Last year, I had attended a workshop by Down Syndrome Education International (www.downsed.org) and their model flash card struck a chord with me. So, I wanted the cards to be thick and covered with a sheet just like the ones I saw. I cut out thermocol sheets, pasted the pictures of the alphabets and covered it with glass paper.
Here is a photo of some of a flash cards that I made:
Apart from showing Vignesh the cards while spelling them out to him, I also get to give it to him to explore them. I put it in between his toys so he gets to play with them. The more he sees the cards, the more familiar the alphabets would become. Vignesh, usually tends to tear or crumple papers. Now, this is so thick and also covered with a sheet that he isn't able to damage it.
So, it was really worth having all the tiny thermocol and bits of glass papers flying everywhere . My husband even asked me why I can't go ahead to use one of the ready made flash cards that I had purchased. But, I tend to dislike things that are off-the-shelf. Plus, I had fun preparing them. I just felt like a first grade student again.
Everyday, I continue to show him the ABC zoo game on the fisher-price site. I show him the cards either before or after he sees the ABCs on the site, so that he would be able to understand what I'm doing. I try to imitate the alphabets and the words in the exact manner as it appears on the site . Apart from that, I try to bring the cards up whenever we play games.
Its has hardly been a week since I started introducing these cards to him. Will continue to show him the flash cards everyday. The day it starts to show results, I would definitely be sharing the story with you on the blog.
Here are the links to the peek-a-boo and ABC zoo games the fisher-price site:
Peek-a-boo - http://www.fisher-price.com/us/playtime/games/infantGames_B_BS.asp
ABC Zoo game - http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp (choose the option 'infant' to go through the sequence automatically).
Sumithra, the cards turned out GREAT!
ReplyDeleteWe played with the alphabet every day -- and we still sing about it too. Every day.
Gabe loves the Leap Frog DVD called "The Letter Factory". I highly recommend it.
Also, when Gabe was about Vignesh's age or so, we bought the Baby Einstein Alphabooks...
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Alphabooks/dp/0786819073
...and I velcroed each book, in alphabetical order, onto a white board which was attached to an area of our loft room where we were living. Anyway, I have to tell you that Gabriel LOVED this idea. He knew the alphabet order before his typical cousin did. She would put the little alphabooks back onto the whiteboard, in any order, and he would scoot up behind her (he didn't walk yet) to correct them.
I will search out some pictures and video of Gabriel placing the books to show you.
Once he had the alphabet down, I began showing him the sight words, and to my amazement, he memorized all of them.
Our children are like sponges, taking everything in -- just like any other child. I still get goosebumps when I think about Gabe knowing the alphabet before he could walk at two!
Hi Sumithra,
ReplyDeleteIt's me again! I posted a post on my blog for you and Vignesh!
http://mylifewithgabriel.blogspot.com/2009/11/alphabooks-for-sumithra-vignesh.html
Cheers,
Lianna :)
Hi Sumithra
ReplyDeleteI used your ABC Zoo link yesterday with Maia and she thought it was hilarious. Thanks so much for sharing, I hadn't seen that one before.
Sharon