The Joseph Robert Shaw Foundation

Helping Children Recover from Brain Injury

Not Just a Box: Exploring Tinkering with Joey

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One of my favorite new children’s books is Not a Box. Throughout the book, a voice (one assumes it is an adult) asks a rabbit “Why are you in that box?” next to a picture of the rabbit on, in, next to, etc a box. When you turn the page the rabbit replies, “It’s not a box.” This time the picture shows the rabbit imagining the box is a race car, a mountain, an elephant, etc.

It sums up my own childhood perfectly – no cardboard box was ever just a box. It was whatever my imagination could make it become. [Read more…]

It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny

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In trying to find a book that Joey may find engaging, I grabbed It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny by Marilyn Sadler.  This is one of those books I’d never classify as quality children’s literature, but it has all the right elements to be an engaging read aloud for the four through six year old crowd.

  • It has a relatable storyline – someone who doesn’t quite fit into his family, or someone who just wants to see what life is like being someone else
  • It has repetitive, predictable text, where the reader lists all the animals P.J. Funny Bunny does not want to be. This makes it easy for children to join into the read aloud experience, either verbally or non-verbally
  • It is four and five year old sense of humor funny. A bunny trying to be a possum? Too silly. But the humor does not involve needing to make inferences or understand that characters have two different ideas.
  • It involves bad body odor (from a skunk, or course)
  • Its characters are common storybook animals
  • It has simple, bright pictures without too much detail

[Read more…]

Making Books More Engaging

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Without his device, Joey has been choosing to read books that give him more opportunities to interact during the read aloud. He wants to hold an animal, wave a magic wand, or move a velcroed piece around on his work tray. Last week I wondered just what was so appealing about Room on the Broom that we couldn’t break away from reading it. Through looking at what the Room on the Broom read aloud structure looks like for Joey, and considering that without his device read alouds can be more of a listening experience than an interactive one, I realized I needed to increase the opportunities for Joey to engage during a book. [Read more…]

What Makes a Good Book for Joey?

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I’m not sure what I’ll do if I have to read Room on the Broom one more time with Joey (OK, truthfully we all know that I’ll read it and be as excited about reading it as I was the first time…) but I honestly am not sure I can. I’ve stretched the book as far as I can. We’ve counted characters forwards and backwards, identified rhyming words, acted it out, spent time on the prepositions of the book, talked about weather, emotions, and even friendship. Yet still, Joey latches onto it. [Read more…]

Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop – Another great book for Core Words

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Let me introduce you to your new favorite book for reading with a child using an AAC device. Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop written by Todd Tuell is  packed with core words and a fun story. When I first found the book I thought it might appeal to active boys, but it didn’t strike me as an overly useful book. I was so wrong. [Read more…]

Saturday Serenade

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

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