The Joseph Robert Shaw Foundation

Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury

Art and Agency

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A few weeks ago, I posted about Joey’s monster. 

Joey’s mother recently sent me this picture, and I teared up. Joey’s great-aunt made him gloves with his monster on them. I was surprised by my tears. After all, it had just been an art project, right?

Art is a way we all express ourselves, though (like so much of communication) it involves motor planning and motor control. As children move through development, their art becomes more intentional. They understand the choices and control they can make as they work, and their art is a true expression of themselves. [Read more…]

The Power of Names

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I opened the door to Joey’s house and found him waiting for me at his device. He looked at me, grinned, turned back to his computer, and said “Hi Miss Ann-Bailey. My name is Joey.” I can’t tell you how exciting it was to hear him say my name – and based on the grin on his face, it seemed like he was pretty excited to say it too.

I hadn’t thought much about the need to add names to Joey’s device. It didn’t seem to be such a priority, considering the need for other highly used words. So I was surprised at how natural it made Joey’s conversation when he suddenly had access to our names. [Read more…]

Learning Prepositions

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I was gathering my things to leave Joey’s house, when I heard Joey say “under” from the eye gaze device. He’d been playing with a toy bee on his tray and he’d lost it. As I chatted with his mom, he said “bee, grasshopper, fly” and pointed in the direction of the floor. But I was busy with my conversation, and didn’t really notice what was going on. And so, he reached deeper into his repertoire. UNDER. He told me where I could find the item. Independently. Without prompting.

Like so many times with Joey, one small word is so meaningful.  [Read more…]

First Day of School Success!

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Since last week’s post, I’ve gotten texts, calls, and questions about how Joey’s first day of school went. Far more than anyone asking about my own daughters’ first day of school. But I get it. Joey is Joey, and we all spent all summer waiting for this day.

I felt very lucky that my session with Joey was scheduled for a few hours after his first day of kindergarten. I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say about his day, and how he felt about it all. In my mind, I would sit down and he would immediately start talking non-stop. 

Of course, what really happened is exactly what I had already experienced when I tried to talk to my own daughter about her first day of school. My questions were met with a big grin, and then the subject was changed a few times. These five year olds had already lived their first day – who wants to talk about it again? The five year olds don’t have time to slow down and chat – they have things to do!

Slowly, I remembered that the only way to get information out of my own daughter was to ask distinct, direct questions – so I changed my questions and my expectations, and gained a little more insight.

So how was it?  [Read more…]

How do we truly assess student knowledge?

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It’s spring, which means it’s time for end of year assessments in schools all across the country. This year, I’m making no exception for Joey.

Typically, I’m constantly assessing Joey’s skills throughout our sessions so that I can plan our next activities to target what he’s ready to learn next. This spring, since Joey is going into kindergarten in the fall, I thought it was time to get some hard data on more isolated academic skills. [Read more…]

Saturday Serenade

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Test post for Saturday Serenades https://www.musichealsglennjan.com/saturday-serenades

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