Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury
Joey loves fire trucks. Whenever I show him something red, he’ll often say fire engine on his eye gaze device after he labels it. So when I came across a fire engine book I figured I should try it with him. To be honest, the book does not have a lot of the qualities I usually look for when I’m choosing a good book to use with Joey, but it did have a dog and a fire engine. Since we are going for interactions and not quality literature, I thought we’d give it a go. [Read more…]
I love when I find a simple picture book that gives so many great opportunities to model using Joey’s AAC device (and builds in some academic skills as well!). My most recent discovery is Oops! Pounce! Quick! Run! By Mike Twohy.
Oops! Pounce! Quick! Run! is an alphabet book, with each page giving just one or two words in alphabetic order to tell a story. It opens with a mouse Asleep, when suddenly a Ball bounces onto his lap, forcing him to Catch it. He is quickly stalked by a Dog, who sticks his Eye into the mouse hole. Upon seeing his ball, he sticks his Feet in. You get the idea. It’s simple, yet tells a clear (but silly) story about a dog and a mouse having a fight over a ball. What’s more, it uses many of the words on Joey’s AAC device, or at least provides an opportunity to use additional core words that are not in the book. [Read more…]
My new favorite book (and I’m pretty sure it is also Joey’s) is Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort. Seals has everything I look for in a good picture book – a repetitive, rhythmic phrase or lines that a child can learn and sing/move along with, an interesting story line (or any sort of story line), animals (not just the cute ones), and good core vocabulary words. A preschool teacher recommended the book to me, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites. [Read more…]
On Thursday, I handed Joey a few bright red maple leaves. He took one, held it up, looked at it, and then went to his eye gaze device. “Fire Engine” he said. “Fire engine.”
Fire engine. Fire engine… Oh! Red! Fire engines are red! YES! This leaf was just as bright red as a fire engine. Joey grinned at my connection, and then dropped every leaf I had put in front of him on the floor, one by one. Apparently, bright red maple leaves were not nearly as engaging as I’d thought they would be. [Read more…]
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or those of you who have been following this blog, you know that it is intended to capture Joey’s journey as we watch him develop and learn. Yet in many ways, this blog is documenting my own journey as his teacher as well. As I watch Joey learn and quickly grasp onto new tasks, I find myself asking many questions along the way about how best to apply what I already know about teaching children with disabilities and child development to Joey and his unique needs. [Read more…]
