Reception auties 2018/19 - thread 2

[openupmyeagereyes]

Thanks to LightTripper for the thread title. This is the continuation of the thread for parents and carers of dc with autism in their reception year at school. Please join us if you can or, if you have dc due to start reception in 2019, feel free to drop by and ask us questions.

Thread 1

Yes @openupmyeagereyes he is left handed!

Thanks for that.

Well I think he is left handed. He still uses his right hand but it's left mostly, so I assume he's left handed.

Danni DS recognises numbers 0-20, can add/subtract 1. Up until December he was the same as your boy with reading and just sounding letters out but no blending. His teacher said to me that, that is very common in Reception. Now he is blending and has also start recognising words like 'the' & 'and'. I think it is just modelling and repetition that work. For my boy one thing that helped was me starting the blending then him adding the last letter(s) e.g. he would say m-a-t, I would say 'ma' he would add the 't' (I would be pointing to the letters) and then he would say mat.

Writing is probably where he is most behind - unsurprising to me as his motor skills have always been delayed and he has never shown any interest in mark making (runs a mile from any art and craft activities). He is making progress though and can write his name (but that's about it).
I think that the writing is going to take a long time to click for DS but I just try and focus on the progress that he has made. I have a little writer app on the ipad which I would recommend and we also do the writing in trays of rice and on his back.

Thanks dimples, I’ve downloaded the Little Writer app. It might interest him for a day...

When we had parents evening last term, maths was the only area where ds was marked as at expected level. He knows numbers to 20 and some beyond. He can say one more, one less and do some addition. That sort of thing.

He knows most of the phonemes but he is so resistant to doing this at home I’m not sure how much he knows tbh, I’ve not heard him blend but I think school have. Today at a cafe he traced and said C and A in cafe (on the wall, unprompted) and then said coffee. Nearly right!

Writing I would say is similar to dimples ds. Again, he has little interest at the moment.

On amazon there are some work books for ages 3-5 years they are £1.95 at the moment! I ordered 3 diff 2 hand writing ones and 1 maths one and today in the works I picked up one which is 200 pages of work sheets mix of English and maths for £3 was supposed to be £12.99

Can you link them danni?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Workbook-Ages-3-5-Preschool/dp/0008151628/ref=mpssa114?ie=UTF8&qid=1548534526&sr=8-4&pi=ACSX2366SY340QL65&keywords=collins+workbooks+3-5&dpPl=1&dpID=51ouxWtUE%2BL&ref=plSrchh
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Ages-3-5-Learning-Preschool/dp/000815161X/ref=mpp_saa112?ie=UTF8&qid=1548534526&sr=8-12&pi=ACCSX236SY3400_QL65&keywords=collins+workbooks+3-5

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Numbers-Ages-3-5-Learning-Preschool/dp/0008151547/ref=mpssa118?ie=UTF8&qid=1548534866&sr=8-8&pi=ACSX2366SY340QL65&keywords=collins+workbooks+3-5&dpPl=1&dpID=51bnBxt8uDL&ref=plSrch

Those are the amazon ones open, I just typed in reception work books and lots came up.

On the works online some of there work books are £1, the one I bought in the shop today is a mix of English and maths it was £3 I've just checked it says 32 pages in the description but it's no way 32 pages! I think I might of possibly exaggerated slightly when I said 200 pages lol but it's not 32 for sure! More like 100 pages ?? its really thick, I took pics of inside sheets for my mum earlier so I'll add the pics.

The works book (Added 3 pics)

Thanks danni.

@danni I’m trying to figure out how to say what I want to say in a way that doesn’t sound cliché, but I’m failing miserably! Your DS is so fortunate to have a mum like you who is so tuned in to his learning, I’ve met so many parents along the way that just see school as the educators and not themselves. I’m sure your ds’ teacher is right to just keep practising with reading - I reckon it’s the kind of thing that just “clicks” and they’re off. A major major part of literacy development is based on “phonological awareness” - this is a key foundation to reading. Basically it’s the awareness of words being made up of sounds that can be broken up, put back together, chunked and mixed up etc. If you google it I’m sure you’ll find loads of activities to help - lots of listening and identification of sounds in first, middle and last positions of words, clapping out syllables, etc. Out of interest, if you segment the words for him can he blend? E.g if you say c -a-t can he recognise it as cat?

My ds just turned 4 (he’s in nursery I think mentioned in my first post). He’s got lots of academic knowledge but our issue is trying to get him to access it in adult lead stuff. His first consistent words were 1,2,3 so I guess that was a pointer that maths would be his thing. But I can’t teach him anything unless he chooses it, I feel like I’m trying to trick him into learning all the time! He can’t read from phonics approach although can sound out, but he’s learnt some sight words by rote. He can’t hold a pen and shows no interest in it all.

Danni relating to what Jeb was saying about understanding how sounds make up words my boy really enjoyed (which was a surprise to me) an Orchard Toys game 'Match and spell' - it's quite good for building up the difficulty

Thanks @Jeb86 if I sounded out
C-A-T or whatever to ds he wouldn't say CAT, he's really not interested in the homework, he crys and throws himself about shouting
bye homework! Playtime! So doesn't really engage so can be tricky to get him to participate to actually learn it.

He plays this game with me, I say what does mummy begin with he says m, I say what does daddy begin with he says d and then any word I say he tells me the letter it starts with, I love it when I ask him what does stairs begin with he says ST not S and if I ask him what does clever begin with he says CL not C bless him. I'm trying eye spy but he's not understanding that for the minute.

Another game we play (we totally made this up one afternoon!! strange game but amuses us!) I say a word and then he says a word that rhymes with it but his word always begins with a W & his is always a made up word, so if I say cooker he says wooker or if I say bed he says wed and so on, but if I say a word beginning with a W he changes his rhyming word to a word beginning with a V so if I said window he would say vindow as he knows he would just be repeating the same as I've just said if he uses his usual W for his word, so he changes the first letter of his word to a V, he's so bloody quick changing the words aswell i try catch him out with it but he's too rapid! I think stuff like that shows he has it all going on cognitively.

Dimples we've got that orchard toys game ds put one of the little cardboard letters in his mouth and was laughing laying on his back and I couldn't get it out of his mouth I was worried he was going to choke on it as it was going further back in his mouth so we haven't had it out since. We've got the orchard shopping game too, that ones good he doesn't play it quite as it's intended to be played, usually all the items he likes goes in his trolley and he totally ignores the lists but he enjoys it.

Hope every one is ok.

danni when we play the shopping list game ds always uses the same shopping list and he went through a phase where we had to sit on the trolleys (because he sat in the trolley at the supermarket). When we play pizza pizza he always has to start with the bacon and egg piece already on his pizza

Love your ds’s rhyming game, very smart.

Danni, I get why you haven't had that game out again! Maybe you could do something similar with cards/handwritten letters on paper.

The rhyming game does sound great. I bet the blending may just click - DS seemed to go from nothing to blending all the time (not always correctly and if he is not motivated or disagrees with the word choice he will ignore e.g. this morning doing reading he said 'p-u-p dog')

She didn't say much open, though she did say maybe if she whispered "Hola" then nobody would hear and that might be OK. She just hates attention on any of these things, I think it gives her performance anxiety. Yesterday she said she might like to join in dance but she wouldn't like it if anybody said "oooh, you've joined in dance" so I've basically had to e-mail her teacher to say that she might join in but if she does please can nobody make a fuss or mark her out in any way...

About your question on what they are being taught at school Danni I don't have much idea for DD, other than what they send as homework. Since September they've been sending a "word pot" with some common "tricky words" (i.e. non phonetic words like the/do/go/she/I/we/said/when) to practice at home so they can recognise them without having to sound them out. Then she gets three reading books a week. At the moment that might have e.g. 8 pages to read with a 6-10 word sentence on each page (e.g. "You can eat this said Monty"). Since Christmas they've also had a set of spellings each week. This is 3-4 three letter words so far (so this week's set is "map, nap, man, sad") and they are supposed to look at them, cover them, try to write them out and then check (look/cover/copy/check). So far they are simple enough that DD can work out how to sound them out. I do them with her on an A4 whiteboard over the weekend (using magnetic letters or sometimes writing) and then she writes them in pencil in her book on Monday. I think they are basically doing lots of phonics. DD sometimes recognises little 2 letter sounds and says e.g. "ow" can be in a word or it can be a word by itself" - and sometimes in her reading book it says "we practised the "ar" diagraph" (I had to Google diagraph!)

We're lucky, so far she seems to quite enjoy it, as if she decided she didn't want to do it then I know there would be no possible inducement I could offer to make her do it!

The only think I can think of is just having lots of different ways to make words around and then just see if they show interest? E.g. we've got these ones for the bath (although they are all capitals which isn't so great for school stuff which seems to be all lower case):
www.amazon.co.uk/Welecom-Alphabet-Letters-Numbers-Organizer/dp/B06WPBJHTV/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?keywords=sponge+foam+letters&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1548669772&sr=8-2

Then these ones (all lower case which is good for school stuff - though I wish they didn't use white as it looks boring on a white board and DD is always hunting around for a coloured one to use):
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0063DKRN8/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

And an A4 whiteboard you can write on and is magnetic:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000CDHM3S/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

And these pens which are great (two ends - different thicknesses but both quite fine so good for writing).
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075JLM3RJ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

We've also got some of these wipe clean books though haven't got them out for a while as it feels a bit too much like what she has to do at school. But they are quite nice. Though I think the pen that comes with them is rubbish (too fat and makes too thick a line) so we use it with the colourful ones above.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0008212929/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

I also just saw these for painting - might be fun?
www.amazon.co.uk/Dabbers-Shapes-Lower-Alphabet-Letters/dp/B072S3KT4H/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=sponge+foam+letters&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1548669772&sr=8-3

DD's favourite Orchard Games one is the bus stop game. It is nice for counting (you roll a dice and depending on which square you land on people either get on or off your bus. You spin a spinner to decide how many. So to play the game you just need to be able to count, but it also gives adults a chance to say "oh, I had 6 people but 2 just got off so now I only have 4", that kind of basic adding up/subtraction. DD seems to really like it though she only got it for Christmas so it may partly just be novelty.

I think the rhyming game sounds fun! DD loves changing the letters on words to make them funny. At school they sing a days of the week song to the tune of "the Addams Family" and she loves changing the first letter ("There's Nunday and there's Noosday" or whatever - obviously starting with a "P" is a favourite... ).

Hope everyone has a good week!

I always end up on Amazon when I come on this thread . My Match & Spell game came today.

A bit of grumbling from ds this morning about staying at home to play but he went in on time thankfully. Hopefully he’s had a good day.

jeb my ds is very driven by his own agenda. At school they have a lot of success using first/then with the carrot being whatever his current favourite activities are. Plus they are great at coming up with alternative ways to get them to learn or to show what they know. One of the reasons we decided not to try and defer him for a year was because we believed the school were in a better position to support him and help him develop than the nursery which did not have much experience with SEN. For us that has been the right decision so far though I am nervous about his moving up to year one. Still, he has surprised us so much already I need to keep looking at things in a more positive light. I’m looking forward to parents evening in a couple of weeks.

Me too Open! Light has just added to my shopping list. I like the sound of the bus stop game.

I highly recommend the Bus Stop game, it's fun actually (we also enjoy arguing about which passengers we want on our bus - usually we are all fighting to have the OAPs for some reason. I like to think it is teaching DD negotiation skills ).

I promise I am not on commission from Amazon

Me too but I can’t get that yet!

Imagine if you were Light

For a while I kept getting emails from Amazon asking if I wanted to open a business account as (in their words) I bought so much from them! I was mortified.

Amazon prime is dangerous for me with spending! I try to stay off it as much as I can.

Ds ordered a film on the iPad the other day off prime video, was only £2.99 'the greatest showman' but he was supposed to be watching 5 minutes of pingu! I thought I had the controls set up on it after the last time when he ordered a £10 book off there!! The amazon guy after the first time when I rang for a refund talked me through the parental controls which I set but that's clearly not worked. so I've deleted amazon app off the iPad now.

Had to take ds to a&e this afternoon. He ran through the kitchen at dinner won't bloody walk anywhere and he lost his footing and fell and clonked his head really hard off the door frame / skirting board, it was a nasty bang to the side of his head / ear, he's had some corkers on his head from falling in the past but nothing that I've ever needed to take him to hospital for, more just a keep my eye on him type of thing, but when he fell today he never made a noise no crying or anything he's hard as nails though and very rarely cry's at pain but what worried me was I picked him up and he looked really shocked and dazed and not with it, but after a few mins he was playing fine again but while I watched him to decide whether he needed the hospital or not he came over sat on my knee and was acting all odd in that he was very quiet. Ds is never quiet and very rarely voluntarily sits on my knee & he looked pale aswell, so took him straight to a&e, thankfully we were seen within half hour while the waiting room was packed with people who had been there 4 hours. Not complaining though id of had a full on breakdown dealing with ds on my own in that busy waiting room for 4 hours.

They checked him over, he had a drink caused mayhem in the play area and they discharged him after half hour.

Thankfully he's fine until the next time!

I've aged about 20 years since ds was born I look haggered!

Yup my amazon basket just got filled up too! This thread is great for ideas and inspiration. Thank you!

@open I asked about nursery using a now/next board as it’s my no1 recommendation when I go into schools for the same difficulties as ds. But when I asked they’re using it as a mini visual timetable not a carrot and stick method. I bit my tongue as I really don’t want to be my ds’s therapist, I want to be his mum. But if they’re still having issues with him following adult agenda by end of feb I’ll mention it again at parents meeting. I’m not sure I look forward to parents evening, we had our first official SEN review meeting last week and although I think the school are great with him I guess it brought back all the emotion of realising that ds really did have additional needs. I know that you will ALL understand the conflict inside of reconciling the massive amounts of love and pride in our kids, mixed in with the heartache when we see more typical kids who just don’t face the same challenges. I guess it was our first step in walking the long winding SEN road. I’m so glad to have you lovelies to chat through it all. My friends are great but they don’t know what it’s like and they’re (lovingly) full of clichés that just wind me up!

danni glad your ds was ok, that must have been scary. Ds ordered an episode of Rusty Rivets on Amazon Prime a few months ago, luckily nothing more though I’m not sure we have all the parental controls set up, I must check.

Jeb I would keep pushing the school, they should be grateful for your input. I’m glad you are finding the thread helpful. Do you have any friends with SN children?

Ds’s teacher is very good at highlighting the positive plus I love looking at his learning journey books which they have out at parents evening.