Teletherapy Tuesday 2

Tuesday we had the second session of distance therapy. The Facetine server was having issues, though, so it took 20 minutes to get connected, and it was old-school - no Facetime, no video, just speakerphone. I updated J. on all the signing Peter did this week. Peter vocalized in the background , "ooop, ooop!".  I told her Peter was so excited when I got out "his" iPad, and how he was looking for the video....alas, little guy didn't get to see J., and chances are, even with his hearing aids, he didn't really hear her, either :(

We went over the previous goals, and she had some great suggestions for eliciting more "MORE" or how to get Peter to stick his tongue out (ice cream ;))

J. was impressed that my mom had told me with my first baby to narrate everything, and that we were already doing that with Peter.  She asked if my mom was a speech therapist ;). My mom WAS a teacher, but also a smart, involved mom who raised two very verbal and literate children :D


Some other notes:

Listening

Wait time, waiting 7 seconds expectantly when you think he may spontaneously express a sign or gesture.

Cognition

Anticipating what will happen next... parent holds up bucket of Leggos and begins to dump it out, but waits and pauses expectantly at the top to see if Peter will request the action.  Encouraged Ellen to wait for him to request through gesture plus eye contact if he is not vocalizing. 

Language

Worked on sign for “more” with tinker toys.  Suggested for Mom to bring out box of tinker toys and ask if he wants to play with them, encouraging him to use the sign for “want.”  Then give him one tinker toy and wait to see if he will request more with the sign “more.” 

Speech

Peter stuck out his tongue to imitate his mom twice during the session today.  We talked about using ice cream to encourage this a bit more.  Also a hand held mirror to take turns can help clarifying turn taking.  Also, parent can work on puffing out cheeks, blowing, moving lips around, etc... to see if Peter will imitate those actions. 

Miscellaneous

We discussed the resource, Sound Foundation for Babies by Cochlear, a 40-week post-CI home program that suggests goals and activities for the domains of audition, receptive language, expressive language

The link for Sound Foundation for Babies is: http://hope.cochlearamericas.com/node/2256