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

Good luck with the phonics & writing later open.

I've planned to do some adding and taking away after tea , just simple stuff, 2 choc buttons + another 1 how many are there ds? Or in ds' terms 5 buttons ram them all in your mouth as quick as you bloody can, how many are left?

Ive just done ds' bedroom pale blue to match the transport theme we've got going on. I don't know why I'm bothering, I spent an hour the other day pollyfilling and sanding all the big chips out the walls that will be back again by the weekend 🤔

Wow you ah e really been through it the last few days Danni!
WWE moves into the pram made me laugh, definitely been there!

Very impressive sorting and tidying open. I never get around to doing things like that.

That does sound tough, Danni

Handwriting is a big challenge here. In part I think it is to do with weakness in his hands but more and more I think it's lack of motivation and concentration. DS often looks away from the paper when he tries to write

dimples it’s chicken and egg isn’t it. Weak muscles or hypermobility make it tricky and therefore not something they enjoy but practice in and of itself would help the physical issues if only they were motivated.

Totally Open

DS is getting better about agreeing to have a go but I feel that he is probably putting in about 10% effort and it winds me up!

Ds was good and did his writing and phonics. It’s becoming clear he doesn’t know many of the phase 3 phonemes. He blended cat and dog but didn’t get mum and dad right. I think I’ll email his teacher later.

For mark making he’s doing an activity where he makes makes a small mark in a set of round dots. He did that with more purpose today but then afterwards when he tried to write his name I could see he was struggling so I won’t get him to do that at the same time in the future.

It sounds like everyone has had a few very busy days. Don't envy the trampoline incident one little bit.

The writing thing I may have something to contribute towards...DD can form all her letters but only if the side of her hand is supported. Solo, her writing is light and spidery and she gets very frustrated and abandons any'list' she is playing with. However, I introduced one of those long soft beanbags that you can pop in the microwave to warm, and it's a different story. The weight of it over her wrist and snug against the side of her hand (she sort of pushes it along as she writes) really helps her concentrate on the fine motor skills without having her whole arm going bananas off the page (she gets so angry about that...😕) I think I have seen wrist weights somewhere online but she would likely panic about that sort of thing at the mo. Just an idea that may help some...

Open ds also doesn't know many of the phase 3 sounds, phase 2 he's fine with not usually any errors with that, and from phase 3 he knows the single sounds and qu and zz but many of the diagraphs - sh ch th ai oo etc confuses him but he knows the igh sound oddly.

Confuses me even.. oo as in book then oo as in moon, trying to teach him the two same letters 1 min can sound like this then the next minute can sound like something else, not simple really for little ones and then add in your SN on top! ffs! Learning to read is quite amazing really!

Great that he blended cat and dog! We do those sort of words, cat dog mum dad etc.

Ds makes me laugh with his literalness! for example if when we do his books, in a sentence the word says 'it' he will say 'it' but if 'it' is the first word of the sentence so starts with a capital letter so 'It' then he will say ite LOL 😆

Good idea furry cat ds doesn't rest his hand on the paper at all it looks so awkward and the paper is sliding about all over the shop. I'll give that a go I've got one of those bean bags under the bed. Thanks x

danni ds knows the single phonemes from phase 3 except for w and he knows xx, qu, ng and I think he got th but I need to check that one again.

In phase 2 he gets b, d and p muddled.

Today I’ve been getting him to pop bubble wrap to help with fine motor skills. Tomorrow I’ll get him to put pegs onto my clothes. Hopefully he’ll find that appealing!

b d p mix up is so common, ds teacher told me that at parents evening. You can see why. x

That’s interesting danni

Thanks for the tip furry

Open ds sometimes mixes up i and j it's bcos they look similar, if you type in on twinkl 'b and d' loads of diff sheets come up to help. x

Ds is asleep and hopefully it stays that way.

Night night everyone. X

Hope it is a peaceful day for you Danni (and everyone else).

I am clearly v tired Furry I can’t picture what you mean! I was wondering if any of you had tried a writing slope. The only place DS seems to enjoy mark making is on his easel so I thought that it might be worth getting one.

Reading is going much better, I agree Danni how anyone learns to read is beyond me. DS has a high frequency words book from school - he is given 12 words a week to practice. A couple of weeks ago in the same set they had ‘about’ followed by ‘your’ - it was v hard looking at two different ways to read ou

Igh is our challenge at the mo - each time he reads I g h then says Ing
If I correct him he gets into a temper

That's a great tip furrycat.

Ds loves those letter tracing apps on the ipad. I got him a kids stylus of amazon too (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DNX9ZWL/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_b-09Cb1V3C67P). He also doesn't seem to mind those letter practice sheets from twinkl.

We still seem a very long way off reading.

Hope you had a good night danni.

Ds now has chicken pox!

danni hope you had a good night. 5am wake up here. As good as it gets really.

dimples how do you teach your ds the tricky words? Is it with flash cards or syllables? I don’t think school has really given any guidance.

We have a writing slope but haven’t used it much yet so I can’t give you a review unfortunately.

liv argggh for the cursed pox!

Open we have these from ebay I got them a few months ago. 100 high frequency words I think the listing was called, they were £5.95 if I remember rightly so really cheap. All individually cut and laminated.

I do these 10 mins a day with ds before bed when we do his reading books, I usually pick 5 a time to work on, show him & tell him what they are with a lot of repetition, and he remembers the ones that can't be blended (eventually) then when he's remembered them I move to another 5.

He's up to about 40 tricky words that he knows that can't be blended, these have most definitely helped!

Open we just do lots of repetition with them. In the school book they are a mix of tricky and blendable words. We go through the set(s) once or twice a day (he is actually enjoying that and really tries hard so that on the Friday he can read them to the teacher, gets them ticked off so that he can get the next set). I will also write them with magnetic letters or give him the letters to put in the right order - only the shorter words, one of his words this week is 'something' - that might be a bit of a tall order!

Sounds like we are way behind you all 🙈. We have a lot to do to catch up. Baby steps though. Ds blended mum and hat today. He got dad right once I’d told him it was d rather than b. He remembered ee and sh too.

Trying to get him to come and eat. One of the most tedious aspects of parenting. It’s like Groundhog Day.

dimples something is pretty complex!

Open Ds is ok with some of the tricky words on those laminated cards but if it's written in a book he doesn't really read it, he might say two or three, it's almost like he's learnt it one way (the cards) and can't apply it to anywhere else he sees it iyswim? So basically if the words are in a book (main aim here) he can't read it, typical!

You don't sound way behind either! Your ds is doing fab, I remember him winning an award for his maths a few months ago.

I asked ds what 1 button + 2 buttons was earlier and he straight faced looked at me and said 19! 😆 LOL

Good luck with tea! And yes Groundhog Day I know that day!

I said to dh last week I feel like drew barrymore in 50 first dates!

It takes me about an hour from getting dinner on the table to him finishing it. It involves various tactics to get him to sit down properly and often ends up with me feeding him part of it in a different room! If I gave him the iPad we wouldn’t have this problem but I try not to most of the time.

danni that’s a generalisation issue, very common. I’m sure, one day, it will click with him and all your hard work will have paid off. Hopefully we’ll get there too.

Yes, ds won the maths award in December. It was a very proud moment.

He reluctantly did his writing exercise. Actually held the pencil in a tripod grip himself, even if it was with the middle two fingers. Earlier he attached about 10 clothes pegs to me. I’m hoping every little helps!

I give ds a handful of clothes pegs on the trampoline so when he jumps so do the pegs! keeps him on occupied longer than 2 mins.

Sometimes I love it when he repetitive plays as I know he'll be at whatever it is a hundred times! means I get 10 mins peace

I'm lucky that DS really seems to enjoy reading - just hope it lasts....

It's funny with the word 'something' if DS sees the whole word he panics but if I temporarily hide thing with my finger he can read it.

They all have their strengths and weaknesses - DS cannot write at all. Poor boy, that's part of my Summer plan!