Teaching the Visual Spatial Learner: When Your Child Thinks in Pictures.

VSL. Visual-spatial learner. Whole-to-parts learner. FRUSTRATING. All fabulous synonyms. ;) Do any of these situations sound familiar?

Douglas can figure out complex geometric ideas in his head, but struggles to remember 6+2.

Kathy can spend hours every day building complex structures out of Legos, but can’t spell “Lego.”

Leila knows every species of frog by name and can tell you various characteristics from memory. She can’s tell a noun from a verb with ten minutes of lead time.

Marcus can read very well and explain what he reads. However, his standardized test scores are abysmal.

Mya has been working on subtraction for a year and still gets upset when given 10-8. She can figure out 10 times 8 instantly.

Connor writes amazing inventive stories with interesting plots and rich characters. Asking him to write two sentences in school with proper capitalization and spelling is like pulling teeth.

Dee spends hours outside catching bugs, waiting for spiders to emerge and catching dragonflies by their tails. She can’t sit still for more than two minutes indoors.

Welcome to life with a VSL.

Many gifted children are “visual-spatial learners.” They don’t see the world quite like the standard, linear, left-brained thinker. They see the world in pictures. They see the big picture clearly. They often grasp large and complicated issues in an instant. It’s the details that often trouble them. Here’s a basic overview followed by a subject breakdown. (NOTE: Not every single thing here will apply to every single VSL child!! As in all things, there are individual differences and variants! Your child may not work quite like the classic VSL child. Pick what does help and go with that.)

I have a VSL daughter preparing to begin third grade work in the fall, and I am not a VSL myself, so I have done an inordinate and possibly unhealthy amount of research on the subject. (I take it back. There are still books I haven’t read. Research ho!)

Linda Kreger Silverman, author of  Upside-down Brilliance, describes VSLs in this way: "The visual spatial learner thrives on complexity, yet struggles with easy material; loves difficult puzzles, but hates drill and repetition; is great at geometry and physics, but poor at phonics and spelling. She has keen visual memory, but poor auditory memory; is creative and imaginative, but inattentive in class; is a systems thinker, all the while disorganized, forgets the details. He excels in math analysis, but is poor at calculation; has high reading comprehension, but low word recognition; has an excellent sense of humor, and performs poorly on timed tests."

Rebecca L. Mann wrote that VSLs are “holistic” (perceive relationships), “Aha! processors” (grasp it all in an instant or don’t get it AT all, repetition/drill is ineffective), “creative,” “reflective” (need extra time to process—which sounds like it contradicts “Aha” but if you’ve ever seen a VSL, it doesn’t), and appear careless and sensitive.

My VSL can grasp infinity, logic puzzles, adores negative numbers and algebra, thinks area and perimeter problems are simple, but still struggles to remember 6+2 and mixes up her place values. She is at a middle school level in science, but struggles with phonics and spelling. She is not merely inattentive—she is, after years of struggle and natural methods and working around it, on medication for being, to quote her doctor, “on paper extremely ADD, and what I’m seeing in person matches.” In Freed’s book, Right-brained Children in a Left-brained World, he claims that all children with ADD are VSLs (although the reverse is not always true). There is a lot of overlap between suspected ADD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Inattentive, to be precise), dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia,  CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder), and VSLs. They don’t process information in the “usual” way. It can be extremely frustrating!

Visual:

These children think in pictures. They learn best with a visual “hook” of some kind. Whiteboards with colored markers work beautifully. Use different colors for different meanings. Draw a green line down the left side and a red line down the right side to encourage reading left to write. We have done place value with a different color for each place. Letting them illustrate things appeals greatly to them. Sight words, illustrated books, non-fiction books packed with pictures—these all work well with VSLs. One method described by Freed for spelling involves the idea of mentally picturing burning the word letter by letter into a wall, as if with a flamethrower or a laser. Also, VSLs may be able to spell backwards as well as forwards! Have your child make her own flashcards, with the answers on them, and use those or hang them around the classroom to help burn the image of that equation with its answer in your child’s brain. Computer games and video learning methods are also very popular with VSLs, for obvious reasons!

Spatial:

VSLs can see how things fit together and work. Many VSL kids have that engineering bug—building constantly with Legos and blocks, making elaborate Snap Circuits and taking apart appliances. My girl likes those a little bit, but they’re not her “thing.” Her spatial/engineering bent comes out when she fixes my glasses, or walks out of the bathroom announcing that the toilet broke but she fixed it with a diaper pin, or when she uses a laundry basket or chair and an upside-down stick horse to lift a 6-foot-high hook & eye latch to get into a locked room. If you want some quiet, just hand these kids a box of Legos, pattern blocks, or a set of ½” PVC pipes and joints and let them go.

Whole to Parts:

VSLs are “whole to parts” learners. They need to see the entire picture first. Showing them the proverbial pieces and then trying to fit them together one at a time will result in frustration and little, if any, progress. More on that in a minute. Many VSLs are late talkers, watching and observing speech quietly until BAM—they begin using it in large measure and with gusto. In fact, my VSL did almost everything like that. She never tried things. She waited, and watched, and thought about it, and the just did it. Reaching for things—she never waved her hand near things or tried to grasp them. She waited. She watched. When she was at the tail end of normal developmental range, she suddenly reached straight up and wrapped her hand perfectly around something she wanted. Done. She refused to even lay on her stomach, so crawling practice was non-existent. She never scooted or scootched or army-crawled, either. She saw something she wanted, crawled backwards once, reversed within a few feet, and crawled forward in textbook fashion. Never looked back. She refused all phonics instruction. Any that I did give her went, as they say, in one ear and out the other. She couldn’t remember any of it at all. Instead, she watched me read to her. One day I pointed to a page of Dr. Seuss and asked her what it said, not expecting an answer. She read the entire page to me. And the next page. And the next. This continued for several months. Once I realized she was truly reading (at a basic level), I tried to give her actual phonics instruction, thinking she was now “ready.” She shut down and refused to read at all for six months. Only when I dropped all instruction and pressure would she look at a book. Then again, I read to her and after a few months, bam, her reading level would jump. Read to her for a few more months, her reading level would spike again. Explicit instruction, tried again on occasion, yielded no results but a fair share of tears. She literally ran away from The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. So you can see that teaching a VSL brings its own challenges and requires careful attention and selection of curricula.

VSLs are excellent at grasping the large picture while struggling with the details. Incremental programs that teach in tiny pieces and through drill/repetition are a death sentence to a VSL’s love of learning. They need to see the “why” and then they seemingly intuit the “how.” Telling them the rules of a subject without providing the context of the whole is just meaningless data to them. Math fact drills are pointless, but using those same facts in games and patterns where there is a clear goal and purpose to the math facts? Perfect. On several occasions, my daughter has claimed to not know how to solve a problem, sat in silence for a moment, then blurted out the correct answer without any intermediate steps. She says that her brain knows the answer. Curricula like Saxon Math, Ordinary Parents’ Guide to Teaching Reading, First Language Lessons, and other step-by-step programs often bomb terribly with VSLs. Curricula that are either very visual or guide the VSL to see the large picture generally work much better. Documentaries and books full of pictures work well. Silly mnemonics and songs help trigger the memory of the whole package of whatever they are working on.

Organization:

Organization and focus is difficult for VSLs. Color-coordinated checklists are an option. Workboxes are a popular choice (we’re trying this next year.) Little hourglasses let them see the time passing. Watches with timers or stopwatches help. Teach them to prioritize and make lists from most to least important and then how to follow the lists. Reduce audio clutter—try quiet music in headphones or audio-cancelling headphones. There are several books on organization for ADHD/ADD children. Those would also be helpful to VSL children. Smart but Scattered is the one I see most often recommended.

Subject Mastery:

Reading, phonics, spelling, basic arithmetic and math facts are some of the hardest areas for VSLs. There are some curricula that work better than others, detailed later, but really in these areas I recommend letting go. This will be a huge struggle for them and for you. If you wait until they master these before moving on, they will be stuck on the same material for a long time, far too long to hope to keep their interests. They WILL get there in time, and keep working on these, but don’t hold them back until they have full mastery of these areas or you will mostly likely have a resistant learner who thinks school is horrible. I wouldn’t skimp on the understanding, of course, but mastery/memorization of facts and rules is completely out of proportion to the rest of their abilities in these kids. For example, timed fact quizzes make my dd dissolve into tears, and we’ve worked on addition for several years. Basic addition. However, she can also do multiplication, pre-algebra, geometry, and so forth, despite her struggles with math facts. Should I hold her back in first grade math for years until she can add well when she can do most other areas of math with ease? Of course not! I understand the huge dichotomy between the two kinds of math—the basic computational arithmetic and “real math”--and she now uses a laminated 99-chart behind her math work to help with facts she forgot. Then she can focus on the important parts, like algebra. Soon we’ll add a multiplication chart. In reading, we do ten minutes of phonics a day and I require a tiny amount of reading but that also follows her lead... and now she’s reading chapter books on her own.

To quote Rebecca Mann about something I have seen over and over and over again in my house: “Do not force the student to succeed at easier material before trying difficult work. Emphasize mastery of higher level concepts instead of perfection of simpler ones.” If you attempt to get a VSL to memorize all the basic math facts, or achieve a certain speed or complete reading fluency before moving on, you will spin your wheels for months or years, burn out your child, and learning will become a chore. This is not how their brains work. I know of children who are beginning algebra (and should be!) and are still working on subtraction facts, or in algebra (and should be) and still need multiplication tables. Play to THEIR strengths, not the typical expectations of linear learners.

Resources:

Thankfully there is a growing body of work on VSLs! There is a large list of VSL and gifted resources to peruse at http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/visual-spatial.htm

The most popular books on teaching VSLs appear to be Upside-down Brilliance, Unicorns are Real, and Right-brained Children in a Left-brained World. There is a fantastic paper by Rebecca Mann available as a pdf here: http://www.geri.education.purdue.edu/PDF%20Files/VisSpaPresentationHa.pdf

and an essay by the author of Upside-down Brilliance here: http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm

Curricula:

Some curricula that work well for VSLs in general include the following. This is not a comprehensive list! I’m sure I will find or remember more as soon as I post this. Feel free to add any other ideas in the comments section!

Math:

In math, try doing the five or ten hardest problems on the page. If they get all right, move on. Repetition and drill are not helpful with these children. (We’ve spent two years on 1^st grade math. Dd still can’t tell you some of her facts to 10. She does much better with 3^rd grade math and prealgebra! Computation is just the most elementary piece of math. REAL math should be much more appealing to VSLs. Last time I checked, most people in the math field actually use calculators. I don’t advocate handing a VSL a calculator—they need to understand how math works—but don’t think your child is bad at MATH because he or she is bad at COMPUTATION.) Timed tests are a nightmare to VSLs. Mine will actually curl up and cry within a few problems. You can encourage speed in other ways—make it a game, or see “how fast can you do (a very small amount) of problems” and then just try to beat his or her own speed. Try word problems—VSLs love stories. This also means a lot of VSLs will enjoy math storybooks! Check livingmath.net for ideas there. We also do “number stories” (from Peggy Kaye’s Games for Math) and these free-flowing math stories not only get the girls doing math, but loving it, seeing its application, and participating in creating the math story and more math problems. After number stories in complete, my VSL often turns it into a full story with illustrations and word puzzles!

Help your VSL identify patterns, such as in skip counting and in the multiplication table.

A note about math—while manipulatives provide a great visual and kinesthetic tool that works brilliantly for some VSLs, other find the creative potential of manipulatives as art and building tools to be too great and are therefore highly distracted by them. Focus, people, focus!

VSL-friendly math:

Miquon

MEP

Singapore

Beast Academy

Math-U-See

Times Tales

Timez Attack

MathRider

Teaching Textbooks

Hands-on Equations

Paper Patty Geometry

Right-Brained Multiplication & Division

Addition the Fun Way

Times Tables the Fun Way

Mathematics Their Way

Multiplication and Division Story Cards

Math Wizardry for Kids

How Math Works

Mathematical Mystery Tour

Math Mammoth is not a very visual curricula, but it works for us because it is so clean and simple in the subject lessons. There is nothing to distract my girl!

Base-ten blocks

Pattern blocks

Geoboards

Math-U-See blocks

Cuisinaire rods

Legos

Games for Math

Living math books/storybooks such as (just a few here):

The Cat in Numberland

Math for Smarty Pants

Penrose the Mathematical Cat

G is for Google

Sir Cumference books

Logic:

Oh, they love this. Any logic puzzle will do! Prufrock Press makes a lot of fabulous logic items, as does the Critical Thinking Company. Games like Chocolate Fix, Rush Hour, River Crossing, Tangrams, Pattern Blocks, and so forth are great choices.

Primarily Logic

Logic Countdown

Lollipop Logic

Logic Safari

First-time Analogies

Rhymes, Riddles, and Reasoning Activities to Make Kids Think

MindBenders

Legos

Phonics/Reading:

Many VSLs do extremely well with sight words. They remember the shape of the words. Some VSLs can spell as well backwards as forwards. This creates frustration when learning to read and spell, as they sometimes write completely backwards, too. I have only found one spelling program that works for my VSL, but there are several phonics options.

Explode the Code

Leapfrog DVDs

Itchy’s Alphabet

Dancing Bears

Reading Reflex

SnapLetters

SnapWords

The Illustrated Book of Sounds and Their Spelling Patterns

Easy For Me Reading Program

All About Reading

Drawn into the Heart of Reading

101 Ways to Love a Book

Spelling:
All About Spelling

Apples & Pears

Grammar/Writing:

Encourage your VSLs incredible creative capacity, and be gentle with the mechanics. Whole to parts is hard to find in grammar and writing, but those sort of programs do exist!

Teaching Writing To Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic Learners

English for the Thoughtful Child

Michael Clay Thompson grammar

BraveWriter

No More; I’m Done!

Teaching English thorough Art

Science:

Science is great for some VSLs, because there is such a rich visual cornucopia to be enjoyed. In science, my VSL takes a literal approach to the “whole-to-parts” methodology. She adores dissection. For those who do not want to get messy, there are virtual dissection options and “look inside” products/books. There is a series on PBS called “Inside Nature’s Giants” that documents dissection of large wild animals, such as a beached sperm whale. This is free to view on the PBS Website.

Otter’s Human Body (Guest Hollow) http://www.guesthollow.com/homeschool/science/otters_science/science_human_body.html

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding

Any documentaries (Blue Planet, Nova, anything by PBS, many others)

Any non-fiction book with lots of pictures such as DK Eyewitness books

Creepy Crawlies and the Scientific Method

The Private Eye

The Berenstein Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature

Max Axiom books

Bill Nye

Magic School Bus

Ellen McHenry’s science programs

Science Fusion

Nancy Larson

Dissection kits

Microscope

Bug collecting kits, butterfly nets, magnifying glass, nature journal

History/Geography:

Long read-alouds are typical in history and will be tough for VSLs. You can get your children more used to listening by using audiobooks in the car and at quiet time. It works best to have something to occupy the hands—a snack, thinking/silly putty, coloring activity, Legos, etc.

Voyages through Time

A Little History of the World: Illustrated Edition

Story of the World with Activity Book

100 Sacred Places

Horrible Histories

Liberty Kids

Hands-on Culture

Atlases

Any documentaries

Most non-fiction books

Create a visual timeline across the wall

Art:

Anything. Everything. I can’t think of an art program that wouldn’t work with a VSL.

Foreign Language:

Most language courses involve a lot of multi-sensory techniques, with songs and games and DVDs. Many libraries have access to foreign language programs like Mango for free. My favorite language for a VSL is American Sign Language, as it’s extremely visual and tactile! For that, Signing Time DVDs and the LifePrint website are fantastic. I’m not well versed in this area, as we only focus on ASL at this time and as I said, many many programs would fit the bill. I can give my personal seal of approval to:

Signing Time

LifePrint

Salsa Spanish

Rosetta Stone

There are many, many more that use visual and mnemonic techniques that would be fabulous. Please share if you ahve any favorites.

Organization:

Following Directions

Linguisystems Executive Function workbooks

Sue Patrick’s Workbox System

Concentration

What Shall I Do Now, Teacher?

Learning to Listen

Listen, Remember, and Do

Organizing the Disorganized Child

Smart but Scattered

The Organized Student

I’m ending with another quote from Rebecca Mann. “Believe in these children, they may well be the future Edisons and Einsteins of the world.”

(ETA: I will add hotlinks in a bit. I’m late posting as it is! Sorry!!)

Back again!

Well, I obviously haven't posted here in a while. A long while. I've posted on our family blog, but nothing for the public (outside of running my mouth on message boards daily). But, I may have a post going up soon for Gifted Education Week, so I thought I should revitalize this one a bit so it's less dusty....

At this point, A is entering 2nd in the fall but working all over the board, from 1st/2nd up to middle school level, depending on the subject. C is officially entering K in the fall, but will move up to 1st grade material soon. This year I'll be homeschooling two plus dealing with the adorable and demanding toddler.

Two in a row, woohoo

Aren't you pleased? LOL.
So, today was the letter "B," and dd1 is more comfortable with that. Long lines are easier to draw than short ones. She had fun coloring and reading the words, but dd2 kept demanding my attention and dd1 started to get bored without interaction. She left a little bit undone on her papers, but that's fine at this point. She wanted to do something else, so we learned our ASL/French for the day, button/bouton. Dd2 had some more transferring activities, and dd1 and I had fun with our "what starts with _" game. Yesterday she surprised me with "apricot" for "a." We play that at home and in the car. Today was dd2's therapy playgroup and dd1's dance, so we kept the other stuff to a minimum. Dd1 had a blast at dance. I was impressed with her ability to dance as a penguin (her animal of choice)--keeping a penguin element while dancing gracefully. Seriously--you try to dance beautifully as a penguin with a straight face and see how well you do! Dd2 had fun at playgroup too. She kept diving into the ball pit. Normally that would sting a bit, jumping bum-first into a shallow ball pit, but dd2 is not afraid of something as ridiculous as "pain." She was more upset by the fact she couldn't dance with dd1. It makes her sad. She points to herself and asks, "too?" in a little lonely voice. Some of my curriculum showed up and I'm excited--I think we might stop the alphabet when the rest of it gets here, as the phonics part starts at A anyway. I just wanted to get her brushed up with a little overview and a taste of scheduling every day, esp since dd2 NEEDS a schedule, I think, to thrive. I am cheap and am waiting to hear back from some people on used curriculum books but if I don't hear by tomorrow I'll just grab the last ones I need new. I am also getting math manipulatives soon, hopefully. I have a fun book where you use the rods to make letters and do alphabet activities as well as sneaking in math. I think dd1 will like it a lot.
Yes, this one was boring, because it's late and I can't remember half of it, lol. But I wanted to update daily like I said. Two in a row, yay! Oh, and the cupcakes are long gone. Of course.

Homeschool, Take.... 3?

We usually unschool, but I have discoverd structure is very helpful for dd2, and dd1 loves to learn new things all the time, so I'm starting a more official homeschool schedule. I have some curricula, and I am also making a conscious effort to do our own schooling every day. I found a wonderful website called EnchantedLearning.com, and it has tons of printouts. Not just coloring pages and letter tracing, but mini books in French-English, lined paper to print out for our own use, worksheets like "label the parts of this airplane in Spanish" with answers, the detailed scientific parts of flowers, a short essay the history of aviation with related printouts, etc. Tons of resources. So while we wait for the official curricula, we are doing my stuff. Hopefully we'll stick with it! I think the packaged curriculum (Hearts of Dakota "Little Hearts For His Glory" will be really fun for dd2 to participate in, as well as being both fun and educational for dd1. Lots of songs and dramatic play that tie in with the reading and such. I *want* to update here a little of what we did every day, for some extra accountability, lol. 

So, before we start her phonics program, and as HOD hasn't arrived, I started us on a basic alphabet review--26 days. Today was A, obviously. We had pages to write out the letter A/a, color A words, color letter A/a, match the picture with the word, a little French-English page, and learning a new A sign. Dd1 loves capital A and can already draw it, but gets frustrated with little a. So we did a picture match, wrote one a. Did another picture match, wrote one a, etc. In the reading for the picture/word matches, dd1 was again foiled by the Engish language--she noted that "apple" had a silent E so the "aah" should be "A." But it's not. Ack! They both colored, and dd1 did write several decent a's but also several that were really a d or just messy. But not bad at all. Then she traced A/a/B/b (she likes B better than a too, apparently), and colored some more. Friends came over and we stopped, only learning an A sign while they were here--"awake." But then I decided we should learn the same sign & French word, so we learned both after our friends left--"avion," for airplane, and the sign for it. Then dd1 colored her avion, wrote out avion (had me help her with the a, but was quite happy to write "v i o n" on her own, and then wrote a capital A afterwards. It seems to make her happier to show that she can write one of the A's well on her own. She does not stay in the little lines yet, but seriously. She's how old again, lol? Not even going to worry about that. Then she cut out two pictures of airplanes (and cut them into tiny pieces), and is supposed to be drawing an airplane/avion but I hear scissors so I think avion #3 is being shredded too. She loves to cut. Dd2 colored a picture, learned "awake" before her nap. and transferred blocks from a bread pan into a bowl and back (using her hand and then her hand inside an oven mitt), and she liked the latter the most.

ETA: Then we cleaned up the cut paper shreds and made cupcakes. We traced letters in the batter with the whisk as we stirred, plus reading the ingredients and doing addition/subtraction with the eggs!

Yoga time!

So, the dds hate it when I do yoga. So I am on a mission to find yoga we can do together as a family, kid-friendly yoga that still wears me out. We are hitting up the library first. Today was our first victim, Kids Yoga ABCs. It was actually much better than I anticipated. There are a lot of yoga moves disguised as fun letters and animals (from the traditional cat and cow to fun animals like iguanas), plus a few basic yoga concepts (a short song about Namaste and an Om exercise). Dd1 had a blast being a caterpillar and an eagle, and I got a workout with "iguana" and the wheel. I am apparently sorely out of shape, lol. We only get each DVD for a week at our library so we'll see what the replay value is tomorrow, but I think it's entertaining enough for kids to keep dd1 involved and until I'm strong enough to do a proper backbend (sorry, the wheel) it will work quite well for me, too. I also discovered that I either need to steam clean the carpets or pull out the yoga mat. It smells funny.

Fun with speech

So, dd2 has a speech evaluation next week. Dh and I both think there is nothing organically wrong with her. She just doesn't see the point. She can sign very well, and picks up new signs as fast as we can teach them now that she conquered her receptive issues. She says, "ma," "da," "ba," and "w" plus vowels. She does NOT babble. She will now say "dada" or "mama" for an adult and this week she started to imitate "bah...bee?" when we say "baby" (very, very emphasized per the usual to help her pick out the sounds). She doesn't say it on her own, but it's her first two-sound combo besides "uh-oh" so that's impressive. She also now says "mi" for milk instead of "mah." So see, she's progressing! She just doesn't see any need to use speech, really. She signs and signs and if you ask her to speak instead of sign, she just signs again and again and again and gets very frustrated and cries/screams. It is kind of nice to have a 21-month-old who can't say "no," LOL, but she can shake her head and then throw a tantrum. *sigh* We're working on the self-control stuff. She doesn't have any. But that is half the SPD and half her personality. There's nothing inhibiting her speech but her own desire or lack of. When the developmental behavioraist tries to get dd2 to talk, dd2 just stares blankly at her, so it's not just her ignoring us. She just sees no reason to use her mouth. She'll sign. That's "saying" it to her. And if she does make her sounds, she signs along with them. The vocal is just for emphasis, lol. We talk and add gestures for emphasis. She signs and adds a sound for emphasis. It's not "speech" to her.

I need to start blogging again

I have all these fun ideas and I'm usually just too tired. But I'm going to try. I need to actually make contact with the outside world occasionally, lol. I need to talk about more SPD insanity (speech evaluation next week. Seriously?? It's not that she can't talk. She just has no interest in it whatsoever.), ways for broke peeps to go green (it's actually cheaper when you break it down, and there are really, really easy ways to get started), going vegetarian for carnivores (as we go from meat twice a day to maybe once a week and beyond, and meet interesting characters like "TVP" and "seitan" and find out how to make them honestly taste like meat without slaving away in the kitchen), lots of budgeting and money-saving ideas, breastfeeding (but TopHat usually has that covered), babywearing, dh's new self (or "adventures in therapy, medication, support groups, starting school again and generally growing up"). And how to do all of this on 4 hours of sleep a night, every night. For years. Help... ;P

Quick note on Chloe's sensory issues

I think blogspot hates me today. It crashed five times in a row as I typed this so I’m typing in Word and pasting. Take that, Google!

Anyway, as I was saying before it was rudely deleted, I was waiting to post until I had lots of concrete data but that will be a while in coming, so for now:

Chloe was evaluated by an OT and the EI coordinator, and she “DEFINITELY qualifies” for early intervention/therapy. So they had to go have their weekly EI meeting and add her and get her team chosen, and now she has another therapist coming Tuesday to evaluate her development (or lack thereof) in more detail. We also have a series of three classes to attend for parents of non-verbal kids to help them communicate better. We also get to rent all the signing videos from the library for free (normally it’s a dollar per DVD per week). I’m glad we’re in the process of getting Chloe some help, esp today as it has been a very bad sensory issues day. Chloe spent the entire morning eating dangerous things whenever possibly (jewelry/rocks, plastic outlet covers, unpopped popcorn kernels, etc), doing her Super Stomp all over, jumping, bouncing (which for her is SUPER hard, intense, brain-joggling bouncing, which is no fun when she starts doing it on me!!), throwing things, thrashing, flailing, yelling, wanting to nurse every ten minutes, and smashing head-first into things when she got upset, until she collapsed on me, exhausted, about 20 minutes before naptime. Although, bonus for her, she did spend her two play minutes (two separate minutes—she doesn’t play for two minutes at a time together. I wish) playing with a big wooden puzzle and then with some wooden blocks. So that was good—any positive developmental seconds we can squeeze in with her are good.

And Alanna cut her own hair yesterday while I was at work. After her bath she gets a new haircut.

Quick Note

One week until Chloe's early intervention evaluation. We'll see which one of us is crazy then--her or me! I hope they can figure out what's going on with her--it's like having a newborn for almost 16 months, but one who can run around and wreck things in the few seconds she doesn't want to be held. And who can turn on the bathtub water on hot and climb in (not at the same time *yet*), and who eats glass shards and chalk and crayons, and dumps ice water over herself for fun. Or who runs into the snow barefoot with no coat and proceeds to play like it's high summer, climbs on everything and falls off onto her head without even trying to catch herself, will not play with toys or read books for more than thirty seconds at a time (unless a new baby is over to play with--they are more distracting), chews on everything in sight (including her own fingers, arms, the metal hinges on the doors, the frozen porch steps, the business end of Snappis, and anything else that normal kids would cry if they bit, lol), bangs her head on things, wants to splash in water so much she will climb into the toilet to get a chance at some or try to dive headfirst into the sink, can't control her emotions at all yet, almost non-verbal, and on and on and on. I can only breathe or get anything done at naptime. Or after work, like now--which is 1am. She doesn't even like being worn--there's not enough movement for her. She will tolerate the SSC, which is super-fast to put on (as with staying still for a wrap or mei tai she flips out), but she really wants to move and bounce and change scenery and tactile sensations constantly so she wants down very quickly. If it's naptime I can get maybe an hour--half an hour of bouncing her to sleep and then half an hour of her sleeping. And that's it. It's easier to just put her down for a normal nap, lol, which lasts 45-90 minutes. Poor Alanna gets the shaft with Chloe demanding so much attention. And I am So going crazy.

Green goals!

I will (hopefully) have more tomorrow on sensory stuff and whatever else I think of. I keep wanting to make this an interesting blog people will want to follow, but everyone seems to have already said what I am thinking, LOL.

So for now, as I avoid going to sleep for some reason, I am answering Crunchy Domestic Goddess's question about my Green Goals for the year.

As a review, in 2008:

We started our first garden and learned a LOT ;) and actually got some veggies out of it.

Became full-time cloth diaper users with my youngest and switched to full-time cloth finally with my oldest, and then she started using the potty about two weeks later. Go figure!

Got cloth shopping bags and started asking for paper when I forgot them. Which was most of the time.

Started using a cloth bag for the library instead of the plastic bags they provide.

Started shopping at the natural food store, and then the new Sunflower Farmer's Market opened up and I found the regular farmer's market, so we get more organic and natural foods.

I went pesco-vegetarian for a while, and now I have (due to my insanely high metabolism) settled into a much-less-meat-and-only-organic/humanely-raised-meat diet. Less money, less sad animals, less dead animals. Reminds me, I need to set out the pot of dried beans to soak.

I started using less plastic/unsafe toys and started looking more at wooden, natural, WAHM-made and imagination-inspiring toys.

Dd1 broke our TV so we used a lot less electricity for a few weeks until we replaced it.

We stopped our cable TV, so again much less electricity wasted, and less brain cells melted, too. Bonus!

I breastfed the entire year--do you know how many cans of formula are not in the landfill thanks to that??

Less vaccinations, so less Tylenol used.

For 2009:

Bigger garden, and we're going to try freezing or canning some of it.

Buying more local food, especially when the farmer's market opens again.

Dh wants a peach tree!

REMEMBER my darn cloth shopping bags, lol! I'm going to keep them in the car.

I want to start a compost pile this spring.

We're going to rotate out some more of the plastic toys and either leave them gone or replace them with natural or local (both!) toys.

I am going to sew more, so I buy less that I could make. (I am finishing up a sensory blanket right now.)

I am (and have been) fighting the CPSIA that needs changes so it doesn't put WAHMs and small businesses out of business, and I will keep fighting that until the law is revised. Who wants to have to buy from giant corporations with China-made goods because they are the only ones who can afford the massive amounts of testing in products for anyone under 12??

We are building up our food storage and emergency kits this year.

Keeping on keeping on with breastfeeding!

Ummm that's all I can think of because it's about midnight.

Snowstorm!

It looks like maybe a foot of snow today. I know at least 8" in 5 hours. Wow!!! This is why I live a block from work.

Keeping Chloe stimulated all the time wipes me out, LOL. I think she's the only 15-month-old on the block who has a vibrating toothbrush (and it's a cheap one so it reeeeeally vibrates). I am making her an uber-sensory blanket with a ton of fun things on it to try and help at church, which generally involves roaming the halls trying to keep her from destroying things or yelling too loud or climbing up the super-steep stairs and breaking various body parts, and she's not allowed in nursery at all for three more months. I have to swipe the needle from my old machine since I broke 3 yesterday (thank you, cheap half-dead Brother machine, LOL) as I really don't care if I make the finishing blow on that machine with this quilt since my new machine *should* be here Monday! *happy dance*

I have been training for designing ads and have done a handful already. It's FUN. A little nerve-wracking making design decisions in front of an actual designer, lol, but I'm picking it up fast and learning a lot and so far, doing really well. Hopefully I keep up the whole "doing really well" part!

Got another box of presents in the mail for the first today from great-grandparents. It's awesome that they are getting so much stuff *I love you guys!* but honestly, they don't need that much. They don't really need much at all. Esp since some angel left us a ton of presents on our porch! :D So after the opening, some things will be sold/traded for other things we might need, and some of them will be donated. I know I'm donating some to the local Ronald McDonald House, and some to good ol' DI, and I'm looking into sending some to orphanages overseas. Gotta spread the love, you know. :)

Great news, even better news, and better-than-before news!

So, before I go join FaceBook to participate in a nurse-in for a friend of mine, I have awesome stuff to post!

Firstly, I couldn't figure out the background-on-the-sides thing so for now, no background so you can actually read this. Yay!

Okay, news the first.
I finally got my refund check and ordered a new sewing machine from Ken's Sewing Center (I think that's it). And they called the next day to say they were all out of that machine actually, oops--would I prefer a refund or to replace it with a BETTER one at no extra charge, and they gave me a choice of two machines by the same company, one that was $100 more and one that was $150 more!! That's almost double the value of the machine I ordered!! So my Janome DC2007 should be here in 10 days, and if nothing messes up, I should be very happy indeed with it. They also have a great return policy, even if you tried it out/used it and just decided it doesn't work for you. Here's my new pretty .

News the second (the even better one):
I sort-of got a new job, and a raise!! I was/am working as an editor, and have been for three years, and while it's stable, there is no upward mobility on my shift, and they have streamlined our processes so much that I basically copy edit and do filing-ish stuff all day. I am losing job skills, not gaining them. If I ever want to upgrade to actual "real" editor I need to be fluent in InDesign and other programs. I have been getting worried and thinking about leaving when I finally finish my last class for my longest-BS-degree-ever, lol. So the other day I was summoned to the manager's manager's office (eeep) and out of the blue, they offered me the position of graphic designer (!!!!!!!) with accompanying raise, and they would train me on how to use InDesign and do it all. *happy dance* They think I can do it and do it well, being a very fast learner and extremely detail-oriented. So instead of teaching a graphic person all the weird rules and formats and ins and outs, they are teaching someone who knows all of the rules/formats/everything how to use InDesign. Woot! More skills, more money, not going to be bored out my mind at work anymore, yay!!!!!!

Third news, not best but definitely an improvement--I've been researching more and I think I know what dd2's issue is. She did not fit autism or really the autism spectrum. She is much too social and lovey, and we are working on her speech, which is coming along a bit. She definitely makes more noises now. There is a support group for SID (Sensory Integration Disorder) on my cloth diaper board (diaperswappers), and I popped in there when I was really bored one day this week, and people were talking about their kids having really similar issues to dd2. One part really stuck out--sensory seeking. That describes dd2 exactly. She is constantly trying for more touch, every inch of her body, even in her mouth, to the point that she hurts herself. Besides the usual climbing super-high, falling, smacking her head on head-high things over and over and over again, squishing herself what should be painfully between the couch and the window and finally being happy, squished in there for twenty minutes against the cold, snowed-on glass, constantly needing to be held, and there are many, many more--besides all that there have been incidents this week that have really taken it from "high needs baby" to the next level. Did you know she eats glass???? I mean, she gets glass ornaments from the tree, bites on them until they shatter in her mouth, and then chews the broken glass shards, happy as a clam. So, I researched sensory seeking. This is some of what I've found. I dare anyone who knows dd2 to say this does not describe her to perfection. This is actually *good* news, lol, as it is much, much easier for me to handle and treat then developmental delays or autism spectrum. Whew! Here is some info, symptoms, and treatment ideas we are working on, and we will present this to the pediatrician at our new appt in Jan as well. Peeps who have watched her for us, we often get the comment that htye don't understand the problem, she was very happy the entire time as they played with her/held her/bounced her, she's a happy baby. Well, exactly--she is happy when she is constantly newly stimulated and touched with new people and new smells and new things. If you stayed here for several days it would wear off and then she would get more and more sesnory seeking and unhappy and "off" until you started pulling you hair out wondering when-oh-when will this "phase" pass, except we're way past the usual "oh, it goes away when they can crawl and explore for themselves." Yeah, she has been crawling for six months now, lol, and she is getting worse. Remember the whole eating glass shards thing? I don't know if any of the playgroup mamas will see this, lol, but at playgroup dd2 is the happiest/least symptomatic because playgroup is like therapy for her--there are sooo many new sights, people, voices, toys to touch, weird food to eat (remember how she ate those textured hard crackers constantly last week until she finally climbed the stool and stood there and ate every single last one until the container was empty, lol? Oral stimulation with hard/textured food, which was suggested to me as part of her therapy) that she is finally filled up with stimulation for a while and can just revel in it instead of needing to seek it out. So she looks a lot more normal then at home, lol.

The Sensory Integration Network, spearheaded in part by occupational therapist Lucy Jane Miller, explains that Sensory Integration Dysfunction presents itself in a number of sensory-seeking, sensory-avoiding and dyspraxic (clumsy and awkward) behaviors, as described below:

Sensory Seeking children have nervous systems that do not always process that sensory input is "coming in" to the brain. They are under-responsive to sensation. As a result, they seek out more intense or longer duration sensory experiences. Some behaviors that can be observed are: Hyper-activity as they seek more and more movement input; Unawareness of touch or pain, or touching others too often or too hard (may seem aggressive); Engaging in unsafe behaviors, such as climbing too high; Enjoying sounds that are too loud, such as TV or radio volume.

Dyspraxic children are clumsy and awkward. They have particular problems with new motor skills and activities. Some behaviors that can be observed are: Very poor fine motor skills such as handwriting; Very poor gross motor skills such as kicking, catching, throwing balls; Difficulty imitating movements such as "Simon Says"; Trouble with balance, sequences of movements and bilateral coordination."


Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist: Signs And Symptoms Of Dysfunction

The purpose of this sensory processing disorder checklist is to help parents and professionals who interact with children become educated about particular signs of sensory processing dysfunction.

It is not to be used as the absolute diagnostic criteria for labeling children with sensory processing disorder. But rather, as an educational tool and checklist for your own knowledge. Professionals who can diagnose this disorder have their own tools in addition to checklists to observe and test for sensory integration dysfunction.

As you go through this list, you may say, "Wow, my child has so many of these characteristics/behaviors, he must have a sensory processing disorder!!"

That MAY be true, and I want you to take it very seriously if you find a host of these to be characteristic of your child. But, then use this as a guide to speak with your doctor and an Occupational Therapist so you can clearly explain why you think your child may need help.

Or, you may go through the list and say,

"No big deal, so my child has some of these behaviors/characteristics, doesn't every child?"

Well, this may be true too and your child's behavior may fluctuate from day to day.

What we need to be concerned with is which symptoms your child shows, which category they are having difficulty with, how much it interferes with their or other's lives and what kind of impact it is having on their level of functioning. They may have a lot in one category and none in another or some in all categories. This will help target diagnosis and treatment.

Lastly, you may go through the list and say,

"Oh my gosh, that is what I have been dealing with my whole life".

Then I say, I'm so sorry you never got the help you needed! Perhaps we can start to work on it now.

Identifying and understanding this disorder is HUGE!

Please understand the "Five Caveats" that Carol Stock Kranowitz points out in her book, "The Out-Of-Sync Child" (1995), about using a checklist such as this. She writes:

1. "The child with sensory dysfunction does not necessarily exhibit every characteristic. Thus, the child with vestibular dysfunction may have poor balance but good muscle tone."

2. "Sometimes the child will show characteristics of a dysfunction one day but not the next. For instance, the child with proprioceptive problems may trip over every bump in the pavement on Friday yet score every soccer goal on Saturday. Inconsistency is a hallmark of every neurological dysfunction. "

3. "The child may exhibit characteristics of a particular dysfunction yet not have that dysfunction. For example, the child who typically withdraws from being touched may seem to be hypersensitive to tactile stimulation but may, instead, have an emotional problem."

4. "The child may be both hypersensitive and hyposensitive. For instance, the child may be extremely sensitive to light touch, jerking away from a soft pat on the shoulder, while being rather indifferent to the deep pain of an inoculation."

5. "Everyone has some sensory integration problems now and then, because no one is well regulated all the time. All kinds of stimuli can temporarily disrupt normal functioning of the brain, either by overloading it with, or by depriving it of, sensory stimulation."


Tactile Sense: input from the skin receptors about touch, pressure, temperature, pain, and movement of the hairs on the skin.

Signs Of Tactile Dysfunction:

2. Hyposensitivity To Touch (Under-Responsive):

__ may crave touch, needs to touch everything and everyone

__ is not aware of being touched/bumped unless done with extreme force or intensity

__ is not bothered by injuries, like cuts and bruises

__ may not be aware that hands or face are dirty or feel his/her nose running

__ may be self-abusive; pinching, biting, or banging his own head

__ mouths objects excessively

__ frequently hurts other children or pets while playing

__ repeatedly touches surfaces or objects that are soothing (i.e., blanket)

__ seeks out surfaces and textures that provide strong tactile feedback

__ thoroughly enjoys and seeks out messy play

__ craves vibrating or strong sensory input

__ has a preference and craving for excessively spicy, sweet, sour, or salty foods


3. Poor Tactile Perception And Discrimination:

__ has difficulty with fine motor tasks such as buttoning, zipping, and fastening clothes

__ may not be able to identify which part of their body was touched if they were not looking

__ may be afraid of the dark

__ may be a messy dresser; looks disheveled, does not notice pants are twisted, shirt is half un tucked, shoes are untied, one pant leg is up and one is down, etc.

__ has difficulty using scissors, crayons, or silverware

__ continues to mouth objects to explore them even after age two

__ has difficulty figuring out physical characteristics of objects; shape, size, texture, temperature, weight, etc.

Vestibular Sense: input from the inner ear about equilibrium, gravitational changes, movement experiences, and position in space.

Signs Of Vestibular Dysfunction:

2. Hyposensitivity To Movement (Under-Responsive):

__ in constant motion, can't seem to sit still

__ craves fast, spinning, and/or intense movement experiences

__ loves being tossed in the air

__ could spin for hours and never appear to be dizzy

__ always jumping on furniture, trampolines, spinning in a swivel chair, or getting into upside down positions

__ loves to swing as high as possible and for long periods of time

__ is a "thrill-seeker"; dangerous at times

__ always running, jumping, hopping etc. instead of walking

__ rocks body, shakes leg, or head while sitting

__ likes sudden or quick movements, such as, going over a big bump in the car or on a bike


3. Poor Muscle Tone And/Or Coordination:

__ frequently slumps, lies down

__ fatigues easily!

__ difficulty catching him/her self if falling

__ has poor body awareness; bumps into things, knocks things over, trips, and/or appears clumsy

__ poor fine motor skills; difficulty using "tools", such as pencils, silverware, combs, scissors etc.

__ seems to be unsure about how to move body during movement, for example, stepping over something


This category is HUGE with her, she has every single one on the entire list, I didn't leave out a single "not quite her" one (except grinding her teeth because she doesn't have molars, lol, but she would if she did):

Signs Of Proprioceptive Dysfunction:


1. Sensory Seeking Behaviors:

__ seeks out jumping, bumping, and crashing activities

__ stomps feet when walking

__ kicks his/her feet on floor or chair while sitting at desk/table

__ bites or sucks on fingers and/or frequently cracks his/her knuckles

__ loves to be tightly wrapped in many or weighted blankets, especially at bedtime

__ prefers clothes (and belts, hoods, shoelaces) to be as tight as possible

__ loves/seeks out "squishing" activities

__ enjoys bear hugs

__ excessive banging on/with toys and objects

__ loves "roughhousing" and tackling/wrestling games

__ frequently falls on floor intentionally

__ would jump on a trampoline for hours on end

__ grinds his/her teeth throughout the day

__ loves pushing/pulling/dragging objects

__ loves jumping off furniture or from high places

__ frequently hits, bumps or pushes other children

__ chews on pens, straws, shirt sleeves etc.

2. Difficulty With "Grading Of Movement":

__ misjudges how much to flex and extend muscles during tasks/activities (i.e., putting arms into sleeves or climbing)

__ difficulty regulating pressure when writing/drawing; may be too light to see or so hard the tip of writing utensil breaks

__ written work is messy and he/she often rips the paper when erasing

__ always seems to be breaking objects and toys

__ misjudges the weight of an object, such as a glass of juice, picking it up with too much force sending it flying or spilling, or with too little force and complaining about objects being too heavy

__ may not understand the idea of "heavy" or "light"; would not be able to hold two objects and tell you which weighs more

__ seems to do everything with too much force; i.e., walking, slamming doors, pressing things too hard, slamming objects down

__ plays with animals with too much force, often hurting them

2. Hyposensitivity To Sounds (Under-Registers):

__ often does not respond to verbal cues or to name being called

__ appears oblivious to certain sounds

__ appears confused about where a sound is coming from

__ had little or no vocalizing or babbling as an infant

2. Hyposensitivity To Oral Input (Under-Registers)

__ may lick, taste, or chew on inedible objects (did you know she EATS/chews on until they are forcibly removed from her, glass ornaments???? and foil wrappers too. She bites them until they break in her mouth and then chews on the broken glass pieces!!)

__ prefers foods with intense flavor; i.e., excessively spicy, sweet, sour, or salty

__ excessive drooling past the teething stage

__ frequently chews on hair, shirt, or fingers

__ acts as if all foods taste the same

__ can never get enough condiments or seasonings on his/her food

Other children may always be bumping their heads because they lack protective responses and do not "catch themselves" when they begin to fall.

Signs of SI problems

The following is a description of some of the commonly seen behaviors in children who exhibit sensory integrative difficulties.

* An acute awareness of background noises
* Fascination with lights, fans, water (water, toilets, faucets, cups, any bells ringing, lol?)
* Hand flapping/repetitive movements
* Spinning items, taking things apart
* Walking on tip-toe
* Little awareness of pain or temperature
* Coordination problems
* Unusually high or low activity level
* Difficulty with transitions (doesn't "go with the flow")
* Self-Injury or aggression
* The child may react strongly to stimuli on face, hands and feet.
* A child may have a very short attention span and become easily distracted.
* A strong dislike of certain grooming activities, such as brushing the teeth, washing the face, having the hair brushed or cut.
* An unusual sensitivity to sounds and smells.
* Frequently adjusts clothing, pushing up sleeves and/or pant legs. (Chloe, the one-armed shirt girl, lol.)

Body Position

* Continually seeks out all kinds of movement activities
* Hangs on other people, furniture, objects, even in familiar situations

Movement

Seeks all kinds of movement and this interferes with daily life
Takes excessive risks while playing, has no safety awareness

Attention, Behavior

And Social
Jumps from one activity to another frequently and it interferes with play
Has difficulty paying attention
Is overly affectionate with others
Seems anxious
Is accident prone
Has difficulty making friends, does not express emotions

Activity Levels. Children with sensory integration dysfunction may show problems in their activity level. "The child may appear disorganized or lacking purpose in his or her activity. The child does not explore the environment or lacks variety in play activities. He or she may appear clumsy and has poor balance. The child may have difficulty calming down after physical activity or seeks excessive amounts of sensory input" (Stephens). These characteristics can come from improper functioning in any of the sensory systems or a combination of them.

Behaviors. A child may exhibit negative behaviors that have an underlying cause. The child may "lack flexibility, be explosive, or have difficulty with transitions". The child may show unexplainable irritability or crying until the discovery of the underlying cause. Underlying causes could be that the child is fearful of certain sounds or visual stimuli or intolerant to the wrinkles in his or her socks.

Whoa! I have this one! Totally!! Well, I have half of the list, all of these. So maybe I have a touch and she is genetically predisposed. Anyone who knows me will find this amusing, lol.

2. Hyposensitivity To Visual Input (Under-Responsive Or Difficulty With Tracking, Discrimination, Or Perception):

__ has difficulty locating items among other items; i.e., papers on a desk, clothes in a drawer, items on a grocery shelf, or toys in a bin/toy box

__ makes reversals in words or letters when copying, or reads words backwards; i.e., "was" for "saw" and "no" for "on" after first grade

__ tends to write at a slant (up or down hill) on a page

__ confuses left and right

__ fatigues easily with schoolwork

__ difficulty judging spatial relationships in the environment; i.e., bumps into objects/people or missteps on curbs and stairs

Play:

__ difficulty with imitative play (over 10 months)

__ wanders aimlessly without purposeful play or exploration (over 15 months)

Internal Regulation (The Interoceptive Sense):

__ becoming too hot or too cold sooner than others in the same environments; may not appear to ever get cold/hot, may not be able to maintain body temperature effectively

__ severe/several mood swings throughout the day (angry to happy in short periods of time, perhaps without visible cause)

__ unpredictable state of arousal or inability to control arousal level (hyper to lethargic, quickly, vacillating between the two; over stimulated to under stimulated, within hours or days, depending on activity and setting, etc.)

__ frequent constipation or diarrhea, or mixed during the same day or over a few days

__ difficulty with potty training; does not seem to know when he/she has to go (i.e., cannot feel the necessary sensation that bowel or bladder are full

__ unable to regulate thirst; always thirsty, never thirsty, or oscillates back and forth

__ unable to regulate hunger; eats all the time, won't eat at all, unable to feel full/hungry

__ unable to regulate appetite; has little to no appetite and/or will be "starving" one minute then full two bites later, then back to hungry again (prone to eating disorders and/or failure to thrive)



Dude. How many time have you seen me slam into my own doorframe, or how I always point because I NEVER get "left" or "right" correct, LOL?? Dd1 has some indicators too, but just a handful where they don't affect her much at all and she is growing out of most of them, and she never had enough of a problem to even think about this sort of stuff. She just is a sensitive child but she functions just fine, just needs a good hug and a cup of milk or distraction sometimes when she's bothered by something. There is no distracting dd2. We have tried. Constantly, lol.

Things we will be trying:

Tactile input is the sense of touch and includes texture, temperature, pressure, and more. Don't forget that the tactile system includes not only the skin covering your body but also inner skin linings such as inside the mouth.

Making/providing hard, textured foods to replace the glass, metal, and textured cloth she usually eats. We also have a hard rubber giraffe (Sophie) under the Christmas tree. Maybe give her a little plain carbonated water on occasion. Play-doh. Making goop. We already let her eat frozen peas for the cold, hard sensation, and she LOVES that, and we let her shew on cold, wet terrycloth wipes.
Proprioception

Proprioceptive input (sensations from joints, muscles and connective tissues that lead to body awareness) can be obtained by lifting, pushing, and pulling heavy objects as well as by engaging in activities that compress (push together) or distract (pull apart) the joints like playing tug-of-war.

Toddlers and Preschoolers
Make a "sandwich" by firmly pressing on your child's arms legs and back with pillows or make a "burrito" by rolling her up in a blanket. She can push her own stroller, and a stronger child can push a stroller or cart filled with weighted objects such as groceries. Your child can wear a backpack or fanny pack filled with toys (not too heavy!).

An idea for when she gets older:

Sample Sensory Diet

Here is a sample sensory diet, created for a second grade child whose sensory seeking behavior interfered with his attention and learning. We've used the annoying term, "as directed," to avoid providing a cookbook recipe. Activities should be individualized for each child and modified frequently to meet changing needs. A separate program was worked out for this child with the school, including frequent movement breaks, an inflatable seat cushion for wiggling while remaining seated, and providing crunchy/chewy oral comfort snacks at handwriting time.

Morning Routine
Massage feet and back to help wake up
Listen to therapeutic listening CD
Use vibrating toothbrush and vibrating hairbrush
Crunchy cereal with fruit and some protein
Spin on Dizzy Disc Jr. as directed
Jump on mini-trampoline as directed
After school
Go to playground for at least 20 minutes
Push grocery cart or sister's stroller
Spinning as directed
Mini Tramp — add some variety: have him play catch or toss toys into a basket while jumping
Massage feet to "reorganize," use theraputty, body sox, make body sandwiches, wheelbarrow walk
Do ball exercises as directed
Listen to therapeutic listening CD
Oral work — sucking thick liquids through a straw (smoothies, etc.), crunchy and chewy snacks (to give input into jaws and teeth) prior to and/or during homework

Dinner Time
Help with cooking, mixing, chopping, etc.
Help set table, using two hands to carry and balance a tray
Provide crunchy and chewy foods
Night time
Family time: clay projects, painting projects, etc.
Warm bath with bubbles and calming essential oil
Massage during reading time

Eeep--snow!

Someday, I will fix the background so y'all can read it without squinting, lol. I tried to follow the directions to put it only on the side and it didn't work, so I have to figure out where I went wrong.

So, suddenly Utah has remembered that it is, in fact, December. We had snow in October and then early fall temps until about two days ago, when suddenly the cold snap hit. Yesterday it snowed, melted, and then was snowing again when I left work (at my usual insanely late hour). Now there is 4-6" built up, depending on where you look (6" on the steps). So of course we went out to play. Realized that we are short on mittens and gloves so Chloe didn't get to play as much. However, she very much wanted to check out that fluffy white stuff, and as a consequence kept sticking her hand excitedly in the snow on the porch, looking at it, crying mightly when she realized it was very cold,, sticking her hand in my mouth to warm up, seeing that fluffy stuff again, sticking her fingers in it again, crying again, wanting to go inside, going inside, seeing the door start to shut with all that beautiful white stuff outside, crying to back outside, wash, rinse, repeat, lol. After a while she realized that snow was cold and she would have to deal with it, so she sat down on the porch and ate tiny pieces of snow very carefully. The whole time, of course, Alanna was running around like a snow pixie having a blast. Then we came in and had hot chocolate--Chloe had some watered down and Alanna had two, lol.

On the other Chloe front, she has regained "hi" as a word! It's not really a new word per say, but she had not said it since she started saying "Yeah" and now it is back. Losing previous skills is another warning sign so having her back in possession of both of her words is a great sign.

Much calmer now :)

We're working on her speech with her and if it goes well hopefully most of it will be resolved, as that is the biggest issue by far and I think the other issues tie into it. Lots and lots of book reading, naming everything we are doing, and working on imitation (or trying--she's not really interested in books or in imitating, but she is making her few sounds more often!).

"Developmentally delayed"

That's a fun phrase. So are "warning signs," "moderate PDD," "ASD signs," "therapy," "evaluations," and all that jazz. Technically my youngest is very delayed in communication and slightly in physical things plus extreme frustration over the tiniest things. On the checklists for ASD and PDD she scores enough warning signs to warrant a definite closer look. Dh and I are going to be working on her verbal skills (her non-existent verbal skills) until her appt next month to see if she just needs more help with that, more attention or maybe speech therapy, or if there is something underlying. Fuuuuuuun times, I tell you what. But she loves people and gives kisses and stuff so I don't think it would be something like autism.

Awwwwww

So, we had the whole no-money thing before we paid tithing. And then we had enough for food (yay) but that was it until the next payday in a couple weeks. So last week, someone left a bag with a couple nice dresses on our door (oldest girl was in heaven, lol). And then yesterday someone rang our doorbell and ran, and left an entire kitchen-size garbage bag FULL of presents, and a gift card to the grocery store. *sniff* We are so blessed here. I actually have a quilt that was gifted to us when I was really young that I need to find someone to Doorstep Ninja gift it to who needs it. Pass on the love.

I love tithing

Two days after we paid tithing (without the funds to pay it and rent), the bank gave us back our tithing amount and then some in fees that I thought they had decided not to refund a week ago! Now we can pay rent and pay for our other expenses this week, like copays and food and all of that good stuff. Yay!

Another quick update

Wow. Since I blogged last,
I have worked a lot of overtime,
Jeremy has worked more overtime,
we somehow went totally broke (probably due to the last class I paid for but it still doesn't add up, but paid tithing anyway, so now we have no money for a week and a half, livin' on mac 'n' cheese and turkey soup)
I am very glad we have a bit of savings so we can pay rent! Textbook is going to have to wait though.
I did a balance transfer of our single horrible store credit card balance to one very nice low rate regular credit card, so we will save literally hundreds on interest this year alone, and once that is paid off we will have this one card for emergencies. And my credit monitoring report told me there was a change when I got the card so good job, credit monitoring thing, lol.
Chloe is walking!!!! Completely, totally walking with that super-wide baby stance.
My sewing machine died as I was getting ready to sew all holiday for my store opening. Hah. Hah.
A friend left his Kung Fu Panda DVD here and the girls are now in love.
We might have a newer, cleaner RPGing group in the works. Yay!

We're back!

Wow, it's been a while. We've been super busy with work and school, plus family came into town two weekends in a row (and more next week), and then we played pass-the-weird-illness around. Alanna ended up with roseola, and the rest of us had what felt like a nasty, miserable, exhausting cold. Mine kept triggering migraines. Boo. So we're slowly recovering from that. School was on hold for most of last week, but we'll be on track this week. I am also making progress on my cloth diaper design. I had a very (surprisingly) successful first round of testing, and I just finished the new version of my pattern to be tested again, and shrunk to the next size down and tested, before official release. Hooray! Oh, I also got the pair of longies that a WAHM crocheted up from some yarn I dyed with Kool-aid to match some owl fabric I am using for Christmas presents. It's gorgeous stuff! I need to figure out how to put pictures on here, and how to explain "early Christmas present" to the girls since these are NOT waiting until December to be worn! Maybe like my dad says about Mother's Day, that every day is Mother's Day, can apply....
Our garden went *poof* when the freak snow hit last weekend. It pretty much melted, especially the "winter" squash (hah!). I have to figure out how to avoid that next year.
Oh, and I found a great price on a SSC (soft structured carrier) to carry little miss high needs around, lol. I got an APLX (Angel Pack) and not only is it super comfy for carrying the little one, and super-fast to put on with the buckles so that she *lets* me put her on my back instead of flailing around and yelling like she's drowning, and makes her happy for a very long time riding around with mommy while I get stuff DONE, but--it's super comfy carrying her big sis. Who is THREE. Wow.

Good times, good times :D

So, had the double birthday (decent haul for a "no presents please" party, oddly enough), fun AAQ at the park, lots of friends (even some for Alanna!), great food. Yum! Homeschooling is going well so far, and we'll get to open the giant art supply box this weekend. I'm printing coloring pages right now (a "B" in a butterfly),a nd we have a field trip about vegetables this week.
And cooelst news (really fast because the girls miss me), Alanna has been potty learning since last Tuesday, and was dry ALL NIGHT last night!!!!