How do I know this?
I may say "Ellie, get the blue cup" and she brings back the blue cup. Or, I hold up two objects and say "which one is yellow?" and she reaches for the yellow object. Better yet, Ellie can do gross attempts at signing orange, yellow, and blue.
How did Bear learn her colors?
Easy! It is so easy to incorporate teaching colors (and shapes--Ellie knows circle, square, triangle, star, heart, oval, diamond, rectangle, and pentagon [i know! pentagon]) throughout the day. It is never just "a flower", it is a "pink flower" or there are purple pajamas, a red ball, a yellow banana. Redundancy is the way to go. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat and believe me your child will absorb all of this information like a sponge. Sometimes I gather up a bunch of toys the same color and say "yellow, yellow, yellow" or whatever color we are working on for each toy. Finally, we occasionally use the Color Slaps app on the iPad/iPhone.
Sometimes, it is hard to figure out just what our kids with Down syndrome already know given their communication difficulties. Ellie's receptive (what she understands) communication is much further along than her expressive language (what she says/signs). For instance, Ellie cannot say the colors and her signs are gross approximations at best. So for all I know, she could also know white, black, and brown. Guess I will have to "test" her!
What is Ellie's favorite color?
I am thinking purple. After all, she always grabs the purple pajamas and the purple clothes from the dresser drawers.
Tell me what exciting things your kids are learning and share you brag in the comments section!
Way to go Ellie!!! Hailey grabbed my hands tonight to sign more. She also grabs my hands to show "so big" and to clap. I'm hoping she will eventually use her hands but I guess I am happy she "knows" how.
ReplyDeleteEllie is one SMART girl!! That is wonderful Anna. You are a good teacher.
ReplyDeleteBenji is now 20 months. Where does the time go?? He is taking steps now, but he is very cautious. He is not ready to walk without help yet. He says, "I lu lu" for "I love you." This just melts us all. He gives us this grin that is hilarious when he is trying to be cute. He loves to say "hi" and "bye bye". He is learning some signs. We are working on more. He likes to make up his own signs too when he doesn't know what to say. Okay, I guess that is enough for now. How fun to actually be told to brag, ha.
Thats so awesome!! Way to go Ellie!! Avery has been doing soooo well in school..She met alot of her goals before Christmas that we thought would take her all year to do..She can write her name so good now and reconize it..We are working on writing her last name now...but lately she has become so defiant that i dont know what is going on...even got a call from her teachers that she is doing it at school too.
ReplyDeleteYay Ellie!! What a clever cookie :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE hearing about all of the wonderful things your kids are doing. Isn't it just amazing how capable and determined our kids are? Brag away!
ReplyDeleteYes, my daughter is doing well also. She has learned to be a mother and a teacher and to be patient and rejoice in the little/big accomplishments of her child:-)
ReplyDeleteLandon (he is 16 months old) recently learned how to say his own name, and will identify quite a few family members when we touch them and say "Who is this?" He also will help clean now-- his favorite thing to do to help is to make trips to the trash can and throw things away! (Although, sometimes I have to go behind and pull things like socks or shoes out of there)
ReplyDeleteWay to go for Ellie!