Acquara Independent School

Avery had Head Start today which included the dietitian coming to our house. At first I thought it was going to be really lame because it was like she pushed play and did her “show” and started by telling me what 1 cup was. But then she got all three kids involved and started them making there own snacks. They first squeezed orange slices in a plastic bag and stuck a straw in for orange juice. Then she had them shred carrots and mix shreds with cream cheese and put on a slice of zucchini, then she had them pound on rice cereal in a plastic bag and crunch it up and then put banana slices in it and shake it for “banana cookies.” They had fun and Naim and Avery ate everything. Aaron skipped the zucchini and made his usual complaints. She told me to ration Aaron’s snacks in small cups or bags instead of giving him access to all the stuff in the kitchen. Good idea, but easier said than done. First of all, there is not a place in the kitchen that he can’t get to. There is no “up high.” I’d need to get a safe. Second, if I do that for him I have to do cups for all the kids, which is fine, but then I have to make sure Aaron doesn’t steal the other kids’ cups. But I will try it.She also talked about getting kids involved and serving themselves “family style” etc. It wasn’t new info, but fun for kids to try new snacks and I got free measuring cups, cheese grater and leftover food.

Then Naim went to work at D’s even though D tried to get out of it but I wouldn’t let him. I guess that went OK. He said he cleaned off the kitchen counters, folded and put away laundry, cleaned up all the toys and “toy table” and vacuumed with the little vacuum cleaner. I guess it is OK for a first day. D is way underestimating Naim’s abilities and way overestimating the amount of instruction he needs. He does have a learning curve, but he learns after 2 or 3 attempts and is fine after that. It is even easier at D’s house because he can reach almost everything. I guess he earned his $5.

While he was there, Avery and I went to speech. She had him putting pictures of items in pockets and then finding a matching pictures. He did it under duress. She tried to get him to do beginning sounds with each picture but that was a no-go. We talked about auditory processing stuff and she wants to talk to Jean about what hearing/auditory tests he’s been given. She was not terribly impressed with their hearing assessment. I know he can hear, but if it turns out he is hearing impaired, I will be pissed off at EI (what’s new?) But my gut says it is more about auditory processing than hearing per se.

Read three Magic School Bus books to kids. Two on astronomy and one on geology. Took Sully to the vacant lot and worked with him and Naim and some play-time. That’s it.

Filed under: ADLs, Communication, Early Intervention, Health and Medical, Language Arts, Physical Education, Science | Tagged: Head Start, Speech |