An Unexpected Diagnosis

I have been getting requests to share what activity websites I recommend. I love the ones below! You will have tons of FUN!

Learning 4 Kids
http://www.learning4kids.net

Pre-School Play
http://pre-schoolplay.blogspot.com/2013/03/letters-and-sounds-sound-cylinders.html

Blog Me Mom
http://www.blogmemom.com/fine-motor-activities-matches-and-straws/

APPS For Children with Special Needs
http://a4cwsn.com

The Stay at Home Mom Survival Guide
http://www.thestay-at-home-momsurvivalguide.com/p/preschool-activities.html

Mama.Papa.Bubba.
http://mamapapabubba.com

Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers
http://engagingtoddleractivities.wordpress.com/category/age-range/toddler-2-3-years/

Learn with Play at Home
http://www.learnwithplayathome.com/2013/02/number-recognition-ordering-with-paper.html

Craftulate
http://craftulate.com/2013/11/candy-corn-sensory-slime/?replytocom=247

Frugal Fun for Boys
http://frugalfun4boys.com/2013/05/13/build-a-chain-reaction-with-popsicle-or-craft-sticks/

Mama Jenn
http://mamajenn.com/blog/2011/06/diy-bottle-top-stamps.html

Walking by the Way
http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/category/preschool-activity-bags/

Picklebums
http://picklebums.com/2014/01/16/twenty-fun-things-to-freeze-in-ice-blocks/

Housing a Forest
http://www.housingaforest.com/fluffy-bathtub-paint/

Happy Hooligans
http://happyhooligans.ca/drop-box/

Nurture Store
http://nurturestore.co.uk/cardboard-box-crafts-for-kids#more-18455

Hands on as we grow
http://handsonhouse.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentine-countdown-tree.html

Buggy and Buddy
http://buggyandbuddy.com/toddler-activities-scooping-pom-poms/

Play Create Explore
http://www.playcreateexplore.org

Fantastics Fun and Learning
http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/top-10-ways-to-remember-the-abcs.html

Below is what Aliyah's Therapist wrote up as a progress report and receptive/expressive goals she has set for Aliyah back in September . I also included a Speech video of Aliyah during her speech therapy sessions with Hallie and below is September's Vocabulary Chart I made to keep track of Aliyah's progress with words.

Btw Hallie has a Speech Blog :) and I am happy to share it with you ! http://halliefreedman.com/

"September 17,2013
To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this note to give an update regarding Aliyah Hoffman and the progress we have made using her Accent700 Voice-Output Device (VOD) and Picture communication Symbols (PCS). Aliyah and I began working together July 16, 2013. Since that time we have made progress with her communication via a total communication approach.

In a typical session Aliyah may produce the following forms of communication:

· Gestures/signs (some paired with a verbal command/label):

o “On”

o “all done”

o “more”

o “help”

o “sleep”

o “bye” [Aliyah will say Bye and blow me a kiss at the end of our sessions (or to signal when she wants a session to end)]

· vocalizations, verbal approximations without signs:

o “baby”

o “move” (as of recently)

o “up”

o “down”

o “elmo”

o “bus”

o “shoes”

o “beep”

o “open”

o “nana” (banana)

o “drink”

o “turtle”

o “fish”

o “cookie”

· Aliyah will echo a variety of words; however, she does imitate words meaningfully as well (some words include, “hello” or “hi” with wave, “play” (with an approximation of a sign), “moo”, “okay”, “my turn”, “eat” paired with sign, “crackers”, “Airplane”, “in”, “put in”, “hi mi mou” (hi Minnie/mickey mouse), “ball”, “please”, “on mouth”, “out”, “night night”, “go”, “apple”, “clean up”). Please see Lizette’s comprehensive list of vocabulary for a complete idea of Aliyah’s receptive and expressive repertoire.

On August 3, 2013 we introduced PCS to Aliyah in our home sessions as we know it is a form of communication commonly used in the Preschool Education Program (PEP) classroom. Aliyah appears to be highly motivated by the sound of removing the Velcro PCS’s. We have started to use this to Aliyah’s advantage to identify vocabulary and select from a field of 2 to make a choice (still at a stage where one of the symbols is a favorite game/toy and the other is a random symbol to identify Aliyah’s ability to select something she actually does want at the moment). On the first day that it was introduced Aliyah successfully made the same choice several times given a field of 2 symbols to choose from. It is my belief that this should be included as a modality in Aliyah’s repertoire of methods used in combination with gestures, word approximations, verbalizations, and Aliyah’s VOD. This would help give her quick access to communication when her device is not present (e.g., dinner time, bath time, when getting dressed, etc.) until she can independently use her device in these settings.

Progress on VOD:

· I have limited the number of buttons that show on the main screen to the 5 Aliyah most commonly uses to give her a jumping off point and a chance to feel successful using her device. Those 5 buttons are:

o “Play” – we often “play” “baby” in our sessions, so Aliyah knows where these buttons are located (identified with it 75% accuracy on 7/30/13; performance since has depended on level of attention/focus and amount of time given to process request).

o “Sleep” – Aliyah has learned this button is located bottom right and she will say “Sleep”, touch the button and then make the sign for sleep immediately following. She has actually touched the button, stood up, walked to her bed and laid down on her pillow during a session (she was very sleepy that day and I was very impressed!) – She has consistently demonstrated that she knows where this is located and the meaning of this button over our sessions. (Note: Identified this button 75% of the time on 7/30/13 and now will consistently identify it when she is focused and is given time to process the request).

o “Gym” – Aliyah spends a lot of time at the “gym” with her private OT, PT, and her other private SLP. A variety of activities Aliyah commonly does at the gym have been added to the buttons in this category (we created “horsy”, “trampoline”, “run”, etc)

o “Eat” – We have added some of Aliyah’s favorite foods (goldfish, crackers, etc)

o “Go” – We have worked on identifying the location of this button but have not used it much during our sessions other than to help learn location of it. It has go à home, outside, etc (which we agree are useful for Aliyah to learn).

In regards to Aliyah’s progress with her device we have seen the consistency of her performance fluctuate. This is most likely a result of changes in Aliyah’s medications over the past few months. Aliyah loves her device and playing with it so we are confident we can help her shape it into a functional form of independent communication. I would like to make it a goal this school year to help Aliyah feel successful by having a team approach where all professionals working with Aliyah focus on a similar repertoire of words, categories, etc. Since I have seen Aliyah’s performance with the device fluctuate, I would like to start tracking how long it takes Aliyah to process a request. It is my belief that she can do what is asked of her as long as we have her focused attention and she is given the necessary amount of time to carry through the task at hand. The amount of time needed is something we are starting to work on/track.

Some goals we have been working on/are introducing include:

· Receptive Language: Aliyah will identify (and show that she knows the meaning of) 50 novel nouns and 20 novel verbs in 8/10 opportunities with no more than one verbal prompt/reminder.

o Aliyah will discriminate between 1 preferred item picture and a 1 non-preferred item to demonstrate understanding

o Aliyah will point to a pictured noun/verb in a Fx2-5 with 80% accuracy

o Aliyah will point to 50 novel Nouns with 80% accuracy over 3 consecutive sessions

o Aliyah will point to/demonstrate 20 novel Verbs (actions) with 80% accuracy over 3 consecutive sessions

· Expressive Language: Aliyah will increase her ability to communicate her intents using words, word approximations, gestures, alternative and augmentative communication (AAC: PCS, VOD)in 8/10 opportunities with fading cues and prompts.

o Aliyah will request and/or label objects (food, toys, etc) during a structured or unstructured activity in at least 2 environments.

o Aliyah will protest (no, don’t want/like) during a structured or unstructured activity in at least 2 environments.

o Aliyah will comment during a structured or unstructured activity in at least 2 environments.

o Aliyah will Greet & bid farewell to peers/teachers/family/therapists

in at least 2 environments.

· EL: Aliyah will use gestures, PCS, her VOD, and/or word approximations to answer simple questions with 80% accuracy given no more than one cue/prompt.

o Aliyah will scan all cells of a 5-cell communication page and select the named picture with verbal and/or visual cues

o Aliyah will answer simple yes/no questions given verbal and/or visual cues

o Aliyah will answer simple what questions (e.g., “What’s that?”), given verbal and/or visual cues

o Aliyah will answer simple who questions about familiar adults and peers in her environment (e.g., who’s that?) given verbal and/or visual cues

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and/or concerns.

Thank you,

Hallie Freedman, MA CCC-SLP

Speech Language Pathologist"

Aliyah's Speech Therapy Session Jan 2014

Aliyah Hoffman Sept 2013 Vocabulary

# highlighted = Aliyah mimicked the word though Unsure she understands the meaning

Date confirm = confirmed Aliyah understood the meaning of the word (- - - means data was not collected)

#	Words	Understands	Signs	Vocalize	2 Word phrase	Date Confirm
1	All done	X	X	X		- - -
2	Stop	X	X	X		- - -
3	Baby	X	X	X	X	- - -
4	More	X	X	X	X	- - -
5	Ball	X	X	X		- - -
6	Push	X		X		- - -
7	Eat	X	X	X	X	- - -
8	Throw	X		X		3/17
9	Cookie	X	X	X		- - -
10	Dog	X	X	X		- - -
11	Cat	X		X		3/18
12	Up	X	X	X	X	- - -
13	Down	X	X	X	X	3/17
14	Drink	X	X	X	X	- - -
15	Bye	X	X	X	X	- - -
16	Hi	X	X	X		- - -
17	Bus	X		X	X	- - -
18	Beep-beep	X		X		- - -
19	Shoes	X	X	X		- - -
20	Off	X		X		- - -
21	My turn	X	X	5/10		- - -
22	Thirsty	X	X	X		- - -
23	Bubbles	X	X	X		- - -
24	Go	X	X	X		- - -
25	Yes	X		X		- - -
26	Please	X	X	X	X	- - -
27	Night-night	X		X		- - -
28	Banana	X		X		- - -
29	Bird	X	X	X		3/20
30	Hug	X	X	X		3/24
31	Tickle	X		X		3/25
32	In	X		X		3/25
33	Mom	X		X		- - -
34	Oh-oh	X		X		- - -
35	Nice	X	X	X		- - -
36	No	X	X	X	X	- - -
37	Cracker	X	X	X	X	- - -
38	Phone			X
39	Airplane			X
#	Words	Understands	Signs	Vocalize	2 Word phrase	Date Confirm
40	Clap	X				- - -
41	Give me five	X	X			- - -
42	Sit	X	X	4/8/13		- - -
43	Blow nose	X				- - -
44	Give me	X				- - -
45	Hat	X		X		- - -
46	Jump	X		X		- - -
47	Turn	X		X		- - -
48	Spin	X		X		- - -
49	Open	X		4/27		- - -
50	Close	X		5/18		- - -
51	Bounce	X				- - -
52	Turn page	X				- - -
53	Run	X		X		- - -
54	Dad	X		X		3/28
55	Out	X		X		3/28
56	Help	X		X		4/3
57	Cow	X		X	X	4/4
58	Pow-Pow	X		X		4/4
59	Woof –Woof	With toy gun		X		- - -
60	Elmo	X		X		4/4
61	Kick	X		X		- - -
62	Kiss	X		X		- - -
63	Brush Hair	X				- - -
64	Brush Teeth	X	Teeth-5/17	Teeth-5/17		- - -
65	Step down/up	X		X		5/2
66	Thank you	X		X		4/29
67	Milk	X		X		4/24
68	Circle			X		5/16
69	Cheese	X	X			4/15
70	Outside	X		X		4/12
71	Ciao	X		X		4/17
72	Hola	X		X		4/18
73	I did it	X		X		4/18
74	Bravo	X		X		4/18
75	High five	X		X		4/25
76	Keys	X		X		4/29
77	Light	X		X		4/29
78	Bathtime	X				5/1
79	Again	X		X
80	Hotdog			X
81	Good Job			X

#	Words	Understands	Signs	Vocalize	2 Word phrase	Date Confirm
82	Eyes	X		X
83	Nose	X		X
84	Syrup
85	C-Drop	X		X		8/-/13
86	Chair	X		X		6/-/13
87	On	X		X		6/-/13
88	Swing	X		X		6/-/13
89	Pit	X				6/-/13
90	Diaper			X		8/-/13
91	Gym			X		8/-/13
92	Play	X		X		7/-/13
93	Ready Set Go	X		X		5/-/13
94	Moo	X		X		8/-/13
95	Hello	X		X		3/13/13
96	One			X		7/-/13
97	Two			X		7/-/13
98	Garbage	X				6/-/13
99	Toes			X		7/-/13
100	Sleep	X				6/-/13
101	Cut			X		8/-/13
102	Tomorrow			X		9/-/13

An Unexpected Diagnosis

Pages

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Speech March 2014

Friday, February 7, 2014

Activity websites I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!!!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Speech Therapy Video Jan2014!!!!