Handwriting without tears

Handwriting without tears is a great program…I have been working with it with Avery for a couple years now..but really A LOT in the last year. I bought the kindergarten teachers book and the student workbook and that is what I have been using and of course I make copies of the worksheets in the workbook so I can do them over and over and over again..but they also have other great tools but they can be a tan expensive..well not when you can make them yourself!! 

So I did a  DIY of the letter curves to make them free!! I had some scrap thin particle board in our garage from a kids kitchen that my husband took apart (I was getting after him for keeping that thing too..kept telling him what in the world are you going to do with that stuff…well low and behold it worked out in my favor so then I borrowed Avery’s OT therapist actual ones and copied them..naughty I know.  so then I had Jared cut them out with his jig saw. he was thrilled..he told me to I had to try but then didn’t like my job so he quickly took over..ha! and she had made up the sheets of paper to go with them and she let me copy them too..but they would be easy to make up once you got the pieces cut

 

 

What is this good for you ask????? Pre-writing instruction and practice made easy (size, shape, and position words and concepts). Use with Capital Letter Cards and Mat to teach letter building. It all helps with prewriting skills too. Heres the link to the website for the wood pieces…and the capital letter papers..Ideal for children who are just starting to learn to build capital letters. Front teaches stroke, sequence, and placement for letters using Wood Pieces Set. Opposite side of each letter card includes letter recognition matching activity..here’s the link to the website for the letter cards.

Few other things we have did ourselves that go back to Handwriting with out tears…buy a little chalk board at the dollar store and put the smiley face up in the corner with a permanent marker…and when you use chalk break it into pieces it’s a good OT fine motor skill too work on. and for the sponges..we just cut them up into little squares too..and do the wet.dry.try. on the chalk board with our letters.

31 for 21: Day 16 Twist n’ Write Pencil

So with Avery starting kindergarten we are working hard on her writing skills. And we have come along way but we still have a long ways to go..but today I am on cloud nine!!!! 
We have been dotting letters and numbers for her to trace. There has really been no attempt to write anything on her own besides her name. The only thing she could really write on her own really good was her name..and even with the dotting letters it has been hard for her to trace.  Look at the picture for example..she isn't right on the dots. I don’t think it is matching up for her visually!

Avery’s OT therapist brought this pencil that she found at a teacher store..and we were just going to try it and see how it worked!!!! It gives her more control for her smaller hands.. The shape helps the child hold the pencil correctly, and the size helps lessen the death grip that some have on pencils.

OH MY WORD!!!!!  This pencil is A-h-Ma-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!!! She wrote words on her own…the first two words in the following picture the therapist just called out each letter and she wrote it from her memory (mouse and night)..and then she thought she would see how she did with a visual cue so she wrote the word out first then had Avery copy it..

Brielle had to come home and bust my bubble a little and tell me that the only word that she could really read was cat…but I don’t care..I can see the other ones:)
This picture looks like her therapist has her hand on Avery’s hand helping her but she really doesn't ..I promise!! Anyways..guess what I had to do then…Go online and find me that pencil and I ordered her some!!!!  I ordered them from here and some refill pencil lead from here If anyone else wants to look up this pencil it is called a twist n’ write pencil…


Two pointers that we are going to change from the suggestion of our OT therapist…
*To help her keep her letters contained…draw individual squares. and have her place one letter in each square..visual box..it works great!!!  I've showed you that before with Avery’s name..how well she controlled it once we drew boxes and had her place one letter in each box..
*Don’t do dots for them to trace. Use a highlighter and have them trace or copy what ever they need to from that instead. All of the dots are not good visually..and it makes sense..go back up and look at the picture of how she traced the word with the dots..and then look at the picture of the pencil..in the corner of the picture you will see some numbers highlighted and she traced over them with pencil..look at how well she traces the highlighted ones compared to the dotted ones! Point made! Another suggestion for tracing was to write the word out in highlighter and then copy it on a copier and it will be lighter gray for her to trace too…
I found a YouTube video of someone showing how to write with this pencil..Check it out!!

A little of what’s been going on

We have had a busy couple of weeks seems like it anyway…Avery went back to the special needs dr. and nutritionist..I think it was a pretty good visit..We decided that it was time to re check her swallow study because it had been a year since her last one and she has not been completely cleared so she will continue to have these until then I believe..I was not looking forward to it bc after the last one she was not very cooperative. The last one showed penetration from drinking from thin straws and curly ones..We had wanted to start a straw therapy on her at this time last year but couldn't do it bc she couldn't drink from them kinds of straws and that is what it involved. So we didn't do it. but everything else looked ok then..Well when we were back at the dr I asked some questions about Avery’s eating habits bc I figured “You know what I need to know and we should probably take a caution approach to the whole weight gain and watching what she eats..Its my responsibility as her Mom to teach her to eat the right stuff and control her portions. If we let Avery eat as much as she wants to  she would eat a whole pot of spaghetti..No lie there!!!! She will finish her plate and then sign more as fast as she can so I will give her a little bit more and then she will eat that and sign more again..and so on and so on..until finally I know that she has had enough for sure bc she has eaten way more then me..lol.. So I need to know how much she should be eating at meal time to prevent having ot do the whole weight loss at a later time..Last summer I was in SD at the water park and i seen an older woman with DS and she was severely over weight..I just don't want to go there if we don't have to!!!  I know it is really common bc they do have a hard time stopping and controlling the need to stop to eat so if I know that they have this problem wouldn't I want to help correct it when she is little?? Probably right??!!  I'm not saying that I'm going to go to extremes and count calories or anything like that..I'm just going to be watching her portion control and help her learn to stop when she is full..I'm glad that I asked bc it was very interesting and I learned a lot but then I already  knew some too..  So anyways on to the swallow study..We had the swallow study scheduled for Thursday at some other place that I have never gone to before and i had even tried to get it changed while I was in the dr office but the lady tried telling me that they don't do it at the hospital anymore unless you are admitted..I'm thinking this is very strange but whatever I guess..So I get up early to go to the appointment and find someone to watch my babies and bring Avery hungry and thirsty ( I have found that it works better for me to do this it isn't necessary  but she will cooperate better if i do this) to find out that nope they don't a modified swallow study and that I need to go to the hospital to get it done..Urrrghhh anger management!!!!!!!!!!!  I knew it and tried telling the lady that but nope what do I know right???!!!!!  and of course they only do it on Fridays  so on Friday I had to do it all over again…So anyways we get there and Laura (the speech therapist that helps with the swallow study is so good and awesome I must say!!! I just love her and she really does know what she is doing!!!!!  Anyways after several drinks form different cups and eating different foods we have come to find out that the cup that Avery drinks from everyday and all the time is the one cup that she penetrated on..WHAT???!!!!  Are you kidding me???  I couldn't believe it..this whole time I'm giving her a cup that is hurting her..The therapist was surprised that she has not had pneumonia. She gets the liquid way to fast from it..If some of you are all wondering what kind of cup it was its the kind that has no valve and its controlled by them..well no wonder she would drink the entire cup in a minute huh???!!! Duh!!! She did do find from a straw and of course I forgot the curly straw so we couldn't test that but the therapist did end up putting two straws together and she said it was basically the same and she did fine with that..I had brought another sippy cup too the first years one and she did fine with that one too..so we will use that one or use a straw I guess..but the therapist was telling me about a cup that really sparked my interest… its called a little sip cup…I guess it will only give you a half a tablespoon – one tablespoon of liquid at a time and then it stops..so this would really help with Avery drinking all of her cup right away.It helps with control flow..she also mentioned some straws that are awesome and control the flow of liquids but they are ridiculously expensive and like $50 for twelve straws and they aren't reusable ..I told you they were ridiculously expensive didn't I. I'm sorry but I do not have that kind of money just sitting around...I don't understand if you come up with a product that will benefit so many kids why make it so expensive that no one can afford it..duh??!!! .As far as her chewing went well she said that she could be chewing up her food a little more too before swallowing so we need to keep reminding her to chew chew chew..which we have been doing..she is really bad at meats..just something to keep working on…Its really weird watching them studies..all of a sudden you see this whole chunk of peach just slide down her throat and it makes you do a little wiggle bc you can just feel it sliding down your own throat..I just wanted to reach over and grab that little peach..haha!!!! I have seen her acid reflux on one of her swallow studies too..that was weird to first it goes down then it goes back up…lol!!!!  One thing that the speech therapist mentioned was that she works with an older patient that has DS and she seems to be alot like Avery when it comes to eating and drinking and she said that she has worked on “bite,bite, and then drink..” and she kept saying that it wasn't learned overnight but she is now doing it and has benefited so much from eating this way..so maybe we will try to work on that..it will take work I know that.. what doesn't take work? Right!! :)
They called me back with a date for the hospital stay for the cpap machine..Guess what day it is…December 23..Lovely huh??? I know that’s what i thought too..and that was the soonest time they had so I figured we better not change it or it will get bumped back to  February or something.  This whole sleep thing is kind of been a roller coaster. Im tired of everyone asking me how I'm even sleeping….And yes at first I thought how in the world am I going to sleep knowing that any time during the night Avery c0uld have a really bad episode and she could possibly not wake up…It really is just gut wrenching..and scares me to death.. but that's where I need to rely on my faith and savior to get me through this. bc I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…only the Lord will get me through this bc I know I surely cant do it on my own!!!
“ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God: and the PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Phil 4:6-7
I need to turn my worry and anxiety into prayer..so whenever I start to worry about it I'm just going to stop and pray and God will be with me..and get me through it..God is in control and I know that…so God’s peace is going to guard my heart against my anxiety..but I'm asking that you please say a pray for me bc its not easy!!!
They are starting a new program with Avery in therapy..its called Handwriting with no tears..it looks really interesting and I really need ot research it more but I just haven't had time yet so will look into it more and get back with you..but it looks like it will really focus on getting her ready for school and that is a main goal right now..she has only had a couple of sessions with it and they have clever cute songs that go with it all too..but one thing that i thought was a really good idea was put a smile face up in the corner os they know that is the top and that is where they start..how clever is that..??? anyways they did a letter turkey with Avery and had her pick a certain letter out of a couple and she got most of them right..I was so proud..she is really starting to learn her letters I think…:~)  Way to go Signing Times!!! haha!!!  Just wish the dvds weren't so expensive..bc she really does like them and watches them all the time and has learned so much form them..i guess we might have to get a couple more for Christmas and her birthday is coming up too…once again they have to market up the price of something that teaches so many kids and is such a good valuable learning tool..I have really noticed a big difference sense we have added the second speech therapy session at the school. Way more imitating and trying to say two words together..
I have noticed Avery’s one eye turning in a little bit so I think I need to make an eye appointment and get it checked out..quite frankly I'm getting a little tired off all this medical stuff..sometimes it gets to be to much and I just wish there wasn't so much many  medical problems with down syndrome..

Sorry this was so long with no pictures..i was going to try to post pictures but it has been a long sick week/weekend at our house..hope the stomach bug hasn't gotten any one else!!!!