School Time 9/9 - Finishing the Creative Story (with pictures!)

I asked Becca if she wanted to do school time and she looked at me to say yes. I asked if she would be willing to finish her story with me and after a minute she said yes. We read through what we'd written and drawn already, and I asked her what she wanted to do next. I came up with four options now that Harold and Sarah had gotten it to rain, and she picked to have too much water. I actually thought she'd want to wrap up the story, but she seemed to want to continue it. I asked if we should draw Harold and Susan above the water or under the water. She wouldn't pick. I reminded her that it was her story, I wasn't going to pick for her. Then when I asked again she picked not above the water, but yes to under the water. I asked if we should draw the sun or some clouds above the water, and she picked the sun. I asked if we should draw it orange or yellow and she picked orange (even though her sister wanted yellow). We drew everything under water and she agreed on some phrasing.

Then I asked how she wanted them to get rid of the water. Should they wait for it to dry up, maybe the sun would shine bright and dry it, maybe the dragon could drink it… she didn't like any of those. I said maybe they could have a friend come help them, and she liked that one.

I asked what kind of animal the friend should be. Should it be a fish, a dolphin, a frog, a shark, a dog, a cat, a cow -- she picked a cow. I asked what the cow's name should be. Mat? She said yes right away, but then looked away. I wasn't sure if maybe she just didn't care about the name. I listed seven or eight more names before she picked Michael. t asked what color Michael the Cow should be, brown or black or red. She looked at all three colors, then she looked at red and back at me. I confirmed she wanted to have a red cow, and she said yes. So we drew the water, and a red cow under the water. I asked if she wanted to draw the castle next to the cow and she wouldn't say yes. I asked if she wanted to draw some fish instead and she said yes. I asked if the fish should be green or orange, and she picked green. We drew some green fish. Then I suggested we could draw some seaweed as well and she said yes. I asked if we should make it purple or green and she picked purple.

Next I asked what we should have Michael do to get rid of the all the water. I listed some options for her, including him drinking it all, using magic to get rid of it, and making a big splash. She wouldn't pick one and I reminded her again that it was her story. Then when I went through them again she picked to have him drink it all. I said that should be funny because then he'll have a big tummy full of water and she liked that idea.

So we wrote some words, then on the next page we drew Michael with a big tummy and the castle no longer under the water. I asked if we should draw a tree next to the castle and she said yes. I asked if we should have the trunk be brown or blue, and she picked brown. Then I asked if we should have the leaves be yellow or green, since leaves can be either color, and she picked green. I asked if she wanted to put some fruit in the tree and she wouldn't say yes.

Then I asked if she wanted to draw a magic tree on the other side of the castle and she said yes. I asked if we should draw the trunk to be purple or red and she picked red. Then I asked if we should draw the leaves blue or orange, and she picked orange. I asked what color to have the fruit be and she picked that as well. She was starting to get tired and not responding as well, so I suggested we have that be the last page, but she wouldn't say yes.

I asked what she wanted to have happen next, should the adventure keep going on or should it be over. She picked to have it be over. I said we could have Harold walk home, or Harold and Sarah could walk away, or Harold could just be happy. I said it seemed like it made sense to end with Harold since the story started about him. She wouldn't pick for a little while so I reminded her the story was her choice, then after a little longer she picked to have Harold go home, so we drew that and ended it.

Then we talked about how to make it into a book. I said each page needed a page number, and we needed a title page. I went through each page and put the page number on. I'd say the numbers that came before, then look to Becca to see what number came next. I'd wait for her to look at me before saying and drawing the number. 

Then we got out a sheet for the title page. I asked her what she wanted the title to be, Harold Goes on an Adventure, Harold Meets a Dragon, Harold and the Dragon, Harold Fixes a Castle… she didn't like any of them. I asked if she wanted to be done but she wouldn't say yes. I went through them again and this time she said yes to Harold Meets a Dragon. So we wrote that, then I had her help me write her name on the byline. Then we stapled it together so she could show it off.

School Time 9/6 - Days of the Week

I asked Becca if she wanted to have "school time" and she said yes. I said we were going to work on the days of the week. I'd printed out the seven days of the week each with a slightly different color. We sang a song Becca's sister learned in school listing the days of the week. Then we'd take each day, one at a time, and try to come up with something special that happens that day. We'd tape them up on a plastic board and sing the song again. Sunday I asked if she wanted to draw a church and she said yes. Monday I said was her first day of school, so I asked if she wanted to draw a school bus and she said yes. I asked what day came after Monday, Tuesday or Saturday? She looked quickly at Tuesday and then back at me. I said Tuesday is the day grandma comes to visit, and asked if she wanted to draw a picture of grandma. She said yes after a minute. I asked what came after Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. She picked Thursday. We sang the song to check, then realized Wednesday came next. I told her to remember that Thursday was the next one so she'd be sure to get that one right. We had a hard time coming up with something for Wednesday. I suggested a tub since she usually has a bath on Wednesday, but she didn't want that. I suggested a show, or a piano since I play music sometimes for her -- she liked that. Then we had a big distraction with her siblings for a few minutes. 

After that I asked what came after Wednesday, Thursday or Saturday. She looked at Saturday and then at me. I said. I restated her choice like I always do, and she then quickly looked at Thursday and then back at me instead. Maybe she was remembering what I'd said and going back for the right answer. We had a hard time with Thursday too. I suggested her shoes -- she liked her shoes. After we drew her shoes I asked if she liked it and she wouldn't say yes. I asked if we should draw something else too and she said yes. I asked if we should draw food or a car or maybe outside -- she liked outside. I asked if we should draw grass -- yes. And maybe some flowers, or clouds, or the sun -- yes to the sun. Then we sang the song again.

I asked which came after Thursday, Friday or Saturday. She looked at Saturday and then back at me. I said Saturday was definitely the last day of the week. We sang the song again and saw that Friday comes first. For Friday I mentioned that she swims at school and asked if she wanted to draw the pool. She said yes immediately. For Saturday I said we get to spend the day at home as a family, does she want to draw our family. She said yes.

Then I said I wanted to see if she remembered which day was which. Did she want to try showing me? She said yes.

I asked which day we go to church. She looked right at Sunday and then back at me. I asked which day was the last day of the week. She would only look at the first four days of the week, and she wan't picking any. I finally pointed her up to Saturday and she looked at it. I asked which day of the week was Tuesday and she looked right at Tuesday and back at me. I asked what was Friday. She would only look at the first four again. I eventually pointed to Friday and she looked over there. I asked which day was the first day of the week she went to school and she looked right at Monday and back at me. I asked her why she wasn't wanting to look at one side of the plastic board. I asked her which day she got to wear her shoes and she looked right at Thursday and back at me. That's the first time she would pick from that side of the board. I asked which day we spend as a whole family and she looked all over the board except at Saturday. I eventually pointed to Saturday and she looked at it.

I could tell she was starting to get tired so I let her have a turn. I'd hold the board backwards with her face in the middle and ask a question in a silly voice, then turn around and answer it.

School Time 9/5 - Comparing Snowmen

I asked Becca if she wanted to have "school time" with me again today. She said yes. We sat up at the kitchen table again, and I told her I wanted to make three snowmen with her. I asked if that sounded fun and she said yes. We had to pick different colors for the bodies, the eyes nose and mouth, the buttons, the hats and the arms and legs. Each time I would hold up two colors and ask Becca which she wanted. She wasn't super enthusiastic, but she would pick each time after a little while. Becca's sister was there watching and wanting to participate, and one time when I asked Becca looked right at her sister. I asked Becca if she wanted to let her sister pick the color this time and she said yes. Partway through I noticed that a couple times in a row Becca was picking whatever color was closer in her field of vision to my head (to "pick" a color I waited for Becca to look at a marker and then at me), so I started holding the markers one on each side of my head in her field of vision. After that she picked some from each side again.

Then I cut out the three snowmen and stuck them on a large flat board. There was one that was tall and skinny, a short fat female one (Becca's sister really wanted it to have girl hair) and a small one. Becca's sister called them a mommy, daddy and kid snowman. I asked Becca which one was the tallest. She looked at the mommy snowman and then at me. I said that one was tall, but the daddy one was even taller. I held her arm up to measure each snowman and see which one was the tallest. Then I asked her which one she thought was the happiest. She looked for a second or two at each of them, then at the mommy one and then at me with a big smile on her face. She would smile a lot for the mommy one, I think because it was pretty goofy-looking. The mommy one did have a big smile, incidentally it was a bigger smile than the other two. I then asked Becca which one was the smallest. She looked at the daddy one for a minute, then at the little kid one and back at me. I said it looked like she was picking the kid one, and that one was the smallest. We measured them all again. I asked Becca which one looked the hungriest and after a minute she looked at the daddy one and back at me. I said he was pretty tall and skinny, so he was probably pretty hungry. Then I asked Becca which one was the fattest. She looked right at the mommy one and at me with another smile. I asked her which one was looked the coldest to her. She looked right at the daddy then the daddy, then at me. I said she picked the daddy one, and that he probably was cold because he was so skinny, so even though he had a scarf it probably wasn't doing him much good. Then I asked which one had his arms up instead of down. She looked at the mommy for a minute, then the kid for a split second, then at the daddy and back at me. The daddy was the only snowman that had his arms up instead of down, and we traced all their arms. I asked if she wanted to be done and she said yes. We showed the snowmen to our mommy and Becca kept looking at the mommy snowman and smiling. It really was pretty silly-looking.

School Time 9/4 - More Creative Story

Asked Becca if she wanted to work on her book today. She didn't respond. I asked if she wanted to lay down on the floor instead, she didn't respond. I explained that it was almost time for bed so we could work on her book for a little bit or just get ready for bed. Then when I asked if she wanted to work on her book she said yes.

Side note: I think it's going to be hard for Becca to start communicating more because it seems like she wants to say exactly what's in her head, but she's so limited to the words we put in her mouth that she's getting frustrated. I don't know exactly what to do about this, hopefully we'll be able to get her more words soon, and hopefully she'll be patient enough to work with me.

We re-read the pages we'd already written about Harold. I asked Becca what color she would like her dragon to be, blue, green or purple. She paused for a little while, then looked right at blue. So we drew a blue dragon together. I told Becca we could make the dragon a nice dragon or a mean dragon, whichever she wanted. She didn't pick either one the first time. I told her I wasn't going to pick for her, but we could be done if she wanted, then I asked again. This time she picked to have a nice dragon. I said if the dragon is nice then we should come up with a name for it. I started suggesting some names, Tom, David, Susan -- she picked Susan. So we had Susan and Harold introduce themselves in the story. Then I asked Becca what we should have them do. They could go for another walk, they could fly around, they could try to fix the castle -- she wanted them to try to fix the castle.

I started throwing out ideas for how they could fix the castle. They could try to make it rain, they could use magic, they could find a river to water the plants, they could suck up some water and have the dragon spit it out. She didn't respond to any of those ideas. I told her I was having a hard time coming up with any more ideas. I suggested maybe they could cry and their tears would water the ground -- she might have reacted to that one but I wasn't sure, and when I asked again she said no. So I went through the list again, and this time when I said they could make it rain I also said they could fly into the clouds to make it rain and she reacted to that. So we drew Harold on Susan up in the clouds making it rain. I asked if she wanted the clouds to be blue or black and she picked blue, which was the color we used for clouds last time too. We drew the clouds. I asked if she wanted to be done for the day and she said yes. I asked if she liked doing this and she said yes. I talked about how it's probably hard having to only choose from what I say, and that sometimes learning and doing school stuff isn't necessarily fun, but it's still good and important and it will help her be able to communicate better in the future.

Then we played a colors game with Becca and her siblings. I would hold out two colored markers and ask whether something matched either of the colors (i.e. is water blue or orange). Becca's siblings both went first. I asked Becca if grass is orange or green. She wouldn't pick, then she might have picked orange, so I said grass is green. Next time around I asked Becca if the sky is orange or blue. She wouldn't pick for a while, then she picked blue. Last time around I asked Becca if tomatoes are red or purple. She wouldn't pick, and ended up staring at the tomatoes on the counter instead of looking at the colors. I said those tomatoes were red, obviously, and we called it good.

School Time 9/3 - Creative Story

I asked Becca if she wanted to do a new activity today, she said yes very quickly. So we moved over to her feeding chair at the table. I tried to get her close enough to the table to where her arms could be comfortable resting on the table, and where she could see the table clearly. She did have some coughing fits, there was ambient noise from her siblings, and her little brother kept coming over to reach out and touch her or whatever she was doing.

I asked if she wanted to draw a picture and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to draw an inside picture or an outside picture (no visual cues today, just yes/no for multiple options). She wouldn't pick, so I listed the choices for her again and then asked. She didn't want to draw an inside picture, and she did want to draw an outside picture. I asked if she wanted to draw a picture of our house, of the park, or of the pool. She didn't pick, so I listed the choices for her again and then asked them one by one. She wanted to draw a picture of our house.

I put a marker in her hand and helped her draw a picture of our house from the front. I asked if she wanted to draw the ground or the sky next (I remembered this time to list both choices first, then ask which she wanted). She didn't want to draw the ground or the sky. I asked if something was wrong with the picture and she said yes. I asked if the house was too big (I realized it filled up almost the whole page) and she said yes. So we drew it smaller.

Then I asked her again if she wanted to draw the ground or the sky first. She did want to draw the ground. I asked her if she wanted the grass we drew to be purple or green. She picked green, so we drew some grass together. Then I asked if she wanted to draw some flower and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to draw yellow or red flowers and she picked yellow. I mentioned that yellow is her favorite color, then I asked her if yellow was still her favorite color and she said no. I asked it again after the drew some flowers together because I was so surprised and she said no again. I asked if blue was her favorite color now and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to draw some blue flowers and she said no.

At this point she stopped responding well. She had some coughs and kept looking away from me to the side. I said, maybe this is boring and too easy. Should we turn your drawing into a story? She said yes.

I asked if she wanted her story to be about a person or an animal. She wouldn't pick for a little while, and then she finally picked animal. I asked her if she wanted her story to be about a dog, a cat, a mouse, a horse -- she reacted to horse. I asked her if she wanted to have a brown horse or a purple horse. She picked brown, and we drew Harold together. I asked if we should name the horse "Sam" and she said no. Then I asked if we should name the horse "Harold" and she said yes. I asked her what Harold the horse should do in our story. Should he go for a walk -- she said yes.

I asked Becca if we should do another page for the story. She was coughing a bunch and was getting less engaged so I wanted to let her stop there if she wanted. I probably asked too many times, honestly, but I tried to give her a little time to get comfortable again, holding her hands down to help her calm down, and then she said she would do another page of the story with me.

I asked Becca what Harold should see on his walk. Should he see a river, a garden, an alien, a bunch of baby frogs, a giant bowl of spaghetti, a castle -- she responded to castle. I asked her what color the castle should be, black or blue, and she picked black. We drew the castle and I put some banners on the castle. I asked if we should color the banners blue or yellow, and she picked blue. I mentioned that that was her new favorite color. She was having a hard time with coughing again. I said we should probably draw the ground around the castle, and we could do it happy and pretty like a nice garden, or maybe sad with a dead tree because nobody lived there. She picked to make the grounds sad, so we drew some dirt and a dead tree. I said we should write something for that page too. I asked her if we should say the castle was lonely, or that it was happy. She might have picked lonely, but I wasn't sure so I asked again and she wouldn't pick. Paula suggested it should be "sad" instead of "lonely" and Becca said that was ok. 

Then I asked her why the castle was sad. Was it because nobody lived there anymore, or because it needed a princess, or because there was a monster or a dragon there. Becca didn't want to pick. We talked about how it's hard to make a story and keep coming up with ideas, especially since she can only pick ideas we give her right now, and it might not be the ones she wants. We tried the same ideas again and this time Becca said she wanted there to be a dragon in the castle. We wrote that down and called that good for the day.

Then we read a couple story books with Becca and her siblings. I held up three choices to let Becca decide, and she kept looking back and forth between all of them. It was hard to tell if she was picking one, but I thought maybe Silverlicious was her choice, so we read that one first. Then it was a choice between two books. Becca's sister really wanted to read Diary of a Worm but Becca chose My Name is Bob (I suspect she does that on purpose sometimes). Since Becca's sister was a good sport we read Diary of a Worm as well.

School Time 9/2 - Numbers

I asked Becca if she wanted to play some numbers "games" today, she said yes. I told Becca I had no idea what numbers she knew or if she knew how to count, so I wanted to see if she could show me what she already knew. I didn't have a specific plan in mind, so I was just trying lots of different things to see what stuck.

First we stacked (and counted) towers of six blocks and then knocked them over a couple times (I would let her try to knock them over, then asked if she wanted help and if she said yes then I'd hold her arm above her wrist and help her get her hand in a position to flip or grab the tower with her wrist). Then I got out a board with a "1", "2" and "4" on it. I asked Becca if she knew which one was a "2" and she identified it correctly. She also did the "4", but then wouldn't identify the "1". She wouldn't try at all, making me wonder if she was just uninterested because it was too obvious. We practiced drawing each of the numbers with her finger and she seemed to like that.

I asked her if she wanted to do "math" instead of just numbers and she said yes very quickly. I made two stacks of two blocks each and we talked about 2 plus 2. I asked Becca what 2 plus 2 was, or how many blocks there were. She picked "2", so we talked about how there were two blocks in each stack and there were two stacks, and when we counted how many total blocks there were we counted four.

After that I told her we were going to do a really easy one. I placed one block in front of her and asked how many blocks there were. She refused to answer.

Then I asked Becca if she wanted to count something different. I got 4 tomatoes and asked Becca if there were 6 tomatoes there or 4 tomatoes. She picked six, so we counted to make sure and we only counted 4. I asked Becca if she wanted to make towers out of tomatoes instead of just counting them, and she said yes. I asked her if she wanted to make a tower of 1 tomato or 4 tomatoes. She picked 4, so we made a tower out of 4 tomatoes while counting. Then I asked if she wanted to make a tower of 2 tomatoes or 6 tomatoes. She picked 6, but so we stacked up 6 tomatoes (I had to hold them to keep them up). Then we went back to blocks. I asked Becca if she wanted to make a tower of 2 blocks or 4 blocks. She picked 4 so we stacked up 4 blocks, showing the number each time we added a block like The Count from Sesame Street. On the fourth block I asked her if it was number 4 or number 6 and she wouldn't answer, then I think she picked 6. We counted 4 blocks and I asked if she wanted to do 6 instead and she said no so we left if.

Last I put the numbers 1-6 in order and we traced them all with Becca's finger. She always says yes very quickly when I asked her about tracing the numbers. I asked if she wanted to try putting them in order after I mix them up and she said yes. I asked her which number came first and she picked 1. She picked 2 and 3 very quickly as well. She had trouble with coughing after that and wouldn't pick another number, so I told her the next number was 4 and she picked it out herself. Picking between 5 and 6 was hard for her, she didn't want to pick for a while, but eventually she did pick 5 without me saying the number five, then we added six and counted them again.

After that I said we could be done, and asked Becca if she wanted to knock down some towers again. She said no, so I said I was going to go get a game for us to play. I built a tower of blocks with a tomato on top and left it while I went to go get a game. She knocked it over probably ten seconds later.

After that we played Quirkle for a little while, and Becca would pick which sets to play when it was her turn (i.e. all the blue tiles, all the star tiles, all the diamond tiles). She got tired of that quickly and I asked if wanted to go outside instead. She said yes.

School Time 9/1 - Memoirs of a Goldfish

This is a repost.

We read Memoirs of a Goldfish (which is a really cute book, by the way). I asked Becca who the story was about, who was in it from the start, and she picked Cha-Cha (the story is about the goldfish, not Cha-Cha. I probably should have asked her something better, like who was telling the story). So we talked about it and how the goldfish is the one in the whole story, so that's who I would have picked.

Then I asked her which character she liked better, Mr. Bubbles or Mervin. She picked Mervin, so I talked about what was silly about Mervin, then we talked about what was silly about Mr. Bubbles. Then her sister picked between the guppies and Cha-Cha, she picked the guppies, then we talked about why she liked the guppies better.

After that we tried to identify which fish appeared in the story in which order. Becca and her sister took turns picking between two options, and they both picked correctly every time. Then I asked Becca which fish the goldfish liked better, Gracie or Cha-Cha. Becca picked Gracie, which makes sense since Gracie is also a goldfish and the goldfish likes swimming around the pool with her. Then Becca and her sister took turns putting the fish in order again, and there were no mistakes that time either.