I woke up around 6:30 last Sunday morning, thinking about Joey and the word want. It has been weeks now, and Joey and I continue to fight our War on Want . It is perplexing for all of us who work with him, because he is so quick to use his eye gaze system to answer questions about a book, label objects in his environment, or to tell us how he feels. But using it to make a request seems to be difficult for him. Even using his eye gaze to confirm what he wants using the yes/no buttons can become a fight. [Read more…]
Teaching Calendar Skills
Joey giggled as he selected the number 14 from the two cards I’d placed in front of him, and then giggled further as I slid the 14 into the correct spot on the calendar. Apparently, something about the 14 was very, very funny. We had just begun using a preschool wall calendar with Joey, and we were all a bit surprised at just how much Joey enjoyed the calendar work. After his giggling over the number 14, I took two other numbers out of the pocket calendar – the 3 and the 5 – and asked Joey to give me the number 3. He giggled again, giving him his biggest smile, as though to say “I love these numbers. Give me some more.” [Read more…]
Meet Joey
Most likely, his smile is what you will notice first. Joey has a way of smiling with his entire body. He picks his head up a little higher, grins, and his eyes sparkle with excitement. He could have an entire conversation through those eyes.
