Chris was seen virtually once more this morning. Today's session is the last day of attendance for the school year as mom had shared yesterday evening that Chris would be leaving for the Bahamas next week. Elise confirmed that this week was to be his last week of school. Communication with mom over the next weeks is anticipated regarding possible sessions over the summer months.
Chris initiated the session today with strong feelings of frustration and upset regarding a situation that had ensued with his sister this morning. Supports and strategies were shared and Chris was able to shift attention and engage with focus and interest in the tasks presented for the duration of the session. Focus continues to remain in the areas of conversational reciprocity, use of contingent comments and questions, use of cohesive ties and strategies for topic shifting, as well as
increased awarenesses of speaker listener roles. The context of rock music and classic rock bands continues to be a strong springboard for goal focus. Strong session today.
Richard was greeted in the lobby. SLP was notified there would be a conference with Richard's aunt and grandmother during session. Both Andrea Rosenberg and Willow Rossi were notified as well to receive feedback to provide to the family. We began the session recalling the milkshake activity he did with Ms. Andrea the last few sessions. This targeted executive function, social interaction, sequencing, and word recall. He was required to tell me simple step by step sequencing of the task. He demonstrated some difficulty, requiring assistance. This activity was clearly fun for him and boosted his confidence. Following that activity, we quickly discussed weekend events & went over the date/ day and time. Richard requested to do the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs book again which is great for vocabulary for the multiple exposures of new words. While discussing his imaginative world of what foods would fall from the sky "Richad's Sweet Sky" - we targeted /s/ in conversation, slower rate of speech, moving our mouth slowly/clearly to reduce the amount of mumbling, and projecting. Overall, Richard was very happy and compliant during today's session. It was limited to 45 minutes as I was In the conference discussing Richard's progress in ST. Speech, language, and pragmatic goals will be continued to be targeted in therapy. Goals were discussed with other SLP today.
Richard was hungry so our session turned into a problem solving activity to see what we could make in the kitchen. A fellow teacher helped us find available ingredients so we made a smoothie. We developed a plan, got organized with the ingredients and executed the smoothie making. Richard was excited and had a hard time keeping track of the steps. He loved the final product and was pleased with his accomplishment. We discussed the possibilities going forward with awesome language activities for cooking.
Christopher was frustrated that the kids were not receptive to his wig and rockstar outfit. We turned it into a fun discussion about what each kid thinks is a cool rockstar look. Christopher was so happy to have them expressing interest in his album and talent, that he thanked the friends for their constructive feedback. We then turned it into a fun activity about how working together as group means a rockstar needs to have someone in charge of wardrobe, taking care of himself/his voice, equipment manager, talent manager, and fellow musicians. It was a fun activity on understanding the dynamic of working together as a group.
Richard was excited to be at school and do some new things that we discussed for recess. Richard researched some new ideas of games to play outside. The discussion of what is "good" and "bad" about each game is a nice activity for Richard to use some problem solving and critical thinking skills while targeting compare/contrast and new vocabulary. He had the materials for 3 new games and we met the kids outside. His enthusiasm was not met by all but with one friend willing to try it, Richard was pleased. This was a wonderful confidence booster for him.
Richard loved the food theme of tacos last week so much that he asked to make another story using stickers of different food items. Using Melissa and Doug stickers, we created a story about what Pokemon characters eat and how they get their powers eating different foods. The activity was another creative, fun and positive outlet for Richard to target his speech sounds and language goals.
Christopher was in good spirits and excited to share his art work for the new album he is working on. He was feeling confident getting positive feedback from his peers at lunch. Then when they wanted to go outside, Christopher had a hard time getting out of his "rockstar" character to play a game at recess.
Richard was excited to share a taco he made with the OT right before our session. We then took the excitement and turned it into a fun language activity, making a taco menu and story to go with it. Pulling up the online version of Dragons Love Tacos, we used the taco theme to address new vocabulary, answer wh questions, and sequencing/story telling. When Richard is motivated by an activity, he puts in a strong effort, has good attention to task, and his communication skills are greatly improved.
Chris was seen virtually this morning. He arrived quite late for the session, and rapidly initiated conversation wanting to share the new CD player that he had with him and many of the Cd's that he now has. Familiar scaffolding strategies to support the allowance of reciprocity, use of cohesive ties, use of contingent comment and question indicating acknowledgment of partner's role within the exchange were highlighted and facilitative. Additionally, supports were provided to assist in navigating the social dynamics with peers that he is perceiving as extremely difficult.
