Re: Teaching basics

August 11, 2006

My daughter is learning her colors. We are using balls. I toss her a ball and

then use the sign for the color as well as saying it. has no speech but

she has learned yellow, and red and we are going to work on green next. She

will sign the color as soon as I toss it to her and no she can not catch the

ball at all because not only does she have autism but she has albinism and is

legally blind. Once I learned that loves balls I thought what about the

colored balls hanging in the bag in the garage. has also begun signing

animals she has cow and pig down. I had to laugh the last time we were at my

brothers who is named Tim and for some reason my youngest son called him Uncle

Pig and everyone laughed so he has continued to call him this so when

wanted Tim she signed pig. LOL Tim looked at me to ask what she wanted and I

took great joy in telling him that she wanted Pig. LOL Our children are unique

aren't they? Sheri

Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote: Hi everyone! I'm at a dead end

here trying to figure out how to teach my son the basics. Dr. G said to go back

to the beginning and teach him colours, numbers, letters, etc. but I am just not

successful trying to teach him the way I did my younger kids when they were

first starting out. I've tried some Winnie the Pooh softward (preschool level)

and he enjoys playing on it but not in the traditional way that you would if you

understood the games. He just clicks away doing trial and error until he clicks

on the right thing and the game moves forward. I've tried sitting with him,

doing hand over hand, explaining things very simply, showing flash cards

alongside the game, anything I can think of to get him to " get it " , but I

haven't had success.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Any software titles that helped the light go

on? My son is not functioning at a high level (he is 5 1/2, has about fifteen

words, receptive language is so-so) so anyone with a lower functioning child who

has been through this and has any suggestions would be of great help.

Thanks,

Rhoda

August 11, 2006

Not observing your child makes it hard to say, but

just as a guess, or something to try, I am wondering

is maybe he can't combine his auditory and visual at

this time. Perhaps he needs something that is not so

visually stimulating, as computers are. I would take

one color at a time, perhaps one per week. say:

grass is green, and then have him repeat it. do that

several times. And ask him, :what color is the grass?

Then you could reinforce it by walking around the

house, finding other green things and items. I think

the computer programs try to " load " too much info at

one time for our kids. our kids are often anxious and

need to feel very calm when they learn so that it can

really get in there--into long term memory. my son

has had a very hard time learning. He is now 15, and

it is slow, but coming. don't give up. it will

happen, and it will get easier and easier as more and

more connections are made in the brain.

--- Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote:

> Hi everyone! I'm at a dead end here trying to figure

> out how to teach my son the basics. Dr. G said to go

> back to the beginning and teach him colours,

> numbers, letters, etc. but I am just not successful

> trying to teach him the way I did my younger kids

> when they were first starting out. I've tried some

> Winnie the Pooh softward (preschool level) and he

> enjoys playing on it but not in the traditional way

> that you would if you understood the games. He just

> clicks away doing trial and error until he clicks on

> the right thing and the game moves forward. I've

> tried sitting with him, doing hand over hand,

> explaining things very simply, showing flash cards

> alongside the game, anything I can think of to get

> him to " get it " , but I haven't had success.

>

> Does anyone have any other ideas? Any software

> titles that helped the light go on? My son is not

> functioning at a high level (he is 5 1/2, has about

> fifteen words, receptive language is so-so) so

> anyone with a lower functioning child who has been

> through this and has any suggestions would be of

> great help.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Rhoda

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

Barb Katsaros

barbkatsaros@...

__________________________________________________

August 11, 2006

Hi Rhonda,

If his receptive language is preventing him from understanding the goal of

the computer games, perhaps you should just start with flash cards? Flash

cards bore my neurotypical daughter, but my son loved them. For example

with the colors, if you buy a set of color flashcards it may include some

cards solid covered in a particular color and also cards with some objects

of the same color: A solid orange card and a card with a picture of a

carrot, basketball, orange sock, etc. You could even try making a game of

it by letting him match them by holding up the picture card and letting him

find the solid card with the same color. Because of my son's interest in

flash cards, he knew the word " octagon " long before he had interest in

saying " mama " (sigh). But it was a start. Again, this would not engage

every kid, but it does work for some and it is not a big investment to find

out (like $4 for a deck). I got mine at an office supply store like Office

Max. Oh, and don't forget the classic refrigerator magnet letters! And if

he likes books, there's a wealth of silly books that teach letters, numbers,

colors, etc. Chika Chicka Boom Boom is great for letters. As far a

computer games go, Alphabet Express was a good one for us and it included

printable coloring pages that each had a big letter and pictures of things

that start with that letter. Also one " game " that Dr. G recommended was " My

first incredible amazing dictionary " . It has helped my son's vocabulary and

it is actually somewhat entertaining since it involves some silly sound

effects and simple animations.

Each kid is lit up by different things. Good luck with finding out what

will motivate and capture your son's attention.

Sincerely,

April

August 11, 2006

Really good suggestions. However, if you find that

your son still does not remember the info using cards,

it could be that his visual system is so out of sync

with his auditory, and that his auditory is so weak,

that he needs just auditory stimulation first. then

you hood the visual in with it, and see if it works.

my son had such a weak auditory system, that when we

combine them, he shut out the auditory. like april

says, each child is so different.

--- April Jagnow <april@...> wrote:

> Hi Rhonda,

>

> If his receptive language is preventing him from

> understanding the goal of

> the computer games, perhaps you should just start

> with flash cards? Flash

> cards bore my neurotypical daughter, but my son

> loved them. For example

> with the colors, if you buy a set of color

> flashcards it may include some

> cards solid covered in a particular color and also

> cards with some objects

> of the same color: A solid orange card and a card

> with a picture of a

> carrot, basketball, orange sock, etc. You could

> even try making a game of

> it by letting him match them by holding up the

> picture card and letting him

> find the solid card with the same color. Because of

> my son's interest in

> flash cards, he knew the word " octagon " long before

> he had interest in

> saying " mama " (sigh). But it was a start. Again,

> this would not engage

> every kid, but it does work for some and it is not a

> big investment to find

> out (like $4 for a deck). I got mine at an office

> supply store like Office

> Max. Oh, and don't forget the classic refrigerator

> magnet letters! And if

> he likes books, there's a wealth of silly books that

> teach letters, numbers,

> colors, etc. Chika Chicka Boom Boom is great for

> letters. As far a

> computer games go, Alphabet Express was a good one

> for us and it included

> printable coloring pages that each had a big letter

> and pictures of things

> that start with that letter. Also one " game " that

> Dr. G recommended was " My

> first incredible amazing dictionary " . It has helped

> my son's vocabulary and

> it is actually somewhat entertaining since it

> involves some silly sound

> effects and simple animations.

>

> Each kid is lit up by different things. Good luck

> with finding out what

> will motivate and capture your son's attention.

>

> Sincerely,

> April

>

Barb Katsaros

barbkatsaros@...

__________________________________________________

August 11, 2006

That's a great story about your brother. It made me laugh! My son really likes

videos (surprise, surprise) so I actually thought of painting some of his

favorites different colours and letting him watch one if he got it right (i.e.

" give me the yellow video " ). Then I had visions of paint chipping off and going

all over the place and jamming up the VCR -- I'm not the craftiest person around

so I wouldn't know which paint (if any) would be suitable for this -- so I sort

of gave up on the idea. But now that you told me about the balls, maybe I can

revive the idea but use those old video covers (the clear plastic ones) and

paste construction paper on the insides so it is just all one colour and I can

put one of his favorite videos inside. I could make different covers using a

different colour for each and put the video in just one (i.e. Give me the yellow

video -- if he gives me the red cover, I'll open it and say " look, no video,

this is the red video, give me the yellow video " . When he gets yellow he gets to

watch.). Do you think that sounds too complicated?

BTW, just in case anyone wondered, in Canada we spell colour with a " u " (same as

the UK)

Thanks for the idea and story.

Rhoda

Re: Teaching basics

My daughter is learning her colors. We are using balls. I toss her a ball and

then use the sign for the color as well as saying it. has no speech but

she has learned yellow, and red and we are going to work on green next. She will

sign the color as soon as I toss it to her and no she can not catch the ball at

all because not only does she have autism but she has albinism and is legally

blind. Once I learned that loves balls I thought what about the colored

balls hanging in the bag in the garage. has also begun signing animals

she has cow and pig down. I had to laugh the last time we were at my brothers

who is named Tim and for some reason my youngest son called him Uncle Pig and

everyone laughed so he has continued to call him this so when wanted Tim

she signed pig. LOL Tim looked at me to ask what she wanted and I took great joy

in telling him that she wanted Pig. LOL Our children are unique aren't they?

Sheri

Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote: Hi everyone! I'm at a dead end here

trying to figure out how to teach my son the basics. Dr. G said to go back to

the beginning and teach him colours, numbers, letters, etc. but I am just not

successful trying to teach him the way I did my younger kids when they were

first starting out. I've tried some Winnie the Pooh softward (preschool level)

and he enjoys playing on it but not in the traditional way that you would if you

understood the games. He just clicks away doing trial and error until he clicks

on the right thing and the game moves forward. I've tried sitting with him,

doing hand over hand, explaining things very simply, showing flash cards

alongside the game, anything I can think of to get him to " get it " , but I

haven't had success.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Any software titles that helped the light go

on? My son is not functioning at a high level (he is 5 1/2, has about fifteen

words, receptive language is so-so) so anyone with a lower functioning child who

has been through this and has any suggestions would be of great help.

Thanks,

Rhoda

August 11, 2006

Thanks Barb. I like the idea of doing one colour a week and ditching the

computer. Dr. G is really insistent that we use the computer to help him learn,

but it's hard to teach the very basic basics with those programs. There's so

much going on (sounds, movements, etc.).

Thanks,

Rhoda

Re: Teaching basics

Not observing your child makes it hard to say, but

just as a guess, or something to try, I am wondering

is maybe he can't combine his auditory and visual at

this time. Perhaps he needs something that is not so

visually stimulating, as computers are. I would take

one color at a time, perhaps one per week. say:

grass is green, and then have him repeat it. do that

several times. And ask him, :what color is the grass?

Then you could reinforce it by walking around the

house, finding other green things and items. I think

the computer programs try to " load " too much info at

one time for our kids. our kids are often anxious and

need to feel very calm when they learn so that it can

really get in there--into long term memory. my son

has had a very hard time learning. He is now 15, and

it is slow, but coming. don't give up. it will

happen, and it will get easier and easier as more and

more connections are made in the brain.

--- Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote:

> Hi everyone! I'm at a dead end here trying to figure

> out how to teach my son the basics. Dr. G said to go

> back to the beginning and teach him colours,

> numbers, letters, etc. but I am just not successful

> trying to teach him the way I did my younger kids

> when they were first starting out. I've tried some

> Winnie the Pooh softward (preschool level) and he

> enjoys playing on it but not in the traditional way

> that you would if you understood the games. He just

> clicks away doing trial and error until he clicks on

> the right thing and the game moves forward. I've

> tried sitting with him, doing hand over hand,

> explaining things very simply, showing flash cards

> alongside the game, anything I can think of to get

> him to " get it " , but I haven't had success.

>

> Does anyone have any other ideas? Any software

> titles that helped the light go on? My son is not

> functioning at a high level (he is 5 1/2, has about

> fifteen words, receptive language is so-so) so

> anyone with a lower functioning child who has been

> through this and has any suggestions would be of

> great help.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Rhoda

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

Barb Katsaros

barbkatsaros@...

__________________________________________________

August 11, 2006

I didn't even notice the color spelling as I belong to several groups with any

international members but most of them are for albinism and nystagmus. LOL

I am not sure about the video thing just because if you mix up the video with

the color that he should have been in it may confuse him and he may be thinking

that the video is actually yellow not the color. Does this make sense?

Two of my children are visually impaired and honestly teaching the concept of

color to them has been a real challenge even though their impairment didn't

affect seeing colors. Zack who has an IQ of 131 really struggled with color's

until he was about 5 my other two children told me all their color's when they

were 3. None of my children talked before the age of 3 and two of them spoke in

complete sentences from their first words. May color which seems like a strait

forward concept is something that may take a bit more for your son. Have you

worked on shapes? Zack learned his shapes first and then we colored the circles

red and the triangles yellow. giving him a hands on approach.

also loves the trampoline and so I will get in with her and the balls

and ask her what color ball I have and if she signs the correct color then we

bounce together. She has to get it right or I do not bounce. Once she was

bathing and I asked her what color ball I had and when she signed yellow I

tossed a bunch of yellow balls over the shower curtain. I then tossed in one

red ball and asked her to hand me the red ball and she did. learns more

if she can move around while she is learning things. She needs to see things,

feel things and experience things.

Sheri

Rhoda Boyd <rboyd@...> wrote:

That's a great story about your brother. It made me laugh! My son

really likes videos (surprise, surprise) so I actually thought of painting some

of his favorites different colours and letting him watch one if he got it right

(i.e. " give me the yellow video " ). Then I had visions of paint chipping off and

going all over the place and jamming up the VCR -- I'm not the craftiest person

around so I wouldn't know which paint (if any) would be suitable for this -- so

I sort of gave up on the idea. But now that you told me about the balls, maybe I

can revive the idea but use those old video covers (the clear plastic ones) and

paste construction paper on the insides so it is just all one colour and I can

put one of his favorite videos inside. I could make different covers using a

different colour for each and put the video in just one (i.e. Give me the yellow

video -- if he gives me the red cover, I'll open it and say " look, no video,

this is the red video, give me the

yellow video " . When he gets yellow he gets to watch.). Do you think that sounds

too complicated?