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Teaching Jeremiah, A Journey into the Mind of an Asperger's Child
May. 16, 2008
"B B B B B B B!"
Back to our alphabet letters after a few weeks of Eric Carle and we started off with "B". Ben was happy to pose for a few pictures as we walked around the house finding things that started with the letter "B". We found bread, beds, bears, bananas, bellies, bathing suits, books, Bibles, and more! Whew! There sure are a lot of "B" words!
Then Jerry sponge painted a block letter "B" blue, painted with bubbles, blew bubbles, and played with those cool, big, round, punching ball balloons. Say that fast ten times! Jerry also made brownies for his Pioneer Clubs Scooters class.
 Making Brownies
He made up super powers he thought hero "Bubble-Man" would have and lined up his super bouncy balls on a big masking tape "B" on our living room floor.
 Super Bouncy Balls on a "B"!
It felt good to get back to some basics after all of the unit studies. I have pulled out some of the curriculum I bought for him from the FPEA conference last year. I stopped using it tearfully after many failed attempts to get him to work at it. I found the books after cleaning out his school drawer after testing and decided it was worth another try.
We worked on his Reason for Handwriting Kindergarten book and also the Making Math Meaningful curriculum that my other kids really enjoyed and built their mathematical foundation on. The difference in Jerry's attitude and ability and desire to sit and learn with me was amazing. I truly believe it is a direct result of our decision to relent and put him on medication back in December.
He learned about equal and unequal, though we called it bigger and smaller or shorter and longer. We put forks, spoons, crayons, markers, yarn pieces, pipe cleaners, and so much more side-by-side and Jerry told me whether they were the same size or not and, if not, which one was longer and which one was shorter. You could see his confidence increase with each correct answer and I made such a huge deal out of every success.
Comparing his handwriting now to that from September and October was amazing too. His hand is so much steadier and he doesn't freak out if he goes slightly off the lines he is tracing. He is also much more patient about coloring the pictures that go with each letter. I took his journal out again and he even started working in it. I don't have him do handwriting and journaling in one day because his hand gets tired and then he gets cranky. We just keep switching back and forth. In his journal, he traces his name and then draws a picture...anything he wants to draw.
Before
Now
I also have one of those huge advanced preschool workbooks and he has been eager to work on it as well. Several days this week, he had to compare objects and find which ones belonged together one day and which ones did not belong together on another day. This was a difficult concept for him at first.
I made it simpler by looking at the row of pictures first and finding the similarities and/or differences for him. If there was a helicopter, an airplane, and a rocket next to a school bus, we would go down the line one at a time. I would say, "Does a helicopter fly in the air? Does an airplane fly in the air? Does a rocket fly in the air? Does a school bus fly in the air?" That seemed to make it easier for him to figure out which object didn't belong.
I wasn't sure if he was really getting it until today and the last two rows of objects. Once was a mitten, a pen, a banana, and a piece of paper. I simply asked him which two went together or needed each other. He took about sixty seconds or so and then pointed at the pen first and then the piece of paper. Then he looked at me and I cheered and clapped and praised him galore! It was awesome!
We're just going to keep plugging away. Next week is packed with finding out test results, dentist appointments, a birthday party, and me leaving for the FPEA convention on Thursday and not coming home until Saturday. I've discovered with Jerry that we cannot take time off when I want him to learn something. It's all about repetition. I plan on doing as much with him as I can in what little time we have, even if we only take out one book a day next week. And as long as we go over the letters he has learned on his coconut tree EVERY morning, he seems to retain their sounds.
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