I was cleaning out our “fun room” this week, sorting through things Sophie and I had used when working on overcoming her developmental delays. I wanted to put some things away for Jonah, set some things aside to loan out, and get rid of what we just don’t need any more. While I was sorting through everything, I found some things I’d forgotten about that I wanted to share with you. First, for working on your child’s hand strength, try one of these guys:
A classic wind-up toy is GREAT for hand and finger strength! The one pictured above has the winding knob on the top, which makes it a little easier to twist than the traditional wind-up toys with the knob at the back. If your kiddo’s hand strength is really poor, try one of these with the knob on top first. You can find these just about anywhere, especially at Easter time, I got several Easter-egg wind-ups at Kroger last year. These are great because they are fun so your child will be highly motivated to make it work. Sophie wanted to make these toys work soooo badly, she worked really hard at it until she could really turn that little knob. It was tough and sometimes frustrating, but it was AWESOME for her little hands and fingers, and had a great payoff when those toys did all their fun tricks!
My next tip is on teaching your child to button. When I was cleaning out our learning stuff I came across many different buttoning activities, some of which I’d purchased. But the ones that worked the absolute best was using ACTUAL clothing. To start out, I clipped the collar and buttons off an old polo shirt that Joshua had outgrown. This was great because Sophie didn’t have to deal with a lot of extra fabric and could concentrate on the buttons. After she got that down, I took an old shirt of hers that had a little more difficult button shape and cut the top part of it off. Finally, I had her do a full button-down shirt while she was wearing it. I would recommend this for zippers also, using a real jacket instead of a “learn to button and zip toy”. Hanging a jacket over the back of a chair and having the child learn that way first is a technique that worked for us. After they get that down, they can practice zipping while actually wearing the jacket.
Now, on to some great apps! First, I would recommend for speech and language (particularly the “language” part), a couple by Super Duper Publications that have really helped Sophie learn to express herself. The first is simply called, “HOW?”
One of Sophie’s challenges was answering “WH” questions, but in addition to that, explaining HOW things are done. I remember one of the questions she bombed on an evaluation was “How do you make a sandwich?” – she simply had no idea what to say. This app is very simple, but has a great variety of “how” questions so you can start exploring different topics, finding out what your child or student does or doesn’t understand, and teach them how to explain different processes and activities. Since I am just a parent and not a pro, one of my main challenges was coming up with what to ask her, and how to figure out what she needed to work on. An app like this, with soooo many topics (you can select only ones you want, deselect those you don’t need) is a lifesaver for a parent like me! It also make it very easy to track how many questions your child or student got right, and which ones they missed so you can keep working on those.
Another app from Super Duper that I love is “All About Me, All About You“. This is an excellent app for any kiddo whose speech delay has also contributed to a delay in social skills. It helps your child learn how to tell others about themselves – not only the basic facts like name, and age, but also likes and dislikes, favorites, and all the things you tell someone about yourself when you are getting to know someone. This one was really fun for Sophie and me to do together. Like the other Super Duper apps, you can pick and choose what questions and topics you want to use, and easily track results.
I love these apps from Super Duper because they are such simple tools for a parent that wants to work at home with their child. And, I like that they are available for Apple AND Android devices, so that more people can get ’em!
Super Duper has a grammar app available for FREE right now, “Using I and Me” – I think Emily should get this one since the mix-up of these two pronouns is one of her pet peeves and she judges me HARSHLY whenever I mess it up. 🙂 Give it a try for free, it’s a great example of how simple and easy-to-use Super Duper apps are! (Em you will be happy to know Sophie and I did a few questions on this app and she got 100% correct!)
Hope these tips and reviews have been helpful to you! I love to hear from you when you have questions or need suggestions on these issues, so let ’em fly!
