Taking the Scenic Route

When we play the Wii as a family (which consists of 2 of the 4 of us actually having remotes because one is missing, and one is broken.  We suspect the same former guest at our house is responsible for both incidences), we make sure each kid gets to play something they like, and are trying to get them to play together nicely.  Zane listened, because this time we played every time she got stuck he had his character go back, pick her up, and carry her with him.  It was sweet to see him find a solution that made everybody happy without us prompting it.

Lego Fun.

There is a little kid buried inside of me that had to work hard to resist the urge to get annoyed that my neat little patterns were getting messed up by my sweet little helper.  (yeah, just a little OCD here)

He said he was making an airport

and she suddenly is starting to look older to me.

Although “Friendship Group” is a social skills group, they had an additional Social Skill playgroup that he was able to participate in this year.  It took place about 15 minutes after one of the Friendship group times, but was a bit bigger.  We got to see some other kids we have made friends with over the years that weren’t in his current FG, and that was neat.

He got a kick out of Twister

The helpers are wearing their kid’s schedule around their necks to help with transitions (and probably to avoid the glut of kids checking their schedules on a wall someplace).  Zane isn’t as dependent on a schedule as he used to be, but in a group this big it really helps him cope.

This group is a lot more challenging for him and he would have never been able to participate in it in previous years, just because of the amount of people, the more chaotic (not bad chaos, just the natural “get a bunch of kids in the same room” chaos) environment, and the sheer amount of activity.  He was able to focus and complete instructions successfully.  He is getting closer to being able to handle a classroom situation, but at this point it would take a lot of anxiety meds on board if he had to do it routinely.  Doing it in a more controlled environment goes a long ways towards teaching him how to manage himself in this type of setting.  (the project he is working on is decorating t-shirts for the staff & helpers)

I am glad I get another semester to get a better picture of him with his student ST (well, mostly I am glad we get another semester with the ST in general).  Sadly, this was the closest to “looking at the camera” + “pleasant facial expression” in the group of pictures I took. 

Zora spent the summer doing individual ST once a week, and participating in a Phonological Awareness Playgroup once a week.  The group had a theme each week based on a book (I think this weeks was “Blueberries for Sal”, thus the themed snack) which targeted various phonological awareness skills, and they reinforced skills they worked on in individual ST.  I think it was also a peer model/ST client mixture of kids.  Since these kids aren’t on the spectrum a camera is much more intrusive, so I waited until the last day and just got a few photos.

Well, I didn’t catch pictures of them in their session this time around, but here is the majority of the group of kids.  There were a total of eight kids, a combination of kids on the spectrum and peer models.  The oldest peer model (not pictured) gave a talk about this as her 4H project this year, which I thought was pretty cool.

The shirts were from a group picture they made, and each decorated the back of the shirt. If I remember right, his hand prints are the orange ones, near the “P”s.  Zane is surprisingly attached to this shirt.  I actually had to dig it out of the laundry to take a picture of it because he keeps grabbing it as soon as it is clean to wear it.

As I have said before, this summer we added a literacy & reading comprehension component to Zane’s therapy schedule.  It is a new venture, so we are all learning as we go, but I am quite pleased with how it is working out.  Since it is far more motivating for him if he is interested in the subject matter, we are using science as the backbone to build comprehension and vocabulary.  He has been creating a picture based vocabulary dictionary through the semester, as he learns new words, that is being used as a reference guide to teach him how to look things up if he doesn’t remember off the top of his head (word recall is difficult for him, even if he understands the concept). That is tied in to a science experiment that demonstrates the concept, requires reading and interpreting directions, plus writing out a brief description of the experiment (question being asked, hypothesis, ect) based on the scientific method.  She includes a lot of visual supports, as you can see in this picture.

Zane HATES writing.  At home we have to do the majority of scribing for him because he struggles with trying to do the mechanical process/motor planning involved with writing, especially when trying to create meaningful content.  I had to seperate the components out to get anything done on the majority of schoolwork, and continue to include Handwriting as a stand alone component to keep hitting the motor skills.  We are now trying to begin the process of integrating the two of them together by encouraging him to write himself instead of dictating and having us scribe.  To motivate him, he gets a marble if he completes the small writing task himself, and no marble if he asks for help.  At the end of the session, he gets to take all of the marbles earned and drop them in a marble run.

Notice I refrained from any comments on the “Zane’s Marbles” jar.  What restraint I have.

And, the last minute or two of the hour is spent with the marble run.  (most of the pictures of this were blurry because he was excited and flapping like a madman.  lol)

aka: My Little Gentile.

Zora was writing (drawing) out the lyrics to a song she is learning at church. I asked her what it was and she said it was about Jesus and the Rabbits. Confused, I got her to elaborate. Evidently, Jesus was talking with the Rabbits, and they weren’t very nice (and bit him, apparently), but Jesus still loved them and was nice to them (he pets them).

I think I need to explain what a “Rabbi” is.

This summer we added a literacy component to Zane’s ST schedule, focusing on Reading Comprehension.  Since he loves science and doing science experiments, that is the vehicle we are using to help develop comprehension and writing skills.

This session’s experiment was putting Mentos into various kinds of soda pop to see which had the strongest reaction.  By the end of the experiment, he was wet and sticky from pop hitting him.  He kept licking himself. 

(photos from a combination of my cranky cell phone (first one), and the video the Clinical Educator is taking in this photo)

Videos of the three songs the kids did with the children’s choir in church this morning.  Zora was belting the songs out at home, but got shy in front of the crowd.  I have a feeling that will go away soon though, given her personality.

Forgive the camera work…I was trying to watch it live while shooting the video with my camera, and that doesn’t always work well.

Meet Me on the Mountain

Obey My Voice

Come Walk With Us

Both of them are less than seasoned performers, to say the least, but I am so glad they are getting the experience. It drives me a little crazy that my two are the wiggliest ones up there though, but I should expect it given their genes.

We celebrated a week late since the kids were singing in church (and Nora was going to be in town), so everybody came up to hear the kid’s sing then go to Pizza Hut for lunch.  It was, as usual, a great time.

The kids made some cards for Grandpa/Opa and Zach:

From Zora to Opa:

From Zora to Daddy:

From Zane to Grandpa:

From Zane to Daddy:

And a few shots of lunch

The kids really enjoyed VBS this year.  Zach and I were only there for the last day (to help watch kids on the blow up waterslide, for safety), but both kids came home happy and tired each morning, and Zora even took a few naps this week.

Zane had a jr. high girl that hung out with him all week to help him, and I was so thankful.

The group in the sanctuary, there were about 30ish kids this year, a group size that works so much better than the enormous group at the other church last year.   They did several hands on service projects, one of which was making backpacks with hygiene supplies (for Youthville) and a pillow, and it took a lot of explaining to get both kids to understand that they weren’t taking them home with us.  Early in the week I didn’t know what the project was, but I was pretty sure that they weren’t going to bringing home the toothbrushes, soap, and “special backpack” they kept talking about.  I was very glad to see a variety of projects like that because it stimulated a lot of good conversations this week.

The one project that we were there for was writing cards to send in care packages to soldiers.  (and I plan on taking pictures of the other crafts, but my camera batteries need to be recharged first, so it will be another post)

This is Zora’s card:

And this is Zane’s card.  It tickled me.  (it is a stickman style maze/obstacle course, including an exit)

And some crafts from the week:

And, for the final hurrah, the waterslide

The remarkable thing about this picture is that it isn’t as remarkable as it once was.  Zane standing in line, something I wasn’t sure if I would ever see a short while ago.  It’s those little invisible victories that make life so great.

The big kids helping the littler ones up the slippery stairs.

And when did my girl sprout legs like that?  She is growing so fast.

Zane struggled to get up there, but he was so happy at every step.

Taking a break to enjoy some birthday cake.  There were a handful of birthdays this week, and both of my little stinkers tried to claim it was their birthdays too.  (both are fairly obsessed with birthdays and parties right now). 

I love this church.  I am finally starting to feel like a member of the community there.