Our school district has this grant to do this awesome program called parents as teachers. I only wish I knew about it 2 years ago when we moved here! It is for any family with children birth to school age. They have someone come to your home once a month to teach you things to do with your children to have them ready for school. The grant is actually for mental health and this is only the second time a school district has gotten it so they give me a lot of information about services and developmental checklists as well as great ideas to do with the kids. Last month she brought James an M&M math activity that I thought there was no way he would actually do. He had to color on the bottom of 6 mini muffin cups (red, yellow, orange, blue, brown, and green) then he was given a bag with 6 M&M's of each color. He was supposed to sort the candy into the cups without eating them. I thought there was no way he would do it, but he did, and he still loves to do it. I had to buy more candy so we could refill the bag.
This month she brought a folder game for him to color, decorate and play. She told me how important that we start teaching him "table time" so that when he goes to kindergarten he will be able to sit at the table for 30 minutes. I said we would be lucky to get him to do 2 minutes. Michael usually outlasts him when we sit at the table. So today I decided to give it a shot. What did I learn? James can do anything if he is in the right mood. We started out with his M&M activity. He did great as always. Then I got the folder out for him to color. It was the longest I have ever seen him sit and color. And he was talking the entire time! When I could tell he was loosing interest in coloring I got out the pictures she brought to glue on the outside of the folder. We have never done glue before so I didn't really know how it would go. He did awesome! I showed him how to do it and he did the next 9 by himself.
After about 25 minutes he was getting restless so he moved to the floor to cut paper. (Another skill she suggested we work on). Now he is back at the table playing with M&M's again. It has been 45 minutes and this is the longest I have ever seen him focus on "one" activity. And he has been talking the entire time!
3 comments:
That is great! Does she give you ideas for Mikey too?
yes, but those ideas are a little harder to put into practice. Like this time she said we need to set some boundaries (rules) even if we are just setting them for the sake of having some boundaries. We can't think of one we are willing or able to implement with both boys.
It sounds like he is doing do well! I'm glad you have so many good resources and programs to help you with him. Every school district in MO has the PAT program. I keep meaning to call and get an appointment for Callum, but I just forget.
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