Saturday, November 1

Saturday, November 1

• We started off using his Dynavox. I would prompt him to use his dynavox by asking him to answer questions and asking his help while I tried to form sentences.
• I feel that the Dynavox system needs to be reconsidered in its use as a communication tool. As of right now, Raffy does not view it as a communication device and still relies on semi-verbal, body language communication even while using the Dynavox.
  
• The home screen buttons also seem cluttered and probably needs some re-programming to make it more intuitive so that it can act as a communication aid. As of right now, Raffy mainly uses it to tell me pre-programmed jokes.
• He did, however, press the "sushi" button to say that he wanted to have that for lunch. While it did let him express this desire, I think we should work towards using the dynavox to create full sentences (ie: I want to eat sushi for lunch).
• Reading: Raff's reading skills have been more or less consistent over the past year and a half that I've been working with him. A couple of points I want to share:
• Sometimes it takes him a while to sound out a word and may just try to skip it. If I notice that, I insist that he sound out the word before moving on.
  
• I like to test his comprehension of what he just read by asking him to point out the pictures in the page
• I make it a point to provide positive reinforcement and encouragement whenever he sounds out a difficult word, or reads a complete sentence without stopping.
• The main problem that I experience while practicing literacy with Raf is his ADD tendency to stop in the middle of whatever he's doing, and talk about something else (ie: point to my shirt and ask, new?) More recently, I've tried to curve this tendency by using the keyword focus. I use it in all settings (carwash, golf job, st. joe volunteering) to re-engage his attention. I also say, let's "do a good job."
• Math: Raf's numeracy skills fluctuate to a greater degree than his literacy. We all know that he doesn't like doing math and will usually cross it out if it's written in his schedule.
• Today, we practiced the "money" page from his Canadian Curriculum work book. He is quick to identify the worth associated with each coin (quarter = 25 cents)
  
• I noticed that he is unable to correctly order coins in terms of their worth (can't place coins in order from greatest to smallest). I don't know if he is really unable to do the task, or if he simply guessed randomly to get through the math as quickly as possible... BUT, I would suggest for the next math session, to try practicing ordering activities based on size or numbers (mabe draw a tree with x number of apples per tree and ask him to order them that way)
• Playing card games with him is a sneaky way to get math lessons in. He enjoys it, and it also gives him practice with numbers while helping him in identifying shapes and colors. Tita Susan likes to use it as a "break" during academic sessions.
• After work, we played wii golf for a while, played basketball, went for a bike ride to Steveston, mailed a letter for Tita Chiqui, and had our lunch in the sushi place (I also got extra sushi for us.) We biked home and played basketball again until Mariel came.
• Mariel and Raf took the C93 to go bowling in Riverport.