Craft ideas for children with Learning Disabilities!

[Dingle]

This morning at the Pre-school I work at, we talked about some of the children's needs/delays and I mentioned that I had mad idea about trying to run a craft club for children/ young adults with disabilities. This is set in my mind mainly due to the fact that my own DD(10) has Down Syndrome.
I fought for many years to get her statemented and in a supportive educational setting. (Which eventually meant removing her from Mainstream where it was apparent they weren't going to put themselves out!) During this time, my energies were exausted trying to be a teacher, therapist, carer etc rather than being a mum. I have come to a time where I would now like to be "just her mum" and share other mumsy things with her.
Talking to some of the other lovely MN crafters on another thread only this afternoon, I mentioned the fact that I may never be able to teach her to knit and it prompted my poor little brain to go into overdrive.
Please, have you any ideas of how I can get back my "mother/ daughter" relationship back and spend some quality crafty time together?

Im not sure the limitations your dd has, but she may be able to lean ti knit. I have done lots of work with adults with learning disabilities, many of whom could knit, cross stitch, carpet weave, use a sewing maching just to mention a few all at a very high standard. mostly these where skills they had previously learned as children and young adults and we made lots of home made sensory equiptment.

Our friends Son is Down too & I know he is actually pretty amazing with certain things, I think best described as things that involve repeat patterns & require patience & thought etc -

My DD who is G&T(hate that term) gets absolutely slaughtered every time they play noughts & crosses - he even developed a bigger more complicated version of the game & still beats her 9/10 times :) & the constructions he can come up with out of simple Jenga blocks are mind blowing

I don't know if this is the same for all Downs kids, but I do remember as a kid, my school friends Downs Sister was also good with things like that, so anything that involves intricate repeat patterns or building up shapes might be the way to go ??

Perhaps things like?.

pottery - using air dry clay & working on coil pots -its constructing & requires thought to shape the pots - laying coils slightly inside last ones to bring shape inward etc.

Paper mosaic - again can be just repeat patters or build up pictures according to ability (tip- cut paper into strips, & cut squares as you go - its much easier that way & use an old bun tray to separate colours - perhaps if you have a wall in your garden or balcony even go one further & make a real mosaic to decorate that. (

Crotchet perhaps too ??

hope that helps

the term down or downs is pretty awful too rockinhippy, although some good ideas.

festi Its the terms used by our friends if asked about their Son & was our friends sister - though that was back in the dark ages & a lot of other phraes were acceptaple then that aren't now - but if our friends don't find it awful/offensive I'm surprised anyone else would

direct.hobbycraft.co.uk/shop/kidsjames-galt-craft-club/viewall/

Any good?

Not getting heavy about terms as personally I would not be aware of "correct terminology" regarding disability until had my DD! But basically by saying "a Downs child" may highlight the disability before the child. I have a beautiful, wonderful, comical little girl who happens to have Down Syndrome!

At the end of the day it's less offensive than stopping dead in a shop a gawping at her in her buggy...and I have had that (and worse) to deal with especially in her younger days. Perhaps I am a little hardened to it all now!

ANYWAY! Back to topic! Off to look at the link and thank you for all of your comments and thoughts!

If in doubt, put the person first

A child with Down's syndrome. A boy with Autism. A woman in a wheelchair. A man with a beard. A girl with curly hair. A Lady with big boobs.

It's a description, not a definition :)

Ooooo Pidjin, I haven't been to Hobbycraft since Christmas but I saw some of those kits then. LOVED them, not sure of the suitability for DD YET, but some lovely ideas and goals to work towards.

In general do you think crochet is easier to learn than knitting? I might have to try it out myself it my left-handed, awkward way!

I was thinking about a x-stitch activity, perhaps using that larger binka (??) type material...or perhaps plastic canvas.

DDs fine motor skills are still delayed, she struggles with buttons for example. I have rescued a HUGE red fleece that DH threw out, it would be lovely to use in my die cutting machine, cut out some hearts and flowers that perhaps she could decorate. I might be trying to run before we can walk, I remember the stress of her even trying to use a squeezy glitter glue.

my dd1 is autistic, and has fine motor delays.

we work on (simple!) sewing kits - I got her one at Christmas which was making a Gruffalo shaped cushioned - essentially 'just' threading in and out, and I helped her with the knot after she had stuffed it.

also, jewellery making using wooden beads - again, 'just' threading, but it makes something nice for her to wear afterwards. she got a lovely kit for Christmas from her godmother - hang on will try to link like this

ELC sometimes have some nice simple sewing kits (more often at Christmas, to make tress decorations - you might have to wait a bit!) and we made a good crocodile puppet thing they had, using pre-cut foam discs threaded (again!) in order and then stuck eyes on etc.

what about pom-pom making? lot sof winding, and then you can stick them together/bung eyes on/pipe cleaner arms and legs etc?

ooh, and got some nice kits in John Lewis last year - making monsters etc - lots of dabbing on paints and then twisitng pipe cleaners to make arms etc. they are still hanging about the place. these are the ones - we did the money monsters, but there are others (which may well make it into our craft box!)

Wilko's had some good kits in when I was mooching on thursday

Long stitch might be better with fine motor difficulties.

Crochet is less fiddly than knitting but still fiddly. Look up The Art Of Crochet by There's, she has a YouTube channel with everything shown both ways round, LH and RH :)

Idea overload! LOL. Those bead kits look lovely...I have a craft room full of clutter crafty stuff but not sure the beads I have will have a big enough hole for DD to thread through. Would you recommend her using a needle of just trying to poke the thread through?

Similar to the pom pom making idea, somewhere I have kit to make loopy flowers, these ones here that I made back in 2001! I wondered if the repetitive nature of something like those would be any good! Quite tricky to sewn together when the looping is finished though! Perhaps one of those larger bulky knitting frames would be better.

...and Silverfrog, those kits are fab.......I could probably rustle up a few old knitting cones and put a couple of those together for her myself!

Thank you for ALL the ideas! xx

Needle or shoelace, so the end doesn't fray

I have stolen some plastic canvas from my mum and I am now armed....with a crochet hook! I took a deep breathe and went into my craft room, but it is in such a mess, I just turned around and came out again.

Will finish my squares for the MN blankets before I attempt anything methinks!