The Joseph Robert Shaw Foundation

Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury

Connecting Virtually

By

I was finally able to “see” Joey through our on-line book club. We are meeting three times a week with a few other kindergarten students to read silly books and just immerse ourselves in the joy that silly books bring.

When Joey logged on for our initial session I felt tears well up in my eyes. Although I’d be missing him, I hadn’t realized just how much I had missed him. His giant smile radiated through the computer, and his laughter while we read the books was contagious. 

Of course, the computer isn’t the same, and it feels so distant. Previously, I’ve written about how important wait time, and timing in general is when I am working with Joey. Wait time online feels even harder to do (particularly in a group of other active kindergarten students). Joey will look like he has something to say, and in person I can almost feel his intentionality and can tell that he is working hard to get out a message or that he is waiting on me to move on with our work. That’s harder on the computer, and I find myself not waiting long enough to allow him to fully get his ideas across. 

[Read more…]

Thoughts on COVID-19

By

If I’m honest, I have to admit that I have had a hard time writing this blog post. It has been a week and a half since the last time I saw Joey, and I suspect I will not see him in person again for a long time. I miss him, and wish it was easier to work on his AAC communication on-line. 

In the last few weeks the world turned upside down. For us adults, who have some perspective, this is scary and an unsettling, strange time. For kids – it is hard to know exactly how they are taking it. At first, my own children were thrilled with the lack of schedule. The first week was full of art projects and creativity. Then the news came that in-person schools would close for the remainder of the year, and my youngest crumbled. 

[Read more…]

Sibling Love

By

Right before the whole world shut down for the COVID-19, my daughter and Joey’s older brother were home from school so they both participated in my session with Joey. My daughter was thrilled to get to see Joey again and read the high frequency words along with him. I think Joey’s older brother may have been happier to have not joined our group of kindergarteners, but he was a huge help regardless.

I like to think I know Joey pretty well, although I often worry that sometimes I give him too much credit. It’s that sad special education teacher voice in the back of my head that whispers, you saw it once, but have you seen it 8 out of 10 times? How do you know it’s mastered? That voice forces me to be overly cautious sometimes, although even then I like to think I am responsive to Joey.

[Read more…]

Getting Joey Reading

By

Joey continues to impress us with his strong visual memory. It seems as though I can introduce a sight word to him once, and he will soon be able to find it from a field of six. His ability to receptively identify these words in isolation continues to impress me. So we know he is able to recognize words. How do we get him from reading these words to reading and understanding what he reads? How do we measure that? How do we know when he is achieving it and it is time to increase the level of the work we give him?

One way I am working to make leveled guided reading books available to him is to use the on-line books offered from Pioneer Valley press. These books allow me to put Joey’s name into the book (giving him an anchor word on each page), and to print the books out at home. Although Joey and I can take turns reading each page of these books, using his device is laborious when matching each word, and he often makes mistakes, not because of his ability to recognize the word, but in his ability to maintain the motor control of his neck and to select the correct word. In short, it’s exhausting and no fun.

[Read more…]

Measuring Joey’s Progress

By

As Joey begins accessing more academic content, we are constantly attempting to assess how we can best measure his knowledge. Taking all of the potential drawbacks of the AAC device into account, how do we make sure we are measuring the pure academic skills instead of simply measuring his academic skills in relation to the AAC device?

This is a tricky line that many families and educators whose children use AAC devices walk daily. It is a decision point that we make when we ask someone who uses an AAC what they want to do next, and we watch to see if they seem confident with their answer to our question, or if they seem frustrated because they hit an incorrect icon. It takes understanding and professional judgment on the part of the communication partner.  [Read more…]

Saturday Serenade

By

Test post for Saturday Serenades https://www.musichealsglennjan.com/saturday-serenades

Bitnami