In the past few weeks my son has been talking a lot more, and saying new things. I think it was brought about from exposing him to a school environment where he's surrounded by lots of kids who seem to be constantly talking.
He's also asking more questions. I remember not so long ago (3-6mths back?), I had asked his speech therapist why is it that he wasnt asking questions like his peers. She had explained the reason and said that it'll come. It has now!
I'm so glad that not only is he talking more but also asking questions cos it serves as a guide to know what he's interested in. Armed with that insight, I hope to be able to feed his natural curiousity, and to customise lessons.
Having said that, he does tend to ask questions to which he already knows the answer. Perhaps it's because he seeks reinforcement of his knowledge. Perhaps he wants my attention. Or perhaps he's indicating that he wants to be introduced to new stuff - I feel I've not been spending enough time with him on expanding his cognitive abilities. I was focusing on his gross motor and fine motor the past few weeks. But that's another story.
I've been trying to remember the stuff he says, but as usual, I tend to forget. So below are bits and pieces of things he's said.
"Look at me!" - he had glitter dust all over his hands from making greeting cards. That was the first time ever, saying that. It was said about 1-2 weeks ago.
"Look at me!" - he had on his brand new shoes. This was said on Friday just past.
"I'm still hungry...Are you?" - after he had his smoothie! I usually doubt it when it's said after a meal or snack. The statement that he's still hungry is said often. The new part is where he adds on the "are you". It was said about a week ago.
"I dont know how to swim. Mama help me to swim better." - we were at the club and he was looking at a man swimming. It's grammatically incorrect but it was two sentences in one breath! That is his longest ever! It was said on Friday just past.
"What's wrong with you?" - it wasn't in a rude tone, the way adults scold someone else. He was making a statement. I was taken aback nonetheless. He's never said that before. It was out of the blue. No context set immediately before that. I think I had just changed my clothes and he came up to me saying that. I was puzzled. He then put his hand on my tummy, gave it a rub and said "Tummy ok now!". I made a guess and asked him if my tummy was upset and by rubbing it, he made it better. He nodded. (If he had hurt himself, that's what I do to make it better - rub it gently). I think it was said a few days ago.
"Pretend only!" - that's his answer when asked if he was a puppy (he was biting and tugging at his pillowcase); and when asked if he was a lion (when he roars); and when asked if he needs to pee (he holds his pants). This phrase is being said quite often in the last 1-2 weeks.
"Mama, look up there!" - he was fascinated with the lighted up stained glass. Normally, he'd just point and not use his words. This was his first time using his words to get me to look. I could sense the excitement in his voice. It came out very fast, the moment I entered the room. It was said a few days ago.
"How about that one?" - I dont have much time to shop and its hard to shop with him around nowadays, so a few days ago, after KizSports, I quickly darted into a shop (looking for a sweater for him). To avoid him crying and protesting (boredom), I roped him in. I casually asked him what he thought of this shirt or that jumper. He would sometimes answer. Then, after pointing out several items to him, I was surprised that he happily did a role reversal! He was instead now asking me "How about that one?" pointing randomly to the clothes. I gave my reply - too big; too small; let me check for size - oops, no size; too rocker; not nice colour; maybe; that's for adults; that's for girls. Sometimes he'd repeat my answer. It became a new game to him. I was happy to play along cos I found it very amusing. In the end didnt find anything suitable but it was the most fun shopping experience I had with him!
"Where is papa now?" He started asking this a few days ago. Before that, it was "Where is mama? Where is mama?" in a very sad voice, the moment I'm not within sight. He's been very clingy the past few weeks - but that again, is a story for another post. I'm glad he's now asking about papa.
"How are you doing, mama?" - that's what he means to say but it comes out as "How doing mama?". That's due to his dysarthria, where he skips some phenomes or syllables or words. I remind him there are missing words and get him to repeat slowly. I think this started 2-3 weeks ago.
"What's that sound?" - he asks this even when he most likely knows the answer: e.g. rain, a car alarm going off, papa walking around in the next room; toilet being flushed next door. Sometimes, it's a new sound: e.g. my car going over something on the road. I think this started 2-3 weeks ago too. There are games he plays where he guesses the sound - perhaps I'll write about it separately.
"What does it mean?" - when I use a word he doesnt understand. It's good for building his vocab. Perhaps started saying it 4 weeks ago.
"What happened there?" - while pointing to a car's missing hub cap or a dent. He also asked it while pointing to the outdoor play equipment or field in his kindergarten. He was asking me to relate the games they played there earlier on.
Other points noted
I note that he's asked 'who', 'what', 'where', and 'how' questions but not asked "Why" questions. I dont know why he's not asking 'why' questions!
I'm the one always asking him 'why' and it's usually this: "why are you angry?" and "why did you do that?" He's unfortunately been angry quite often.
The other aspect to note about his speech is that his volume is getting a little louder when he's at home. It's still very soft when talking to outsiders. But I am noting that there is a slight increase in the frequency of speaking in a slightly louder voice to his music teacher or CST therapist. Slow process.
Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speech. Show all posts
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Progress of his speech: Other languages, echo and Brag Book
Picking up bits of other languages
We are pleasantly surprised that he's picking up a second language, Bahasa Malaysia. I speak that to my helper and I guess he's been listening in. At times my helper does speak it to him, just for fun, but most of the time, it's English. He also likes to watch a local animation series, Upin dan Ipin, spoken in Bahasa.
Currently, whenever I ask my helper whether there's something or other in Bahasa, he'll chip in his two cents worth. While at the supermarket a few days ago, I had asked my helper "Masih ada Special K tak?" (Do we still have Special K cereal bar?). He replied "tak, tak, tak, tak ada" (no, no, no, none - which was true) even though the question was not directed to him.
At other times, he'd respond "tak dapat" (cannot) to questions from my helper. This morning, after his shower, he asked for his "seluar" (pants). I was surprised...perhaps my helper had taught him that word. Perhaps he's knows more than he's letting on!
So now, we try speaking to him a bit more in Bahasa and on the rare occassion, in Mandarin. My husband's the one who's good in Mandarin and has taught him to count in Mandarin.
Echo
He's also being our little echo. He frequently echos what my helper or I say throughout the day. I'm fine with that cos I think it helps get him more speech muscle practice.
His Communication book (Brag Book)
Last week I came across an old document in my stack of papers to sort out. It was his "Brag Book". It'll put what I wrote about the progress of his speech in previous posts, into a better context. This bBrag Bok was suggested by his temporary speech therapist (as his usual therapist was on maternity). It basically lists down the words that he can say, and his pronounciation of those words. It's meant to track his progress and help his teachers understand him better when he goes to kindergarten.
That Brag Book (a simple Word document, really) was created in early August 2008 - he was then 2 years, 8 mhts. It had very very few spoken words (just 27) compared to his peers. In the list, were single words like papa, mama, banana which were pronounced quite well.
But most other words were hard to understand.
For example five = ffff; sheep = seep-pa; up = up-pa; two = hooo; manggis = mm-chiss; me = mm-chee.
Today, he probably has several hundred spoken words. I stopped keeping track after he hit 40+ words. Some of those words, he can now say well, for e.g. up = up, sheep = sheep.
We still have a long way to go in helping him speak in sentences and to get his speech intelligible. It's a slow process, but we're making (good) progress. He needs to build up his confidence too when speaking to persons other than myself or my helper. But, I'm still very happy with his progress.
We are pleasantly surprised that he's picking up a second language, Bahasa Malaysia. I speak that to my helper and I guess he's been listening in. At times my helper does speak it to him, just for fun, but most of the time, it's English. He also likes to watch a local animation series, Upin dan Ipin, spoken in Bahasa.
Currently, whenever I ask my helper whether there's something or other in Bahasa, he'll chip in his two cents worth. While at the supermarket a few days ago, I had asked my helper "Masih ada Special K tak?" (Do we still have Special K cereal bar?). He replied "tak, tak, tak, tak ada" (no, no, no, none - which was true) even though the question was not directed to him.
At other times, he'd respond "tak dapat" (cannot) to questions from my helper. This morning, after his shower, he asked for his "seluar" (pants). I was surprised...perhaps my helper had taught him that word. Perhaps he's knows more than he's letting on!
So now, we try speaking to him a bit more in Bahasa and on the rare occassion, in Mandarin. My husband's the one who's good in Mandarin and has taught him to count in Mandarin.
Echo
He's also being our little echo. He frequently echos what my helper or I say throughout the day. I'm fine with that cos I think it helps get him more speech muscle practice.
His Communication book (Brag Book)
Last week I came across an old document in my stack of papers to sort out. It was his "Brag Book". It'll put what I wrote about the progress of his speech in previous posts, into a better context. This bBrag Bok was suggested by his temporary speech therapist (as his usual therapist was on maternity). It basically lists down the words that he can say, and his pronounciation of those words. It's meant to track his progress and help his teachers understand him better when he goes to kindergarten.
That Brag Book (a simple Word document, really) was created in early August 2008 - he was then 2 years, 8 mhts. It had very very few spoken words (just 27) compared to his peers. In the list, were single words like papa, mama, banana which were pronounced quite well.
But most other words were hard to understand.
For example five = ffff; sheep = seep-pa; up = up-pa; two = hooo; manggis = mm-chiss; me = mm-chee.
Today, he probably has several hundred spoken words. I stopped keeping track after he hit 40+ words. Some of those words, he can now say well, for e.g. up = up, sheep = sheep.
We still have a long way to go in helping him speak in sentences and to get his speech intelligible. It's a slow process, but we're making (good) progress. He needs to build up his confidence too when speaking to persons other than myself or my helper. But, I'm still very happy with his progress.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
What is Dysarthria?
The level of awareness of disabilities in Malaysia is low compared to developed countries.
The awareness of what cerebral palsy is even lower, even though it affects 1 in 400 births (in US) if I remember the stats correctly. Only 1 person (excluding medical professionals & parents of a CP kid) I spoke to has heard of the term CP.
If you mention the term 'dysarthria', you'd probably get the same reaction from the listener as if you had mentioned the name of a new species of plant from the deepest Amazon forest!
So, I'll reproduce some brief information on dysarthria that I found on the web, in terminology that's easy to understand.
Perhaps this might raise the awareness of dysarthria a tad bit.
Dysarthria can have many causes and characteristics.
Children with dysarthria have some type of underlying neurologic impairment, such as cerebral palsy, central nervous system hypotonia, traumatic brain injury, or other neuromuscular disorders. In my son's case, it is cerebral palsy. His CP is the "acquired" type of CP. He was not born with CP.
Children with the various types of dysarthria have a neuromuscular impairment. That is, the speech mechanism (larynx, lips, tongue, palate and jaw) may be paralysed, weak or poorly co-ordinated. His is not paralysed, thank goodness. It is weak but improving. The co-ordination is also improving.
Dysarthrias can affect ALL motor speech processes: breathing, producing sounds in the larynx, articulation, resonance, and the 'prosody' or rhythm of speech.
Children with dysarthria will have some evidence of neuromuscular difficulties that go beyond speech and language development. Feeding and swallowing will be impaired; drooling is often present. The neurosuit therapy & CST has helped reduce his drooling. Feeding and swallowing has greatly improved over the last 18 months.
Parts of the above description of dysarthria was reproduced from:
Bowen, C. (1998). Children's speech sound disorders: Questions and answers. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/phonol-and-artic.htm on 15 Oct 2009.
The awareness of what cerebral palsy is even lower, even though it affects 1 in 400 births (in US) if I remember the stats correctly. Only 1 person (excluding medical professionals & parents of a CP kid) I spoke to has heard of the term CP.
If you mention the term 'dysarthria', you'd probably get the same reaction from the listener as if you had mentioned the name of a new species of plant from the deepest Amazon forest!
So, I'll reproduce some brief information on dysarthria that I found on the web, in terminology that's easy to understand.
Perhaps this might raise the awareness of dysarthria a tad bit.
Dysarthria can have many causes and characteristics.
Children with dysarthria have some type of underlying neurologic impairment, such as cerebral palsy, central nervous system hypotonia, traumatic brain injury, or other neuromuscular disorders. In my son's case, it is cerebral palsy. His CP is the "acquired" type of CP. He was not born with CP.
Children with the various types of dysarthria have a neuromuscular impairment. That is, the speech mechanism (larynx, lips, tongue, palate and jaw) may be paralysed, weak or poorly co-ordinated. His is not paralysed, thank goodness. It is weak but improving. The co-ordination is also improving.
Dysarthrias can affect ALL motor speech processes: breathing, producing sounds in the larynx, articulation, resonance, and the 'prosody' or rhythm of speech.
Children with dysarthria will have some evidence of neuromuscular difficulties that go beyond speech and language development. Feeding and swallowing will be impaired; drooling is often present. The neurosuit therapy & CST has helped reduce his drooling. Feeding and swallowing has greatly improved over the last 18 months.
Parts of the above description of dysarthria was reproduced from:
Bowen, C. (1998). Children's speech sound disorders: Questions and answers. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/phonol-and-artic.htm on 15 Oct 2009.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Progress of Neurosuit & CST therapies
It's been some time since I wrote specifically on the progress of his Neurosuit therapy. I'll write on his progress of both the Neurosuit & CST as I feel it's difficult to attribute specific changes to just one or the other of these therapies.
1. Drool
There's definitely been less drooling. There are times in the day that he does not need to wear a bib for e.g. this morning when he's out and about at the shops.
At last week's speech therapy, he did not wear a bib at all but his drool did drip a little. It was just a little, probably requiring 5-8 times of wiping off with a hanky, which is very good.
He will still drool a lot when he's very focused on reading or a fine motor skill that's very challenging.
It was told that the Neurosuit would help him drool less eventually (initally there'll be more drool) & I guess we're seeing the results!
2. Breath & speech
He is voluntarily speaking more. It's not the incessant chatter of a chatterbox preschooler, but I definitely noticed he's initiating more and carrying on conversations. He's able to say things that I had not modelled for him to copy.
Just 4 evenings ago, we were in his room mucking about and his blanket was in his path. Out of the blue, he said this long sentence "Excuse me blanket, I want to go there". He then moved all over the room and when the blanket was in his path again, he said it again "Excuse me blanket, I want to go there".
The Neurosuit does indeed help his breath such that he's able to speak longer phrases/sentences in a single breath and to speak more often.
3. Balance
1. Oral Motor
2. Retained reflex of the arm
His CST therapist explained that his "bat wings" (arms) come up when he runs because it is a retained reflex of an infant which he has not lost. The reflex pattern movement to be done prior to putting on the suit is meant to address that. I did not know that.
I knew we were supposed to do it, together with the joint compression and massaging, prior to putting on the suit. But I didn't know that the reflex pattern movement was supposed to resolve the "bat wing" problem.
In the first place, it's already hard to suit him up. We've to do it really fast, while he's distracted in front of the TV. He dislikes the suit as it's uncomfortable (a lot of resistance training from the bungee cords & a lot of proprioceptive input from the tightness of the pieces & it's warm/hot especially in our climate).
I've to do what I've to do to help him. So we will incorporate the reflex pattern movement prior to suiting him up. Before that though, I'll need to get a working copy of the VCD showing how it's done. Both of ours get stuck half way through.
1. Drool
There's definitely been less drooling. There are times in the day that he does not need to wear a bib for e.g. this morning when he's out and about at the shops.
At last week's speech therapy, he did not wear a bib at all but his drool did drip a little. It was just a little, probably requiring 5-8 times of wiping off with a hanky, which is very good.
He will still drool a lot when he's very focused on reading or a fine motor skill that's very challenging.
It was told that the Neurosuit would help him drool less eventually (initally there'll be more drool) & I guess we're seeing the results!
2. Breath & speech
He is voluntarily speaking more. It's not the incessant chatter of a chatterbox preschooler, but I definitely noticed he's initiating more and carrying on conversations. He's able to say things that I had not modelled for him to copy.
Just 4 evenings ago, we were in his room mucking about and his blanket was in his path. Out of the blue, he said this long sentence "Excuse me blanket, I want to go there". He then moved all over the room and when the blanket was in his path again, he said it again "Excuse me blanket, I want to go there".
The Neurosuit does indeed help his breath such that he's able to speak longer phrases/sentences in a single breath and to speak more often.
3. Balance
A definite improvement. Even his speech therapist noticed that he's steadier on his feet. When he's on his balance beam, there were a few occassions (just a few but that's already good) that he did not rely on me to help him balance. It does not happen often but the very few times that it has shows that he is progressing. Also, I noted he was able to bring his legs/feet forward comfortably on the narrow beam, without being so broadbased as before. I still have to hold his hand as he's not gained enough confidence yet to try the balance beam on his own.
4. Flexibility
He his less tight (spastic). He is able to move more like a 'normal' kid. It's still slow though but I think that'll improve with more practice and more therapy.
For e.g. he will now try to dance or follow the movements on Mickey's Clubhouse or Dora when they ask him to. We can also passively move his arms much easier. In the past, if we were to try to move his arms, he'd immediately retract them back or it'd be very difficult as it'd be very tight.
1. Oral Motor
This is not addressed by the NeuroSuit. We're currently getting him to suck on the crazy straw & fat straw (the bubble tea straw) daily. He still bites down on the bubble tea straw but the bites are less hard. We occasionally have him suck from the tiny straw when I do buy Yakult for him.
He also has a wide variety of blowing objects. Different types of whistles, kazoos, feathers, toy flute etc. It's still very hard for him to get a sound out.
He plays with bubbles often. He again has a variety of different bubble wands to blow through, bubble pipes etc.
I try to stimulate the inner cheeks using the electric toothbrush. This is hard to do cos he resists having his teeth brushed in the first place.
2. Retained reflex of the arm
His CST therapist explained that his "bat wings" (arms) come up when he runs because it is a retained reflex of an infant which he has not lost. The reflex pattern movement to be done prior to putting on the suit is meant to address that. I did not know that.
I knew we were supposed to do it, together with the joint compression and massaging, prior to putting on the suit. But I didn't know that the reflex pattern movement was supposed to resolve the "bat wing" problem.
In the first place, it's already hard to suit him up. We've to do it really fast, while he's distracted in front of the TV. He dislikes the suit as it's uncomfortable (a lot of resistance training from the bungee cords & a lot of proprioceptive input from the tightness of the pieces & it's warm/hot especially in our climate).
I've to do what I've to do to help him. So we will incorporate the reflex pattern movement prior to suiting him up. Before that though, I'll need to get a working copy of the VCD showing how it's done. Both of ours get stuck half way through.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Speech therapy homework
I struggled to think of ways to achieve the objectives set out during the last speech therapy session, which I had written about in:
http://humbledmum-myjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/speech-therapy-3-sept-09.html
It really bothered me the rest of the day & night. It was hard to incorporate those words with a middle 'k' used in the session as we dont use it in daily life (e.g. peacock, racket). I decided to pray about it & the next morning, I had some new ideas! Wow. God's good.
I woke up in the morning, remembering Caroline Bowen's website. The therapist had a few months ago pointed out that Caroline Bowen has a good website on "minimal pairs". This time round, I was hoping to find examples of other words that contained the middle 'k' sound.
From her website, I got to understand that the method his therapist was using was called "chaining". It's used in cases where the child is able to say the target sound in words that end with the target sound (e.g. duck) but not in words that begin with the target sound (e.g. cat). Apparently, by getting the child to practice saying words with the target sound in the middle (e.g. jacket), will enable the child to eventually say words with the target sound at the beginning (e.g. cough).
Caroline Bowen is a speech language pathologist (speech therapist) who has a very useful website. Lots of resources for free downloading. For the minimal pairs acitivity, she has done up lots of words with pictures! Saves you so much time in preparing the material. Here's the link:
http://speech-language-therapy.com/wordlists.html
These are the ideas that I've come up with, to get him practising words with middle 'k' sound:
1. Homemade dominoes - I'll replace the dots with pictures of words with middle 'k' sound (see newer posting for photo, details on how to make it etc: http://humbledmum-myjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/homemade-game-of-dominoes.html)
2. Homemade pattern game - instead of using shapes or colours to teach him to recognise patterns, I'll replace those with picture of words with middle 'k' sound.
3. Homemade memory card game - this is the traditional flip 2 cards over at a time until you match up all the cards. I'll use pictures of words with middle 'k' sound.
4. Nursery rhyme songs - haven't come across songs with lots of the target words yet...but it's an idea. If you know of any, help me out by leaving a comment!
5. Daily activities - I've to keep an 'ear out' for suitable words used in daily activities & get him to repeat after me.
My progress so far:
So far, I've created the dominoes game & pattern game but yet to cut & paste them on cardboard. I'll write & share about those in a separate blog cos those activities can be done for normal kids too.
In terms of idea #5 above, these are the words with middle 'k' that I've picked up so far & got him to repeat & the situations in which I get him to repeat are in brackets:
- buckle (when I buckle him into his car seat)
- blinking (he notices there's a tiny light in my car that blinks)
- checking (he likes to check the bumper of my car when we arrive home)
- kicking (kids kicking a ball at the park)
- parking (parking the car)
- cooking (helper cooking)
- looking (at various times in a day)
- lucky (at various times)
- pancake (he likes to say 'flat like a pancake')
- blanket (he loves his blankie)
- King Kong (nickname he gave my sis)
- duckling (storybook he has about a duckling)
- tickle (we love to tickle him)
I'll have to run by this list with his therapist to make sure I'm on the right track. Hopefully, we can see positive results soon!
http://humbledmum-myjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/speech-therapy-3-sept-09.html
It really bothered me the rest of the day & night. It was hard to incorporate those words with a middle 'k' used in the session as we dont use it in daily life (e.g. peacock, racket). I decided to pray about it & the next morning, I had some new ideas! Wow. God's good.
I woke up in the morning, remembering Caroline Bowen's website. The therapist had a few months ago pointed out that Caroline Bowen has a good website on "minimal pairs". This time round, I was hoping to find examples of other words that contained the middle 'k' sound.
From her website, I got to understand that the method his therapist was using was called "chaining". It's used in cases where the child is able to say the target sound in words that end with the target sound (e.g. duck) but not in words that begin with the target sound (e.g. cat). Apparently, by getting the child to practice saying words with the target sound in the middle (e.g. jacket), will enable the child to eventually say words with the target sound at the beginning (e.g. cough).
Caroline Bowen is a speech language pathologist (speech therapist) who has a very useful website. Lots of resources for free downloading. For the minimal pairs acitivity, she has done up lots of words with pictures! Saves you so much time in preparing the material. Here's the link:
http://speech-language-therapy.com/wordlists.html
These are the ideas that I've come up with, to get him practising words with middle 'k' sound:
1. Homemade dominoes - I'll replace the dots with pictures of words with middle 'k' sound (see newer posting for photo, details on how to make it etc: http://humbledmum-myjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/homemade-game-of-dominoes.html)
2. Homemade pattern game - instead of using shapes or colours to teach him to recognise patterns, I'll replace those with picture of words with middle 'k' sound.
3. Homemade memory card game - this is the traditional flip 2 cards over at a time until you match up all the cards. I'll use pictures of words with middle 'k' sound.
4. Nursery rhyme songs - haven't come across songs with lots of the target words yet...but it's an idea. If you know of any, help me out by leaving a comment!
5. Daily activities - I've to keep an 'ear out' for suitable words used in daily activities & get him to repeat after me.
My progress so far:
So far, I've created the dominoes game & pattern game but yet to cut & paste them on cardboard. I'll write & share about those in a separate blog cos those activities can be done for normal kids too.
In terms of idea #5 above, these are the words with middle 'k' that I've picked up so far & got him to repeat & the situations in which I get him to repeat are in brackets:
- buckle (when I buckle him into his car seat)
- blinking (he notices there's a tiny light in my car that blinks)
- checking (he likes to check the bumper of my car when we arrive home)
- kicking (kids kicking a ball at the park)
- parking (parking the car)
- cooking (helper cooking)
- looking (at various times in a day)
- lucky (at various times)
- pancake (he likes to say 'flat like a pancake')
- blanket (he loves his blankie)
- King Kong (nickname he gave my sis)
- duckling (storybook he has about a duckling)
- tickle (we love to tickle him)
I'll have to run by this list with his therapist to make sure I'm on the right track. Hopefully, we can see positive results soon!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Speech during evening walk 12 Aug 09
I love to hear him talk. Looking back, it was just 1.5 yrs ago, when he was aged 2yrs 3mths that he started speech therapy. His peers would now be talking in sentences. He's still in phrases. Although he still lags behind his peers in his expressive speech development, he has come a long way. Bear in mind that he uttered ZERO words when he started therapy. Not even mama, papa or mum mum.
Now, take a look at what he was yabbering about during the walk. I was trying to record what he said, while watching out for him & while deciphering what he's saying & while trying to carry on the conversation with him. Tricky. It meant I missed out taking notes on a lot of what he said.
His articulation is still unclear, sometimes missing out the first phenome in the word, sometimes not pursing his lips to pronounce '0', or not opening his mouth enough to emphasise the vowels in the word. But he tries to make himself understood by repeating himself, or using other words to elaborate, or use hand gestures/body language. So, the italics below is after 'translation'!
Got down from car. Looked around, then said: "a lot leaves". The heavy downpour caused the treees to shed a lot of their leaves. The untranslated version would sound like this: "a ohhht eve-s". I'm targetting his pronounciation of "l" and "c/k" and stretching out his vowels and sounds needing pursed lips. For the pursed lips, I caught a few opportunities when he was keenly observing fishes in a tank, to point out the look of the fishes lips/mouth! So now when I need to remind him, I say, "hey! where's your "fish lips"?".
Crossed the road to where the Perodua & Unser are usually parked. He pointed out: "wet...rain". He noticed that the cars were wet because of the rain. This was something I pointed out to him in the past.
After playing at the undulating park, I asked if he wants to walk to the top (where we can see the twin towers & KL Tower, but I didnt' mention twin towers). In response, he says: "Up there, twin tower" and a few seconds later says "pretty flowers". He remembered that the day before, he had plucked off a lot of the small lightly coloured purple flowers. (btw, all that plucking was good gross motor & fine motor exercise).
Then he says one of the longest phrases he has ever said: "ghost follow me from there to there...forest...got ghost. I'm scared" He doesn't like forests like FRIM. Too spooky for him. Even the outer walking path, which leads to the suspension bridge, at the Taman Lembah Kiara is scarry for him.
Spotted a dead millipede in the grass. He says "burnt". In the past I suggested that the frequent sightings of dead millipedes were because it was too hot (very hot weather back then). Then he intentionally steps on it. He then utters: "flat like a pancake...(& laughs)". That's his current favourite phrase!
The rain made many puddles of water in the uneven grassy/rocky terrain. "Puddles" he says, "there and there...and there and there....medium and small...and big and medium". He was commenting on the many puddles & their sizes.
He saw 2 long stalks of love grass leaning across each other making a cross. "x" he says. These days, he's very much into alphabets...to the extent he sees it in nature too! : D Or is he being creative?
Looking at the cordoned off road (no vehicles cos it's vacant land for houses yet to be built), he says "fire engine". I didnt understand that comment cos there are absolutely no vehicles. Then he says "got car, zoom from there, go there, zoom". Uhmm...I guess it's his active imagination? Or was it the din of the vehicles from the highway behind the forest?
He saw the "For Sale" sign lying on the ground and said "Oh-oh. Fall down...too heavy"
He spotted a tree that had absolutely no leaves. "Botak tree!" he laughs! Oh dear, I've not been successful in teaching him alternative, more polite ways to address baldness. In terms of trees, I showed him photo of trees in winter, in his encyclopedia & explained about shedding leaves during autumn etc.
"Two trucks there and there.... two trucks accident"....his imagination again.
It was getting dark. The group of crows gathered at the high tension wires had finally dispersed. "No birds", he noticed.
Walking back to the car, he purposely bumped into me from the back, saying "accident on back of mama". Funny boy, my son : )
Now, take a look at what he was yabbering about during the walk. I was trying to record what he said, while watching out for him & while deciphering what he's saying & while trying to carry on the conversation with him. Tricky. It meant I missed out taking notes on a lot of what he said.
His articulation is still unclear, sometimes missing out the first phenome in the word, sometimes not pursing his lips to pronounce '0', or not opening his mouth enough to emphasise the vowels in the word. But he tries to make himself understood by repeating himself, or using other words to elaborate, or use hand gestures/body language. So, the italics below is after 'translation'!
Got down from car. Looked around, then said: "a lot leaves". The heavy downpour caused the treees to shed a lot of their leaves. The untranslated version would sound like this: "a ohhht eve-s". I'm targetting his pronounciation of "l" and "c/k" and stretching out his vowels and sounds needing pursed lips. For the pursed lips, I caught a few opportunities when he was keenly observing fishes in a tank, to point out the look of the fishes lips/mouth! So now when I need to remind him, I say, "hey! where's your "fish lips"?".
Crossed the road to where the Perodua & Unser are usually parked. He pointed out: "wet...rain". He noticed that the cars were wet because of the rain. This was something I pointed out to him in the past.
After playing at the undulating park, I asked if he wants to walk to the top (where we can see the twin towers & KL Tower, but I didnt' mention twin towers). In response, he says: "Up there, twin tower" and a few seconds later says "pretty flowers". He remembered that the day before, he had plucked off a lot of the small lightly coloured purple flowers. (btw, all that plucking was good gross motor & fine motor exercise).
Then he says one of the longest phrases he has ever said: "ghost follow me from there to there...forest...got ghost. I'm scared" He doesn't like forests like FRIM. Too spooky for him. Even the outer walking path, which leads to the suspension bridge, at the Taman Lembah Kiara is scarry for him.
Spotted a dead millipede in the grass. He says "burnt". In the past I suggested that the frequent sightings of dead millipedes were because it was too hot (very hot weather back then). Then he intentionally steps on it. He then utters: "flat like a pancake...(& laughs)". That's his current favourite phrase!
The rain made many puddles of water in the uneven grassy/rocky terrain. "Puddles" he says, "there and there...and there and there....medium and small...and big and medium". He was commenting on the many puddles & their sizes.
He saw 2 long stalks of love grass leaning across each other making a cross. "x" he says. These days, he's very much into alphabets...to the extent he sees it in nature too! : D Or is he being creative?
Looking at the cordoned off road (no vehicles cos it's vacant land for houses yet to be built), he says "fire engine". I didnt understand that comment cos there are absolutely no vehicles. Then he says "got car, zoom from there, go there, zoom". Uhmm...I guess it's his active imagination? Or was it the din of the vehicles from the highway behind the forest?
He saw the "For Sale" sign lying on the ground and said "Oh-oh. Fall down...too heavy"
He spotted a tree that had absolutely no leaves. "Botak tree!" he laughs! Oh dear, I've not been successful in teaching him alternative, more polite ways to address baldness. In terms of trees, I showed him photo of trees in winter, in his encyclopedia & explained about shedding leaves during autumn etc.
"Two trucks there and there.... two trucks accident"....his imagination again.
It was getting dark. The group of crows gathered at the high tension wires had finally dispersed. "No birds", he noticed.
Walking back to the car, he purposely bumped into me from the back, saying "accident on back of mama". Funny boy, my son : )
Friday, August 7, 2009
Evening Exercise in Neurosuit-7 Aug 09
I was quite tired cos he woke up several times last night & I had an early start & errands to run today. But, after several days of bad haze, it finally cleared this evening with an added bonus of a cool breeze. So I didnt want to give up this opportunity to get him to the nieghbourhood park, but I brought my helper along (for back-up support cos by late afternoon, I had a bad headache, body ache, felt very heaty).
We were there for about 30mins. He did quite a variety of gross motor exercises, but in short bursts.
What did he do?
At the steep hill, he walked up (very challenging in his suit); walked backwards down (just 5 steps, then he turned around & said "too steep"; walked forwards down
At the hilly terrain, he walked & ran around
On the pavement, he walked/ran (alternating) all the way down past the houses. On his way back up past the houses, he walked backwards (we name it moonwalking), sideways, slowly, quickly etc.
I introduced him to counting by twos. Odd numbered houses were on one side of the road, so it's easy to introduce this concept. For e.g. starting at house # 5, I'd say... hey look at the number at this house. Let's add 2 to that number...and walk to the next house to get the answer . He wasnt interested beyond doing 3 houses. That's ok cos this is the 1st time I'm introducing it.
At the children's playground, he climbed the 2 rung ladder (with help), walked up the 3 step stairs holding onto both sides for support (but at least he could lift up his feet by himself, which is difficult in the suit), went down the twin slide with me, used his finger to "write" / follow the etched numbers (0-9).
I've just started to teach him to walk further forward at the top of the slide, before he sits down. He usually sits too far back at the top & needs to shuffle his bum a lot further forward before he can slide down. I believe it's because he's afraid of falling head first, down the slide. But now that I know he's better at balance & better at controlling his muscles, it's time to correct that. But i wont pressure him - only when he feels comfortable enough.
Speech
- apart from his usual speech he finally started to use the word "missing". Previously just says "oh-oh" to indicate something's missing/something's wrong. Each time, he uses "oh oh" for something that's missing, I'd say "missing" out loud & try to get him to say it instead of "oh oh". Being crazy over cars, today he said "missing...Toyota Unser" (he remembers there's usually a Unser & Kancil parked at the top of the road).
- when I climbed up the slide the wrong way (ie. as though I was climbing a hill), to get him to do the same, he said very loudly & clearly "COME DOWN!". I was very happy.
- on 2 separate occassions, he was trying to warn other kids on the opposite side of the road to look out for cars cos they were walking on the road instead of on the pavement. He said "be careful...got car". He wasnt loud enough or clear enough. He said it too fast, missing out some phonemes. I think he was excited. But, eventually I know he will be able to say it loud enough & clear enough. For now, I'm happy that he wants to & tried to communicate with others & that he knows it's dangerous to walk on the road!
We were there for about 30mins. He did quite a variety of gross motor exercises, but in short bursts.
What did he do?
At the steep hill, he walked up (very challenging in his suit); walked backwards down (just 5 steps, then he turned around & said "too steep"; walked forwards downAt the hilly terrain, he walked & ran around
On the pavement, he walked/ran (alternating) all the way down past the houses. On his way back up past the houses, he walked backwards (we name it moonwalking), sideways, slowly, quickly etc.
I introduced him to counting by twos. Odd numbered houses were on one side of the road, so it's easy to introduce this concept. For e.g. starting at house # 5, I'd say... hey look at the number at this house. Let's add 2 to that number...and walk to the next house to get the answer . He wasnt interested beyond doing 3 houses. That's ok cos this is the 1st time I'm introducing it.
At the children's playground, he climbed the 2 rung ladder (with help), walked up the 3 step stairs holding onto both sides for support (but at least he could lift up his feet by himself, which is difficult in the suit), went down the twin slide with me, used his finger to "write" / follow the etched numbers (0-9).
I've just started to teach him to walk further forward at the top of the slide, before he sits down. He usually sits too far back at the top & needs to shuffle his bum a lot further forward before he can slide down. I believe it's because he's afraid of falling head first, down the slide. But now that I know he's better at balance & better at controlling his muscles, it's time to correct that. But i wont pressure him - only when he feels comfortable enough.
Speech
- apart from his usual speech he finally started to use the word "missing". Previously just says "oh-oh" to indicate something's missing/something's wrong. Each time, he uses "oh oh" for something that's missing, I'd say "missing" out loud & try to get him to say it instead of "oh oh". Being crazy over cars, today he said "missing...Toyota Unser" (he remembers there's usually a Unser & Kancil parked at the top of the road).
- when I climbed up the slide the wrong way (ie. as though I was climbing a hill), to get him to do the same, he said very loudly & clearly "COME DOWN!". I was very happy.
- on 2 separate occassions, he was trying to warn other kids on the opposite side of the road to look out for cars cos they were walking on the road instead of on the pavement. He said "be careful...got car". He wasnt loud enough or clear enough. He said it too fast, missing out some phonemes. I think he was excited. But, eventually I know he will be able to say it loud enough & clear enough. For now, I'm happy that he wants to & tried to communicate with others & that he knows it's dangerous to walk on the road!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
speech therapy - 6 Aug 09
The previous speech therapy session was a month ago cos he missed the mid-July session due to his bronchitis.
It's becoming difficult to get his co-operation in participating in the speech activities. He got off his chair & wanted to sit on my lap, from the beginning of the very first activity. From then on, he never did sit back on his chair although he did stand in front of me or move to the side of me. Towards the end, the just leaned into me with his back arched backwards saying "nooooooo".
He seems to be very self conscious. I think he does want to be able to do what you ask, but to do it well (& get praised) but if he thinks he cant do it well, or if he's not quite sure what you want of him, then he wont participate, or will use his "mouse" voice.
We did have to be flexible in changing the activities slightly, now & again, to get his co-operation. Towards the middle of the first activity, he did speak much louder.
Activities we did were with the aim of:
- having him practice requesting for things in longer sentences (in preparation for school) E.g. Mama, do you have....?
- practising the c sound, but this time using words ending in c E.g neck, duck
- co-ordination of motor skills and speech in order to slow down his rate of speech. (e.g. point to one box for each syllable) His speech is at times too fast & he misses out some syllables or articulation is unclear. Other times, he repeats himself several times to make himself understood. These are typical for people with dysarthria.
Noted that:
- he will need more practice in expressing himself in words for others to understand him. For that, I'll have to "catch" him in daily situations where he still uses body language/whining and exemplify there & then what he should say instead.
- he can make the c sound quite clear in those words ending with c, so it's just a matter of time that he will be able to say clearly words that begin with c or have c in the middle.
- it'll be a big challenge for him to co-ordinate the timing of pointing and speaking. But this skill is also important for him when it comes to reading. He has to read one word at a time & speak it out before going to the next word.
Therapist also noted that:
- he was better able to clear the phlegm from his throat as he didn't gag and his voice was not "wet"
- his disagreement to participate in activities is very age appropriate. Other kids do that too (the therapist has 3 kids, one of whom is my son's age & her clients are mostly kids).
- Self consciousness aspect & speaking too softly & not using his words to express himself will probably sort itself out when he joins school where he has to overcome these in order to participate. Therapist based this opinion on past experiences with other clients.
The best part:
Therapist concluded that he'll just need once a month speech therapy from now on! It means he's progressed well. Hooray! This is after about slightly under a year & a half of speech therapy.
It's becoming difficult to get his co-operation in participating in the speech activities. He got off his chair & wanted to sit on my lap, from the beginning of the very first activity. From then on, he never did sit back on his chair although he did stand in front of me or move to the side of me. Towards the end, the just leaned into me with his back arched backwards saying "nooooooo".
He seems to be very self conscious. I think he does want to be able to do what you ask, but to do it well (& get praised) but if he thinks he cant do it well, or if he's not quite sure what you want of him, then he wont participate, or will use his "mouse" voice.
We did have to be flexible in changing the activities slightly, now & again, to get his co-operation. Towards the middle of the first activity, he did speak much louder.
Activities we did were with the aim of:
- having him practice requesting for things in longer sentences (in preparation for school) E.g. Mama, do you have....?
- practising the c sound, but this time using words ending in c E.g neck, duck
- co-ordination of motor skills and speech in order to slow down his rate of speech. (e.g. point to one box for each syllable) His speech is at times too fast & he misses out some syllables or articulation is unclear. Other times, he repeats himself several times to make himself understood. These are typical for people with dysarthria.
Noted that:
- he will need more practice in expressing himself in words for others to understand him. For that, I'll have to "catch" him in daily situations where he still uses body language/whining and exemplify there & then what he should say instead.
- he can make the c sound quite clear in those words ending with c, so it's just a matter of time that he will be able to say clearly words that begin with c or have c in the middle.
- it'll be a big challenge for him to co-ordinate the timing of pointing and speaking. But this skill is also important for him when it comes to reading. He has to read one word at a time & speak it out before going to the next word.
Therapist also noted that:
- he was better able to clear the phlegm from his throat as he didn't gag and his voice was not "wet"
- his disagreement to participate in activities is very age appropriate. Other kids do that too (the therapist has 3 kids, one of whom is my son's age & her clients are mostly kids).
- Self consciousness aspect & speaking too softly & not using his words to express himself will probably sort itself out when he joins school where he has to overcome these in order to participate. Therapist based this opinion on past experiences with other clients.
The best part:
Therapist concluded that he'll just need once a month speech therapy from now on! It means he's progressed well. Hooray! This is after about slightly under a year & a half of speech therapy.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wed, 5 Aug 2009
Very bad haze today. Didn't go to the park this morning. Instead, he was in his Neurosuit this morning for about an hour doing indoor activities.
Widening his stride
As he tends to trot when he runs, I'm trying to widen his stride. I've tried a few things but it's not working...yet. Actually, I think sometimes, it does look a wee bit better but not consistently done...patience...must not give up.
- I'd hold his hand & walk with him slowly, showing him how to take big strides.
- I'd place pieces of his foam alphabets on the floor with a small gap in between & have him step over the gap. He'll follow once or twice, but resort to running the course instead.
- When at the shops and there are different coloured tiles or patterned tiles on the floor, I'd try to get him to step with only one foot on those different tiles.
- when I still had the step-up boxes (they've been returned to therapist), we'd do the same thing.
- I try not to paste masking tape on the floor (therapist suggested this) to make squares for him to step into cos it'll be so hard to remove the glue.
Movement while in his neurosuit
It must be really hard for him to move in the suit.
- If he fell, he tends to be "stuck" and is unable to (yet) or hasn't learnt how to get back up. The suit itself is a bit heavy. He feels heavier if I were to carry him while he is suited up compared to without.
- Walking up stairs or stepping up onto a box is a lot harder in the suit. He could easily do it without the suit. But in the first 2 days this week, he couldn't lift his leg up to the step while in the suit! Now, he can, but very slowly, with his right leg. Left leg needs help sometimes. I guess after some months in the suit, he'll have strong muscles! The therapist reported that her son & another boy had bulked up a bit after 3 months of suit therapy.
- It tires him out much faster, not just due to the weight of the suit, but also the resistance provided by the bungee cords. He breaks out into a sweat faster too. So this morning, we had the air-cond on at home (but it's also cos we closed all windows to minimise the haze from entering) and he seemed more comfortable.
- Putting him in the suit does initially trigger his gag reflex. It's odd that a person might gag when tired, but he does. As recently as a few months ago, he would gag easily when running at the neighbourhood park. Now that he's built up his endurance, he doesn't except when initially put into the suit & after some time of running around in the suit.
Wooden blocks
While he was still in his suit, we played with the blocks on the trampoline, using it like a low table this time. He had time to play freely. But I also got him to stretch to reach for the pieces - stretching his right arm far to the right and also far to the left crossing the midline etc.LeapFrog (reading)
We tried out the Leap Frog for the 1st time. It's great that that's another avenue to teach him reading! He was quite intrigued with the voice coming out. He was a bit hesistant when asked by the voice to point to the letters during the 'game mode'. He could "read" the simple 3 letter words in the picture if we sounded out the phonic sound of the letter as I point to the alphabet. E.g. box = "berh"-"ohh"-"kersk". And he'd say "box".
Speech
Speech
I wanted to pump air into a flat stroller wheel & told him so. He then said: mama's wheel...mama's tyre flat like a pancake. That's a lot of syllables in one go. He learnt the phrase "flat like a pancake" several months ago. But a few days ago, the helper said that his poo poo (in his diaper) is flat like a pancake & it really tickled him. He couldnt stop laughing for a long time!
MidValley
I had to post a parcel, so went to MidValley as parking was easier (compared to the neighbourhood post office) and could pop into Jusco for groceries too. He wasn't happy to just sit and wait while I filled in the form, so my helper "read" the papers with him.
I'm beginning to wonder if he's purposely running funny by pretending there are bumps on the floor (kids go through phases where they do funny things) or whether there's something I really need to check out, e.g. whether there is a problem with his muscles. He doesnt go "bumping" all the time, but it's often enough in a day for me to start wondering otherwise & it's been going on for a few months now. But the therapists didnt point out any problems & he still has range of motion. My friend's son about a year older doesnt jump the normal way. He jumps the way my son "bumps" about. If he walks slowly, his gait appears normal. So, will just continue monitoring I guess.
At Jusco, he could follow my verbal instruction to turn right/turn left at the aisles, which is great! He was walking in front of me so there were no physical cues given to him.
He was also interested to read out the letters of the signs around him, while I was waiting my turn at the cashier. So I really have to get moving on reworking some of my material to teach him reading (I think the font size is a bit too small for him). So much to do, so little time.
Concept of Left/Right
I tried testing his understanding of left & right before & it's often correct but not always. I exposed him to the right/left concept probably about a year ago, doing things like:
- I occasionally remind him to use his left hand while playing with toys (blocks, picture cards etc). He has a very dominant right hand.
- while walking up or down the stairs, I will say left/right while he steps using that foot.
- in the shower, I say which part of the body that I'm soaping (e.g.it's left leg turn now to be soaped), which also helped in him learning the names of the parts of his body.
- having him look left/right/left again before crossing the road while holding my hand (also part of road safety awareness).
Monday, August 3, 2009
Little bits of progress
Cranial Sacral Therapy
He had his session today & therapist noted that his neck muscles were not as tight compared to a week ago. ...perhaps due to the NeuroSuit? He wont have any sessions until Sept as the therapist will be away for courses. Let's see what happens!
Speech
He is speaking more often. He is also speaking more words each time he does speak. I want to write down but have difficulty remembering the things he says! Some are funny, some give an insight to what's in his head, some just show he's progressing in thought & ability to express. I still have much work to do on his articulation.
Examples while at the park this evening:
- described the clouds as "fluffy clouds". Later, the formation changed & he said "straight clouds" (they appeared as vertical strips of cloud)
- aeroplane flew across the sky & happened to have a flock of birds flying past too. He said "aeroplane and birds go home" (that's 7 syllables all at once without me needing to prompt him!)
Assertiveness
When he started therapy early last year, I was glad that he was then quite a compliant boy. The therapists found it relatively easy to work with him. But I had a tiny concern back then that he wasn't assertive enough. I didnt want him to grow up and have him be a dog's body for other people.
Other languages
He is picking up little bits of Bahasa (spoken by helper) & Mandarin (taught by hubby). I was surprised. I didnt have any intention of teaching him other languages, as I already have so much to do. So it's great that he has incidentally picked up Bahasa from my conversions with my helper. E.g. when asked whether he "nak tak?" (do you want it?), he responded "tak nak" (ie no). He can count up to 7 in Bahasa. He can count to 5 in Mandarin.
Art/Drawing
- at the beach 2 Saturdays ago, he drew in the sand, some kinda wavy lines that resembled a pond. When asked what it was, he didnt reply. When asked if it was the river or mangrove that we had just crossed, he said yes. That was the first time he drew something other than straight lines, or zigzag lines or circle to make a smiley face. (photo on hubby's phone...hasnt uploaded up)
- last Saturday, he was playing with my hubby, drawing on his whiteboard. For the first time, he drew a sun (circle with lines outwards from the circle). Will try to take a photo of it & upload.
- last Sunday, he was drawing on his mini blackboard. Started with a circle for his smiley face, then hair, ears. Well, he's done that in the past. Then came many vertical lines. When asked what it was, he said "trees..botak". He most likely remembered the single tall thin tree in the park which had absolutely no leaves & hardly any branches, amongst other trees with leaves. We were in the park on Friday night (2 days beforehand). He had pointed to that tree & said "botak tree" and laughed. Oh, he's going through a phase where if he sees a bald man, he'll say "botak" and laugh. I know, it's not nice. I'm trying to correct that.
He had his session today & therapist noted that his neck muscles were not as tight compared to a week ago. ...perhaps due to the NeuroSuit? He wont have any sessions until Sept as the therapist will be away for courses. Let's see what happens!
Speech
He is speaking more often. He is also speaking more words each time he does speak. I want to write down but have difficulty remembering the things he says! Some are funny, some give an insight to what's in his head, some just show he's progressing in thought & ability to express. I still have much work to do on his articulation.
Examples while at the park this evening:
- described the clouds as "fluffy clouds". Later, the formation changed & he said "straight clouds" (they appeared as vertical strips of cloud)
- aeroplane flew across the sky & happened to have a flock of birds flying past too. He said "aeroplane and birds go home" (that's 7 syllables all at once without me needing to prompt him!)
Assertiveness
When he started therapy early last year, I was glad that he was then quite a compliant boy. The therapists found it relatively easy to work with him. But I had a tiny concern back then that he wasn't assertive enough. I didnt want him to grow up and have him be a dog's body for other people.
Well, I can put that worry to rest now! It's harder now but still fairly easy to get him to do things...I do have to be more creative & just go along with where he leads the play/activity initially and then guide the play to a direction or learning outcome I want.
I certainly do have more difficult times now with him wanting his own way. Explaining why he can't do what he wants at that time doesn't seem to work anymore. E.g. he has to wait for the TV advertisement to finish before resuming the show he was watching.
Expressing his emotions
Other languages
He is picking up little bits of Bahasa (spoken by helper) & Mandarin (taught by hubby). I was surprised. I didnt have any intention of teaching him other languages, as I already have so much to do. So it's great that he has incidentally picked up Bahasa from my conversions with my helper. E.g. when asked whether he "nak tak?" (do you want it?), he responded "tak nak" (ie no). He can count up to 7 in Bahasa. He can count to 5 in Mandarin.
Art/Drawing
- at the beach 2 Saturdays ago, he drew in the sand, some kinda wavy lines that resembled a pond. When asked what it was, he didnt reply. When asked if it was the river or mangrove that we had just crossed, he said yes. That was the first time he drew something other than straight lines, or zigzag lines or circle to make a smiley face. (photo on hubby's phone...hasnt uploaded up)
- last Saturday, he was playing with my hubby, drawing on his whiteboard. For the first time, he drew a sun (circle with lines outwards from the circle). Will try to take a photo of it & upload.
- last Sunday, he was drawing on his mini blackboard. Started with a circle for his smiley face, then hair, ears. Well, he's done that in the past. Then came many vertical lines. When asked what it was, he said "trees..botak". He most likely remembered the single tall thin tree in the park which had absolutely no leaves & hardly any branches, amongst other trees with leaves. We were in the park on Friday night (2 days beforehand). He had pointed to that tree & said "botak tree" and laughed. Oh, he's going through a phase where if he sees a bald man, he'll say "botak" and laugh. I know, it's not nice. I'm trying to correct that.
Monday, July 27, 2009
To the beach!
Packed everyone into the car & went off to Kelanang beach today! This would be our 3rd or 4th visit this year. Traffic was good, weather was good - no haze, clear blue skies!
*will upload photos from hubby's handphone when time permits.
Benefits:
(1) Walking on sand gives him good tactile input & requires good balance.
(2) Walking in water gives resistance & challenges his balance even more (he'll happily splash around in ankle deep water, but if it's almost to his knees, he'll want to hold our hand)
(3) Talk about/show him the surroundings e.g. how the mangrove trees were different in terms of their roots, compared to normal trees. Showed him what animals live in a mangrove habitat e.g. crabs, mudskippers, fishes (cognitive, biology lesson)
(5) Catching crabs requires fine motor skills, hand eye co-ordination, faster reflexes. He caught a lot of crabs with his bare hands (with his fingers actually) during the previous visit. This time round, there were much fewer crabs & he wasnt interested. Instead, he was stomping on the crabs! Not to worry, he didnt kill them. They are much faster in burrowing themselves than he was in stomping them. Stomping with one foot requires good balance.
(6) Picking sea shells requires fine motor, hand eye, squat to stand, bending down. Later at home, you can use the shells in various ways: counting, visual discrimination, biology lesson, decoration during sandplay.
(7) Receptive language (speech input) - you can expand his vocabulary e.g. waves, tide coming in, estuary, hermit crab
(8) Expressive language (speech output) - he has the chance to use what he's learnt e.g. he surprised me by describing the clouds as "fluffy clouds", a term that I used only once, several months ago during a trip to the neighbourhood park.
(9) Bringing back sand for sandplay at home! There are areas on that beach where the sand is very fine & white.
(10) Sandplay at the beach itself of course! E.g. build sand castles, scoop & pour activities etc.
(11) Catching fish using a net requires very fast reflexes, balance, gross motor. We forgot to bring a net, so it was papa who caught fish using his bare hands. Papa the hero caught 3! We tried to help but fish escaped instead! : )
(12) Flying a kite requires gross motor skills, balance, visual tracking. We didnt bring the kite cos we knew we wouldn't have time to fly it cos we left much later than normal.
(13) Drawing/writing in the sand - doesnt require a mature tripod grip, so it's good to do this to let his creativity flow, without being hindered by his disability. Also good as a fun alternative to writing with the usual pen, pencil, colour pencil, marker, crayon, chalk etc on paper, whiteboard, blackboard. Fine motor skill still needed.
(14) A lesson in caring for the environment. Unfortunately, there was trash washed up on certain parts of the estuary (apart from the usual plastic, I came across a bottle, hard hat & tyre!). Use this opportunity to teach him that things should be disposed in their proper place or else it gets washed up on the beach etc & dirties the homes of the crabs, fish etc.
Note:
(1) We have to check to make sure the moon cycle isn't at the full moon stage cos the waves comes right up & there's no beach left. He's fearful if the waves are close to him.
(2) Bring insect repellant or at least wear long pants that can be rolled up. I was badly bitten.
(3) There's decent hawker fare at the purpose built "food court" but lots of flies
(4) There's a children's play area with the usual slides, climbing equipment etc.
(5) There's proper toilet but its yucky (very wet, smelly, no soap, sandy/muddy floor - some mums were rinsing their kids in the toilet). Bring your own hand sanitiser & toilet paper.
*will upload photos from hubby's handphone when time permits.
Benefits:
(1) Walking on sand gives him good tactile input & requires good balance.
(2) Walking in water gives resistance & challenges his balance even more (he'll happily splash around in ankle deep water, but if it's almost to his knees, he'll want to hold our hand)
(3) Talk about/show him the surroundings e.g. how the mangrove trees were different in terms of their roots, compared to normal trees. Showed him what animals live in a mangrove habitat e.g. crabs, mudskippers, fishes (cognitive, biology lesson)
(5) Catching crabs requires fine motor skills, hand eye co-ordination, faster reflexes. He caught a lot of crabs with his bare hands (with his fingers actually) during the previous visit. This time round, there were much fewer crabs & he wasnt interested. Instead, he was stomping on the crabs! Not to worry, he didnt kill them. They are much faster in burrowing themselves than he was in stomping them. Stomping with one foot requires good balance.
(6) Picking sea shells requires fine motor, hand eye, squat to stand, bending down. Later at home, you can use the shells in various ways: counting, visual discrimination, biology lesson, decoration during sandplay.
(7) Receptive language (speech input) - you can expand his vocabulary e.g. waves, tide coming in, estuary, hermit crab
(8) Expressive language (speech output) - he has the chance to use what he's learnt e.g. he surprised me by describing the clouds as "fluffy clouds", a term that I used only once, several months ago during a trip to the neighbourhood park.
(9) Bringing back sand for sandplay at home! There are areas on that beach where the sand is very fine & white.
(10) Sandplay at the beach itself of course! E.g. build sand castles, scoop & pour activities etc.
(11) Catching fish using a net requires very fast reflexes, balance, gross motor. We forgot to bring a net, so it was papa who caught fish using his bare hands. Papa the hero caught 3! We tried to help but fish escaped instead! : )
(12) Flying a kite requires gross motor skills, balance, visual tracking. We didnt bring the kite cos we knew we wouldn't have time to fly it cos we left much later than normal.
(13) Drawing/writing in the sand - doesnt require a mature tripod grip, so it's good to do this to let his creativity flow, without being hindered by his disability. Also good as a fun alternative to writing with the usual pen, pencil, colour pencil, marker, crayon, chalk etc on paper, whiteboard, blackboard. Fine motor skill still needed.
(14) A lesson in caring for the environment. Unfortunately, there was trash washed up on certain parts of the estuary (apart from the usual plastic, I came across a bottle, hard hat & tyre!). Use this opportunity to teach him that things should be disposed in their proper place or else it gets washed up on the beach etc & dirties the homes of the crabs, fish etc.
Note:
(1) We have to check to make sure the moon cycle isn't at the full moon stage cos the waves comes right up & there's no beach left. He's fearful if the waves are close to him.
(2) Bring insect repellant or at least wear long pants that can be rolled up. I was badly bitten.
(3) There's decent hawker fare at the purpose built "food court" but lots of flies
(4) There's a children's play area with the usual slides, climbing equipment etc.
(5) There's proper toilet but its yucky (very wet, smelly, no soap, sandy/muddy floor - some mums were rinsing their kids in the toilet). Bring your own hand sanitiser & toilet paper.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday, 19 July 09
Morning exercise at neighbourhood park
Gross motor
15 mins only this morning at the neighbourhood park. Parked at bottom of row of houses which are on a slope - we walked up & back down. That housing area was designed differently - the inclination of the slope alternates...it is a bit of a short steep walk up a slope up then flatten out at the next 2 houses, then the slope again etc. So he gets the "steep bit" to stretch his achilles, gastroc muscles etc.
Speech
He'd name all the brands of cars parked outside the houses e.g. Honda, Alfa Romeo, Toyota, Ford, BMW. Noted his pronounciation of "B" is better (when he says "BMW"). It used to sound like "bern". Now its "bee". Hooray! I use whatever interests him as opportunities for therapy activities, so he's been naming cars for a long time now.
Maths
In future, I can introduce him to counting 2 by 2. Since the houses on one side are even numbered & the other odd, I'll use this opportunity to further his maths (addition).
Garden
- He picked up dried leaves from the grass (bend down, squat, fine motor, hand eye)
- He also plucked all the tiny red flowers from one of the plants (fine motor, hand eye, both hands)
- He ran along the drain cover (visual) which he likes cos it makes a loud sound
Oral Motor
He can now suck up his Yakult using a normal sized bendy straw which has been cut in half, with the straw maintaining it's shape. Straw was placed past his teeth but he didnt bite down on it hard. Only faint teeth mark was visible on the straw. Hooray! We see progress resulting from activities using the various sized & shaped straws!
Kitten
He did quite a bit of squatting & "squat to stand" at the restaurant tonight because he was playing with a kitten.
Ball play
Why?
I wanted him to stretch up high.
How?
- Balls & a basketball hoop. The hoop was given 2nd hand from a friend (easily found in hypermarkets, Jusco). Very useful as it's adjustable as he grows taller - it has suction caps. Actually, it was more like he dropped them through the hoop rather than throw, but it's ok cos he did stretch. But he did only a few balls, so did a variation....
We went upstairs & he dropped the balls over the banister (banister high enough to still require stretching). He wised up after just a few throws & rolled them down instead. So changed the game again...
Helper & I held up an old towel & got him to throw over. Perhaps this was something new so he did quite a few throws. Actual throwing, good strong throws (not dropping), which is good.
Gross motor
15 mins only this morning at the neighbourhood park. Parked at bottom of row of houses which are on a slope - we walked up & back down. That housing area was designed differently - the inclination of the slope alternates...it is a bit of a short steep walk up a slope up then flatten out at the next 2 houses, then the slope again etc. So he gets the "steep bit" to stretch his achilles, gastroc muscles etc.
Speech
He'd name all the brands of cars parked outside the houses e.g. Honda, Alfa Romeo, Toyota, Ford, BMW. Noted his pronounciation of "B" is better (when he says "BMW"). It used to sound like "bern". Now its "bee". Hooray! I use whatever interests him as opportunities for therapy activities, so he's been naming cars for a long time now.
Maths
In future, I can introduce him to counting 2 by 2. Since the houses on one side are even numbered & the other odd, I'll use this opportunity to further his maths (addition).
Garden
- He picked up dried leaves from the grass (bend down, squat, fine motor, hand eye)
- He also plucked all the tiny red flowers from one of the plants (fine motor, hand eye, both hands)
- He ran along the drain cover (visual) which he likes cos it makes a loud sound
Oral Motor
He can now suck up his Yakult using a normal sized bendy straw which has been cut in half, with the straw maintaining it's shape. Straw was placed past his teeth but he didnt bite down on it hard. Only faint teeth mark was visible on the straw. Hooray! We see progress resulting from activities using the various sized & shaped straws!
Kitten
He did quite a bit of squatting & "squat to stand" at the restaurant tonight because he was playing with a kitten.
Ball play
Why?
I wanted him to stretch up high.
How?
- Balls & a basketball hoop. The hoop was given 2nd hand from a friend (easily found in hypermarkets, Jusco). Very useful as it's adjustable as he grows taller - it has suction caps. Actually, it was more like he dropped them through the hoop rather than throw, but it's ok cos he did stretch. But he did only a few balls, so did a variation....
We went upstairs & he dropped the balls over the banister (banister high enough to still require stretching). He wised up after just a few throws & rolled them down instead. So changed the game again...
Helper & I held up an old towel & got him to throw over. Perhaps this was something new so he did quite a few throws. Actual throwing, good strong throws (not dropping), which is good.
Monday, July 6, 2009
NeuroSuit
Last week, the deposit for the NeuroSuit was paid. The American therapist/owner is coming end of the month & I'm looking forward to starting the suit therapy.
Lots of hard work for sure & I've to be patient, but I these are what I hope to see in my son, with the suit therapy...
- significantly less drool
- better speech in terms of volume & clarity
- running gait a lot more normalised
- hip more stable
- arms straighter, less "bat wing" like
- able to do more gross motor skills, like stepping up higher steps unaided, pedalling, jumping, walking on balance beam unaided
- improvement in fine motor
There was an article in NST on NeuroSuit:
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Features/20090602093919/Article/index_html
Briefly, this is what I understand Neurosuit is meant to/has benefits of:
- correct the posture, through giving proprioceptive input back to the brain on what the correct posture is supposed to be. Cells & muscles have memory.
- intensify the benefits of any physio or therapies that he does while in the suit & so we'll see those benefits earlier.
- Since there are bungee like cords attached, it gives resistance & so strengthens muscles too.
This is the link to NeuroSuit's website, for more info:
http://www.neurosuit.com/
This is the link to some photos of a severe CP boy I know, who is sitting up unaided. He could only sit propped up in his wheelchair/stroller before the suit therapy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101893&id=607886440&l=ed984b5633
Lots of hard work for sure & I've to be patient, but I these are what I hope to see in my son, with the suit therapy...
- significantly less drool
- better speech in terms of volume & clarity
- running gait a lot more normalised
- hip more stable
- arms straighter, less "bat wing" like
- able to do more gross motor skills, like stepping up higher steps unaided, pedalling, jumping, walking on balance beam unaided
- improvement in fine motor
There was an article in NST on NeuroSuit:
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Features/20090602093919/Article/index_html
Briefly, this is what I understand Neurosuit is meant to/has benefits of:
- correct the posture, through giving proprioceptive input back to the brain on what the correct posture is supposed to be. Cells & muscles have memory.
- intensify the benefits of any physio or therapies that he does while in the suit & so we'll see those benefits earlier.
- Since there are bungee like cords attached, it gives resistance & so strengthens muscles too.
This is the link to NeuroSuit's website, for more info:
http://www.neurosuit.com/
This is the link to some photos of a severe CP boy I know, who is sitting up unaided. He could only sit propped up in his wheelchair/stroller before the suit therapy!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101893&id=607886440&l=ed984b5633
Sunday, June 21, 2009
What activities did I do with my son today?
1. Chase the birds
- He loves to chase birds (& cats), so used this interest of his to sneak in some of my objectives. Brought him along to the local mamak while hubby & I had roti telur for breakfast. Maid supervised him while we ate & vice versa.
- Why? to run/exercise & maintain his level of stamina; to increase his speech volume (we told him he has to shout out loud "Shooo birds!" or else the birds wont fly away)
- Noted: his running has gone a bit funny again. Left arm in a more pronounced "bat wing" position. Perhaps it's because I've not taken him to the playground for 2 weeks (car's in workshop) when it used to be twice a day, on an almost daily basis.
- To work on more: Must think of ways to use other muscles....playing in baby pool perhaps
2. Help with household chores
- How? Got him to say "push" a few times whenI was pushing the old mattresses away for storage.
- Why? to use oral muscles to pucker up in order to improve articulation of the "o" and "u" sound
- To work on more: puckering
- Noted: misses out the first phenome "p" in "push", which also happens with other words especially words beginning with "m"
3. Learn to shower (self care skills)
- How? Squeezed out some shower gel unto his palm. Placed my hands over his & helped him soap his legs by moving his arms up & down his legs.
- Why? To practise this movement to help not just in learning to shower himself, but also in learning to pull down his shorts when he needs to go to toilet
- Improvement noted: No longer afraid of standing under the large fixed shower head. Also slightly easier for him to bend down & move up.
4. Pre writing skills
- How? Draw a few capital letters on the back of sand paper, cut it out & paste it on cardboard. I chose a few of the easier alphabets used in his name to start off with. Easier in the sense of straight lines, like "A" and "N" & not curved lines, like "G". Wrote the alphabet by holding his pointer & middle finger together and moving it on the sandpaper.
- Why? That's the way it's being taught in his kindergarten & it was also suggested by one of his therapists. I had also read about this method somewhere in the internet. I think it's to do with engaging his tactile sense (apart from just visual). Experts say learning happens faster when more than one sense is involved (or something like that).
- Improvement noted: A little better in keeping his two fingers together when tracing. Remembers sequence of strokes in writing "A"
- To work on more: sequence of strokes for "H"
5. Reading his "Move It! Builders" Book
- What's this book? Bought this board book when he was 2 years old to get him to use his fine motor. He loves anything to do with cars, dump trucks, diggers etc. Each page of this book features a machine with one part that is moveable e.g. wheels of the dump truck can be spun around, steering wheel can be turned left or right. Very well illustrated & designed, which helps in maintaining his interest. Bought it from Border's but also available at http://www.mytoysandbooks.com/
- Purpose & method (i): fine motor exercise by making parts of the machines move in his book e.g. pushing the bulldozer's bucket up & down; swinging the demolition ball forward & backward; sliding the crane's heavy load left & right.
- Purpose & method (ii): Introduce simple "sight" words, specifically the word "it" because it appears on every page. There are only 2 words on each page.
- Purpose & method (iii): introduce maths concept of addition/doubling. E.g. 2 wheels on this side of the dumpster, so must be another 2 wheels on other side, so 2+2 = 4
- To work on more: to use left hand more instead of just right hand
- Noted: he could not turn the very thick board page by himself, which is a bit strange because he used to be able to do it. Perhaps it's because he hasn't read this book in a long time.
6. Swing
1. Chase the birds
- He loves to chase birds (& cats), so used this interest of his to sneak in some of my objectives. Brought him along to the local mamak while hubby & I had roti telur for breakfast. Maid supervised him while we ate & vice versa.
- Why? to run/exercise & maintain his level of stamina; to increase his speech volume (we told him he has to shout out loud "Shooo birds!" or else the birds wont fly away)
- Noted: his running has gone a bit funny again. Left arm in a more pronounced "bat wing" position. Perhaps it's because I've not taken him to the playground for 2 weeks (car's in workshop) when it used to be twice a day, on an almost daily basis.
- To work on more: Must think of ways to use other muscles....playing in baby pool perhaps
2. Help with household chores
- How? Got him to say "push" a few times whenI was pushing the old mattresses away for storage.
- Why? to use oral muscles to pucker up in order to improve articulation of the "o" and "u" sound
- To work on more: puckering
- Noted: misses out the first phenome "p" in "push", which also happens with other words especially words beginning with "m"
3. Learn to shower (self care skills)
- How? Squeezed out some shower gel unto his palm. Placed my hands over his & helped him soap his legs by moving his arms up & down his legs.
- Why? To practise this movement to help not just in learning to shower himself, but also in learning to pull down his shorts when he needs to go to toilet
- Improvement noted: No longer afraid of standing under the large fixed shower head. Also slightly easier for him to bend down & move up.
4. Pre writing skills
- How? Draw a few capital letters on the back of sand paper, cut it out & paste it on cardboard. I chose a few of the easier alphabets used in his name to start off with. Easier in the sense of straight lines, like "A" and "N" & not curved lines, like "G". Wrote the alphabet by holding his pointer & middle finger together and moving it on the sandpaper.
- Why? That's the way it's being taught in his kindergarten & it was also suggested by one of his therapists. I had also read about this method somewhere in the internet. I think it's to do with engaging his tactile sense (apart from just visual). Experts say learning happens faster when more than one sense is involved (or something like that).
- Improvement noted: A little better in keeping his two fingers together when tracing. Remembers sequence of strokes in writing "A"
- To work on more: sequence of strokes for "H"
5. Reading his "Move It! Builders" Book
- What's this book? Bought this board book when he was 2 years old to get him to use his fine motor. He loves anything to do with cars, dump trucks, diggers etc. Each page of this book features a machine with one part that is moveable e.g. wheels of the dump truck can be spun around, steering wheel can be turned left or right. Very well illustrated & designed, which helps in maintaining his interest. Bought it from Border's but also available at http://www.mytoysandbooks.com/
- Purpose & method (i): fine motor exercise by making parts of the machines move in his book e.g. pushing the bulldozer's bucket up & down; swinging the demolition ball forward & backward; sliding the crane's heavy load left & right.- Purpose & method (ii): Introduce simple "sight" words, specifically the word "it" because it appears on every page. There are only 2 words on each page.
- Purpose & method (iii): introduce maths concept of addition/doubling. E.g. 2 wheels on this side of the dumpster, so must be another 2 wheels on other side, so 2+2 = 4
- To work on more: to use left hand more instead of just right hand
- Noted: he could not turn the very thick board page by himself, which is a bit strange because he used to be able to do it. Perhaps it's because he hasn't read this book in a long time.
6. Swing
- How? We installed a "circular" swing in his room - able to spin, not just pendular movement. Swing bought from Ikea.
- Why? To improve his vestibular & proprioception sense, balance & coordination
- Improvement noted: in the last few weeks, he's been more confident & able to climb up on the swing & played on it in different ways
7. Little Yoga book
– what is it? A book illustrating simple yoga postures (imitating animals) which toddlers can follow (on loan from Fe, thanks)
- Purpose:
i) Getting into those physical postures helps him to be more aware of his body; stretches muscles
ii) reinforce alphabet recognition- he likes to count the number of times certain alphabets appear on a page e.g. 3 letter "o" here
iii) reinforce simple sight words like “book”
iv) introducing simple maths concept & vocab - on one of the pages, there's a series of letter "z" which starts of small in size but gradually gets bigger. So he learns sequencing, & the words bigger & biggest
- To work on more: he cant do the cat posture
8. Thunderstorm
- a storm was approaching, so took it as a teaching opportunity to introduce the following:
i) the concept that when noise is far away, it's soft & gets louder as it gets nearer
ii) introduce vocab: wind starts off gentle, gets stronger, and is strongest
- Noted: He hasn't picked up the new vocab as he's using small, bigger, bigger, biggest to describe the wind speed. But was pleasantly surprised that he did the action to go along with small wind, medium wind & big wind (I had shown it to him many months ago)
9. Sticker activity
– apart from what's already mentioned in earlier post about this activity, today I also introduced maths concept of subtraction. For e.g. "ok, there were 8 more stickers to stick & you’ve just stuck another sticker, so how many more to go?" "7 more. Right!"
10. Mega Bloks & Pop Upz
- purpose:
i) use both hands to work together (e.g. when dismantling a structure)
ii) to get him to open up his palm more (e.g. when pushing down a piece of brick instead of just using pointer)
iii) to use left hand more e.g. to put a piece into place (instead of always using just right hand)
iv) to develop creativity (e.g. building a house for the kangaroo)
11. Speech
– done through out the day. Still misses out first syllable or first phenome. Certain words better like yellow. Communicates with you, e.g. kangaroo sleeping... dark outside (ie. night time)
12. Wearing shirt (self care skill)
– just started to teach this self care skill. One small step at a time...Just at the stage of using both hands to hold a shirt at the collar & pulling over the head. Can achieve it sometimes. Then shown how to put arms through sleeve & to pull down shirt
13. Toilet training
– still cant get him to sit on WC to poo poo. Too afraid? Fear of falling off WC? Painful stools?
14. Gastroc muscle/achilles
– He seems to be doing a bit more tip toe walking which is not good. Will need to get splint on more often & also passively stretch it for him...& weather permitting, climb steep hills again
15. Butterflies on a paper stand
– there's slight progress cos I could increase the distance a bit more, maybe 3 inches now
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