Speech Therapy - Week 1

We started out in a group at the main centre then we went over to another room. There are 6 or 7 kids (I think 1 was missing). When you get there first the parents sit down for ‘circle time’ and the kids go off and play. We get told what our ‘goals’ are for this week and how to apply them. Then we head off to our kiddos. This week we had 3 different goals. They are very similar to what we were told to do in our assessment already. 1 – Get down to their level. Play with them on the floor and when talking to them crouch down so they know you are there and can watch your mouth. 2 – Don’t ask questions (unless it has to deal with things like do you have to go potty). They wanted to make sure we didn’t sit around asking the kids questions that they already know like “Is that a ball?” when the child can already say ball. Why make them do it again? Work on something else like point to the ball (or hold it) and say “BIG ball” or “Red ball”. And see if you can get them to say another word. 3 – Talk face to face with them. We were challenged with looking into their eyes so they can see our face. Also if we are at their level we can see what they are looking at.

During our play time Q and I played with some balls. So we did a lot of “balls in! balls out! Match balls.” That kind of stuff. Then we played with some rings and we did some “rings on, rings off, rings stuck, big rings, small rings”. Our last toy was blocks. So it was more of “Blocks on, Blocks off, big blocks, tower, crash!”. I was beginning to feel like I didn’t learn anything, like I was just repeating the same thing but it seems to be working. About this time was when Q had felt like he was done. He started packing up all the blocks and zipping up the containers. It made me laugh. We went and had snack time. The 2 main leaders split up into 2 tables and had snacks. They sang a song and tried to get the kids to sit down. Q did *not* want to stay but I managed to get him to sit down. We talked about everything on the table. The kids were given cups, and had to try and say cup. Then they got to pick their juice (apple or orange). The teacher only gave them a bit so that they had to ask for more. Then they got some napkins and Q wiped his face and was ready to go. She pulled out cookies and he sat right back down again! He was really good with asking for more fish (goldfish crackers) and juice. When we were all done he cleaned up really well. I was very proud of him for using so many words.
Again after this Q was beyond ready to go. He even took my hand and went to the door. Instead we sat down for circle time and learned a new song. When Q finally sat down we learned about how important it is to read with the kids. To take a few moments every week/day and read with them. It’s not that they have to know what is going on and you don’t even have to read the words but anything is good. We ‘read’ a spot book. It was cute. Then we sang some songs. Q and I learned some new ones. We did “Row, Row, Row your boat”, “Rolly Polly”, and did them a few times. Even after only singing Rolly Polly 2 times Q had caught on to different things and what they mean. It was so cool to see. Then we said goodbye and off we went!