The Power of Music!

So, I thought I'd share with you an example of the power of music for children who are non-verbal or with very limited language/communication (And, of course, music is wonderful for everyone else as well! :) 

I was working with a little guy on stringing large beads on tubing the other day.  I often make up simple songs describing what he is doing since it helps him stay focused and reminds him of how to do something.  However, I have been fading out some of the songs for small group time at this point to see if he is able to continue the task on his own.

Well, apparently, HE was not quite ready for this!  He began singing a song I made up and sing to help the children wait for their friends to get up from nap and get ready to get on the bus and go home. 

He sang..."Jeremiah, please get up, please get up, please get up.  Jeremiah, please get up, it's time to go on the bus."  (Usually when I sing it I leave off the word "bus" and the kids say it.)

Well, I laughed and told him that the song didn't really work since Jeremiah was already up and it wasn't time to go to the bus yet.  He stopped singing for a minute then started again with the same song:  "Jeremiah, please get up, please get up, please get up.  Jeremiah, please get up, it's time stringing beads!"

Now, of course, his friend was already up, so this part still didn't work, but he had replaced the original words to MATCH WHAT HE WAS DOING!!!!  (can you tell I was excited about this!?)

I had to keep myself from laughing as he sang this another three times since it was SO darn cute...AND smart! 

And to think, this little guy started in my room just over a year ago and was non-verbal!  He receives music therapy once a week and we do non-stop music in my classroom!  Another awesome anecdotal note I thought I'd share with you!

"Greatest Anecdotal Note of the Day"

Wow!  Today, a little guy in my room simply blew me away!  I decided during small group time to casually introduce a few letters with the wood pieces from Handwriting without Tears to him. 

I wasn't really expecting him to show much interest.  I figured we'd just explore the wood pieces, introduce the letter E and then make a few shapes with the wood pieces. 

Well, he did seem interested and engaged and said "my name".  Now, his name doesn't start with an "E", but I was encouraged by the fact that he associated the letter making with letters in general and his name!

He then, spontaneously, turned around and pointed to the labels on the shelf behind him and said "letter E"..."letter E", to each word. 

Well, I just about fell over the first time; since he actually HAD pointed to a letter E!  I think that was probably random since after that he was clearly pointing to the words. 

How impressive is that though!  He knew that all of those words had letters in them...just like the letter E is a letter!  And he generalized this knowledge and could verbalize that these were letters!

So, I introduced some paper and showed him how I wrote the letter J (which is the first letter of his name) with a highlighter.  I handed him a crayon and with some help he traced over the letter.  He was ecstatic!!  He kept saying "my name", "my name"!   We repeated this several times.  Each time he was more excited than the first!

I think we have another pre-writer on our hands!  Definitely going under:  "Greatest anecdotal note of the day!" :)

"Well, Hello...Here's a Toy for You to Admire!"

What do you do when you are very friendly and want to play with a new friend, but don't yet have language to use with your friend? 

You find a toy and put it in your friend's lap!  Then you run off and find another toy and put this toy in your friend's lap.  Then you hurry off to find yet another toy and present this to your friend!

This never grows old!  Who wouldn't smile if you are receiving toy after toy after toy!?  Yes, THIS is the extent of the game; but what a game it is! 

Receiving a present from a friend, over and over and over!  Just like it's your birthday...each and every day!  Now, seriously, who wouldn't love this game?!

"Oooooo....the 'Magic' Teacher!"

A little guy came to visit our room from the larger classroom today while we were singing the rainbow color song.  As we sang, I pretended to "pour" the color out towards me, replaced it with the fruit and encouraged the children to look into the pot to see what was there.

This little guy looked at me with huge eyes and said..."HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?"  :)  Each time I quickly replaced the color with the fruit; he was shocked to find something new in the pot!

I talked to his teacher later, who said that he came back to the room and told her, "You know that teacher in that other room...she's magic!" 

Apparently, my powers only work in the preschool classroom.  I've tried to make dinner this way several times before, but it just doesn't seem to work!

Man on the Move!

I have a little guy in my room who is a "man on the move!" We all know these children!  He's a bundle of energy, constantly in motion, constantly seeking deep pressure. He enjoys running at people and objects and slamming his body into them. He doesn't often simply hold an adults hand; he hangs from their arm. He LOVES rough and tumble play and initiates this by smiling and tumbling onto a lap, or by kicking, wiggling and hitting when he is unable to run into things. 

Originally, I thought of creating a "crash pad" area in the gym, with a bean bag chair or a large cushion (large dog beds found at a discount store work well for this) to slam into. He seems to get more excited the more he slams though, so I didn't want to have a child so wound up he couldn't calm himself down!

So, rather than spending our time in the gym with a child running at me and slamming into me as hard as he could (don't think my body can take it much longer!), I hooked up the therapy swing. 

Ahhhh...the power of swinging! At first, he laughed and wiggled his body. But, soon he started to relax and slow down. This little guy spent about 15 min. in the therapy swing. We had to stop when we started noticing his eyelids drooping!  We wanted a relaxed child, not a sleeping child!

After this activity, he walked down the hall holding an adults hand without hanging or pulling, he came into the classroom calmly and washed his hands. He was able to sit to listen to a 5 minute book and a quick song without kicking, hitting or rolling on the floor. He spent 10 min. painting with us. He then came over and danced with us, without slamming into people or hanging from adults.

When you find something that works for a child, it can be very powerful and have an immediate result! 15 minutes in the therapy swing helped him stay calm enough to enjoy participating for the next half hour in activities.

NOTE:  For more resources on sensory processing disorder and/or sensory diets see the bottom of this previous post.

Did I MISS Something?!

I think I must have MISSED something this week!  I think a little guy in my room was swapped out for a braver, happier, more comfortable and playful version of himself! 

This little guy in my classroom is beyond shy.  He has been in my classroom for months now.  We have a total of 5 children in the classroom.  It generally takes him until Friday before he feels comfortable enough to even move around without looking like a version of the tin man from The Wizard of Oz!   When he spoke it was single words only and so quietly you needed to put your ear right next to him to even hear what he was saying!  If he needed help with something he would simply sit, looking terrified, until an adult noticed him struggling!  If another child took something from him, he said nothing!   

So, imagine my surprise when he came up behind me at center time the other day and said in a nice LOUD normal indoor voice, "I can hear a noise!"  I nearly fainted!  But, I quickly recovered and asked him what he thought he might have heard.  It seemed as if he may be trying to initiate play, not necessarily actually wanting to find the source of an actual sound; so I suggested we go try to find what was making the noise (keep in mind, this is a child who has never participated in any simple pretend play in the classroom...ever!). 

We walked around the room, pretending to sneak around.  We looked for bears, we pretended there was a bear in the hall; we ran back to the book area and "hid".  Throughout this, this little guy kept up a running commentary, saying things like: "I hear something."  "I see something." 

When he started mentioning seeing something, I suggested we look through our binoculars and put my hands up to my eyes peering through pretend binoculars.  He did as well.  We named the children we saw through the binoculars.

Then we hid behind the table until another child (who had come to visit from the other classroom) came over to wash her hands at the sink.  (By this time, we were pretending to look for a monster!)  I said, "Oh, look, there's the monster!" and pointed to the child.  She laughed and came up to us and made a big monster sound.  This little guy laughed!  He laughed! 

The previous day, this would have made him stand stock still and stare at her as if she was trying to hurt him!  This is the same child who looked terrified the first time I gave him a "high five"! 

Well, not this day!  Apparently, he's decided we're OK!  Apparently, he's decided we may even be a bit of fun!  Well, I was certainly happy to meet this new version of himself!  I hope he sticks around!   

"People" Progress!

Lately, we have been enjoying using markers, crayons and adapted scissors to create and color!  I have one little guy who has made remarkable progress in his ability to create a recognizable person while drawing! 

Completed January 7, 2011. 

Completed January 10, 2011

This is completely child-initiated.  His drawings began with mostly faces and lots and lots of circles!  Since then, his people are more defined and he has added many body parts: a nose, ears, body, arms, legs and feet.   

Completed February 1, 2011  Hey, we see some arms and legs...and a nose and some ears!

    

Completed February 4, 2011 The oval shape under his head is supposed to be
his "body" I was told!

Completed February 11, 2011  He's actually focusing more on the first
3 letters of his name rather than the person!  But look at those fingers...and look at the
letters he wrote all by himself!  We have been working on those first three letters of his
name with the Handwriting without Tears wood pieces.  This child transfered this
learning from building the letters with the woodpieces to
writing them on paper himself! 

On a regular basis we sing the song Mat Man from our Handwriting without Tears curriculum.  We also build the Mat Man character as we sing along.  I am sure this song is probably going through his head as he draws since his people have all the body parts (and generally are the same shape) as Mat Man!   The children LOVE the Mat Man song and building Mat Man.  This particular child knows ALL the words and sings loudly each time we do this!

Mat Man

This child has made so much progress and absolutely LOVES coloring and creating people all over his paper!   At some point, we will probably find EVERY single piece of paper in the classroom covered with people!

Good Friends!

I just had to smile today when I saw this happen in the gym:  One of my little guys from my classroom was having a great time.  He was bouncing around in his gait trainer (walker) laughing and vocalizing.  A little girl from the other classroom came running up to him smiling and talking to him (we think she may have a bit of a crush on him...she LOVES talking to him!). 

She suddenly stopped and looked up at me, "But, when will he TALK to me?"  "Well," I said, "he IS talking to you!  Listen...see, he says he's happy you came over to play with him!  Look at his face, he's smiling at you!"  I was waiting for her to question how I knew all this or to question my translation skills, but, she just stopped.  She looked at him, looked back at me and smiled a huge smile, as if to say, "Oh, NOW I can hear him!  I just didn't understand!"

Just then another child ran up and overheard our conversation.  "HEY, he just said Wally!" he exclaimed!   "That's her brother's name!  How did he know that?"  And for the next few minutes they insisted that the little guy from my room KNEW the little girl's brother and was calling out his name!  

I love seeing the children develop friendships and love seeing them enjoy playing and talking with their friends!  These children just viewed the translation process as a fun part of the interaction!  They were quite sure that this little guy was speaking his own language, and all they had to do was figure out what words he was saying!  I'll just bet you that they will run back up to him next time they see him and ask him who else he knows.  And, I'll just bet that he knows SOMEONE from their family and, of course, he will tell them all kinds of cool things he has done and how he knows the person!   They, of course, will listen and translate and enjoy hanging out together with a good friend!  

"I'm Just a Little Bit Shy"

The children in my class have recently been more and more cooperative and excited to engage in some simple play with other children.  This is a big and very exciting step for many of them!  Rather than attempting to find an area furthest from other children and turning to avoid the activity, they have wanted to join in and find another child in the gym or in the classroom, take a hand and smile! 

If this is as far as the interaction went, I would be happy!  But lately, with a bit of adult assistance, it has gone even further!  While in the gym the other day, a very sweet little girl from the other classroom came up to one of the children in my room and handed him a bean bag.  I gently reminded her to let him know who had handed him the beanbag since he couldn't see her.  We then suggested that she could talk to him.  (She clearly wanted to interact with him, but wasn't sure what to do after handing him the beanbag).   After several minutes of silence and smiles, we suggested that she might want to the ask him to play row, row, row your boat. 

She smiled, and looked like she would say something to him several times, but then stopped.  She leaned over and said something to me.  I couldn't quite hear her.  Her teacher, who was sitting next to me, listened and then said, "She says...I'm just a little bit shy!"  Well, that would explain why she wasn't talking!  I suggested she could just whisper the question in his ear. 

Apparently, that was all it took to overcome shyness!  She whispered the question, he said "ya" and they happily sat on the floor holding hands and pretending to row back and forth singing "Row, row, row your boat."  And in OUR version we sing the regular verse one time, then sing "row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream!" And we scream loudly!

They played together for almost five minutes! Do you know how big this is?!  This is VERY big!  They played with no adult facilitating the play!  They sang together!  They held hands!  This reminded me that sometimes, as teachers, we become so busy we easily overlook these small moments!  So, I'll try to remember to slow down more often, because sometimes those small moments are a BIG deal for that one child!