Tot School-Apples

This week I have attempted once again to start up Tot School. As I have mentioned many times before my tot is behind in speech and some other cognitive development areas due to his Sensory Processing Disorder. Previously, I would print out tot school pages and suggested activities and it just brought to light all that he couldn't do and not what he good. It made me feel frustrated and grieving the fact he wasn't where other kiddos were at. I am going to do things I know he can succeed and like-period!

A is for Apple Color sheet from Twisty Noodle with our color of the week RED! 

Going on a red hunt. I had these in a basket for the week. I had to help with this because he has a hard time sorting and matching. That is why we are staying on one color and trying to saturate him with it!

Montessori-open and closing containers with different trinkets inside. This he excels at and loves it! 

Apple prints. I put a corn on the cob holder in the apple so all he had to do was stamp it. 

Another thing he recently learned to do and enjoys is stickers.I colored the tree for him. 

This week was his first time using a glue stick. He LOVED it but had some difficulty. 

He did the bingo paint plotter. We both loved it and will keep doing it. I definitely had to model it by guiding his hand for the about half of the sheet. 

He tried apple bobbing after watching brother. Then we did an apple tasting. He has trouble chewing so this was a sensitive activity but he did great under TONS of supervision.

A red collage-Mommy precut the pictures and he helped put them on the page. 

Matching-this is REALLY hard for him so it took about 3 days. 

All that he achieved in his first week. A lot to be proud of!!! 

We used the awesome Aa is for Apple pack from Allfordays. We will be linking up with Tot School at 1+1+1=1. She is the go to for anything and everything tot school related and such an inspiration.

Tot School-Farm

I have been wanting to do Tot School through 1+1+1=1 since "B" was born. I keep waiting for when he would be ready to do some of the typical Tot School things...and it never arrives. My older son was doing Tot School activities (all though I didn't know it at the time) around 15 months but "B" is just different. At almost 19 months he still says ZERO words, won't play traditionally, won't let me read to him, isn't safe in a seat, constantly puts things in his mouth, and does thrill-seeking (AND DANGEROUS) activities. This week we had him evaluated for speech and it turns out he most likely has Sensory Processing Disorder. Evidently my little guy's brain doesn't feel some of his senses as strongly as most people, which leads to him sensory seeking. This sensory imbalance is effecting him learning things like speech. We are meeting with an occupational therapist and coming up with an Individualized Family Service Plan next week. I am overwhelmed to say the least (but at least I know what to focus on). Before the diagnosis I was focusing more on speech. I learned to focus on farm animals for early intervention speech because farm animal noises correspond with the first sounds babies make (B, W, M, N, D, and P). Here was our first week of Tot school (actually 2 weeks) on farm animals:

18 months/3 weeks

Farm Animals and Blocks Play

Rice Pouring (he LOVES pouring)- he still puts things in his mouth  though  ;0(

This was one of the best ideas I did this week (put mini farm animals in his snack cup). He really has to work to get them in and out which was fun for him. Great tool to use for play !!! Each time he pulled one out I would say the name and make the sound. With speech it is important to only focus on ONE word then add more once they get it.

Farm Animal Bowling. He liked to hit them with the ball still in his hand. Pretty Funny!

They can go in the corral too!

Baby App voted one of the best for Early Speech Intervention (Peek-a-boo Barn) We love it.

He just started coloring recently. I added farm stickers (oh MAN did he love the stickers). Had a fit when they were gone. Putting stickers on what actually a difficult task

More pouring and transferring-this time with porcupine balls

Putting pipecleaners in a Parmesan Shaker. He actually did great sticking them in the hole, but had difficulty pushing them down. It kept him busy for a bit.

A very SIMPLE farm puzzle because his attention span is so low!

"B" just started to show an interest into books. He still won't let me read to him for long but he will sit through one book. I pulled out a lot of the same books I read during my 5-A-Day  books quite awhile back. You can see the five books I read and learn more about  5-A-Day from this post. I would like to get back into doing the 5-A-Day challenge, but was getting so discouraged with "B's" disinterest in reading. Considering my focus has been in libraries it was pretty devastating because I know how valuable reading is. In addition to the five books from the post we also read this Little People's book called Baby Animal Sounds. I can't find it on amazon but is cloth with a button that babies can push that make farm animal sounds. If you can find it I highly recommend it.