (touch, kiss, lick, tiny taste, regular bite...) to us. Now I can get Ava to at least taste a tiny amount of a new food at least 80% of the time. It is a huge change and I'm so proud of her. It's amazing what a little knowledge and some new strategies can do for a situation that seemed impossible to change.

Itsy Bitsy Butterfly

I asked Ava to sing to me the other day. We were sitting on the mostly finished deck in our swing. Using the front facing camera on my iPhone I managed to capture quite the concert. First I got her version of the ABC song twice. Then I asked for the Itsy Bitsy Spider, then Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and finally Hush Little Baby. It was so adorable.

Here is a small audio clip from the concert. (Yea! I finally figured out how to post audio!) She decided to sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider as the Itsy Bitsy Butterfly instead as she explains at the end.

Outdoor Sensory Table Ideas?

We have both a sand table and a water table. The sand table is useful year round, but the water table is pretty much a hot weather only attraction. I would like to use it during the fall/winter as an outdoor sensory table on the deck.

I'm just not sure what to fill it with. We don't need two sand tables. It needs to be something dry so that they can play in it with winter coats/gloves on if that's necessary. It also needs to be able to withstand some humidity without getting icky given that I'd like to leave it outside. Also, it needs to be something that is either big enough to easily retrieve and put back in the bin or environmentally friendly so that when it falls off the deck into the grass it won't mess with the grass or lawnmower in the summer (so no rocks or gravel).

I've considered rice, feed corn, dried beans, uncooked pasta, etc., but I'm worried that they wouldn't stand up well outdoors. I've searched a bit online, and the only idea that looks even vaguely workable is those decorative glass gems. If I can find them bulk and reasonably priced, they would be fun to dig in and pour, and large enough to just pick the ones that fall out back off the deck and dump them back in. On the other hand, the ones that escape will simply be glass hanging out in the back yard and that doesn't seem wise. I also don't know if they'll get chipped if played with roughly and then be sharp and dangerous to little fingers.

Does anyone have thoughts about the glass gem idea or any other suggestions?

A Deck Takes Shape

So the deck is not finished yet. See the following photographic evidence.

Note strategically placed bin to prevent accidental 8 foot plummet.

Stepping into and out of the dining room is a bit interesting.

Getting to the stairs requires bravery and acrobatics.

The stair rails are currently non-existent.




And yet, huge finished sections are breathtakingly beautiful.

My husband is amazing.

A Flurry of Activities

We had a friend over for a playdate Wednesday and I decided to fill our water table with shaving cream (outdoors). The children had a blast. The modeling of a typically developing peer is so powerful. They had their hands in it and were covering the glass of the french doors with it. When our guest began painting her arms and legs with it we decided to strip them down to their underwear. Before all was done, our guest looked like a snowman front and back and Ava had covered her entire belly and most of her legs. It was wonderful. Two weeks ago we had to persuade her to touch the shaving cream with a fingertip. All the credit goes to the great modeling of her friend.

____________________

They came back for a bonus visit yesterday and my bright idea this time was to redo the pudding activity, but this time in an empty bathtub for more exposure and easier cleanup. We put the two girls in the bathtub with a bowl full of pudding I had colored with green paint and told them to have fun painting. I gave them paintbrushes because I was hoping that there would be no way Ava could avoid getting covered in at least a little of the pudding even with the paintbrushes to help get her started. Well, they quickly ran out of pudding and I grabbed some washable fingerpaint and we just continued the fun. Every time the walls filled with paint I would simply shower them off and the girls would begin again. They were in there at least an hour. It was great.

____________________

We had an old baby gate. It was the huge kind you can use to make a play yard. Or, in our case, to protect the little ones from a huge brick fireplace. We're no longer using the gate. I set the gate up in play yard formation and used some old blanket and baby wraps to make a tent, or cave. The kids loved it until they destroyed it. Here's a picture I managed to take before the destruction.

____________________

One last fun activity we did this week was to take some bowls of water, paintbrushes, and ice out on the deck. The children had fun "painting" the wood with the water and just exploring pouring water and playing with ice cubes. We were out there for at least an hour two separate times this week. We went through three huge bowls of ice cubes each time, but it was completely worth it.

I Concur

Last week when my cousin was in town we were taking the children to meet my husband at work for lunch. We were all going out to Chick-fil-a. I overheard a conversation between my cousin and Michael that cracked me up.

Michael: We're going to Chick-fil-a!
My cousin: I love Chick-fil-a! What do you like to eat there?
Michael: The chicken.
My cousin: I concur.
Michael: (long pause) They don't have concur at Chick-fil-a.

After much laughter we explained that concur is just a fancy word for agree. Later, as we told Daddy the story, Michael was able to explain to Daddy just what concur really means with no reminder from us. We all used the word concur instead of agree for the rest of the visit.

The Weekly Review: Week 25

Two Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

I enjoyed a post by Swistle about nutritional advice because I've had similar thoughts. And she expresses her thoughts so very eloquently.

I enjoyed another post at All & Sundry because I have a similar Melissa and Doug puzzle box and I knew exactly how the post was going to end. I sympathize.

Siblingness of the Week:

The children are ramping up both their sweet togetherness sibling moments and their shouting/pushing style sibling moments at the same time. It seems we get more of both. They are talking to each other instead of us more and more. Ava will ask Michael for help when she's having trouble with the computer or if she needs someone to turn on the water in the bathroom so she can wash her hands (he can reach the faucet, she cannot). I love it.

And then there are the moments that perplex me because they are coming too soon. Michael will repeat an action that irritates Ava simply because it bothers her. Why on earth does a three year old need to irritate his two year old sister just because? Alternately Ava will just push Michael out of her way instead of asking him to move. Or grab a toy from his hands, not because she wants it, but because she feels it is hers. Sigh. Lots of mediation going on in our household now and probably for the next 16 years or so.

I am trying to butt out whenever possible. I am inclined to micromanage and I'm making a concerted effort to just let them be and figure things out on their own.

The Weekly Michael

Michael continues to love his new preschool. I continue to love the fact that he's happy there. He comes home talking about art, and songs, and snack, and activities. Before, when it was a school day he'd protest going. Now he's excited. It is a beautiful thing to watch.

Ava this Week:

Singing. I wish I knew how to post audio samples here so you all could hear her too. She's singing the ABC song and Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. By no means are they perfect, but I think that even a stranger would know what she's trying to sing. Understanding her isn't what is important here though. What makes me so happy about it is that she's finally confident enough to try and capable enough to string many, many syllables together in sequence to a tune.

Ebooks, Kindle, and Lendle

I don't remember when exactly, but let's guess around a decade ago, someone gave me a palm pilot as a gift. I honestly didn't know what to do with it. I wasn't super impressed with the address book or calendar functions and so it was a rather expensive but unimpressive toy. Then I discovered ebooks.

I was always an avid reader. I would go on vacations with half my suitcase filled with paperbacks. I carried one to every doctor's appointment. I read in the car until the sunlight faded and then continued on with a flashlight until my batteries died. The ebook was an amazing upgrade for me. Suddenly I could carry dozens of books in less space than one paperback. Also, it was backlit and so I could read in the dark. It was wonderful. I never struggled with eye strain, so other than the occasional low battery issue, I never looked back.

Due to issues I won't go into now, I switched from my old ebook format to the Kindle format a couple of years ago. I don't actually own a Kindle. I use a Kindle app on my iPhone. I'm perfectly happy with that. It is smaller than the Kindle device, has backlight capability, and is always with me. I love ebooks. It is by far my preferred format for reading.

I recently stumbled upon a new website that is really great. It is called Lendle. Some Kindle books are lending enabled. The publisher determines if that function is enabled, not Amazon. If the book is lending enabled, you can loan the book to someone else with a Kindle account one time for two weeks. Or, they could loan a book to you for two weeks. The problem is, I don't know anyone else using a Kindle. That's where Lendle comes in.

You set up an account with Lendle and tell it what Kindle books you own. They automatically figure out which of those are lending enabled. (I own 81 Kindle books. Only 16 are lending enabled.) You get a few free borrowing credits just for signing up and entering your book list. Your available loans are entered into a database along with everyone else's. Then you can browse available books and spend a borrowing credit to request a loan. You earn another borrowing credit for every book you loan out. As an added bonus, Lendle gives you a small credit (5-49 cents so far for the five books I have currently loaned out) for each book you loan out. When your account reaches $10 they send you an Amazon gift certificate.

Their catalog is pretty slim because so few books are lending enabled. However, I found one I wanted and requested the loan. It came through within half an hour and then I was reading the book on my phone. It was great. I requested the sequel. Now, that one is taking longer. The lender has two days to actually send you the book and this person is a bit slower. Still, I'm getting to read free books in exchange for loans that were sitting around unused in my Kindle account.

If you have a Kindle account, I highly recommend checking out Lendle.

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

Therapy Materials Review: Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This is a review of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book. The book was developed by Nancy Kaufman, MA, CCC-SLP. Nancy Kaufman is a nationally acclaimed expert in apraxia who has developed assessment and treatment materials in the area of apraxia. The book is 127 pages and is a 9" x 13" spiral-bound hardcover book. This book contains 16 different motor-speech "workouts" and some great resource pages in the beginning of the book on a variety of useful topics. Just like with the Kaufman Kit Level 1, the Workout Book focuses primarily on the consonants /m, p, b, t, d, n, and h/.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book will usually be children between the ages of two and six. The pictures in the book were designed with those ages in mind. The book will be most useful for children who are struggling with producing simple syllable shapes and need to focus on the early emerging consonants /p, b, m, t, d, n, h/.

Description of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This is a 9" by 13" spiral-bound hard back book with 127 pages. The book begins with resource pages on a variety of topics followed by 16 different types of activity pages. An SLP could pick up this book and use it with clients with very little advance preparation. I believe this book would also be useful to parents for home practice.

• Introductory Pages and Resources
  The book begins with some great explanations and resources:
  
  • Description of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol
  • Treatment Tips for Establishing First Words
  • Introduction to the Mutt Family (characters used both in the workout book and the treatment kit)
  • Explanation of Word Approximations
  • Discussion of Vowels
  • Pictorial Guide to Hand Signal Cues for Vowels
  • Vowel Workout
  • Pictorial Guide to Hand Signal Cues for Consonants
  • Discussion of Other Cueing Techniques
  These resource pages are very well done and are written in a way that is easy to understand and very useful. These first 26 pages add significant value to the person trying to use this book to help children with severe speech delays.
  
  Here is an example of one of the resource pages:
  
  
  
  
• Workouts
  The next section of the book consists of 16 "workouts". These workouts are exercises designed to easily elicit many practice productions of specific motor-speech combinations. Each workout begins with an explanation of the targeted skill (for the SLP) and is followed by activity pages that are well designed and engaging even for very young children. The workouts address the following topics:
  
  • Reduplication (CVCV)
  • Consonant Vowel (CV)
  • Same Initial Consonant Pivot Phrases with CV
  • Pivot Phrase "Open"
  • Naming Function: Noun-Verb-Object
  • "I Want" Pivot Phrases to Request Objects
  • "I Want To (Verb)" to Request Actions
  • Final Consonant Inclusion of /p, t, k/
  • Simple Bisyllabics (C1V1C2V2) plus CVC
  • Naming Action: Noun-Verb-Object
  • Sequence Stories: Noun-Verb-Object
  • Present Progressive Structure
  • Short Stories
  • Scripting Functional Language
  • Click here to see sample pages. (You may have to reload page after it opens.)

How to Use the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This book is a wonderful resource for any SLP. The early workouts are perfect for beginning work with children with severe speech delays. The later workouts are great for generalization of speech skills and are also great for working on expressive language skills as well. The book is compact, portable, and reproducible. It is a great investment.

Pros and Cons of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

• Pros:
  This book is sturdy, has great reference information, and has 16+ ready-to-go activities that are appealing and useful for a wide variety of speech and language students. The book takes you from eliciting single consonants and vowels to generalizing early emerging sounds in phrases and short sentences.
• Cons: The book is expensive. It only addresses early emerging consonants.

Bottom Line:

This is a great investment. The cost is high, but not completely inaccessible and worth every penny. You get a product that is educational for you, includes ready-to-go activities, is appealing to children, and is useful for a fairly wide variety of clients. It is also accessible and useful for parents that want to do extra practice at home for children with severe speech delays or expressive language delays.

You might also be interested in the following articles:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Kaufman Speech Praxis Kit 1 (Basic Level)

Apraxia Therapy Materials: The Big Book of Exclamations

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

OT and Pudding

Our occupational therapist showed up yesterday morning with a box of pudding. I'm not a huge fan of pudding myself, so I'm pretty sure my children have never made pudding before. They might have been served some at school or at my parent's house. Perhaps they've tried some at a buffet. We've never had any here at home though.

Our goals for the day were to work on feeding (she came at breakfast time) and to continue to work on sensory exploration. While I made breakfast (eggs, sausage, and dry cheerios) the OT made vanilla pudding with the children. The children enjoyed tasting the dry mix, measuring and pouring in the milk, and stirring the pudding. Then we let the pudding set while we ate breakfast.

Ava likes dry cheerios, tolerates a little egg, and traditionally won't touch sausage. That was exactly the mix that the OT requested. First we got Ava to touch the sausage in exchange for some extra cheerios. Then we persuaded her to kiss a piece of sausage in exchange for more cheerios. Finally, we did manage to get her to lick it in exchange for some cheerios. She did not eat any. However, a month ago, I couldn't even get her to touch something she refused to eat so getting her to lick something is significant progress.

After breakfast, our OT wanted the children to fingerpaint with the vanilla pudding on construction paper. We got all set up. Everyone chose their favorite color construction paper (orange for Michael and pink for Ava). Then the OT put a dollop of pudding on each piece of construction paper. Both kids took one look and absolutely refused to touch it.

The OT modeled making a sun on her piece of paper. The kids were still not tempted. She used some cheerios to give her sun a smiley face. Still no takers on the activity. She offered them a paper towel to help keep their hands clean. Nope. Then I remembered a comment from one of my readers about how her son would only play with shaving cream if there was a bowl of water nearby (Thanks Gentle Blue!). I went and got two bowls of water and finally we were able to get started. Michael went first and Ava started tentatively with one finger. We made dots and lines. We tried unsuccessfully to get handprints. Ava washed her finger off in that bowl of water after every single dot or line.

I got Ava to play a game where I would draw something with the pudding and then she'd "erase" it with her finger. She always enjoys that game. I tried to continue the playful atmosphere by dabbing some pudding on the back of her hand. It was a big mistake. She had a meltdown. We had to clean her hands off instantly and she refused to participate or even stay at the table after that. I felt terrible. Instead of the experience ending on a slightly positive or neutral note, I pushed her too far and it ended really negatively. Lesson learned I suppose.

It is fascinating to see the variety of rather common household substances (shaving cream, cornstarch and water, instant pudding) that the OT is using in therapy. It's been good. I've been very pleased with how things are going so far.

Preparing Early

I've been slow to hop on board the Halloween excitement train. The very first year Michael was about to turn one and I was pregnant with Ava. My parents did Halloween with Michael and I stayed home and rested.

The second year my children were old enough to really participate. Michael was about to turn two and Ava was not yet one. We bought costumes at the last minute at Old Navy choosing from the few costumes that were still available in the appropriate sizes. Michael was a tiger and Ava was a kitty. It was fine, but they wore the costumes for about 45 minutes total.

Last year they were a little more excited. We waited too long again (about a month before Halloween) and chose from limited options at Old Navy a second time. Michael was a dragon and Ava was a bee. They were baby costumes. The ones that are sort of like sticking your children into a stuffed animal.

This year Michael is old enough to remember the last Halloween and to be excited about the coming Halloween. I actually remembered that waiting until the end of September was going to result in poor selection. Last night we made an outing of going to look at costumes. We went to Cracker Barrel which often has cute costumes. We found a couple of cute costumes in appropriate sizes. Then we went next door and treated the children to half of a chocolate Krispy Creme doughnut with sprinkles each. They were so excited. All in all a successful night.

Michael's fireman costume will need some sort of pants and a warm shirt underneath the jacket. Ava's costume will need some method of keeping her warm. Perhaps a long-sleeve leotard and heavy tights? So, we're not completely done preparing yet. But it is nice to be a little ahead of schedule this year.