The discussion of safety comes up often in children with CAS. One concern is if you get separated from your child at an event or otherwise, he/she won’t be able to communicate their name or other useful information. It’s a scary thought and no one wants to think of this scenario. Apraxia-kids has come up with a genius solution with temporary tattoos. Check them out on their website and give yourself some peace of mind during your next outing.
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Here is part two of Christmas ideas for Henry. These are focused more on sensory and fine motor learning.
Gigglator… sounds fun and I’ve never heard of this toy. Kids can record their voices or select any of the 12 prerecorded sound effects. Then they simply roll, slide or shake to change its pitch and make hilarious sounds. I think it will be a great motivator for sound production during home speech therapy
Screw Block… this is a compact alternative to getting Henry a whole tool bench with accessories. This seems like a good compromise. ’Simple, effective manipulative refines hand eye coordination, fine motor and color matching skills’
Touch and Match Board.. a new kind of matching board, this one is by touch.. .rough, smooth, squishy. Great for tactile and sensory needs…
Below, CooCoo. Don’t let CooCoo drop the ball. CooCoo wil help your child to get a sense of gravity along with a sense of observation. It also develops hand eye coordination and dexterity
Snakey Skill Building. I was looking for a doll or toy that helped Henry with some of his adaptive skills like dressing.. snapping, zipping etc. He’s so interested right now but having some difficulties. There are a lot of dolls out there with mixed reviews, and most don’t include a lace up feature. This one does. And I like how you have to make the connections to put the snake together. I think it makes it more interesting for him.
Egg and Spoon Race… Silly and fun. Really probably meant for parties, but I think this will be good indoor fun this winter. Plus it will work on balance and hand eye coordination. Simply balance your egg on the spoon and race to the finish line without dropping it. Be careful – if you drop your egg, it will crack!
Dado Bricks. Henry loves big cardboard blocks they have at his preschool. I liked these because it takes them one step further because they lock together. I think I may order two sets… we can build forts!
interlocking stars pretty self explanatory..I like how they snap together
textured tangle.. this could be fun in the car or just to keep Henry’s little hands busy. I like the different textures. It can be used as more of a puzzle as he gets older
Rapper snappers He loved these during his therapy at the Kaufman Clinic. They pop together and you can compact them or stretch them. They make fun sounds and you can link them together. Great for imaginative play.
snap bags I think Henry will really like the weight of these, he enjoys heavy things. Also the snapping part will be fun for him. He can make different shapes or chains/snakes. And we can use it for color/number learning and even as bean bags for our bean bag toss.
Button Art This will be great for color matching and again he loves pushing things out and hearing that satisfying “snap”! Should be fun
Halloween is barely over and I’m already thinking about Christmas! Christmas is my favorite time of year and I’m dreaming about the crafts and ornaments I’ll make, baking, decorating… and of course the shopping! I love shopping for Henry and I spend a lot of time trying to find toys that will spark his imagination and aid in his development and growth. I’m anti-electronics for the most part and I prefer classic toys. With winter coming and us already having one snowfall under our belt, I’m also thinking about indoor activities that will keep him engaged and active. I’m worried he will be bouncing off the walls!
So far, I’ve come up with a few ideas that will be great for vestibular and proprioceptive input, motor skills and just plain old physical activity. I’ll add to this list as the weeks pass. I hoping I can wait until Christmas to give these to Henry… I’m getting bored with his toys myself!
First there is the Bilibo, I remember seeing this when Henry was just a baby and couldn’t figure out what all the hype was about when really it’s just a piece of molded plastic. I look at things a lot differently now and I can see Henry really liking this one. To sit in, rock in, spin in …and probably to put on his head :)
Next comes the classic sit ‘n’ spin. You remember those from when you were little right? Well, after doing some research the new ones are getting horrible reviews. I found this brand instead, which fared better in durability and customer reviews. It’s called the Spin Around
These cones are simple enough, and would be great for obstacle courses and other games we can do indoor or out:
I love the idea of the Bop Bag…essentially an inflatable alligator punching bag. He can get out some energy and get proprioceptive input at the same time. Maybe now my sofa cushions won’t take such a beating
These may be ambitious for Henry right now but I love the concept of these monster feet…they are wider and lower to the ground than the cup walkers so they just might work. Also great for pretend play…Henry has his monster growl down pat!
The classic bean bag toss…this one is collapsible which is a huge bonus in small living spaces. These are great for motor skills, hand eye coordination, and depending on what types of bean bags you get, you have the option for all kinds of learning opportunites. I like the alphabet and the number bean bags
I also found an awesome cd to go with the bean bags… working on motor skills through activities, games and dance
Here is one Henry might not love at first… it will challenge his vestibular system and that feeling he hates of being off balance. We will take it in baby steps. It’s the Alex Monkey Balance Board:
This exercise disc could be a good way to work up to a balance board, and he loves stepping and sitting on the one his therapist has. Also great for building his core strength since that his where he has low tone.
Another collapsible toy, which I love, is the 3 in 1 Sports Arcade. I think we will have a lot of fun with this this winter.
A scooter would be just plain fun
More posts to follow with gifts geared towards fine motor skills, sensory and cognitive skills. As previously posted, I have no affiliation from any products I suggest on this blog.
Like most parents with children with apraxia, there is “homework” to be done with your little one to help his/her speech along. My goal was to make it different from speech therapy and for it to be cleverly disguised as play. Henry likes flashcards luckily, but he lately I can tell he feels the cards are “work” and he’s less apt to stay tuned in for longer periods. So I’m always on the look out for fun toys…speech related or otherwise…that will provoke more sounds out of Henry. I will share these as I find them, but these are oldies but goodies. I think they are especially great with the younger set.
These microphones are great…they have no batteries and basically just provide a loud echo. You can find them anywhere from Walmart, to Old Navy all the way to higher priced stores. Don’t pay over $5 or you have paid too much. This one is from Lake Shore Learning.
This is a speech phone. It has a similar function to the above microphone, but is just another fun way for your little one to hear their own voice. Sometimes we are pretending to talk on the phone as above, or pretending we are rock stars “singing” in our microphones. It’s all about making it fun, and in Henry’s case he liked hearing his own voice so these were both good motivators for speech. These phones are widely available as well and inexpensive, I found this one on The Talking Child
Whistles are great tools as well. They work on oral motor skills, respiratory skills and plus they are just plain fun. The child gets a result for his/ her efforts and they enjoy the different sounds. I purchases a set similar to above… you can buy them separately too and find all kinds of whistles just about anywhere. Henry liked the train whistles because he was fascinated with trains at the time. Find what drives your little one and gear your toys towards his/her particular likes.
I found this set on The Talking Child
Carry the whistle fun over to bathtime! I love these from Alex toys. You can great different depths of sound depending on how much water you put in the tube. They even come with sheet music! You just have to be careful to drain these and keep them super clean. I found these on Amazon.com, they are called Alex tub tunes water flutes
We noticed early on that Henry loved to look at himself in the mirror…most kids do. Mirrors are a great tool to help kids see how they are moving their lips and tongues during speech practice. They may also be more likely to watch your mouth and face during speech if they are looking at you in a fun mirror. While any mirror will do of course, we used a mirror we had from when Henry was a baby, similar to this one from Sassy. I liked it because I could make it stand on any surface where we were working and we could take it with us. We still use his bathroom and bedroom mirror for these kind of exercises, but there are so many fun ones out there that you could use it for motivation as well. Some light up and play music for instance. After your child makes an attempt at a sound or word you can make the mirror light up or play music!
As mentioned in a previous post, Occupational therapy has played a huge role in Henry’s improvements. A friend mentioned how an at home trampoline really helped bring out her son’s speech. Of course I ran out an bought one and was amazed at the results our EI OT had working with Henry on a trampoline. We later learned also that Henry seeks out and needs a lot of proprioceptive input and trampolines are great for that. I found this one from Pure Fun on Amazon. I did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews before settling on this one. I liked the higher weight limit so I could get on with Henry sometimes and it could be used by the whole family. It also was rated well for safety and durability.
Please know that when I make product suggestions, there is nothing “in it for me” so to speak. I have no affiliation with the companies that make these products and I’m not officially endorsing them. They are just things I use at home that I thought would be useful to others. Enjoy!
Today was Henry’s first day of a Parent/Toddler gymnastics class I signed up for at the YMCA. It is for toddlers aged 18-36 months. He had taken this class at the beginning of the year, and my gosh, what a difference 6 months makes!
Last January when we started the class, I wasn’t sure we would even continue. He became so overstimulated and freaked out during the class that we would often last only 10-15 minutes before we had to leave. As classes progressed I tried to add a few minutes each time to the length of our stay. He improved in his tolerance of the class, but still wouldn’t stay through the end or enjoy the parachute group exercise the class closed with. It was also very hard not to notice how uncoordinated he was compared to the other kids…some who were younger. Since that time he has had months of occupational therapy and his gross motor skills and motor planning are like night and day. We have made huge strides and today was really a testament to that. He went through the obstacle course, tried all of the exercises, and lasted the entire length of the class! His balance was improved as well as his climbing ability, coordination and just overall confidence. I imagine him feeling more sure of himself allowed him to enjoy the class that much more. Now I can look forward to these classes rather then dreading them!
