Category: Hanga | Create

Fun Day Friday

It is wet, wet, wet. So, no opportunity to go outside and play today.

After  the morning Go Noodle it was poetry time. Nevaeh helped Olivia do a wonderful picture in blue. The poem today was The Robot. Nevaeh chose her own colours and

guided them on the page. She is loving her new crayons.

It was then off to the sensory room to complete some fine motor skills activities.

 

 

 

 

We went for a visit to the library in town and then wandered around the shops after morning tea. Nevaeh chose two Hairy Maclary books to read with Olivia. It was the first time she had chosen to sit in the round chairs in the middle of the space. There were two more books before heading out for a walk. She was really engaged in listening to the stories. We spent half an hour there.

We walked around the block. Halfway around the block Mrs Hickford’s phone started to ring. It was Ann letting us know that Courtney had arrived.

So it was a quick walk back to the car before heading back to school. It is awesome to see you getting yourself into the car, with little assistance. You have had a great day and it is not yet ended as we are going to play some music before we go home.

New Talker and Music with Marilyn

At school, we are trailing a new talking device to support Nevaeh with her communication. To support Nevaeh we are working on positional language: above, below, left right. Soon we will get some guide bumps attached to the device allowing Nevaeh to orientate herself.

Nevaeh loves the colour and is quick to look for it in her equipment.

 

With Marilyn she played Twinkle Twinkle, and Row Row Row Your Boat. Nevaeh echoed Are You Sleeping? Nevaeh played Chopsticks with two hands before Marilyn copied her playing. Nevaeh played one finger on the black keys and waited for Marilyn to echo her. She kept repeating her melody.

A busy day

We took advantage of a fine sunny day and packed in a lot of outside activities. During our morning routine, we joined the class sitting on the mat, and then there was our daily Go Noodle. Nevaeh had a dance, and then we made our way over to music with Marilyn.

Nevaeh spread the fingers on her left hand. She attempted to touch just one key with her left thumb. At times we heard a lovely rendition of ‘Chopsticks”. This is a new tune from Nevaeh, I wonder where you heard this before.

After music we enjoyed the sunshine, bouncing on the new half-court and chasing our shadows. Our interest was then caught by the men working, cleaning up the trees, on the grass. The vehicles needed to be inspected, especially the white ute.

It was then back to the sensory room for some sorting and investigating objects above, below, left and right of an object that does not move. We are working on this to help Nevaeh navigate her Talker.

Next, it was off to RDA. Today we rode Lucy. Lucy wasn’t in a good mood. Lucy kept stopping, and would not move forward when we told her to move on. It was a lovely walk through Prossers Bush. Sam joined us and helped us with mounting and dismounting, by observing Nevaeh’s behaviour on the horse. Nevaeh did a great job of holding the front of the saddle during our walk in the bush. At times, she reached for the tree. We will need to keep our eyes peeled.

Getting into routine

We are off to a flying start. Nevaeh enjoyed her first music lesson of the year. It is like she has never been away. The smile on her face says it all. Nevaeh is using both hands on the keyboard. She is holding her left hand like a true pianist. This is Nevaeh working independently with the support of her wonderful music teacher. Ka pai Nevaeh, it is great to see others nurturing your love of music.

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Listen here to our clever girl.

WOW!

Nevaeh played of her own accord last week. She used fingers two and three on her right hand. It is a joy to hear the notes so clear and strong. What a star!.

Marilyn was treated to a sustained period of playing on the black keys, using finger two. She echoed what Nevaeh played higher up the scale. Nevaeh had a big smile so she obviously enjoyed it. It was pleasing to see such sustained focus. Her repertoire includes   Row, Row, Row Your Boat,  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, This Old Man and You Are My Sunshine.

We are looking forward to Nevaeh’s concert performance this week.

 

Shantytown trip

Tuesday the 5th of December was Ruma Tuis visit to Shantytown. Nevaeh was super excited to travel up with Jackie and Olivia to meet Mrs Fern and the rest of Tui at Shantytown. This trip we decided to explore some of the areas we hadn’t made it to on the last visit. We explored through the hospital building, Chinatown, a jail and lots more. The highlight was riding the train, Nevaeh absolutely loves going on the train, and sits down so good, waiting for everyone to board and settle. This trip Nevaeh was even willing to dress up, she wore a lovely white pinafore and a bonnet she really enjoyed wearing it and would seek help if the bonnet wasn’t sitting correct. Nevaeh was very curious of the wee huts in Chinatown, looking around and feeling along the walls. We look forward to another visit next year.

Music session with Marilyn

As well as practising our concert pieces Nevaeh joined in a duet with Marilyn. She showed a great deal of interest in the sound coming from the guitar, then joined in on the piano. I loved the way you are hitting the key accurately playing one note at at time, it is beautiful to see. There was lots on single note sounds today, some guided by Marilyn but others you have done yourself.  Your have such lovely pressure when you play, the notes are clear and you are using a  gentle touch on the keyboard to get the sound out.

A Busy Week at School

On Tuesday Andy, the speech and Language therapist came. After showing Andy all the cool things I could do on ‘Go Talk’, Andy gave me some Matchbox cars to play with. Cars are my favourite thing. There was a dump truck, and orange, blue and purple cars. I was so busy with them I wasn’t keen to give them back. Andy was kind enough to leave them for me to play with.

My teacher aides are working on me learning left and right. Andy was kind enough to suggest that you touch my left or right shoulder to help me remember. with the shapes in my learning time I am learning above and below. This will help me access the words I want on the ‘Go Talk’.

Fun day Thursday rolled around. We had an early music lesson Marilyn. I impressed her with using my second and third finger independently. The notes I can play are much sharper because I am only putting one finger on them.  I am am creating my own music. I have linked a video for you to watch.

Link to Video IMG_9009                                   Link to VideoIMG_9005

 

 

 

 

 

 

At RDA I had the opportunity to ride Lucy. My lead was helpful by telling me which way Lucy was going to turn. When Lucy stopped they encouraged me to tap my feet on Lucy’s side to make her move. When she didn’t, I said clearly “Go Lucy”. We went for a walk in Prossers Bush. I love the shadow’s created by the trees in the bush. We met a lady walking her black and white dog and I heard a Tui singing in the trees. I got to two short trots one before going into the bush the next when we exited. Lucy pushed in front of London and went up the hill back to the stables. The sun was shining and I had the best time. Sue helped me dismount lifting my leg back over the saddle. IMG_9

Term 4 Weeks 1-5

Term 4 has seen some wonderful learning and participation from Nevaeh. We have continued to work with the GoTalk and are using it in class and in the sensory room, modeling the communication that we are getting Nevaeh to use. We have enjoyed the resources from Blenz the books are always a favorite of Nevaehs and also a good thing to use the timer and the GoTalk alongside. Colors, counting and shapes are practiced each day and helped with the Blenz resources aswell. Nevaeh has. Each morning everone looks forward to the Go Noodle to start the day in Tui, and it’s definitely a highlight of Nevaeh’s day, she loves to be up the front at the TV, always a big smile and helps to start the day off happy. We have also been lucky to have a loan Ipad and have been using some new apps, which have been alot of fun, we have joined the class on Dojo Island and some new books.

Music with Marilyn

Tinkle, tinkle, plonk, plonk! Nevaeh is getting so much out of her music session with Marilyn. In these lesson we can observe Nevaeh developing her fine motor skills. She is able to independently use finger one and two on her right hand with increasing accuracy. The left hand is being used intermittently and there is careful observation and increasing awareness of her hands on both sides of her body.

 

 

 

We are seeing this at RDA too. Nevaeh at times is holding the front of the saddle as she rides, this makes her side walker feel more relaxed. She is also clutching objects that catch her interest, the stars, planets and little yellow ducks in the water. Bobby was chatting to her about what she was looking at. Nevaeh would bring the object close to her helmet and then gradually lengthen her focus. When she was bored she tossed the object.