Struggling with Reading

In most academic areas, Pumpkin does extremely well. However, learning to read has been one those areas where Pumpkin really struggles. Pumpkin has consistently scored at least 4 months or more behind her peers in reading during her kindergarten year.

During my last course in graduate school, I had the opportunity to take a course about reading and how children with autism really struggle to learn how to read. Based upon my research, it is often recommended that reading instruction for children with autism needs to be based upon repetitive systematic instruction and visual supports should be frequently used. Visual supports help a child with autism to attend better to what is being read or taught.

I also found that it is recommended that reading instruction should be as engaging and as fun as possible. All of this will significantly increase the potential for a child with autism to learn how to read.

Since Pumpkin has been in public school this year, I did not really have the time to work with her on her reading skills the way I wanted to. When I received the reports telling me how behind Pumpkin was in reading, I knew I had to do something. In the past when we homeschooled, I had tried a variety of online learning to read programs with Pumpkin. Only one of those programs seemed to help her to make true progress in her ability to read. So, I signed Pumpkin back up for this program because it was easy to fit into our busy schedule. The online reading program is called, "Reading Eggs."

Based upon what I learned from my reading course, I quickly noticed that Reading Eggs followed the recommendations set forth from the research I had done. The lessons are somewhat repetitive. Although, not so much that the child quickly becomes bored.. But just enough so that the child has enough time to review it before taking a quiz to move onto another land. The child can take the lessons as many times as you need to for practice. Another thing is that the program is incredibly visual. Each lesson is fun and engaging and my daughter is immediately drawn into the fun characters that Reading Eggs has created.

What's great is that Reading Eggs can be used with children from age 3 to 13! There are a lot of areas a child can play in to learn all the skills they need in order to become successful readers.

(Click to see all the areas)

 

With Reading Eggs, Pumpkin can work on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, spelling and comprehension in a fun and engaging way. Reading Eggs also improves a child's computer mouse skills as well!

 

 

In addition to the main reading lessons, Reading Eggs has a variety of areas just for fun in the playroom and arcade. My daughters absolute favorite part of this area is her "house" and Reggie's Shop. Each child can dress up their own avatar and go shopping to decorate their house and dress their avatar. During each lesson the child earns reading eggs that they can use to buy things for their house or avatar or to play games in the arcade. I love that Reading Eggs has built in a type of reward for completing lessons.

 

The progress that Pumpkin is making with Reading Eggs is very impressive. When we started using the program in April, the beginning assessment on Reading Eggs told me Pumpkin's reading level was that of a 5 year, one month old. She is now at a 5 year, five month old. She has gained four months in just a little over a month (using one lesson each day for five days a week)! I cannot promise that your child will make the same amount of progress. However, Reading Eggs has worked really well for Pumpkin.

If you'd like to try Reading Eggs with your child, the company has generously offered my readers the opportunity to try out their program for a one month free trial that will expire June 17, 2013. To start your free trial, sign up for Reading Eggs by clicking the logo below.

 

Enter promo code: BGE36USA during sign up.

 

Also, be sure to check out their new math program called, "Math Seeds." It is just as cute and fun as the Reading Eggs program. Math Seeds is geared towards children aged 3 to 6 years old. They plan to add more soon so older children can also play. You can get a free trial for it as well on the Math Seeds website. Pumpkin loves this program just as much as Reading Eggs. :)

 

For those of you who try Reading Eggs, I hope it works just as well for you as it has worked for our family.

 

~ Elizabeth

 

Disclaimer: The company provided me with a free trial period in order to review their program. All opinions are mine and are not influenced in any way by the company.

 







Review: "Say and Do" Positve Pragmatic Game Board Fun Sheets

One of Pumpkin's biggest areas of struggles continues to be her social skills (also known as pragmatic language skills). When Pumpkin was last evaluated and approved for speech therapy services, it was found that Pumpkin's pragmatic language skills were moderately delayed. Out of all of the delays she has relating to speech and oral motor skills, pragmatics is the most delayed. As a result, I am constantly looking for materials that I can use to help her learn pragmatic language skills.

Pumpkin receives speech therapy twice a week for 30 minutes. One session is dedicated strictly to oral motor and feeding. While the other session is focused on pragmatics. 30 minutes a week in pragmatics isn't enough for her to really make significant progress. So, I have to do additional things at home with her.

 

One fun resource that I was able to try out recently was a book called, "'Say and Do' Positive Pragmatic Game Boards Fun Sheets" by Kim Gill and Joanne De Ninno. It is published by Super Duper Publications. While this book was created to be a companion book to the "'Say and Do' Positive Pragmatic Game Boards," I've found the book is an exceptional resource even without the game boards.

The book is 170 pages of reproducible activities that target a wide variety of pragmatic language skills. Such as:

Giving Information Persuasion Requesting Telephone Manners Problem Solving

Feelings Figurative Language Appropriate Interaction Greetings/Politeness Topic Maintenance

The activities range from  fill-ins, role-playing, puzzles, stories, tic tac toe, cut and paste and more. It is a very hands on and engaging activity book. Pumpkin didn't even think of it as "speech work." Which she normally dreads.. She just saw it as fun!

Here are some of Pumpkin's favorite activities:

Playing Make-A-Face Tic-Tac-Toe

 

Pumpkin learned about emotions in this game. She also had the chance to act out each emotion.

Getting Attention Tic-Tac-Toe

 

In this game she learned how to recognize polite and rude ways to get attention. This is something Pumpkin really struggles with.. She thought it was hilarious when I imitated how she frequently tries to get my attention (in a rude manner). She was able to recognize that it was not a polite way and we were able to discuss a more appropriate way for her to get my attention.

 

 Paste-a-Feeling Face

 

With this activity she learned more about feelings. The sheet had several different scenarios and she had to pick out how she would feel. For example: "You are alone and you hear a strange noise." She would paste scared next to it.

 



 

Pete and Randy

 

This was a cut and paste activity where she heard a short phrase and had to tell me if polite Pete said it or rude Randy. She had a lot of fun with this activity. I thought it was really cute too.

 

That is only a small snippet of the kinds of hands on activities in this book. This is hands down my favorite pragmatic language activity book that I've tried so far. This book covers such a wide range of social skills that you really don't need any other supplements. I can see us being able to use this book for a couple of years.  The great thing is that this book is reproducible. So we can do the activities as many times as we need to for review. Sometimes Pumpkin just wants to redo an activity just for fun too.. (Especially the tic-tac-toe games). :)  The games are a lot of fun to do!

If you are looking for some activities to do with your child that relate to social skills, I highly recommend this book. You can find this book at Super Duper Publications website here: 'Say and Do' Positive Pragmatic Game Boards Fun Sheets for $34.95.

Want to take a peek inside the book? You can see a sample here. Click Here.

~ Elizabeth

Disclaimer: The company provided me with the product for free for review purposes. However, the opinions in this review are solely mine and are not influenced by any company in any way.

New Summer Preschool Pack plus a FREE file folder game!

My newest Summer preschool pack is now available for download on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook! I am really proud of how this pack turned out. I think it's pretty cute!

 

 

This Summer preschool themed activity pack is 158 pages and is geared towards preschoolers and some kindergartners. This pack is full of hand's on activities for your child to do.

The activities include:

Math Activities:

Counting Mat (1-24)
Ten Frame Cards with Worksheet
Graphing Worksheet and Dice
Clothespin Counting Cards (1-15)
Math Worksheets (More, Less or Equal to?, Patterning, What's Different?, Counting 1-10).
Unifix Cube Measurement (2 Worksheets)
Number Tracing Mini book (1-10)
Missing Number File Folder Game
Counting File Folder Game (1-10)
Shape Matching File Folder Game
Size Sort (Large, Medium and Small)
Size Sequencing Cards
Patterning Cards
2 Counting Puzzles (1-10 and 11-20)

Literacy Activities:

3 Part Cards
Hand's On Alphabet Sequencing (What letter is missing?)
ABC Match Mat
Clothespin ABC Match Cards
Sight Word Memory Cards (Write your own sight words)
2 Clothespin Beginning Sounds Cards
Missing Letter File Folder Game
Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Match File Folder Game

 

 

Other Activities:

Mini Tracing Booklet (Patterns and Shape Tracing)
Mini Upper Case Alphabet Tracing Booklet
Scissor Practice Pages
Grid Game
2 Tracing Pages (Beach ball and Ice Cream)
10 - 4 piece puzzles
11 Do a Dot Pages
Dice Game

As you can see, there is a LOT in there. :) I try to vary difficulty levels so that you can use these activities for different age ranges.

 

Here is a closer peek:

 

This pack is currently available in both of my stores for $7.50. You can find it by clicking on these links:

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

  

In addition to my new preschool pack, I also have a FREE file folder game to share with you. It introduces the concept of counting money.

 



 

Want to download it? Head to either of my stores.

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

 

That's all for now.. In a few days I'll be sharing our new homeschooling room and play room. I can't wait for you to see what I've been up to. :) Have a wonderful day!

 

~ Elizabeth





Spring Kindergarten Pack

Just wanted to let you all know my newest Spring kindergarten pack is now available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook.

This Spring Kindergarten themed Activity pack is 162 pages and is geared towards kindergartners and some first graders. This pack is full of hand's on activities for your child to do.

The activities include:

Math Activities

Number Word Puzzles (2 levels of difficulty)
Addition and Subtraction Mats
Spring Math Worksheets (Patterning, More/Less Than or Equal to, Groups of Tens,, Addition, Subtraction, Graphing)
2 Roll, Count and Stamp Sheets
Counting Mat (1-20 and Addition/Subtraction Tiles)
Greater than/Less than or Equal to Mat
Spring Number Match File Folder Game (1-10 - Match by number word or tally marks)
Skip Counting by 5 - Fill in the missing number (Hands On)
Skip Counting by 10 - Fill in the missing number (Hands on)
Spring Addition File Folder Game
Spring Subtraction File Folder Game
Spring Patterning File Folder Game
Tally Mark Puzzles (1-10)
Hand's on Number Sequencing Activities (plus worksheets)

Literacy Activities

Where is the Bird? Prepositions File Folder Game
Color Word Puzzles (2 Levels of Difficulty)
Color by Color Word Worksheets
Sight Word Memory Cards (Write your own sight words)
Upper Case Letter Trace File Folder Activity
Lower Case Letter Trace File Folder Activity
2 Upper and Lower Case Match Mats
3 Part Cards - 14 Words
Spring Write the Room Cards
Spring Write the Room Tracing Pages
Spring Write the Room Blank Pages
Spring Clothespin Syllable Counting Cards
Spring Beginning Sounds Worksheet
Spring Ending Sounds Worksheet

Other Activities

3 Lacing Cards
Spring Scissor Practice Sheets
3 Sudoku Puzzles

As you can see, there is a LOT in there. :) I try to vary difficulty levels so that you can use these activities for different age ranges.
 

Here is a sneak peek:

 

If you are interested in purchasing this pack, you can visit my Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook stores here:

Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

 

*Please not that the charge on teachers pay teachers is slightly more due to their commission. But this is only slight. All proceeds made from this printables go towards paying for my daughters therapy.*

 

Graphics courtesy of: Spring Hill Graphics, Cherry Clipart and Trina Clark at DigiScrapKits.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~ Elizabeth



Planning ahead for this Summer...

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

I've been so unbelievably busy.. I'm sorry things have been so quiet around here. I am finishing up my last class in my M.Ed program and I'll be finished on Sunday.. (Yay!!) Pumpkin only has a few more weeks in kindergarten too. In addition to being busy with school, we're also getting ready for another move at the end of May. So, we've been busy looking for houses and packing.

I've also been planning our homeschool curriculum we'll be starting this summer. I am so excited to get back to using curriculum at home again. I miss it terribly. The thing about afterschooling is that it's hard! Especially with all of the therapy Pumpkin has after school. That's been a big struggle this year with this blog. We just do not have a lot of time for extra stuff at home. After school, she's only home for 4 and half hours before bed. We have to squeeze in one to two therapy sessions every day monday-friday. Plus cheerleading lessons on monday. Then we have to fit in dinner, homework, reading and baths. It's hard! I have no idea how afterschoolers fit it all in.. That is why this blog has been so quiet this year.. I'm sorry.

It'll get a lot more active this summer.. I promise!!! I have a ton of great ideas.

I recently took a trip to Ikea to buy some new furniture for our school room. It was an hour and a half drive, and my sister and I stayed there for 6 hours (no joke!). I am so excited to put it all together in our new home. Of course, I'll share it all when I put it together. :) I am officially in love with Ikea!

 

Several people have asked what curriculum we'll be using for 1st grade.. So, I thought I'd share what my plan is. Things might change slightly.. but not much.. Most of it has already been purchased. Not everything will be done every single day..

 

Our First Grade Curriculum

 

Language Arts:

 

MCP Plaid Phonics - Level A

MCP Comprehension Plus - Level A

First Language Lessons - Level 1

All About Spelling - Level 1

ABC Reading Eggs - For Fun 

 

We'll use a lot of leveled readers too..

 

Math:

 

Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A and 1B Textbooks

Singapore Primary Mathematics 1A and 1B Workbooks

Mathematical Reasoning B

Dreambox - For Fun

 

Science:

 

Mr. Q's FREE Life Science Curriculum 

 

I am going back and forth with this one... I think it looks like something Pumpkin would like.. I just wish I didn't have to go through a find what to print. Have any suggestions for a (somewhat cheap) science curriculum you enjoy with your first grader? We really love Nancy Larson Science.. but can't afford the next level of curriculum :(

 

History:

 

Story of the World Vol. 1 - Ancient Times Reader

Story of the World Vol. 1 - Ancient Times Activity Book

 

Geography:

 

Daily Geography - Grade 1

 

Handwriting:

 

Handwriting without Tears - Grade 1

Draw Write Now

Copywork 

 

We're also going to use:

Famous Figures of Ancient Times

Beyond123 MiniLuk Starter Pack

Visual Perceptual Skill Building, Book 2

 

I also want to find a really good Torah (biblical) study program.. 

 



So, that's my plan so far... Have any suggestions? I'd love to read them!

 

~ Elizabeth





Review: Say and Do® Early Social Scenes for School

One thing that Pumpkin really struggles with is social skills. The last time we had her tested by a speech pathologist, we found that her pragmatic language (social language skills) were moderately delayed. Pumpkin receives speech therapy twice a week and one session is completely devoted to improving her social skills. When she's not in therapy, I am always prompting and modeling to her appropriate social skills in various situations.

 

When Super Duper Publications approached me about reviewing their product called "Say and Do® Early Social Scenes for School,"I jumped at the chance. Pumpkin has been coming home daily telling me about situations in school where no one would play with her or that such and such does not like her. I've also found that when I walk her in the school every morning, every time someone greets her, she doesn't respond. I have to prompt her. She does this out in the community as well.  But I really wanted to help her while she was at school. Because making friends is very important to her. I felt that this book could help us a lot with that.

The book is written by Susan Rose Simms and it is for children in grades K through 2. This book introduces 60 amusing (but true-to-life), reproducible school social scenes that helps a child who struggles with appropriate social behavior, learn how to respond appropriately in different social situations. Each scene has a short caption that describes typical school situations. Five follow-up questions and three extension activities give students the opportunity to discuss and understand behavioral expectations at school. 

The book is 64 pages and retails for $15.95 on Super Duper Publications website.

To take a sneak peek inside the book, you can click here.

Since the book contains so many different social scenes (60 in total), I had no problem finding the social scenes we needed the most. Since the pages are reproducible, I make a copy of each scene so that we can use it again in the future if she needs it. 

The first social scene we worked on is titled, "May I play with you?" This was an important one for Pumpkin because lately she has been feeling like no one plays with her. Every day after school she tells me that and it makes her so sad. Before I got this book, I tried talking to her and encouraged her to ask someone to play with her. But it never really sunk in and she still came home upset that no one would play with her. 

For this sheet it shares a social scene where a little girl wants to play in the sandbox with a little boy. One little boy is rushing and taking the toys from the sandbox without asking. The little girl  wants to play with the sandbox too.. But she is shy and the P.E. teacher encourages her to ask the little boy in the sandbox "may I play with you?" 

After sharing the caption at the top of the sheet with the scenario, there are questions for her to answer. The questions are great because it really gets her thinking about what kinds of appropriate behaviors should be done in this situation. It also gives us the opportunity to talk about not only what the kinds in the scenario should do.. But also what she should do in those situations. We also talk about times she's felt like the girl in the scenario.

I also really like the extension activities after the questions. They incorporate skills such as following directions and understanding positional words. Such as place an X above the boy that is taking the sandbox toys without asking or draw a shovel and bucket next to the little girl. Pumpkin also gets to draw herself into each scene.

Once we finish all of the activities, I have her color the scene.

Pumpkin's coloring for this scene

 

Since I am not at school with her, I can't really say if she is generalizing this skill at school. However, she is coming home saying she asked someone to play with her. Which is progress! Before she would have told me she was too scared to when I told her to ask someone. So, I do think this social scene has helped!

Another social scene we used recently was "Say "Good Morning" to the Principal." I tweaked it a little bit and instead of saying principal, I said teacher. In the mornings it is usually teachers who greet her. Although she doesn't really respond to any adults greeting.

 

We read the caption at the top of the sheet, answered questions and did the extension activities. She then had the opportunity to color her sheet.

Pumpkin's coloring for this scene 

The thing that impressed me the most with these social scenes is that even though they are simple and quick, she was able to generalize what she had learned to school. While she isn't greeting everyone each morning, she's making an effort and she is getting a lot better. She is more mindful when others speak to her in the morning.

Overall, I am very impressed with this book. I would highly recommend it! Pumpkin also loves doing the activities. She doesn't mind at all when we sit down to do one. She's always very engaged when working on a social scene from this book. We will certainly continue to use this book.

I think this book is a wonderful tool for parents and therapists to use with their child if they are struggling with socially appropriate behaviors. Super Duper Publications has other books for different settings as well. You can find them here: Social Scenes for Home, School, and Community; (K-4) and Social Scenes for Daily Living (K-6). I look forward to trying the other books available! :)

For more information about this book, you can click here.

~ Elizabeth

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me for free for the purposes of conducting a review. I was not paid for any opinions on this page. All opinions are my own honest thoughts about this product and are not influenced in any way by the company or author.

My Spring preschool pack is now available (plus a freebie)!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know that my Spring Preschool Pack is now available on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. I thought I would share a little sneak peek with you today. Plus, there is a Spring freebie available in the store as well.

First, let me show you my new Spring Preschool Pack:

 

This Spring preschool themed activity pack is 151 pages.

It is geared towards preschoolers and some kindergarteners.

 

This pack is full of hand's on activities for your child to do.

The activities include:

Math Activities:

Spring Clothespin Counting Cards (1-15)
Spring Worksheets (What's different?, Greater than/less than or equal to?, Counting, Patterning, Addition, Subtraction, Ten Frames)
Butterfly Number File Folder Game (Counting 1-10)
Shape Matching File Folder Game
Size Sort Cards - Small, Medium or Large
Size Sequencing Cards
Counting Mat (1-24)
Spring Color, Count and Trace Mini-Book (Numbers 1-10)
Spring Graphing
Spring Measurement Activity using unifix cubes
Patterning Cards
2 - Number sequence puzzles (1-10 and 11-20)

Literacy Activities:

2 Sets of Sight Word Memory Cards (Write your own sight words)
3 Part Cards (11 Words)
Spring Color Match File Folder Game (3 Levels of Difficulty)
Alphabet Sequencing Hands on Activity (What letter is missing?)
Spring Alphabet Upper and Lower Clothespin Match
Spring Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Match Mat
Color Word Recognition Worksheet
Spring Alphabet Match File Folder Game
2 Spring Beginning Sounds Clothespin Activity

Other Activities:

Pre-Writing Tracing Mini Book (12 Patterns for Tracing)
3 Tracing Pages (Butterfly, Ladybug and Flower)
Upper Case Alphabet Tracing Mini Book
Scissor Practice
Grid Game
10 - 4 Piece Puzzles
7 Do a Dot Pages
Dice Game

As you can see, there is a LOT in there. :)

 I try to vary difficulty levels so that you can use these activities for different age ranges.

 

Here is a closer look at the activities:

Right now this pack can be purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. Please not the on TPT, I charge slightly more due to the commission they take on my sales.

*All proceeds from these sales helps me to continue to purchase things for my daughters therapy. So, your support is greatly appreciated!!*

I am working on  a Spring Kindergarten Pack and hope to have it out this week. So stay tuned!

Now, for the freebie.. I have a Spring - What Am I? game I am sharing in both of my stores. It is perfect for working on speech skills.. and it's fun!

This is a simple game called "What Am I?" It is spring themed. There are 10 spring object cards to choose from. Each player picks a card and they have to give hints to the other player so that they can figure out what they are without the other player seeing the card. The goal of this activity is to have the child thinking about ways to describe an object.

You can download this game for free on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook.

I hope you like this new pack and the freebie! I had so much fun creating them!

Thanks for stopping by!!

~ Elizabeth