Starting this week, I have the good fortune of having 2 young volunteers coming over to help. One is Kelly, third-year English major in University, the other is Aaron who is the son of my church-mate. It was totally not within my plan to recruit volunteers this year. Yet, they appeared at the right moment just like Godsend. God sends angels to everyone every now and then but sometimes we may not notice. But these are too obvious to miss and I am so grateful to God for His blessings. Since both of them told me they want to be a teacher, and Jason is such a challenging student(LOL), I hope this summer will provide them with a good learning opportunity, and I will try my best to make it worthwhile for their effort.
These past 4 days of summer program was rewarding to say the least. It proves to me and Beth (so good I have another witness) that Jason really understands more than we give him credit for. I continue to work on word recognition, especially mommy, daddy, his name, Beth and other familiar names. What's interesting is, when I ask him to just point or select the one card that says, say "Jason", he tends to pick on one randomly, which looks more like he wants to grab my card; if I place 2 word cards horizontally in the pocket chart and ask him to put the correct pictures on top, he'd appear to be doing so randomly as well; however, if I place the cards vertically, one over the other, he then matches the cards cleanly and beautifully. Because of his ataxic arm movement, a motor command to raise it up to the top card vs the bottom card requires a lot of exaggerated effort, so you know this cannot be random. This happened so many times that I have to give credit for it. I can also do this without food reward now and I am starting to introduce words (love) so he can start making sentences already.
Other than literacy, I am also training Jason with assistive technology - i.e. using technology to assist in learning such as reading, writing, even math, etc. Since children with disability oftentimes do not have the fine motor skills to control a mouse, turn the page of a book, or write with a pen, we train them to use a switch which is essentially a button connected to the computer to replace the mouse. Yet with only one switch, it can perform at best the equivalent of a left click. But what about navigation across page? This can be done by adding another switch which helps scan through all the components of the page, then using the other switch to select. In simple terms, it is not unlike selecting a track from the CD.
While I am proud to say Jason has graduated from the single-switch stage (that includes using the switch for simple cause-and-effect activity, or to advance a PowerPoint slideshow), the path to 2-switch use (technically, its called "step-scanning") is not an easy one. I truly appreciate the help of the therapists/consultants at CTN (Children's Treatment Network) who lent me the equipment and software that allow me to create my own activities and take my time training Jason at home. Although Jason is still quite far from fully understanding it (after all, step scanning is a complicated concept - imagine setting a program with your old VCR!!) he is beginning to understand each switch has a different function...and would press the correct button with prompts, lots of prompts I mean. :p
Yet, I am so glad Jason is learning finally ....albeit slowly. But every day I spend so closely with him is like a discovery process. It gives me new ideas about life, new possibilities of his potential, and renewed strength from God.
Oh, here are a couple of noteworthy "achievements" of Jason today that I'd like to journal for my own reference. (I wish I could capture them on a video but each time I have my camera ready, he'll will looking at the camera - problem for Mr. Photogenic)
- When Aaron visited us today, Jason said "he-nno" (hello)...apparently a surprise for Aaron who thought Jason is unable to do this (based on his observation from church)
- Jason said he does not want to crawl with Aaron. He wants to do to computer by saying "com-pu-ter"
- Then, he said "MacDonald" to play the MacDonald's toy set with Aaron.
- We then played "go-fish". This time, Aaron gave Jason lots of time to say "go-eeeee" and he did that 3 times to Aaron. He also gave the cards to Aaron when I told him to. He even picked the correct card!
- After we are done, I asked him to pull off the picture symbol for "go-fish" meaning it's done. He did it again accurately.
- In case you're curious, this is how our morning schedule looks like, and I use this as a choice board too for him to choose his activities. (iPad being one of his favorite!)
These are like top-line performances that I normally would not dare to expect. Therefore I must journal this in my blog for future reference, and more importantly, as a page of sweet memory.
so, Jason's mom (calling you this is a bit weird LOL), I wish I was there to share the happiness with you and seeing J improves. J is improving as we all can see that, no worries and your hard work worths, tkae goood care and love always.
ReplyDelete-little J*s biuuuu-daaaa!