Santino was cooperative when directed to sit on a mat and afforded some proprioceptive stimulation with a massager on his arms and legs. Santino is very responsive to tactile stimuli, and his facial expression clearly showed how much he enjoyed the stimulation. This awoke his senses and Santino next worked on many activities, beginning with Discovery Putty, in which he kneads a wad of colored putty to discover and remove different objects inside and put them into a basket upon request. Next, Santino sat on a spinner, called a ‘Spooner,’ which affords him vestibular input and stimulation to enable him to sense changes in position, direction, and speed and helps improve muscle tone, righting reactions, postural security, eye movements, and overall alertness. Santino also worked on identifying Dolce sight words and was afforded opportunities to build skills toward mastery while remaining engaged and on task. He was prompted to complete worksheets emphasizing beginning sounds and matching numbers to their corresponding (number) word and did well on this activity. Santino was also tasked with using a marker with which to trace numbers and to subsequently connect them in a straight line - a precursor to learning how to write. Santino was afforded some prompting techniques to help him coordinate the movements necessary to complete the task, but he was able to do so largely independently after being afforded practice. Santino was encouraged to use signs to communicate when he wanted 'MORE' of an activity or when he was 'ALL DONE' with a task. This will continue to be reinforced by all tutors working with him in order to reinforce and consolidate emergent gains. Santino was given a weighted vest to wear for a few minutes and seemed to enjoy the feeling of security this afforded him. We will make it available for his use in future sessions. We finished the session viewing some of his favorite apps while seated at the table. Santino indicated he wished to eat his yogurt and I assisted him in hand-over-hand feeding. He finished two yogurts and enjoyed the remaining few minutes watching his favorite videos and occasionally chiming along to the alphabet song, which focuses on sounds the different letters make and identifies words starting with those letters. It was a productive session.

Jack enjoyed listening to the story, 'Put Me In The Zoo' and often completed the rhymes in the text. When asked what his favorite animal in the zoo is, he responded that he liked all of them. He drew a picture of a few animals and dictated text to go with the pictures. We reviewed a short poem, identifying which pictures had the short a sound and reading short a words and circling the picture it named. We also worked on the short i sound. Jack was able to solve a riddle that used a lot of short i words. He printed an i under the pictures that contained the short i sound. We will practice the short i sound more the next session. Jack enjoyed following directions that utilized positional words using a dog and a toy lego train. He practiced writing the numbers 1 and 2. We also practiced and added to his sight word box. Jack really likes working in the "Math Seeds' program. Today he worked on shapes, connect-the-dot counting, identifying two sets that have the same number of objects and completing a pattern.

Jack enjoyed listening to the story, 'The Best Nest'. We discussed sequence of events, cause and effect and characters' feelings. Jack did well drawing a house he would like to live in and dictating a description of the house. We worked on following oral directions and positional words. Jack made a building with small blocks and then was able, with encouragement, to put objects in different positions to the building (1.e. - above, below, on next to, etc.). We worked on correct pencil grip and writing the letter f and the numbers 1 and 2. When he takes his time, Jack does well reading consonant, short a, consonant words. We will spend some time on the other short vowels to increase accuracy. Jack has a sight word box that we will keep all sight words in that he can read with 90% accuracy. He took a placement test for 'Math Seeds', an online supplemental math program. He was engaged and enjoyed working on the "Seeds' program. We took a short break and played Jack's version of chess.

Since Santino learns a lot about objects and their properties through observation and manipulation, we put different objects in the pool to observe their buoyancy and see how they'd react. The objects included a sponge, a cork, plastic cups, a water bottle, badminton birdies, a ball, and some plastic toys. Santino particularly enjoyed squeezing the sponge and watching the water stream through his hands. He also positioned the sponge at various points on the slide and watch the effect of his actions. I verbally identified each of the objects as he manipulated them, and Santino occasionally repeated the word after me. He was reinforced verbally and with high fives whenever he did so. Initially, Santino did not want to leave the splash pool, but as I wrapped him in a towel, he was responsive to directives and we proceeded indoors. I changed him into dry clothes and Santino finished his bottle of fruit juice, but he did not opt to eat. Instead, we finger painted using water colors and Santino traced his name using a paint brush and paint, when provided with physical prompts to assist him and verbal prompts to redirect his attention when and if necessary. We then used a variety of musical instruments to produce different sounds and rhythms. I finished the session by reading him a short story, and Santino appeared relaxed and content for the few minutes until Ingrid arrived.

Santino was very comfortable in the room and did not wish to watch or participate in the graduation ceremony today, which took place in the library. I offered him Fruit Loops cereal, which he opened entirely on his own and finger fed himself. He was happy to skip around the room to music and remained engaged with a few sensory objects and activities, which he examined and manipulated. He left with Ingrid in good spirits after we helped him put on his shoes and socks, which he customarily takes off upon entering the classroom.

Santino immediately got comfortable in the classroom and took off his shoes and socks. I left out some food options and his bottle and fruit juice but he initially did not indicate or gesture that he wanted anything to eat or drink. We planned out the sessions' activities using the visual communication board and began by first feeding the fish in the classroom. Santino was encouraged to repeat the word, or an approximation to the word, and he did so once when prompted repetitively. To reinforce the word fish with its letter sound and classification, we next worked on the alphabet puzzle and the alphabet song, activities which help connect letters to their corresponding sounds and then identified words beginning with those letters. I observed Santino mouthing the sounds of some of the letters along with the video we also used. Next, we worked on 2-sided puzzle assembly, matching objects with their corresponding associations (e.g., fish/bowl; dishes/silverware; pencils/sharpener). Many of these associations and combinations were able to be reinforced using actual objects in the classroom. This activity was followed by touching and tracing letters, using kinesthetic tactile alphabet cards (cards with molded grooves), to help Santino feel, process, integrate, and internalize each letter. Santino was afforded verbal and physical prompting methods during this activity to maximize his attention to the task at hand and consolidate gains. We then moved onto an activity tasking Santino with pulling a thread through different shapes, which helps facilitate his fine motor and bi-manual coordination skills and encourages shape recognition. Santino initially showed interest in this activity but physical prompts were needed to encourage completed execution of the task. Santino was given a lot of verbal praise for following directions and sustaining attention to the tasks at hand. When I gave Santino a container of Fruit Loops cereal, he began peeling off the top of the container; this was a new skill Santino’s mother mentioned to me that he has recently acquired. I assisted him just a little bit to get the peel open after his initial efforts to do so, but he completed the task of opening it and finished eating the cereal rather voraciously. We concluded our session listening, singing, and clapping along with different rhymes and songs. Santino seemed to favor the songs, "Old McDonald," "Head and Shoulders," and "If you’re Happy and you Know it." He repeated a few phrases, as he has done this past week, and clearly enjoyed mimicry and the repetition of the songs and their refrains. We were about to engage in some water play, using a tray filled with sudsy water, when the session ended and Santino's next tutor arrived. She mentioned that she would continue the activity as Santino enjoys it and remains engaged and motivated when involved. I am very pleased with Santino's level of comfort at the school and the gains he has been making over the year.

Jack needed encouragement to participate in a pattern completion activity. He enjoyed using the abacus to add different colored beads together. We worked on counting, especially the transitions to 20, 30, 40, etc.After a short time on the playground, we worked on sight words and blending CVC words on the white board. Jack was very pleased to be reading sentences. He completed a cut and paste activity in which he read a list of words, selected the word that matched the picture, put the letters in the correct sequence to spell the word and then traced the word. We ended the hour by reading a portion of the book, 'Miles and Miles of Reptiles'.

Santino started out a bit tired, returning to school after a busy three-day Memorial Day weekend, but as soon as he entered the classroom and I showed him a new sensory bag, he perked up and grew animated and vocal. We discussed that this new bag focused on the letter "t" and identified objects that started with the letter t. Santino was encouraged to squeeze the bag and watch as objects rose to the surface and appeared in the window. The objects included the number two, the letter t, a tennis racket, a turtle, a turkey, and a tiger. I encouraged Santino to repeat the words after me, affording him verbal prompts and reinforcing some of the objects by pairing them with actual plastic toy items that he could feel and examine more closely. Santino repeated one or two of the items after repetition; he does so more frequently when they are spoken in a singsong voice. I reinforced any acquired gains by reading him 3 short stories ("Fish is Fish, At the Beach, and "Sea Squares), as these books included a few of the items in their stories. Santino then helped me feed the fish that was in the classroom and water some of the plants that were there. I afforded him physical assistance to guide his actions and help him execute some of the fine-motor responses required. We concluded the session by skipping, singing, and clapping to music, and Santino giggled and repeated some of the words and phrases after me. He seemed very responsive and jovial throughout our time together.

Jack did very well rhyming today. He was able to find the picture that rhymed with the picture on the left. We worked on following directions and shapes with a hidden picture activity. Jack needed to follow the directions and color the shapes the color he was told to reveal the hidden picture of a truck. He enjoyed and did well on a completing the pattern activity. We worked on proper pencil grip and writing the numbers 1 and 2. More practice is needed. While we were outside, we each rolled big, foam dice and then counted how many dots there were altogether as a way to illustrate the concept of adding. I used the whiteboard to write different consonants, short a, and consonant combinations. Jack needs to be reminded to pay attention to all the sounds in the word. He read four CVC words, circled the one that names the picture, glued the letters that spelled the word and then traced the letters that spelled the word.

Santino worked on some skill-building activities at the desk in the classroom. We worked together to reproduce shapes using blocks and then traced the shapes onto paper using jumbo crayons and chalk. Santino allowed me to guide him in completing this task as I identified the shapes and guided his hands to execute the coordinated movements necessary to reproduce them. We then worked with the wooden alphabet puzzle and I identified words beginning with the letter and encouraged Santino to repeat them or approximate verbal repetition of the word. Next, we played musical apps to encourage mimicry and elicit speech. Santino has a few favorites and clearly enjoyed navigating the site and repeating some key words and phrases. I encouraged Santino to model along with the "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" video, and he giggled with delight as I helped him act it out, standing behind him as the song played and we sang along. We also imitated the sounds letters make as we sang and clapped along to an alphabet song; Santino is responsive to music and auditory, visual and tactile stimuli, so these activities and apps help engage his attention and facilitate language development. Santino indicated he wished to drink and brought me his bottle. I poured his juice and told him I had a surprise for him. He asked "what?" and I gave him the soft squeeze educational tactile toy that he enjoys manipulating in response. He squeezed the toy and closely examined the objects that appeared in the window as we identified them verbally. Santino remained engaged in this activity until our session was over and it was dismissal time. He left in excellent spirits.