Sunday, November 13, 2011

Clip Art

Resist from repeating yourself.
Margo advised parents to only say things once (to their children) in her lecture on: Sensory Rich Environments to Support Learning for Young Children: Simplifying yet Enriching Day to Day Experiences in Home and Care Programs.
We also talked about how day-to-day demands on our children with SPD can become overwhelming. Using visual aids is very helpful. here are some websites to get you started.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/

http://www.visualaidsforlearning.com/

When John was younger, I printed and laminated pictures of his daily activities, glued the rough side of velcro on the back of the pictures and placed them on a felt board every morning.The pictures made each activity real....if it was on the board, it needed to be done and John didn't question this. As we went through each activity, John removed the pictures and put them back in a designated box. The process was very empowering. It worked out really well for us.

We don't do daily chart boards anymore, but we still have a weekly chart; much less sophisticated, but for the whole family. I prepare it on Sunday, print it and hang it up for the week. Meals are a breeze too. We get together and each pick a meal and create a visual chart of what we're eating each day. When the question, "what are we having for supper?" arises, I just direct the children to the meal chart. Again, although the children are older (11, 8 and 5 years old), nobody questions the chart. It's the LAW.

Happy Charting!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Sensory Rich Environments to Support Learning for Young Children

Society for Healthy Sensory Processing Development welcomed Margo Running as speaker to its first presentation. She spoke about creating sensory rich environments to support learning for young children leaving the audience with an understanding that the development and protection of our child’s senses form the foundation for learning. If a child doesn’t properly develop the sensory systems, the child won’t have a solid base for their academic learning. Too often, our children are rushed into academic learning.
As we rushed the kids out of the house this morning, I remembered Margo Running stressing the importance of the “pause”. It isn’t easy, but especially with our children with SPD issues, let’s remember that rushing will just cause frustration and unhappiness; their brains just don’t work that fast….it’s like asking a cat to bark. It’s not going to happen. Pause.

That was yesturday. I would like to admit that I actually took a pause, but life is busy. And I have so much to do… I won’t be able to write everything I’d like to about Margo’s talk. But that’s okay because we’ll invite her again and those of you who missed her will get other chances to hear her. Those of you who attended the talk last week, thank you for coming and for your generous donations!

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects at least one in twenty children. Children with SPD don't process or experience sensory information the way other typical children do; therfore, they don't behave the way other children do. They struggle to perform tasks that come easier for other children. Consequently they suffer a loss of quality in their social, personal, emotional and academic life.

The Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation is dedicated to continue their research into the knowledge and treatment of SPD, so that, as Lucy Jane Miller writes in her book "Sensations Kids", "the millions of sensational children currently "muddling through" daily life will enjoy the same hope and help that research and recognition already have bestowed on coutless other conditions that once baffled science and disrupted lives."