It has been fantastic watching Rosie’s progress so far this year. She has progressed particularly well in the area of communication. A highlight for us was hearing a very clear ‘me’ from her when she was asking for a turn on the interactive whiteboard.
She has also said a number of other new words and is much more consistent at using them in the correct context. ‘Bubbles’ and ‘pop’ are now used approapriately. She has also become to say some words appropriate on infrequent occasions such as ‘chocolate’. Rosie is beginning to sign ‘more’ frequently and with less prompting. On some occasions she will sign ‘more’ and ‘please’ together. She continues to use her super-talker communication aid at circle times to share her news. She is able to choose a desired object from four photos and will look inside her Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) book to get the correct photo.
Rosie is developing her independence and is now able to play appropriately by herself or beside other children for up to twenty minutes. She particularly enjoys choosing activities which involve music, for example; playing songs on the interactive whiteboard, playing guitar or piano, and dancing.
Rosie has taken a liking to cutting and pasting tasks this term. She is keen to learn to cut paper independently. At present she holds the scissors with two hands and makes two or three cuts in a row while an adult is holding the paper. We have been working towards Rosie being able to use scissors with one hand which she is able to do for brief periods. Rosie usually uses adapted scissors but also has similar success with regular scissors. It is fantastic to see Rosie concentrating so hard on these tasks which she finds challenging.
Rosie’s ability to focus on structured activities has also improved greatly. Although she requires constant verbal prompting she now participates willingly in most class activities. Previously Rosie needed to be holding onto an interesting item or distracted in some way in order to encourage her to stay with the group. She is now able to focus on most activities without needing a distraction and is therefore becoming more involved in the learning.
Rosie seems to have a clearer understanding of school routines. Her morning routine of hanging up her bag, collecting cutlery and plates from the kitchen using her trolley, going up and down the stairs and going to the toilet have remained the same since she joined Room Three. Rosie is becoming increasingly independent with this routine and will now go to the trolley with only verbal prompting, will purposefully push it to the stairs and walk independently to the top of the stairs. When give items to put on the trolley Rosie will open the drawers and put them in. Although she often finds extra activities to do on the way, Rosie is becoming more focused and can follow through two of the steps at a time with only standby assistance.
Rosie has plenty of opportunities to ride the bike at school and in the local community. She can pedal independently and will keep the bike going in a straight line for up to six metres. Rosie is also learning to walk safely beside an adult to the supermarket with her bungy. She is doing extremely well with this and no longer pulls down on the adult she is walking with and concentrates more on the task. Rosie usually takes a handbag with her, which seems to help her focus and gives her an object cue so she knows where she is heading to. With regular repetition she is doing well with learning the routine of shopping and she is able to go directly to the trolley on entering the supermarket with just a verbal prompt. She will find objects in the supermarket, for example she buys the milk for the school once a week and will find the chiller and independently place the milk in the trolley with a verbal prompt to pick the correct milk. Rosie enjoys going to the supermarket as she is able to sue the self-service counter and scan the item before putting them in the shopping bag. She does an excellent jop of placing coins in the slot to pay. Good job Rosie!
Rosie seems to have really matured over the last few months. She is such an enthusiastic student who gets on well with adults and her classmates.
What a stunning first half of the year Rosie has had! We look forward to continuing to assist her in meeting her IEP goals and broadening her experiences as the year progresses.
