Color Matching Blocks and Cards....

When we were dealing with all the...Hope needs to be doing by....we had
been told that one of the things that Hope was not doing that she
needed to be doing was to match her colors. So we asked and they said
that she would be given a block and then she would need to match it to
the color. So I went to the local chain store and bought some blocks
that were both colored and plain. I also boughtscrapbooking paper and paint that matched it.

The
kids and I sand papered the blocks both the colored and plain and then
painted them with the colors that we needed to learn. I then cut out
and laminated the coordinating coloredcardstock. I made two of them so that we could not only work with Hope at matching the blocks but also the cards.

Here are the pictures...








Hugs
Debra and Hope

Magnetic Paper Dolls....

I just love these and really want to share them with you.

I have used them for most of my children and am so glad to be able to use
them for Hope and not only can you make them, you can now buy them.

How to make them....?

Go
to a store and either buy one of those metal oven mats, a cookie sheet,
or one of those cheap lap trays, you know the kind that you can put
over your lap and eat at when you are to sick to come to the table.

Buy
a paper doll book and punch out the dolls and clothes. Laminate the
clothing and attach the dolls to the metal item. Then laminate it or
use clear contact on it to make it spill proof or at least somewhat.
Make sure you cut off all the "white tabs" that are on the clothes
before you laminate it and then add a piece of magnetic tape on the
back of the clothes. Now you have a sweet way to for a child to dress
and undress their doll and even with a little thicker fingers they can
do this with out having to put those silly tabs on the doll to hold the
clothes on. Plus, usually most paper doll books come with more than one
doll and you can use one on the metal item and one on the fridge. You
have to tape or attach it with something that has no thickness so the
clothes can attach to it. But makes for a fun time.

They also have the ones that are wooden with the magnets in it. I am not sure if these are Melissa and Doug puzzles but I think so. I love these also and now they have "paper doll" puzzles.

Here are some pictures of them...

Bumbo Seat....

Something we found for Hope was a Bumbo Seat. You can find it on line at....www.bumboseat.com. It was a wonderful help at helping Hope learn to sit up. Our Physical Therapist thought it was a good investment for us to make. Here is a picture of Miss Hope sitting in hers.



They now have a tray to use for it but when we had Hope in it, we had went to a discount store and bought a wooden lap tray and that was a wonderful fit. It gave us a place to put Hope's things on it and make her sit up to it.

You can now find them at various chain stores or on line at auctions.

Enjoy
Debra and Hope

Handwriting without tears...

Above is a picture of some of the pens, pencils and markers that I have bought for my children. I have fun looking for new things out to use. I have golf pencils and they are wonderful because I don't have to break a full sized pencil in half.

I also found this site through someone andI just love it and love their stuff. It is something for any child. When one of our OT's showed us the program, one thing that she had said was that sometimes the kids with different abilities get all the "fun" stuff. It is nice when a program can help any child. I have the books for pre-k to cursive. This is where I learned to break the pencils, crayons and chalk. If you want to look at the program you can find it at Handwriting Without Tears. I think you will enjoy the site and I just love the wooden letters, the magnetic letters and magnetic writing board and the playdough.

Hugs
Debra and Hope

I like this from my daily devotion....

From Crosswalk.com...this is a devotional that I have sent to my e-mail each day. Tis one just hit me today so thought I would share...

Girlfriends in God

A quote from today....

Successful mothers are not the ones who have never struggled. They are the ones who never give up, despite the struggles. Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” I’d like to add that God is the only One Who is Omnipotent, but persistence and determination while relying on His power brings great results!

Galatians 6:9 reminds us, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do no grow weary.” That’s a promise that we all can cling to.

Hope you enjoy...
Hugs
Debra and Hope

High Chair....

We found the Fisher Price High Chair for Hope. It was attached to a chair and the neat thing about it was that it reclined and so that helped us when Hope was eating but not really strong enough to sit up good.

Here is a picture of her in her seat enjoying a sucker with Jason and Jarod, her big brothers.



One other thing, I learned about this also on my board. These moms are wonderful.

Hugs
Debra and Hope

Books, Books, Books....

I had researched and found that children with Down syndrome could learn to read and even learn to read as early as 2 1/2. The one site I found said that the dad read to her daughter 10 books a day. So I bought lots of the books that were thick and lots of pages and every day I read to her. It didn't take long for her to love reading and although she is not reading at 2 1/2, she loves to bring books to me everyday to read.

Hugs
Debra and Hope

Shopping Cart...

When Hope was learning to walk, we wanted to have something that we could use to help her learn. The Physical Therapist suggested the Little Tikes Shopping Cart but we found that it seemed to tip easy with her. She could not pull up to it because it would tip on her.

So we asked the PT and she suggested cans of food but Hope loved to throw things and I could just imagine what she would do with that. So I bought the two 10 pound bags of flour and large zip loc bags and put the flour in it and zipped it shut and put it in the bottom of the cart. With that in the cart, Hope could pull up and walk with the cart.

I don't have pictures of the girl walking with her cart that I know of but I have a sweet picture of her in the cart with her big brother Jason pushing her around.

Ice Cube Tray....Pincer Grip.

When Hope was trying to learn her pincer grip the Ocupational therapist said to use an ice cube tray and cherios or her puffs to encourage it. Well Hope loved to toss things and I knew that was not going to work. So a friend of mine said to trim off the bottom of the tray where the one tray helps hold up the other from the tray below it and then sand that... add velcro to the high chair tray and the bottom of the ice cube tray. That work so well but she did eventually learn to tear it off.

Here are pictures...

Sign Language Cards and Web Sites....

One thing I learned also was that Hope could learn Sign Language. For some reason and maybe because I had heard that sign language was something that was big with teaching all children, I felt more comfortable about that than the picture cards. So I searched on several sights and found a web site where I could order the cards. So I ordered cards from The Lesson Tutor and go to the left hand sidebar and click on Shopping@LT a you can order the cards already made up and at not a bad cost.

Here are some pictures that I have of the cards that I made up for Hope. I laminated them and put them on a ring.

Here is a picture of them.




Web sites about sign language...

http://www.masterstech-home.com/ASLDict.html
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
http://www.tinyfingers.com/kit.html
http://www.signwithme.com/default.asp
http://www.csupomona.edu/~apfelzer/mbr/unit1/lessons/1-house.html
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/
http://www.signingtime.com/

The Signing Time tapes and DVD's are wonderful and an excellent way to help parents, friends and children learn sign language.

Hope this helps
Debra and Hope

Pictures of every day things....

When I asked what I can do for Hope to help her communicate, the Speech Therapist said to have her use pictures. I have seen other children use pictures and that was NOT what I wanted my child to do...well, I used pictures and it was wonderful and it didn't mean that she was always going to use picture boards and if she did, I was ok with that.

I made this by going around and taking pictures of things that Hope used in her everday life. I took pictures of shoes, her food, cup, toys, books, diapers, ball, bubbles, teddy bear, spoon. I put them on a business card magnets and that way the could be on the fridge. I also made a copy of them on a piece of cardstock, with four of them to a page, then had them laminated and then used the velcro, soft side on the pages and then put the rough side on the picture that was also laminated. This way we could also play matching games. I didn't laminate the magnets.

Here are pictures what I did.

Advocacy Web sites I have found...

Partners in Making your Case This is a self study on Making your case. You can take a course in this. I have not done it yet but plan on it soon.

The National Center of Medical Home Initiatives for Children with Special Needs This is a site to also help you look up things about your own state. If you click on the state pages button it will take you to a map to find things about your individual state.

Write your own behavior plan This is a site that gives you a starting point for writing a behavior plan for you child.

National Early Childhood TA Center This looks like it has lots of links to part C of the IDEA.

Education a Must This web site says that it helps provide advocacy services.

Disability Secrets This is a neat site to help people through the system of Social Security.

This is a web site that someone on the Board that I am on listed the other day...
The Delphi Technique, How to disrupt it A little more detailed site is The Delphi Technique

I know there are so many more out there and if any one can help that would be great.

Hugs
Debra and Hope

A Book of Hope

To help our children and anyone else that had questions was to create a book about Hope. Since I love scrapbooking it was very easy and fun to do.

I took some pictures of Hope...her eyes, feet, toes, hands, ears and even her belly button because it was such a cute outie. Then I added some of her favorite things like her books, babyfoods, toys, where she sleeps, her dog and her family. I also added signs for her to see, Hope, hair, hand, foot, ear, eye, book, toy, frog, bed, dog, and family.

I then laminated them so that it would not get messy. I then put it together with a couple of rings.

We had fun and it was so neat for the kids to see what made Hope special.

One of the ladies on our online group does a book for her son for school and I hope that I can do it for Hope also so that others can understand what makes her special.

Hugs to you all

Debra and Hop

Quote for the day...

Well really it is song and it is beautiful. A friend on another web site posted this as we all remember that even our children "do it their own way" and in their own time.

Thanks for reading

Shine

Sometimes I see you stuck
For such a long time
A daily nothing new
Pretend I don’t mind
With lists of things you’ll never do
Until somehow you do
And you do – you do – you shine

The days and months and years,
they run together
Is it just one day? Or is this forever?
You’ve taught me in your lifetime
More than I’d learned in mine
And you do, you do, you shine

Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
Shine your light on me
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
everyone will see
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
I’m so glad you are mine
And you’ll shine in your own time

Well, maybe I’m too close to see you clearly
Or is it now my role to simply believe?
You’re just one of those mysteries
That may never be solved in time
But you do – you do – you shine

And Madison will do what Madison will do when Madison is ready to do it
And Madison will do what Madison will do when Madison is ready to do it
And Madison will do what Madison will do when Madison is ready to do it
And she’ll do it in their own time

Yeah, they’ll Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
Shine your light on me
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
And everyone will see
Shine Shine Shine Shine Shine
I’m so glad you are mine
And you’ll shine, and you shine

Mm mm you’ll shine shine
You’ll shine my baby
No maybe you’ll shine
I can wait some time

I’ll wait for you to shine
Oh my baby
Well you’ll shine and you’ll shine
and you’ll shine

Lyrics by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman. Music by Rachel de Azevedo Coleman & Lex de Azevedo.
© 2004 Two Little Hands Productions, LLC P.O. Box 581037 Salt Lake City, UT 84158
tel: 801.533.0444 fax: 801.880.5151 sales@signingtime.com www.signingtime.com

Cups, forks, spoons and plates....

I never in all of my years raising my children gave one thought to how much good a certain kind of cup would do or what kind of forks and spoons help with getting children to eat or which kind of plates to use. Some things I learned were...

There are many kinds of these things and they almost all think they are the best. LOL So here are some of the things that I used.

Fresh Food Feeder....this is a wonderful invention. You can let the little one eat banana, grapes, cooked veggies by chewing on them through the netting on a ring that is held by either you or the baby. It is by Munchkin and it can be viewed here...http://www.babyuniverse.com/pro/baby/28204/FreshFoodFeeder.html

The forks and spoons came from Beyond Play which is a catalog for Early Intervention Products. One of the first ones we used with Hope was theEasieEaters Curved Untensils. You can see these at...http://www.beyondplay.com/ITEMS/T563.HTM The Occupational Therapist gave these to us. She also gave us this plate for Hope to learn from....http://www.beyondplay.com/ITEMS/T408.HTM This was a wonderful help until Hope learned to pick it up and toss it. Which is something that she is still good at doing.

One of the cups that we have used since Hope was six months old was the NUBY Straw Cup. These for some reason are called NUBY straw bottles but they don't come with a nipple and they are in the sippy cup part of our local discount store. Here they are....http://www.beyondplay.com/ITEMS/T408.HTM

Well that is all for now.

Hugs to you Debra and Hope

Some of the first things I did when...

was to research. For some time we were not getting a very successful start to breast feeding and all the research I did showed that breastfeeding would be helpful in helping to teach Hope to keep her tongue in her mouth, more control of the tongue. So I needed to research which bottles would help with this also.

Do a search.

My searches were

Down syndrome and bottle feeding
Down syndrome and breast feeding
Down syndrome and keeping the tongue in (don't do that search as it one of the first web sites was about spanking the child to keep the tongue in. YIKES.
How to help the tongue and Down syndrome.

Hope these help.

Hugs
Debra and Hope

Some things we did when Hope was 0 to 6 months...

Hope at birth.
Hope at 6 months
My first thing that I had to do with Hope was to get off this internet and forget about all that went with the words Down syndrome and look at my baby as just that, a baby. I had our Early Access people come in once amonth. Just to meet them and not get overwhelmed. I was glad I had met them because we had noticed that Hope seemed to turn her head only to one side and because I had met them, I felt comfortable at calling them to hae them look at this and make sure it was nothing.

So first enjoy and next would be to research a board that is positive, can fight and most times get through it without any major breakups, and that are willing to share their ideas and heartaches and accomplishments. I found that in one board and although sometimes we act to much like a family, I am glad that I have them around.

So that is one of my first things I did when Hope was 0-6 months. I did do some reasearch but tried to keep it at the minimal and to keep my self from looking at what I had to do with Hope 1 year, 2 years, or 8 years from now and just try and look at the next six months. That way I am ahead but still not so far that I can't remember what I have made or learned.

Hugs Debra and Hope

Quote for the day....

This is a quote from a book a friend of mine was reading....

"I strongly believe that behind the success of every disabled child is a passionately, committed, intensely engaged and totally empowered parent. Usually but not always the child's mother."

Not sure where that comes from but I also know that there is a difference between what the world sees as success and what I see as success. Hope you enjoyed.

My first post about what has been helpful...

Velcro....

It is a wonderful invention right up there next to duct tape. I have used to to attach things to file folder games to help with matching things. I have used it to help with sequencing things and have seen it used where someone writes letters, blends, vowels and things on it so it can be used to create words.

One hint....

When using the velcro, attach the soft side to things you are wanting to stick the object to and the rough side to the things that you stick to it. This makes it helpful to stick the item to a rug or other things with velcro.

Thanks to my sweet friend for letting me in on this secret.

Well, a new blog...

I figured I wanted something to document how we are teaching and working to help Hope learn. Also to just post how Hope is doing in general.

Hope that you enjoy.