Baby Steps Toward Independent Writing – Tracing Names

It’s a joy to hear Noah answer people now when they ask him his name.  It’s an opportunity for him to use his newly acquired speech skills in real-life situations, and it’s a powerful motivator for him to speak.

Reading and writing his name is something Noah has been working on as well.  Tammy’s post here:  http://www.prayingforparker.com/name-activities-for-kids-with-special-needs/ got me thinking about getting more serious about name writing for Noah (and the rest of my Littles).

See how we went from this (Mommy’s handwriting):

To this:

 

Pretty impressive, eh?

Well Noah’s a talented little guy, let me tell you.

What I love most about this activity is that at the end, you have nothing but your child’s work on a sheet of paper.  Truly, I don’t mind giving Noah whatever assistance he needs, but there’s something thrilling about seeing work that is 100% his.

Here’s how to do this activity:  (Since sign language is an important part of Noah’s communication skills, whenever I prompt him for speech, I am using voice prompts and sign language.  If you use sign language with your child, you will want to do both as well.)

1. Supplies:  One large index card
2. Tracing paper cut the size of the index card
3.   Double-sided tape
4. One thick marker
5. Several colors of crayon or thin marker (I use red, pink and blue in the script).

You’ll find I maximize the speech opportunities as much as I can in this exercise.  Not only does it kill two birds with one stone, it gives Noah a chance to use speech in real-life context, something that doesn’t happen in our daily drilling sessions.

Directions:

1. Write your child’s name on the index card in large capital letters.  (Capital letters are easiest for children to form.)  At the beginning point of each letter, place a large dot.
2. Use double-sided tape to tape one sheet of tracing paper over your child’s name.
3. Script (Insert your child’s name whenever I have typed Noah):

“We have red, pink and blue.”  (Prompt child to now say each color as you point it out.)

“What color would you like?”  (Child should say a color).”

Hand your child the chosen color.  (Prompt child to say color again.)

Show your child the card and say, “Noah.  This says Noah.” Prompt child to say Noah.  

Point to the first letter.  “N.”  (Prompt child to say N). 

“Good.  Can you put your marker on the dot?”   Prompt child to say “On dot.”

“Good.  Now go down (prompt child to say “Down.”)   (You may have to break down the tracing line by line.  Use speech cues in your directions and make sure your child is forming the letter in the correct order of lines.)

Repeat letter naming starting with pointing to the letter for each letter of the name.

“Good job.”  (Remove the tracing paper.)  “Look.  What does it say?”  (Your child should answer with his name, although you may have to say, “Look.  It says Noah.  You wrote Noah.”

Start back at Step 2 for two more tracings.

This is a great way to encourage real-life speech, color recognition, name recognition and writing all in one fun exercise.  Let me know how it goes!

***If the writing portion of this exercise really taxes your child and prompted speech instruction also taxes your child, do not insist on the speech production portion of this exercise.  Your child may need to use all his available resources to do one or the other for the time being.  Work on integrating the two as he progresses in his abilities.

S is for Sand

This is officially S week.  Or maybe I should say it’s the first week of the letter S.  Lately I’ve been taking two weeks to do each letter because I just can’t pull it off in one week.

Today we worked with sand – colored sand – all kinds of colored sand!

In imagining this activity, I just couldn’t picture giving Noah (6 – DS) and Bella the big jars of colored sand to pour onto their pages, so I opted for a collection of salt and pepper shakers from the dollar store.  Those were a BIG hit!  (What child wouldn’t want to finally be able to turn a salt shaker upside down and sprinkle away?)

Here’s how to do it:

Supplies:

1. Black construction paper or cardstock
2. Liquid glue (you know, the old-fashioned kind that comes in a bottle, NOT a stick
3. Colored sand in salt shakers
4. Paper plate.
5. White paint pen, chalk or crayon

Directions:

1. Use the white pen to draw a simple design on the paper (if your child is able, allow them to do the drawing).
2. Give the glue to your child and have him trace over the portion of the design  he wants the first color of sand to cover.
3. Have your child shake the colored sand over the glue.
4. Dump excess sand from paper onto paper plate.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 with the next color.
6. Allow to dry.

Here’s the drawing:

Here’s Noah’s finished project.   He really did a good job of attempting to trace the design with the glue – and the black paper makes it look so cool!

(note:  You can get colored sand at your local craft store – Michaels or Hobby Lobby.  I’m not sure whether you can get it at Wal-Mart – maybe.)

Related articles

• Colored Sand Art (lets-explore.net)

Around the House with Noah – Cutting and Pasting

Our theme for the week is Around the House.  Here is the link to the coloring page we used to make a simple puzzle.  I love this one because it has the letter H and the word “house” on it.   Bella is at the early stages of starting to read, so anything with the printed word on it is great for her.  I also think that by surrounding Noah with letters and words, we are creating the best environment possible for him to learn to read in his own time.

http://www.first-school.ws/t/alpha_houseb.htm

I printed two copies each for Noah and Bella, then drew lines to divide each page into four equal squares.  Each child had one copy cut along the lines and one copy not cut.  We got the glue sticks out, and Noah and Bella glued the cut pieces on top of the proper section on the uncut page.  Then we got out the markers and they colored their completed house.  A simple idea that works with any simple (or not so simple) printed picture.

If you’re visual like me, this might help: