Putting Therapy Into Practice

With spring break quickly approaching, talk to your child about: What you will do, where you will go, when you will go, and who you will see. After spring break, talk to your child about: What you did, where you went, when you went, and who you saw.

Monthly Activity

Rainsticks

You will need the following items:

• a long cardboard tube (from wrapping paper or paper towels)
• cardstock
• 1-2 cups of dried beans
• packing tape
• markers and/or crayons
• sticks or toothpicks (recommended only for older children)

Cut enough cardstock to cover both ends of the tube.  Use the packing tape to attach the cardstock to the end of the tube. Have your child put a few handfuls of the dried beans into the tube.  Test the sound by putting your hand over one end of the tube, and ask your child if it sounds good or if they would like to add more beans, or take some out! Use the packing tape to attach the cardstock to the other end of the tube.  Allow your child to decorate the tube using the markers and/or crayons.  When the decorating is complete, encourage your child to experiment with the rain stick. Talk about:

• what it sounds like (e.g. rain, waterfall, water fountain) 
• compare and contrast the ways you can change the sound
  • movement: slow/fast
    
  • sound: quiet/loud
    
  • action: shaking/tapping

Melissa’s Recommended Game

Feed the Woozle is a fun and cooperative turn-taking game that addresses a variety of language and social skills, including requesting, commenting, describing and turn-taking. This game is great for playdates. It is fun way for kids to work together and cooperate.

Playing the game: When it is your turn, you can ask your child for the game pieces using requests in the form of short phrases (need it; need a spoon),  short sentences (I need it), longer sentence (I need the spoon; I need the dice) or question form (Can I have the spoon, please?, etc.) based on your child’s current language level.  When it is your child’s turn, encourage him or her to do the same.  You can also model a variety of comments while playing, related to the silly snacks that the woozle eats and the different movements you see (on the dice) and do while walking toward the woozle.   Turn-taking is also easily targeted with this game.  You can work on both taking/waiting turns and using turn-taking language. To have your child talk about whose turn is next, ask him or her questions like: Who does it now?; Whose turn is it?; Who goes? to elicit turn-taking language such as: I do/you do,  my turn/your turn,  me/you, depending on your child’s language level.

Use of descriptive language can be a part of this game as well.  The silly snack pictures include descriptive words including hairy, stinky and more.  You and your child can take turns to describe what these words mean and how the food would taste to you.  On a last note, the physical movement that is part of each turn is a great way for children to take movement breaks and work on motor planning throughout the game.

Upcoming Events for Families

• April 4th: 1:00-9:00 PM Southwest Waterfront Festival and Fireworks
• April 11th: National Cherry Blossom Festival
• April 15th: 10:00 AM Story Time in the ReSource Room at the National Archives
• April 17th-19th: Bethesda Literary Festival
• April 26th: 6:00-8:00 PM Autism Awareness Event Film “Sounding the Alarm” in Arlington

Ongoing Events

• AMC Theatres offer sensory friendly films once a month: find out more information
• Meet a Farm Animal at the National Zoo every Saturday and Sunday at 11:00
• Special Needs Night at Flight Trampoline Park on the first and third Tuesday of every  month from 5:00-7:00