Pecs

After our interview with the primary school (which included the area school support coordinator and our EI special ed teacher) it was decided to investigate assisting Hannah's communication with a visual system. I spoke with her ST and we are now using pictures from PECS to help increase Hannah's utterance length and to encourage her to attempt more words - using the pictures to assist the listener understand just what word she is saying if her clarity is not adequate.

Today I am home with Kit who is sick -so I got the laminator out and put some thought into next week's kindy orientation. I have met the kindy teachers but haven't actually spoken to them specifically about Hannah. According to the letter - the kindy teachers take the children for 'activities' and the principal takes the parents - no doubt for a good 'talking to!"!!! lol.

So - Hannah has a keychain tag that she can put through the loophole of her jeans - she has it for preschool but I doubt that she uses it much - she can manage the communications on it without using the visuals or for some like 'Can I play' really needs an adult to help her use it with her peers - or it just wouldn't be used. Anyhow I think that it is a good idea and perhaps a new start in a kindy with some aid time might revive it - so I added a few visuals - My name is Hannah, sad, happy, tired, I like and I don't like. I hope it is enough to get her started at orientation.

I also did some more pics that might be useful like toilet routine, assembly, school bag, body bits, shapes, and a few others. They go in a homeade pecs book - I will wait and chat to the teachers though before I give that one to Hannah to use - it is more a tool for them to govern the use of but I must say that the sentence strip idea is really helping.

Time to put up some sightwords around the house too. After that I want to work on a Hannah Profile -a one page summary of just what she can do at the moment and any 'this works...' type of stuff so the teachers have an overview. I also have a letter explaining DS that I gave the preschool teacher with the view that if we felt it necessary it could be given to the parents too - it wasn't necessary - I think cos the kids were all a bit young. Still if she is going to be the only child in the school with DS I might revisit it and have a copy ready for the teachers - to use if need be. Any ideas on how to distribute such a letter if we do decide to use it?? It is basically an "I'm the same as you but learn some things more slowly ' type of letter and on the back were a few 'common myths' Q and A material I got from DSAssociation including what I think is a subtle lesson not to refer to her as a 'downs'. First some afternoon tea though.

Progress

The twins are back for the last term of the year. They were obviously happy to return to their routine. The preschool teacher commented on what a good day Hannah had had. She commented that Han had used a few new words - and that she had been able to understand them as her speech is getting clearer (YAY!!). Also she has put up sight words in the classroom - labels on the furniture. Well one boy noticed them and soon all the kids were looking at them and the teacher was talking to them about first sound and the next sound etc for recognising 'what word'. Hannah got one - House. Then the teacher got her to go and put the word on the dolls house in the room. Good work Hannah!! And good work Mrs S - this teacher has had no extra support in including Han in her class of 20 'regular' kids - except for the visit I arranged with Han's EI teacher. I think she provides a great program and given her lack of resources has done a great job with hannah.

Preschool has helped prepare Hannah for inclusive kindy - she has had to cope with 19 other 4-5 year olds en masse - not the easiest thing for her - but she has done it. She likes going to preschool. When I showed her a photo of her class and asked which kids she wanted to come to her party - she said very clearly - "everyone!" so even though she can be a isolated (from our perspective) and doesn't have any special friends there - she is accepted by the other children and sees herself as just part of the group.

I am taking her to orientation of the school we probably won't go to next week - just in case. ALso it is probably good practise to give her a few opportunities to see what 'big school' will be like.

Pianorama

When the twins were little I used to walk up to our local shopping centre regularly with them. Ond day a tall woman with long black hair had set up a table in our suburban centre peddling her music school. On a whim I approached her. Now my family LOVE music - always have. I can't sing a note and tried but failed to learn the guitar as a teenager. DH loves music too - and he actually can play guitar and at the moment enjoys writing lyrics and music too. He has a few other friends he plays with for fun and has been in the 'work band'. I didn't know anything about ways of teaching music except what I had read in a book about Ellie - a young girl with DS whose Mum got her lessons in the 'suzuki method' to help her learn the piano. I had by this time learned about the wonderful Sujeet Desai too - so I knew it was very 'doable' but wasn't sure of the 'how' - besides they were very young.

Miss M was lovely. When I asked specifically whether it would be ok for Hannah - she said someting along the lines of "What is DS?" I explained a bit about her low muscle tone and speech delay. "Nevermind I'm sure she'll be fine. We have other kids with special needs like autism. We'll learn as we go." "Yep, she'll be fine." - or at least those snatches of our conversation linger in my memory. She was right on all counts - it was fine and we all learnt as we went along.

Now there was Beeboppers for 2 year olds - with lots of movement and percussion and Jitterbugs for 3 year olds which was more of the same really with the addition of the 'music house' for beginning to read music/rhythm. I still recall the day DH took the brats to music cos I had changed the class to Saturdays for a semester - he came out flabbergasted - I'd told him - but seeing it was quite different. She really was one of the best in the class. She LOVED the movement and the singing and the actions used in the songs. She had a ball.

This year at 4 they started Pianorama - now it is trickier. She isn't the 'best' in the class by a long shot. She still has fun and enjoys it. There is still movement and actions which she manages well. There is percussion too. They are also learning to 'read' music - she can recognise 'doh'. They are learning the keyboard - now Han can play with her right hand (Mrs Treble Clef) adequately - it requires a lot of fine motor skills to isolate each finger to play doh, reh, mi, fa, soh. But she gets it and tries her best. The left hand is harder for her to get the necessary control and strength to play with but she gives that a go with occassional success. Just now at the end of the year they are beginning to use both hands together - she doesn't really get that yet at all. Regularly each child stands in front of the group and says "My name is xxx, and I'm going to play yyy." and then they 'solo' a song they have been learning - Hannah LOVES to solo.

The classes have always had a rapid pace that she has had to work to keep up with but she generally manages that well. She is learning and developing - oral skills, motor skills, concentration, listening, reading and counting to name a few. Still it is sometimes hard to watch her have to 'fit in' all the time to work so hard to 'keep up' with the regualr kids. Recently they had their first 'concert performance'. She and her brother were really excited and did beautifully. DH and I LOVED watching them. I snuck up on stage to kneel beside Hannah to 'help' her with the 'Mr Bass Clef' bits.

The following week I spoke to Miss M about next year. DH and I had been discussing it. We really want her to be able to continue as we can see her learning so much from it - but at the same time we can see that she will keep falling behind her typical peers. We discussed the option of getting her private lessons if necessary - one of their former music teachers has been on mat leave - perhaps she'd be ready to work with Hannah using something like what they already do but modified a bit for her? The drawback of that was she actually benefits from the group stuff - and a lot of the activities are designed for small groups - I decided to discuss it with Miss M.

When I approached her the twins were in the middle of their lesson with Miss A and Miss M was doing paperwork at the front desk that is in the classroom. "I was just thinking about that!" she said when I approached her. Anyways the decision is for the twins to have back to back lessons on a Saturday - Kit to go to level 2 book and Hannah to stay on Level 1 book. Miss M says it will be different songs etc so she won't be just 'repeating' the current book although the skills they teach will be the same.

We'll see what happens from there - but what I am happy about is that we got to that point. From 'what is ds?' to the teacher knowing Hannah, seeing her strengths and weaknesses clearly and coming up with a plan on how to best meet those needs. Fantastic - that is what I hope will happen at school too - cos I do have a wee concern that the princiapl doesn't really beleive Han will 'cope' there for very long - yet I know of other kids who have been able to stay in a mainstream class for all of primary - if the school thinks like Miss M does then that may just be 'doable' too!
Here's the address for our music classes http://www.ismaustralia.com/

Specs4us

I think everyone should have their child's eyes checked before they start school. Kit has had his tested twice in gov't funded programmes for preschoolers. Hannnah has seen an opthamologist before so for her it was a case of follow up. Specs4us make frames designed with some of the facial features of kids with DS in mind - apparently lots of 'typical' kids specs are too big for hteir little faces or keep sliding down their face cos of the shape of their nose bridge. There are not many places that have them in Aust - they are US made but Edgecliff Eyes has just started stocking them - lucky for us. Anyways she has only had them for half a day - so far so good!

Letters and experiments

Well our offer of enrolment letters came today. I was pleased that Hannah's was identical to Kit's with the exception of 'Please read the "conditions of Enrolment" sheet enclosed' ... which had been replaced with a more specific paragraph that referred to regular reviews of adjusted curriculum to meet Hannah's needs, that she'd be in a mainstream class with other students who also required support and that our ongoing support in the classroom would help her successful integration and provide support for her learning.

So I am happy with that - it was positive (mostly) and reflected the discussions we have been having with the school. Orientation happens next term and I will use that time to investigate specific individual orientation activities that may help Hannah.

Little brat will be getting glasses to wear from tomorrow. Her opthamologist noticed that her right eye is 'turning' a bit - she thinks it will be able to be managed quite well with glasses - so fingers crossed! I'll try and psot a picture cos she sure looks cute in them.

There is also a research experiment that I am hoping to participate in - literacy and numeracy - Hannah would be randomly assigned to one or the other. It requires me to attend 8 training sessions though - so I have written up a proposal for work as I can't afford to lose pay. I am lucky that as a social science teacher - a large part of my course relates to research methods - I can (possibly) justify it as professional development. Also we should have stopped formal teaching for the bulk of it so it will only affect 2 (hopefully!) afternoons where I will need to leave lessons for my students. Also I am not asking the school to cover any additional expenses and I have offered to share what I learn with other staff in my faculty. Fingers crossed I think it would be fun, may help Hannah and should help me in my work too.

Puzzles

If you follow this link [ http://shamptons.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-part-of-puzze.html ]to an earlier ost on shamptons you can see the farce that is reality v notions.

Today was the brats first day at after school care and given my previous conversations with the person in charge there - I was quite nervous. Yelling at hte kids to find Hannah's 'talking tags' - as I call the auslan pics she has attached to her waist on a keychain to help with communication at preschool. I thought it might allay the fears of hte after school care workers. It wasn't to be found anywhere - so I took them off to preschool all dressed up in their animal safari glory without it.

They looked gorgeous in their costumes. We passed lots of kids in animal outfits on their way tot he school and the opther preschoolers when we got there were very excited. Hannah was overwhelmed. Poor love - it broke my heart. Eventually I went and hid just outside the door as I know that sometimes hanging around feeling terrified for her just gives her an opportunity to avoid going along with the class. Anyways it worked although she was still abit upset she did go and line up with the others and hold Kit's hand. I was worried - this would just exhaust ehr and then she had her first after school care experience - and I really wanted her to make a good impression. (I know that sounds silly - but given everything we have been through this year in terms of getting people to see past her disability perhaps it isn't as crazy as it sounds now as I type it!). I felt sick. I didn't go to work. I worried all day. I cleaned up a bit and did a grocery shop, found her 'talking tag' and laminated some new pics just in case they might be useful next week and as soon as I could acceptably go there - I went to pick them up.

Well - they were on the other side of the school. Kit was sitting with an adult and a few other kids watching a lot of boys play football - he was taking it all in as he does. Cautiously assessing the situation and seeing who he could make friends with. Hannah was in the hall - dancing. The carer was very happy with how she'd gone and as I hoped a little girl (Olivia) had taken her under her wing - and had asked the carer if she could look after Hannah each week while she was there. She had a ball. I asked about the talking tag - they'd been lent the preschool teacher's copy - but no - no need for that I was told. Clearly Han had managed to take her queue from the other kids very successfully. I was very proud of her. I know she is looking forward to going again next week.

Progress

Today Hannah had an individual session with her special ed teacher - it is great to see how much she has progressed - and how she is starting to get some of the numeracy and literacy concepts we have been working on. Her SpEd teacher is great - very comitted - we are lucky to have her. Anyways - Han was matching die spots with the written numeral up to 8 quite well. She 'read' simple sentences such as My name is Hannah. I am a girl. I am 4 years old. She also dis some counting and reading ina great little resource that I plan on googling later on - How Many? 2 shoes, 3 pigs etc - it uses velcro for her to select the correct ones to attach to the different pages. She did a fantastic version of This old Man - I still recall one fohte teachers at Uni commenting on how teaching rhyming to our kids is really hard - well if there is any chance they'll get it - I can see that this song using simple pictures and the corresponding numerals will surely do it! They also read Kit and I a wonderful story book - Mouse Mess - which clearly Hannah loves so I will have to see if I can buy it locally. She attends morning EI playgroup which Kit and I don't stay for - when we were driving home she told me that she had read a book and when I asked which one she said 'Mou Mea' which I was totally at a loss to interpret - but then this afternoon the penny dropped - Mouse Mess - yep definitely one for the library if I can get it. Some great work - but also some naughty behaviour - as has been seen at preschool this past couple of weeks - falling to the ground and refusing to move - hope that one doens't last.