Give me Five!

Some ideas from my OT for hand strengthening activities (and some that I've found along the way too):

There's the typical preschool/ early elementary activities:
        scissor cutting
        playing with clay/ playdough/ silly putty (which I think the best kind is the regular homemade 
                  kind or the peanut butter kind). You can even hide objects in playdough for them to find.
                  (my kids love to do this.)
        tearing paper
        coloring (especially on a easel).
        roll tissue paper into balls for collages
       wash things off with a sponge (hmmm... I think my car needs to be washed...)
       clothes pins (be careful to show them how to do it)
       chop sticks
       hole punch
       bubble wrap (this is also a great gross motor activity when trying to teach kids to jump...
                SO much fun!)

The Sous chef activities:
        pealing carrots (easy) or round veggies/ fruits (more difficult)
        grating carrots (easy) or cheese (more difficult)
        using a veggie chopper (my kid LOVE to help me with mine!)
        stirring
        pushing on/ off buttons (my kids love to take turns pressing the button when we make smoothies
                  or shakes in my blender)
        untwisting/ tightening jar tops
        spreading butter with butter knife
        sifting flour

Plant sprayer to water plants or teach them to spray and wipe windows (my eldest loves this chore).

Toys:

Legos/ duplo/ megablocks/ tinker toys/ k'nex
pop beads
make necklaces/ bracelets lacing beads
sand/ dirt/ mud
shoveling
play card games (practice holding them in a fan)
crafts that use glitter, puffy paint, glue bottle, fabric paint, etc
dress up dolls
paper dolls

The Responsibility Experiment

Yesterday I worked on a project...

Of making this:

Into this:

















Why? Because I got tired of my kids not doing what they should do everyday [especially without me reminding them]. Now they can just look at the board and see what they need to do that day. Whatever kid does the chore slides it over to done (or in D's case we just move the D from the bottom to the top), and they get credit. Small sticker for 1 chore; medium sticker for 2 chores; and big sticker for 3 chores. They can do some of them more than once a day, and they can do the ones on the bottom (not shown) for extra credit. They can do as many chores as they want and get as many stickers as they want. (We have them put the stickers on a sheet and when it's full they get a $1 toy). So it's super cost effective.

They do have the bare minimums that they have to do before they get game time. They have to do homework; read; and done at least one other chore. And I kept out some of the behavior ones because let's face it, they have behaviors I want to eliminate. Right now it's on "stop whining" 3/4 of my kids whined VERY little yesterday so they got it.

So day one (yesterday) was a success: Anya did 7/8 chore; Bridgette did 5/8 (not bad considering she's sick); Leilani did 5/8 (better than it's been in the past); and even my little Dete (who's 2) did a couple chores [okay one of those was not whining, but I'll take it!] I hope it keeps going!

Progress

(click for larger view)

I feel it's my public service to inform the military public (especially retirees and soon to be retirees) that we have a little victory.

Let me explain. In the past, if you had a child with any variant of autism and you were a military retiree you were out of luck if you wanted ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis which is one of the most effective forms of therapy for kids with autism). Which meant they were just out of luck. ABA is ridiculously expensive. Mostly because it takes lots of work (and schooling and hours) to become a behavior analyst, so there aren't a lot of them. It's a hard therapy to render, but it basically takes behavior therapy (if you're in to psych at all think of B.F. Skinner or Pavlov).

But because of a lawsuit it is available. It's still in litigation right now, so it's not for sure it will stay, but it's looking pretty good because Tricare's not looking to file a counter suit (which is what they would have to do). Also with ECHO going out the door soon, this will also make ABA easier to get (without jumping through their bureaucratic hoops).

I think this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully this map below will have more coverage in states:

If you want more information, please contact me (you can comment below) and I'll see what resources I can find. Some states have grants or scholarships for kids who need ABA too. Or at least I can try to help point you in the right direction.

Funny parenting meanderings

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids.~ Bill Cosby

My rules for parenting [that keep me laughing]:

* I can sleep when I'm dead. Forget that sleep when the kids are sleeping. Because that's when I get
   STUFF done!
* Hiding in the closet because you don't want to share your food- totally acceptable. In fact,
   sometimes that is the only way I can eat the food that I made for myself at times.
* It doesn't matter if I made the kids the EXACTLY the same thing I am eating, they will
   want a bite of mine. (The food on my plate magically tastes better).
* Slobber and snot are bold fashion statements.

*If you want to distract you child for hours, just let them play in empty boxes. It's superior
  to any toy you may own.
* An acceptable social distance between your child and any other human being is 2 inches.
   Just so you know.
*  Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the
    walk before it stops snowing.
* Sing out loud in the public even, especially if it embarrasses your children.

Road Trip!

Seeing that we're moving soon, I thought this was a timely post for us. Maybe others will find our sanity saving tactics useful. (Don't judge me for the tactics I use, just keep in mind I'm trying to keep 4 kids entertained. 2 of which who don't wait well. AT. ALL.)

#1 Portable DVD player, my kids actually don't watch this the entire trip. Last time my kids
     only watched a few things (keep in mind 2 day drive, only watching a couple things-
     pretty awesome in my book).

#2 Nintendo DS. Yes, they play traditional games on there, but they also play A LOT of educational
     games. My list of educational games: Scribblenauts, Super Scribblenauts, Reading Tutor (there's
     multiple grade levels for this one), Hello Kitty, Crayola Treasure Adventure...

#3 Books

#4 Coloring books, Twistables Crayolas, pencils, journal, and workbooks.

#5 Snacks & drinks

#6 Audiobooks and the music THEY like. This has saved me so many times.

#7 Etch-a-sketch or magna-doodle

#8 Cars, dinosaurs, animals, a couple Barbies, or other small toys.

#9 Stickers

#10 Magnetic toys (some of my kids fav's):

Playsets like these. We've gotten the more character themed ones and they 

went over well (these ones by Lee Publications tend to be the best value though)

Melissa & Doug Dress up dolls. There's several kinds of these

so far we've found they're all great.

Tangoes. Classic puzzle solving at it's best.

Letter matching! Also there's one with words too. Great learning toys!

#11 Sewing cards (or small crafts for bigger kids)

#12 Car games like car bingo, I spy, alphabet game

#13 Color Wonder! 

More Gross Motor

Yes MORE Gross Motor. Why? Because [at least for my kids] I've found when I trade off between a gross motor skill and and fine motor [or one that requires more attention], they do a lot better with those finer tasks. Sometimes we even do gross motor and fine motor together. So a list of some of the tasks we do:

* kicking a ball- either just for the fun of it or playing soccer or kickball
* balloon volleyball. My kids LOVE to play this!
* jump and/or stomp on bubble wrap
* rolling around (especially down a hill, and then they have to run up the hill to do it again)
* play Hullabaloo, Tag, hopscotch, musical chairs, or Twister
* Obstacle Course

* play at the park

* dancing party

* balance sitting on a ball while writing (I do this to my kids ALL the time)

* bike riding

* My kids' additions:
     virus tag: where one person is "it" and as they tag people they are also "it" until everyone

               is tagged. Last person tagged is the first person it.

     shark attack: one person is "it" and tries to hit others with a giant exercise ball (one of our fav's)

              once tagged you sit out til all are tagged.

     fishing frenzy: relay race where you try to get a gummy worm off a clothes pin fishing pole.

     freeze tag

* basically any sport. My kids like football, baseball, kickball, soccer best of all

Now get moving!

Top Toys

These are all toys that are good for a therapeutic purposes and my kids Love!

Little Tykes Magic Kitchen

Other play kitchens are great too, but this one says what the kids are cooking. Has about a 100 different phrases that is says & comes with food, silverware, plates, etc. Great for imaginative and social play.

Fisher Price Geo-Trax

Can make all kinds of tracks. Take apart & put together again. Play w/ either the remote and train or make them play by pulling it along on the track for fine motor and gross motor work all at the same time. My kids love to play with this thing!

Lite-Brite Cube

A spin on a classic. Great for imagination and fine motor play. I love this one because you can either keep more than one picture up at a time or let more than one kid play on it at once (which we do A LOT).

Fine motor games like Bed Bugs; Operation; Perfection; Connect 4; Kerplunk; etc

Mr Potato Head

Great for fine motor skills and body awareness (where do his/ her arms belong? Where is his nose? etc)

 

Giant Fitness Ball

I use this with my kids ALL the time. The can kick it, push it, balance on it (with help), bounce on it. So many uses. Or if you like you can get them a Giant Hopper instead. Both fun and useful!

Magnetic Responsibility Chart & Calendar 
(Let it be known I <3 Melissa & Doug)

Lacing Cards; Puzzles; Stacking/ Nesting toys

Stamps

Sit & Spin or a swing

Tag

This one is great for language development/ reading skills. All of my kids LOVE it. (There's also the Tag Jr for younger kids which I haven't tested/ used, but I would wager it's probably a pretty good toy as this one is so great)

Legos/ Blocks

Pretend playsets/ dress up kits

That's my list/ collection so far. What would you add?