Catching Up..........

OK...so I have been really bad about getting back into blogging and I can't use "my computer is broke" anymore! We have had a busy couple of months! The biggest news is that Emma just had her 7th birthday. I can hardly believe that it has been seven years since we had the excitement of bringing Emma into our family. She continues to do exciting things everyday!! I feel pretty confident that she truly understood her birthday this year!! Emma was so excited to have her friends from school come over for the afternoon, but was so sad to see them go home. Another recent big event was out first Buddy Walk in Mason City. It was a huge success and so much fun for our family and friends. Words can't express how supportive our small community and school were of TEAM EMMA!! I look forward to a even bigger TEAM EMMA next year! Now we are in Christmas mode. There are so many things to finish up and get ready and it is coming so fast! Emma helped me wrap some presents the other night. It was a good time and she got to practice using her scissors. Cutting continues to be a very hard skill for Emma to master, but she will!!

School Has Started...

It has been a while since I have posted...our computer is broken...so no pictures :( Emma had a wonderful start to first grade. She was up early and spent most of the morning walking around with her new backpack on just waiting to go!! She was so excited to see her friends again and had many hugs to give. She had a wonderful first day and used her dynavox really well. I am so proud!! She has such a wonderful group of kids in her class, a great teacher, and her new aid seems to be an awesome match with her. I have a feeling we are going to see some very good things from Miss Emma this year!!!

Daisy Scout Day Camp

Emma and I spent the day at Camp Tanlgefoot for Daisy Scout Day Camp yesterday. It was a great day. All of the girls there were kindergarten or first graders. We broke into groups and spent an hour at each station before coming back together as a group to cook our supper over an open fire. We started our day in the craft house. Emma had a rough time getting going, but once she did...she did a good job. She made a picture frame, door hanger, sun picture, and bracelet. Next we were off to the the meadow for games. Emma enjoyed playing with the huge ball the best. While in the meadow we played a go fish matching game in the grass, bean bag toss, and learned to use the hula hoops like jump ropes. After a tour of Camp Tanglefoot we crossed the road and headed to the lake. The lake was Emma's favorite station. She absolutely loved being out on the pontoon boat. She especially liked it going fast! When we would go slow she was saying "go, go" because she wanted to go faster. After an hour on the lake we went back to the campsite to make an edible snack. We make a camp fire that we could eat. After our snack we all learned how to tie a knot in a rope. The girls in our group also got to help build the real fire so that we could cook our hot dogs and marshmallows. It was such a fun day - Emma enjoyed it so much. I was very pleased with how helpful, courteous, and nice Emma was to all of her new friends. She shared and took turns very well. She did get distracted by other groups that were close by and felt the need to go join in their fun. Definitely something she needs to learn is to stay where she needs to be and not to run off when she sees other stuff going on around her. Girl Scouts is going to be a great extra-curricular activity for Emma to be able to participate in. Emma will definitely be doing more events with the Girl Scouts in the future!!!

Computer Time

We have been so busy...not a very good excuse I know...we haven't gotten Emma much time on the computer lately. When she does we will usually set her up with the Starfall.com website. She has done it enough that she is able to click around herself. She remembers the letters to pick on that will get her to the activities she likes the most ~ like the baseball song! She was playing the other night and I wasn't really paying much attention to what she was doing, but when I did stop to see what she was up to I was really pleased with what I saw. She had found a page that you had to drag and drop the correct shape/letter in the correct spot. She had it figured out and was doing it really well. She is doing so great...can't wait for her to get back to school so that she can continue to practice the skills that she knows and also to learn all the new things waiting for in first grade!!

Occupational Therapy

We had a referral appointment to talk to an occupational therapist this past week. Emma is going to start going to therapy every week. She has some sensory issues with touch and sounds that they will try to help us with as well as work with her on developing the skills she needs. Some of the skills she will be working on will be buttons, writing, cutting with scissors, and sitting to work for longer periods of time. She can continue to have the therapy as long as she shows progress towards her goals every 12 weeks. To start helping her with the sensory issues we are going start "brushing" with her. To start we are going to do it when she show signs of wanting it and as part of our bedtime routine. It is just a soft bristle brush that we use on her arms, hands, legs, and feet. She does seem to really like it. She gets such a calm look on her face when we use the brush on her. We are also going to get a CD with special music to play in her room at night to try to help her get a good nights sleep. Going to sleep isn't hard for Emma, but she never sleeps and entire night. At this point...I will try about anything to help her sleep!!!

More Practice...

I have been working more with Emma so that she is getting used to choosing the right answer for what we are asking her since she is not consistently giving verbal answers. Here she chose her name right away and then did choose the right word for dad one her second attempt. We just did a quick run through this morning after she used her device to tell me what she wanted to put on when we were getting dressed. We were in the living room with Nolan near by and cartoons on t.v. ~ so she didn't do so bad with all of the outside distractions we had going on. The words I have programed so far are mom, dad, Emma, Nolan, Kelsey, Gizmo, red, blue, green, purple, black, and yellow. I am going to be programming these words next to start working on...cat, dog, bird, fish, ball, and car. I am choosing words that we can match to a picture as well as trying to choose words that she shows interest in hoping that this will help her want to continue to do them.

Great Eye Exam...

Emma had a great eye exam today ~ no problems. She is growing up so much!! She sat so nice and did everything that they wanted her to do...other than the drops!! Of course she had to spread the love...and gave lots and lots of hugs ~ even to the old guy in line behind us when we were checking out. Wouldn't the world be a great place if everybody could be as thoughtful and caring to each other as Emma is to everybody she meets!!

Dynavox Practice

We are working on a good routine with the Dynavox at home. It has been kind of hard to get used to using since we are so used to how she communicates that we can usually figure out what she is wanting. I have been working on getting more stuff programmed to make it more individualized for Emma. It was exciting because I used the snack page and asked her what she wanted for snack. She picked "popcorn". She has never actually asked for popcorn before. When she finished her bowl I showed her how to ask for more by using the "more" and "popcorn" buttons. She continued to use the "more" "popcorn" until it was all gone. I must say that it was the middle of the day and I normally would not have popped popcorn at that time...so I wonder how many times has she wanted something and has not been able to tell us?? We have also tried using it with her sight words and puzzles. I give the word "red" and she can choose the color red on the device. For a puzzle we count the number of bugs on the puzzle piece and she could choose the number on the device. She needs help, but hopefully is learning the process. I really think this is going to be one of Emma's best assets at school. I'm so excited because there is going to be so many more possibilities and different ways to use this device!

Fourth of July Fun

What a great day we had on Kids Day in Charles City for the Fourth of July. There were so many fun things to do. We went to the parade and then played the games in the park. Emma got to sit in the fire truck and dance with Sparky the Fire Dog. She went in the cage with the baby goats, but wouldn't pet them. She kept calling the puppies...they were little and cute like a puppy so who could blame her! Then it was off to miniature golf. We had fun, but lost interest half way through. After all that we went out on the boat with my sister. Emma thought it was fun when the boat went fast and really liked trying to fish for the first time. As usual the fireworks were a little bothersome for Emma. She did watch a few after a while, but spent most of the time on the floor of the van hiding. I'm beginning to wonder if she is ever going to get used to the big booms that go along with fireworks.

T-Ball Season Ends...

Emma had fun playing T-ball in Floyd. She definitely made good progress from the first game to the last. She went from not wanting to stay on the field the first game...it didn't take her long to figure out that it was more fun to bat...to going out and playing to field most of the innings. She would find a friend, go stand by them and copy what they were doing. She mastered the get ready stance. I also noticed that she was very verbal during the games. She was telling the kids to "run, run" and "hit it". If anybody got bumped or fell, Emma was the there to brush them off and give a hug if they needed it. She didn't make it around the bases on her own, but she did run from home to first on her own and she was so excited to get there!! Emma might not have been as ready as she could have been to play t-ball this year and I know she did not have all the skills or patience as the other kids, but Emma was out there having fun with kids her own age. I am a firm believer that Emma is going to be better because she is doing stuff like this.

****NOW ONTO DAISY SCOUT CAMP****

Practice Writing

More writing practice...of course the number "2" is still her favorite, but we are working hard on number "3". I must say that the number two's that she is making are really really good...we just need to figure out a way to get her to move on to the next number! We found a Discovery Toys Starting To Write set at a garage sale that is awesome! It came with lots of wipe off cards and colors, but Emma would rather use the dry erase markers. I am going to try to photo copy the wipe off cards and see if we can get her to work on them as worksheets. I will keep you posted as to how that goes...

Dynavox is Coming!!!!!

We have just received confirmation that Emma's Dynavox has shipped out!! I'm not sure when it will arrive and how long it will take Jere to get it programed for us, but I think I can pretty confidently say she will be bringing it with her on the first day of school!!

Here is link to video showing how a child a little older than Emma is using his device at school. I know it is going to take a little while for Emma to get to this point...but this is my goal for Emma.
www.dynavoxtech.com/success/developmental/details.aspx?id=81

Monkey Mania Day Camp

Today was the Monkey Mania Day Camp in Charles City. Emma had a ball learning about monkeys, making monkey crafts, and playing monkey games. She was completely wore out!! She had a chance to meet some new kids and practice all of the good things she needs to be doing at school...sitting to work on projects, listening, taking turns, and what she needs to do to be a good friend. One thing that I did notice today was that she wanted to sit and stand very close to the child next to her. She wasn't being naughty or doing anything wrong, just being a little close. All of the kids were very good with Emma, but I see that this is going to be something that we will need to work on with her. It's just more of a space issue and she needs to give her friends a little more in line and when sitting next to them for floor activities. I'm not really sure the if there is a really good way to teach this...probably just lots of reminders. I'm really glad I took the day off work and spent the day monkeying around with Emma!!!!!!!

T-Ball Game #2

Emma had her second t-ball game the other night. She did so much better at this game. She was so patient and waited her turn to bat. She also played in the field and even got a ball. She didn't know to throw it to first but we have not really worked with her to know that...but she is one smart cookie. She walked the ball to home plate, put it on the tee, threw her glove off, and picked up a bat. She got the ball so she thought it was her turn now!! I think that the first night was so rough because it was all new to her and she didn't know what to expect. She was definitely more comfortable - she was cheering and telling her teammates to "Run, Run" after they hit the ball. We still have lots to work on...running the bases, staying out of the other teams dugout (she just such a social butterfly), and that she shouldn't eat the third base coaches popcorn when she is playing in the field! So far she has been loving going to the ball games and is having so much fun!!!

Color Matching Game

Here Emma is working on a matching game that we made to help her learn her sight words. She does so well with matching. After she matches the color to color we work on matching the correct sight word to the colors. Right now I am trying to get her to know the words so I am holding up two cards for her to choose from and one of the two cards is blank. She can't get the answer wrong, but by doing this she is getting familiar with the words along with learning what she is suppose to do. The next step will be to give her two word choices and have her choose the correct one. She is also doing a really nice job repeating the word when I ask her to. She is also still doing some if the signs for the colors. I am finding that she is more willing to sit and do the things that I am wanting her to do with less refusal and coaxing. This is encouraging!!! From some other parents that I talked to their children started showing the most progress academically at about age seven. At any rate we will keep plugging along and she will get it in her own time.

T-Ball Experience

Well...the first night of T-Ball was an experience to say the least. Emma was so excited to get her new shirt and hat...sporting it very cute I might add!! It didn't take her long to figure out that batting is more fun than playing in the field and as you all know, she is not the most patient little gal. It wasn't so bad when you think about what she got out of it.

1. She was excited to be there, got to meet new friends, and was able to have some one-on-one time with Uncle Ron. (Thanks so much for asking her to join your team!!)


2. She has now been exposed to a team sport and needs to learn the correct behaviors that go along with it.
   
   

Just like when something hasn't gone the best for Emma at school I need to come up ideas to make it better next time. I am going to make a boardmaker book about playing baseball so that we can read about the right behaviors. Next game I will be bringing some visual cue cards, a name card to her to sit on, and try to come up with something for her to on the bench to keep her busy while we wait for our turn to bat. Just like everything else that Emma does she will need some time to learn and master it...so we will continue to work on it!!

You know me...I'm all about the goals and seeing progress...
Goals for Emma during t-ball:

1. I would like to see Emma verbally greet all of her teammates when we get to the field.
2. Emma will independently run the bases after she hits the ball.
3. Emma will patiently wait her turn to hit the ball...this is going to be the hard one :)

PLAY BALL!!!!!

Workbook Writing

Today we worked on some pre-writing activities in a workbook. Emma did a really nice job drawing lines. Of course she wrote lots of letter "E" and also numbers 1 & 2. She let me hand-over-hand to work on the number three. We have a desk in her room so that we can close the door and try to keep the distractions...mostly her little brother...to a minimum. I also put a plain piece of white card stock over the page that we are not doing and then over the page that we are done with to keep that from distracting her also. When we were finished I asked Emma to write her name on the top of the page and then told her "E-M-M-A". As she wrote them she said the letters. I was very proud of her. The only help that I gave her was to have her make the line through the middle of her "A". We need to work on making those mountains for the "M", but not to bad!!

Big day tomorrow ~ Emma is going to play in her first T-Ball game.

She is going to play on her Uncle Ron's team in Floyd at 6:00

Lets Get Blogging!!!!!!

Well~we are up and running. Emma's blog is up and going!! We are going to be posting information about what Emma has been up to and what she is working on at home. This blog will be just one of our communication tools between school and home. There are just so many people that are helping Emma on her journey through school that it is almost impossible to write notes to everybody and get information to everybody that needs it. This will be a central location we will post her progress at home and how we are getting her there in hope that it will help her teachers at school...please check back often. We will also be posting helpful information that learn from other parents of children with Down Syndrome and workshops that we attend along the way. Feel free to post comment, call, or email us with any questions or concerns. With that being said...lets get blogging!!!!!!!!!
Keith & Lorra