Showing posts sorted by date for query autism. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query autism. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query autism. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query autism. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Back to School Life Lessons from a Dyslexic's Mommy

Life Lessons for Homeschooling

Back to homeschooling dealing with brain drain. By now, most kids are back in school full-time.  As homeschoolers, we officially started August 12 with Connections Academy, since there were no scheduled live lessons we eased back into it.  Life lessons for homeschooling quickly ensued. Enjoy!

Brick and mortar schools have late start Monday, so why can’t we?  We started late (10:00) did a lesson, took a break, did another lesson, ate lunch, did another lesson, went swimming (hey, it counts as P.E), and then called it a day.  Although, it sounds easy- it wasn’t!  I’m great at giving advice, remember this post on summer brain drain?  Well, turns out, I didn’t follow my own advice.  How much brain power can one lose in a few weeks, right?  

W-R-O-N-G!

back to school homeschool: Back to School Life Lessons from a Dyslexic's Mommy
School is back in session.

Jake is doing great, on task, a little hurried so he can get back to his video games, but overall excellent.  He had a perfect spelling test, near perfect Math homework, and he was all smiles and ready to roll.  He hates school, but it comes easy.

Mayhem.  Mayhem.  Mayhem.  That’s not her given name, but that’s what we call her, Mandy Mayhem.  We woke up, brushed our teeth, freed the chickens, collected eggs and tomatoes, took a walk to the pond, and then made scrambled eggs and toast.  Everything was fine. She was excited to start school- and then we started school.  GRR.  “I can’t make this work- the page disappeared- do I have to read this?”  AND  “I can’t find my Notebook- where is a pencil? –You wrote in my sketchbook!”  On a positive note, reading her assigned story, Iris and Walter went well.  It seemed she’d retained more than I thought.

AND THEN…It was time for written work.  “Number your page for a spelling test”, Mommy politely said.  “Are you ready? This is just a pre-test”, Mommy smiled ignoring the tantrum.  “Don’t worry, it is only practice.”  There was much complaining, whining, and pencil pounding. “I’m sure those letters are backwards!”  “I can’t remember how to spell that word!”  “Which letter comes first?”  And so, it resumed.  All the work, we’d done last year, on the “it’s probably not dyslexia just age appropriate transposition of letters and numbers” was lost.

The paper wasn’t numbered from 1-15.  There were big words and small words scribbled all about, there were capital A’s and small a’s intermixed in the same word.  There were words, that had just been practiced in a worksheet, spelled on tiles, and read in the story.  Not one word was written correctly.  Although, if  you paid close attention and understood the common transpositions, backward or upside down letters, you could decode the correct spelling word.

DeKs, backward J-oB, sAD, LTis, S A backward C- K, DutS, and pockt.

I think its interesting, that the only misspelled word is the only one written in appropriate all lowercase letters.  Did you need a translator?  Desk, job, sad, list, sack, dust, and pocket.  A teacher would have taken one look at the sloppy mess and given up.  Mommy took the time to decode it.  Then, I wrote lines in pink highlighter, filled in the word 'desk' written correctly, and asked her to recopy her words with proper capitalization.  

Dust, chop, Desk, Durm, backward j-ob, t- backward a and g, letts, snack, rook, Rib, engine, mess, and list.

 She did a great job on chop, engine, mess, and list, but snack and rook aren’t on the list.  I will have to decode those later. The good news is the words are written within the lines with appropriate letter size, and numbered from 1-15.  We’ll focus on that for now-  2nd grade.

Teacher asked if I wanted to pass her last year.  “What kind of question is that?”  She had straight A+’s in first grade.  She hated it.  It was “boring” and too easy.  Except, if the teacher and I hadn’t taken the time to decode the hand-written work…  Did you see that?  Handwritten work?  That’s right, she doesn’t transpose when typing!  Unfortunately, in second grade, she is required to turn in handwritten papers in preparation for academic testing. Bummer, next year I won’t waste those summer months.

In the meantime, she’s going to relax with some art and sensory play with her favorite medium, clay.  This is a great fun dough product perfect for sensory play for children with autism or other processing disorders.Crazy Aaron's Putty World Super Scarab Putty  is unique.  It has thermodynamic and phosphorescent properties perfect for science exploration. Thermodynamics explores the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. The putty changes colors when touched.

thermodynamic putty heat sensitive
Thermodynamic putty.



Recommended:


Homeschool Projects for Elementary

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain*



Child Development Psychology: Sensory Play Aids in the Learning Process

Early Childhood Development: Learn with Sensory Play



The psychology behind a child's ability to focus academically or follow rules can be positively influenced by the environment. Parents and caregivers can help children with sensory processing disorders or developmental issues ease into everyday activities with simple games and activities.


Child Development Psychology: Sensory Play Aids in the Learning Process

What is Sensory Play Based Learning? Looking for activity for kids or child games? Join the Linky Party

So, what is Sensory Play Based Learning? Linky Party

Find out more at PBS Parents. Here at Kids Creative Chaos the definition is simple: Play to learn! Find a fun activity for kids and lots of child games as you peruse our pages. 


Linky Party: What is Sensory Play Based Learning? Looking for activity for kids or child games?
What is Sensory Play? Join the Linky Party!
Please join the linky party and link up your ideas for messy crafts, games, and even art activities for preschoolers. The best early child development activities begin at birth. Some children suffer from sensory processing disorders and need more play based learning games throughout their childhood.

What is Sensory Play Based Learning Child Games Activity for Kids art activities for preschoolers early child development
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/1/post/2013/03/play-to-learn-march-blog-hop.html" title="Play to Learn Blog Hop"><img src="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/uploads/1/4/9/5/1495826/3711599.jpg?1358187461" alt="Play to Learn Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If you want, grab the linky button for your blog! 
Link up to 3 posts. Visit as many as you can.

You've come to the right place! 

We've worked with autistic, adhd, add, and more in our "Let's Play" and "Messy Play" classes with great success. Now, we are sharing our ideas through our team of play based learning enthusiasts.  Nikki at Spectrum Psychological specializes in Attention Deficit and Autism Spectrum Disorders.  She's created this "play to learn" blog hop to help spread the word. 

MaryAnne at Mamasmiles.com co-hosts. Her blog is filled with awesome ideas for joyful parenting. I especially like her focus on activities around the world. She recently wrote this post about how to make a weighted blanket (great for children with sensory issues).

We can't wait to see your ideas! Great ideas will be chosen and featured on this blog and pinned on Pinterest. Want to chat about your children or class? Drop us a comment or email.

Thanks for stopping by~ If you like this linky, why not sign up for our email in the sidebar, so you won't miss any great activity ideas for kids. For more ideas click on the keywords in the green bar below this post.

Recommended Reading:

Activities to Engage Your Toddler in Small Motor and Gross Motor Activities, Crafts, Language Development and Sensory Play*

Sensory Play for Baby with Music







ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)


Creative and Sensory Play Blog Hop = Fun Activities for Kids



I'm co-hosting a new blog hop for those who love to PLAY!  Nikki who works with children with autism and adhd is a Neurofeedback Specialist over at Spectrum Psychological invites anyone who has a great idea for play-based learning to link up in this fun, new blog hop. When we pool talents, we can't help but find fantastic, fun activities for kids of all kinds. Play is the best medicine for children with sensory disorders and issues. So, grab the code, add your link, and hop around the wonderful, play based blogs.




Play to Learn Blog Hop
Grab the code.
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/1/post/2013/01/play-to-learn-blog-hop.html" title="Play to Learn Blog Hop"><img src="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/uploads/1/4/9/5/1495826/3711599.jpg?1358187461" alt="Play to Learn Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>



Blog Hop Rules

Feel free to link up to 3 posts related to play-based learning.  Please leave comments on 2 to 3 other linked posts and only link posts you have written yourself, no other link ups or blog hops.  It'd be awesome if you could add our blog hop badge to your site, either on your sidebar or in a post.  Thanks for playing!



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Edible Art: Sensory Play Paint with Spaghetti with Toddlers and Preschoolers

From our Sensory Play Messy Class for Preschoolers and Toddlers: Worm Painting with Spaghetti and Edible Paint Art

Sensory Play is a great way to help preschoolers learn. It also helps with disorders of the Autism spectrum when the child is allowed to explore the subject matter on their own without being pushed. This activity is messy, squishy, fun, and even edible! Enjoy!


Sensory Spaghetti game for kids and preschoolers.
Getting Started with Cooked Spaghetti
Spaghetti Painting or Worm painting
Inspired Modern Art. Worm Painting?


Sensory Play Edible Art Painting with Spaghetti for Preschool and Toddlers

Spaghetti Painting for Edible Art and Sensory Play.
Spaghetti Painting for Edible Art and Sensory Play feels like worms.

How to Make Spaghetti for Sensory Paint Play

  • Cook up a batch of Spaghetti
  • Strain it and pat it dry
  • Mix some Edible Paint (Vanilla Pudding Paint with Gel food coloring works best with the Noodles but you can also try kool-aid paint and  milk paint for other projects.)
  • Prepare to get Messy!
  • Swirl the Spaghetti in the paint, then onto your paper.
Since most in the class are toddlers, I paraphrase the words to get thru it quickly, paying a lot of attention to the photos and asking, "What is that?".  We paired this with the Children's Book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs



Next, I gave each child a spaghetti noodle to study. Then, we stood up pretending we were squigly spaghetti noodles. Oops, spaghetti can't stand up, so we fell to the floor and squirmed like worms. We finished up with a game of Duck, Duck, Goose but why not try Worm, Worm, Catepillar?

Painting was a huge success. The sticky spaghetti is so fun, enjoy!

Recommended Reading:

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Worm Birthday Party Favors

Healthy Spaghetti Recipe

Worm Birthday Party Activity