Reading Comprehension

Junior has been using boards I made with boardmaker for reading comprehension. It takes a lot of time to create the boards(create, then laminate, add velcro, etc.) so he has been using the same ones for awhile and can answer the questions without even hearing the story.
I decided to try using his ipad and the proloquo2go app to make him some new ones. It was so easy and only took a few minutes. I plan to get out the books we will be reading over the next few weeks and make comprehension question sets for each. I will also do sets of questions for each couple chapters as we read through chapter books(then just change them as we go so I don't have tons of question sets).
Yesterday he listened to the MegaMind story on the ipad and then answered 6 questions about the story.
Listening to the story
Then we went to his board with his story choices and touched the MegaMind box.
I linked that box so when we touch it, it automatically goes to the first question. One of the few things in proloquo2go that I would like to see changed is the ability to make a specific box larger. For now when you set the size it is for all boxes so you don't have a choice to adjust just one.
Touching the question box verbally asks the question and takes us to the next board with the answer choices. Touching the correct answer takes you to the next question until you reach the last one.
I didn't take pics of each question and answers but here are a few of them.
You will notice in this question I have a space between Met and ro in Metro man. The program was unable to correctly pronounce the word without the space. That would be the one other things I would love for proloquo2go to add, the option to record my own voice with the symbols.
the question preceding this set of answers was: What did Megamind try to do to Metro Man?
So proud of himself after answering the last question.
(the last question was: What did Megamind become at the end of the story?)

Junior also used his ipad yesterday while painting with his head brush. He could then easily tell me what color he wanted.
And the ipad during his school work. His I would rather be playing a game face, but at least he was focused and answering the questions.

Behind Again

This blog is getting terribly neglected these days. Junior is still struggling with his asthma but the last couple days have been much better. He has even made it out on a bike ride two days in a row.
Now the wind is kicking up so I am hearing some wheezes.
Ready to roll
He started regular therapy sessions on Tuesday and loved it. His therapist is great with him and he works hard with her. He really liked using the walker and treadmill and I was thrilled to see him trying so hard. He does not take steps on his own but the therapist was pleased that she could feel his muscles activating with the motion. This was his very first session.
We also discovered that he can sit for far longer then we thought. His balance is the big issue. So his therapy homework is to work on sitting as often as possible. Some with his back brace but a lot without it which is really hard work. Last night we got out a regular chair and then set up his ipad so it was at eye level for him. Angry Birds was the game choice and we played for over half an hour while he sat in the chair. I was surprised that he sat for so long and though he would drop his head for a few seconds would pick it right back up. I did have to touch his shoulder a few times to get him back to midline when he started to tip. Also a couple times he started to tip forward and needed some help to correct. But I was so excited to see him actually stiffen his arms to correct on his own a couple times. This is HUGE for a child with pretty much no movement in their arms. To get his arms to both stiffen and push at the same time and timed to prevent him tipping over is truly amazing and took some serious focus on his part.
His Ipad was a big help in keeping focused and working to keep that head up and trunk muscles working.
Here he is working hard on his sitting and playing Angry Birds.
Even with an ipad we can't be prepared for every situation as I learned this afternoon.
Junior was having a bit of a meltdown and was in tears. I asked if he hurt and got told no. With his ipad he was telling me "I am upset, I am upset" but that was it. Of his many choices for what is upsetting him none of them were what he wanted. Not being able to tell me what was wrong was making him more and more upset. At least until I happened to catch some movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and there was a cat outside our window. Junior is terrified of cats and can't stand them to be anywhere near him. As soon as I scared it away and assured him it could not come in the window he started giggling and was totally fine. I guess "go away cat" needs to be programed on his ipad.
I had to laugh especially when I think about how a vision therapist tried to tell me he could only see close up(of course she only spent a half hour with him and he was not impressed with her so wasn't exactly cooperative).

Asthma

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. Spring time is always tough but this year it has been really bad. Junior's asthma has changed so we are not only having lots of congestion but also episodes with broncho spasms and airway constriction. Some scary moments but our wonderful pulmonologist office is helping us figure things out and come up with a plan of action. I am not having much time for blogging aside from Junior's regular blog so feel free to jump over there for more specifics about what is going on with us.

I will share something new we are doing during activities with the ipad. Junior uses the ipad with eye gaze so during activities there are times when I am engaged with helping him and don't notice that he is trying to tell me something on his ipad. Eventually we hope to be able to have him use his head switch with his communication program but until it becomes switch accessible(we are told it is in the works, also other apps are being made switch accessible) this avoids frustration and keeps things going smoothly during activities. We set up his ipad on one side and then his head switch on the other. His head switch is connected to a Super Talker(could also use a big mac type switch) on which I have recorded a message. The message depends on the activity. If we are coloring or painting I will put "I need another color please" if it is some other activity I use something like "help me please". He can use his switch to let me know he needs me to look at his ipad so he can show me what he wants.
Poor guy wasn't feeling well so we barely got started on his activity and he fell asleep.

Sick

As you can tell we have been missing in action the past few weeks. Junior has been sick and then his asthma got very bad. Today is going better so if the weather behaves I hope to be back to full speed in a few days.

For a quick ipad update. I am so glad to have the ipad during these times of illness. Junior can now tell me what hurts and how he feels and be specific.
I am continuing to notice far more verbalization since he started to use the ipad. A larger variety of sounds and he is attempting more words. Last night he wanted the curtain open in his room and instead of his usual HIIEE he said my name exactly right "Heidi" with every sound. He is also verbalizing around other people which is something he has not often done. I had one of his doctors recently tell me they were so impressed at how well he is communicating. This was a doc that has seen Junior for nearly 10 years but Junior had not shown his abilities to. I just love that he is letting other people know what he is capable of. In fact he is determined to get other people to understand him which again is not something he really even cared about before.
Loving it.

Ipad Fun

The ipad has become such a part of our normal now that I forget to take as many pictures of it in use.
Later today we will be making cookies so I will be sure to have my camera close by so I can get pictures of my little baker giving orders.

Lately he has been doing a lot of coloring with his markers and loves to be able to request(demand) a new color frequently.
This is what happens if I am not paying attention closely enough. That is the face of a kid hollering at me as he tells me what color he wants.
Some jello fun. when I first gave him the jello I asked if he liked it and was told "I don't know". After a few minutes I was told "maybe" and by the end I was being told"yes" followed by "I want to do it myself".(the ipad screen in this pic is only showing 1/3 of his possible responses for that board)
Foam soap fun, one of his new favorite activities.

Treatment Story

A couple days ago I shared about the story making app we had found(story kit). Now that we have played with it a bit I want to share some more.
Junior had an asthma day yesterday thanks to our crazy weather(looks like today is going in that direction as well) so we decided he needed a story about treatment time. He loved creating his story and especially liked it when I added sound to each page. Now he can't wait to share his story with his buddies so they know all about his treatments and why he needs them.
Also a perfect way to share with those non disabled people in his life about his equipment so they realize it is not scary.
Here is a link to his story - Treatment Time With Junior
On Junior's ipad it is in story form where each page takes up the entire screen and you swipe your finger across the screen to turn the page. On the computer when you click the link you are just going to get a grid of pages and there won't be sound. I am going to have to try sharing it with someone who has an ipad/iphone with the same app and see if they can view it from the app.

Story Time App

Things have been so busy and it seems I am constantly behind in the blogging world.
Junior is doing great and I am so happy to see him continue to increase his vocalization. This week he added "o-E"("Naughty" - short o then long e sound) to his list of word approximations.
He is doing really well in school but lately I am finding that keeping him focused on one thing is a big challenge. I am increasing the difficulty in his math and reading since I think some of his problem may be boredom. Especially when I see that he has no problem focusing when we are working on things like science and art. The ipad helps a great deal since it allows him to interact so much more in the learning process.

I wanted to share a new app that we found recently. Junior loves it and it is going to get lots of use. It is an app for making your own stories(it is FREE). This app is called Story Kit and allows you to add your own pictures, text, and voice to each page. You can either import your own photographs to a page or use your finger to draw a picture. Junior was helping me test out the app so we wrote a little story about him. Now he can't wait to have Abby add a story about her recent trip to New York, Boston, and DC.
Here is our 'test' story, I love how easy this app is to work with.
This first page is the menu where you pick which story you want to read(there are a few preloaded stories that come with the app)
I can't wait to try using this app with Junior during school. I think he will really enjoy creating stories about what we are learning. I think we will try to do some stories with words he knows to help encourage him to read and keep him interested.