Dr. Seuss treatment plan
Posted by tom | Feb 27, 2007Dr. Seuss has recently provided much care to our family, as There's a Wocket in My Pocket must be read almost continuosly while Eden checks her back pocket for a Wocket. Although she doesn't sound out many of the words in this book, the sounds in Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? find much repitition . . . in addition to the Leapfrog fridge phonics which is going off as I type and the new animal see-n-say. In an effort to introduce other similar rhyming Suess books to Eden's repetoire, mom checked out a stack from the library. Alas, none can compare in popularity to Wocket.
As for physical development, the book Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb has encouraged Eden's use of her right hand in play, not only when encouraged by others but also on her own. A new therapy-related game involves picking up plastic lids from various beverage containers and dropping them into an empty tissue box. She also pulls the lever of her new animal see-n-say with her right hand and dials and chats w/her new Barbie cell phone. We're encouraging her to hand food items, such as veggie sticks and small pieces of bread, from her left hand to her right hand. Theresa's practing thumbkin and other hand songs.But I must say that seeing Eden pull herself up and briefly stand unaided and then clap, causing herself to fall back down, takes the developmental cake. What a joy to see her laugh, dance, and play. Her use of legs when aided in walking is much more steady and balanced and I look forward to seeing her run around the house with Hayley and Ellen sometime in the coming months 
Besides the toys and books listed above, we've found these toys to be motivating:
Crayola Color Wonder markers: they only write on the special Color Wonder paper, so Eden can use them without decorating herself or the house. Putting the caps on the markers has been a really good excersize for her to use righty as we dubbed her right hand. She's actually more interested in putting the caps on than in coloring.
Leapfrog Learning Drum: what kid doesn't like to pound on things? This encourages her to use righty too.
A bubble machine in the bathtub: ours happens to be The Little Mermaid and she lifts her wand and blows the bubbles (battery operated). We work on saying bubble as Eden needs to learn the "b" sound. And we encourage her to catch the bubbles with righty. Wet hands can catch bubbles without popping them
To encourage pretend play Eden really likes to play with dolls and tea sets. These are also toys that her big sisters can play with her.
We'd love to hear your suggestions, if you know of toys or books that are big hits with the kids in your lives!
Glad to hear Eden's progress. She's doing so well. Caleb also likes the Leapfrog drum (a toy he keeps at grandma's house) His favorite is the Leapfrog radio- that's an almost constant companion but it makes the trips to the grocery store more interesting with him playing his radio up and down the aisles. It has a dial and play button so he can change stations and find different songs. He also really likes this little farmset that has a little silo of legos with it. We discovered it's great for traveling because we can bring some legos (that can also double as tub toys) but they aren't the huge duplo blocks and they seem to encourage fine motor skills because the pieces are smaller.
Posted by Jodi, Mar 12 2007, 21:52