This year we decided to Home School Jayden. The school informed us that they would not feed him except through his tube because they felt that he might aspirate. We felt like that would cause a regression in his feeding skills, so we decided that Home Schooling would serve him better.
In June we had attended a seminar at Region 4 Education Service Center in Houston. It was the Active Learning Conference. Active Learning is for students with Visual and Multiple Impairments, perfect for Jayden. This conference was presented by Patty Obzut from Penrickton Center for Blind Children. Active Learning was developed by Dr. Lilli Nielsen. Although I had not planned at the time I attended this conference to home school Jayden, I was certainly glad that I had gone once the decision was made to keep him home.
Our workbook stated the following: "The philosophy of the approach of Active Learning is to give the child the opportunity to learn, and so step by step, achieve the pre-requisites that would enable him to learn at higher and higher levels. The approach of Active Learning developed over the past 25 year, primarily while working with children who were blind with additional disabilities such as mental impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism and hearing loss. While developing the approach it was discovered that infants and toddlers with vision impairment only would also benefit from having optimal opportunity to learn, rather than from being trained or taught. Although physical contact with the parents and other adults is important, it is considered even more important that the child with learning difficulties have opportunities to learn from his own activities, and to do so in all aspects....This learning occurs while the child is playing, rather than while he is handled by an adult, or while an adult is guiding his hands." The Philosophy of the Approach of Active Learning by Dr. Lilli Nielsen; March 2000
One of the first and most important things I learned was that you never want to attempt to develop a skill that is higher than the child's current emotional level. As explained in the workbook: "While implementing the approach of Active Learning it is necessary to know as much as possible about what the child is already able to do, and to know how infants and toddlers learn. Activities that are too easy to perform, or materials that are so well know that they do not challenge the child, fail to facilitate the child's learning. Activities that are too difficult for the child to perform or materials that the child is unable to handle may result in the child refusing to by active or becoming autistic." The Philosophy of the Approach of Active Learning by Dr. Lilli Nielsen; March 2000
So to help us determine where Jayden was we ordered the Functions Skill Assessment titled Functional Scheme Levels 0-48 months, from Lillie Works. Their website address is www.lilliworks.com. In addition we ordered Early Learning - Step by Step, The FIELA Curriculum - 730 Learning Environments, Space and Self and Are you Blind all written by Lilli Nielsen.
I went through the Functions Skill Assessment and determined that Jayden's skill/emotional level was at 7-9 months, which is where we decided to start his learning. It has been one of the best decisions for Jayden that we have ever made. He has learned more in the first half of this year than he ever learned in any one year.
He has learned to "take out" and to "take off". He is now sitting on the floor at a table without assistance and he will play there without support for up to 45 minutes.
In addition, he will now stand at a table with very little assistance up to 20 minutes.
He is also taking at least 24 consecutive steps in his gait trainer. And for the first time ever, he opened his own Christmas presents this year.
I started playing peek-a-boo with a hat I pulled down over his face, he quickly learned to pull the hat off. We then progressed to a stocking hat which took a little while for him to learn to pull off, but he got it! He enjoys playing that game and has progressed to pulling off socks as well.
I gave him paper, which at first he would crumple and crumple. Then he would put it in his mouth, but it did not take him long to start ripping the paper. He loves to rip all kinds of paper, but will get frustrated with thicker paper because it is harder to rip. However, this is why he was able to open presents this year.
One of the pieces of equipment we could afford from Lilli Works was the resonance board which a church member made for us. This is a 4X4 platform made with 1/4 " plywood and is trimmed around the underside with a 1" strip of trim. It helps the child to develop a sense of space by learning a little about the limited "room" which the resonance board represents. In addition, the sounds that are made by the child while on the board are felt by them on other parts of their body. Jayden really seems to enjoy the sounds he produces while playing on the board. And because to board bends a little from his weight, beads, marbles and balls roll back toward him.
We spend about a hour each day playing on the resonance board. Lately, marbles seem to be his favorite. He especially like hearing the marbles roll on the board and will purposely empty any container I place them in so he can hear them roll on the board. This was the beginning of him learning to take things out.
I discovered that Jayden enjoys marbles in a tin box. He will sit and play with those marbles for a long time. This serves as a motivator for him to sit on the floor, at a table, with no assistance. He will now sit up to 45 minutes playing with those marbles. We have also used it to motivate him to pull himself up from a seated position to the table to play with the marbles. He will stand at the table with little assistance up to 20 minutes.
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