Monday, January 20, 2014

2013-14 Second Half of School Year

 
Here he is holding his head up! He really enjoys clapping games
 


Once I discovered that Jayden is motivated by doing things he enjoys, I decided that musical instruments would be great for Christmas this year. Jayden loves music.

For the second half of this school year I hope that Jayden will learn to grasp better and with different positioning of the hands. We also would like to see him lift up his head more and reach up for things instead of always concentrating downward. (eyes, heads, hands) We got him some maracas which he will learn to shake to make sounds. A chime on a tree stand, a larger and heavier tambourine, a cabasa, a harp (lap sized),a set of cymbals (7", but they are real)  and a concertina (an accordion type toy).

Surprisingly one of the first instruments he learned were the cymbals! I watched as he learned on his own to pick them up. Because they are real, they are somewhat heavy. In addition, they have knobs on them instead of handles. So he has to pick them up completely different than he has ever picked anything up. He first learned to pick one up and bang it, but it took very little time for him to learn to pick the other one up with the other hand and bang them both at the same time.

 
 
He now picks them up and bangs them on the table and his head is not usually down.  This is also another activity he will do while sitting on the floor at the table.  I am hoping soon he will learn to bang them together.
 
 
 



In January Jayden's mom came for a visit and brought him some new toys. One of those toys he really enjoys the sound it makes when he uses a drum stick. This has motivated him to hold the toy with one hand and the drum stick in the other hand and will now hit the toy with the drum stick. This is something he has never done, despite all my efforts to get him to do it. I have tried drums, xylophones, triangle...He simply would not hold onto the drum stick. Now he will!

 
 
 
Later he discovered that he could hold his mouth against the toy while playing and he would feel the vibrations it created. As a result he holds his head up more.
 
 
 
Now that he will hold onto a drumstick, I hope that he will learn to bang it on other things as well. I am also hoping that he will learn to use the concertina better. He plays it a little but is not motivated enough to try and learn how to make it work.
 
 
Although he has learned a lot this year, we have to continue working on all of his new skills each week so that he does not regress.   At least once a week we spend time ripping paper, taking things out, taking things off, taking steps, sitting on his own, bouncing on the trampoline...
 
 
 




 

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