During this group session we made hamburger .. cookies! This is sweet treat that is easy to make at home.
Ingredients: vanilla wafers, chocolate covered cookie, coconut flakes, green food coloring, red and yellow frosting.
Directions:
- put coconut flakes in a plastic bag with a few drops of green food coloring. Shake together until all the coconut flakes are green (this is going to be the lettuce for your burger).
- Put a small amount of frosting on the flat side of a wafer cookie and place the chocolate covered cookie on top.
- Smear one side of the chocolate covered cookie with yellow frosting and the other side with red frosting (ketchup and mustard).
- Sprinkle the green coconut flakes on top of the frosting.
- Finally, place another wafer cookie of the top to complete your hamburger!
The kids loved these mini burger cookies, we hope yours do too!
In our group sessions at Speech Start we dedicate a portion of our time to making and eating healthy and fun snacks! Everyone gets to participate in making their own snack while helping their peers as well. One of our popular snacks the students love is mock sushi. It is a quick tasty snack that is easy to make at home.
Tools: rolling pin, knife, apple cutter (optional)
Ingredients: bread (of your choice) , apples, peanut butter
Directions: First, cut the crust off of the bread, then use a rolling pin to flatten the bread. spread peanut butter on the bread, and cut apples into long thin slices. Place the cut up apple slices on one side of the bread and roll it up. Cut roll up into 4 pieces and enjoy!
It’s that time of year again! Going back to school can be both exciting and a bit scary for not only children with special needs, but for all children (for some teachers and parents too!). At Speech Start we have found a few techniques that help make the transition a bit easier. We hope they are helpful to you!
Talk About the Transition
For some children the shift between staying at home and playing to a new environment and more structured routine can cause anxiety, fear, and may lead to behaviors. Talking about the transition can help prepare your child for the upcoming changes in their daily routine. Discuss the new activities and things they will learn in a positive and exciting way. Making your own story book or story board can also help.
Become Familiar
Some parents have toured a new school or met with the teacher prior to the start of the school year. This helps the child become familiar with their new teacher and environment. It also gives the parent the opportunity to ask questions about the classroom routine and schedule. This information can then be previewed at home with the child in preparation for the transition.
Get a Head Start
Start preparing for the new routine two weeks before the start of the new school year. Set up a new bed time and stick with it as well as an earlier wake up time. This will help get you and your child on a new schedule. Adding a few more structured activities in the day can help prepare your child for the new school day routine.
Take Your Time Preparing and Don’t Stress!
Gather all of your paper work and make copies of the IEP. Children pick up on stress so take your time organizing and preparing. It really can help make the transition easier for everyone in your family.
It’s the Big Day!
It may take a week or two for you and your child to adjust to the new routine. Ask questions and review the days happenings when your child comes home. Remember to be excited and positive! Be prepared, be calm, and be ready for a school year full of fun!
The summer season is a great time to increase your child’s language and learning through play. Engaging in pretend play is very important for language development. Pretend and symbolic play help children gain higher level language skills. Below are some fun activities to try!
Car Wash
Time to set up a sprinkler, and get out the soap and bubbles! If your child has a toy car you can use that as an opportunity to have him/her drive to the car wash and have some fun! You can help elicit more language by commenting on what is happening and having the child request throughout the activity. Another spin on this is to use pretend small cars, shaving cream, and water guns. Have fun!
Let’s Go on a Picnic
Together with your child, look through toy food items and pack up for a picnic! Lay a blanket outside and use this time to request and name food items. This is also a great time to work on increasing the length of requests and utterances and describing. This can also be done with actual food items. The child can help make a lunch (making a sandwich together can also target sequencing!) and then take the lunch outdoors.
Water Play
Does your child have a water table? If not you can simply fill up a child size pool or a large bin with water. Using different toys will increase language opportunities in a fun (and wet!) way. Concepts such as big/small, up/down, fast/slow can also be targeted during this activity.
Ice Cream Shop
You and your child can set up a pretend ice cream shop. This gives the opportunities for requesting, paying with play money, and other possibilities to increase language. You can use play dough, pretend food items, or real ice cream. Let your child take the lead and have fun!