Art is almost done now. Kat finished a lovely Chinese mask, pretty much with verbal prompts only, and is now working on an intricate design which she is coloring. I am amazed at how controlled she has been about any stimming. Did you work on this last night? During art, she asked 3 questions with prompting. Actually, she wanted to say several things but didn't know how to pharse the questions. (i.e. Rose, will you pass me the glue? Can I throw away the trash?) So gave her full prompts but she intiated the language. This is a great class to practice expressive language because she is in a small group and needs to share materials with other kids.
We went back to Mrs. D's class for a few minutes to check the science test from yesterday. I think Kat did very well since I gave her no help on this test at all. Usually I have her read the question out loud and the answers too. She only missed, one of which she forgot and another which she changed the correct answer. Given the right kind of test (information recognition such as multiple choice), Kat can give us a true picture of how much information she has retained/learned. (Tests are in her homework folder) Contrast the results of last week's test with yesterday's.
We are now in reading with Mrs. R. and they have just begun a new story. Kat was asked by Mrs. R. "What is the name of the story?" She answered correctly, but then asked her "Who wrote the story?" and She answered correctly! We were both ecstatic! She is attentive, quiet and following independtly as I am sitting at least 15 feet away. Every once in a while she looks toward me and I give her thumbs up, then put a few more dimes in her purse. This seems to work very well. She has only lost one dime this morning and it is now 11 o'clock.
Mrs. R. just ended the lesson and Kat was assigned to draw her own dinosaur. The crayon she was using was worn so she asked Mrs. R. "Will you help me please?". I was thrilled to hear this and gave her a dollar. Mrs. R. commented on how much more attentive she is today. Hope this silly talk suppression continues to work!
Mrs. L., the student teacher, is now giving a language lesson. Kat is practicing hand-raising (with full prompts) and was just called on to answer on the board. I talked her through each step by whispering in her ear. This helps and hopefully we can fade it quickly. They are now playing a verb tense game. Excellent in many respects. Group interaction is required, she must follow closely to get her turn and they are practicing present, past and furture tense of many regular verbs.
At lunch, I tired to give Kat some Barbeque Chips. I know she doesn't like these but I wanted her to tell me. Usually she just says "No!" which is what she said today. So I kept saying "Have a barbecue chip and she said "No, No, No" I had to full prompt "No, I don't like barbeque chips." She is motivated to learn these phrases quickly since she wants you to stop trying to make her eat something she doesn't like. Try it at home with another food she dislikes to see if she will continue to generalize this.
After lunch, Kat had speech with the small group. They reviewed pronouns but it got very confusing for Kat so I gave her a chance to complete a reading test which she didn't finish last week. Just corrected her work and she got six out of eight! Very good job actually when you see this story.
Last, subject today was social studies, even though science was scheduled. This week, Mrs. D is putting science on hold to pursue social studies in depth. We'll let you know when science starts up again. Mrs. D is asking questions and Kat was just prompted to raise her hand ( I knew she had the answer) and it worked beautifully. Everyone clapped and we got the desired result.
Whoops-just changed course. We are going to do some social studies and some science everyday until next week as they are going to see an important movie. Just started unit 6 in science on basic physics. Kat read aloud and her fluency improves daily. They are concentrating on basic definitions ( Speed, Motion, Postion, Etc..) good words for a new set of cards.
That's all for today Hope you have a good week and call me if you need to discuss anything.
Give Meesha a big pat for me. She's beautiful!
MN
