NACD Evaluation

Hi, blog friends. Sam's NACD re-evaluation is tomorrow and due to hip/pain issues we will be doing a Skype eval. When we have to do telephone or skype evaluations I normally tape different areas for Sam's evaluator Ellen Doman and send them to her privately through the Flipshare system. However, Flipshare's server is down and I need to borrow my blog space to get the videos to Ellen. These are videos of Sam's reading, writing, math, chores, swimming and speech. I have already sent her videos regarding Sam's gait, use of the walker and issues that are showing due to his hip issue. My comments are directed toward Ellen but feel free to browse the videos.

Hey Ellen, this video shows Sam doing math on the white board. I use the white board with magnets, math notebook, Kidcalc on Ipad, everyday math and the calculator to work with Sam on math. He is beginning to remember math facts and his number identification has improved. He now likes to identify numbers in his environment. He is doing better with counting on and his sight quantity identification is improving if he is focused on it. Sam loves to circle the correct answer or use the bingo blotter to select the right answer in his notebook.

The next video is Sam reading first about quipmunks...aka chipmunks. The first book is from the Discovering My World Series. The single line of larger text works great for Sam and causes him no frustration, when the text amount increases the frustration increases as you will see when I bring out the Welcome Series book from Seed to Dandelion. Articulation begins to drop off but he is much more open to working or taking more time to pronounce a word correctly. Previously when I would try to have him re-read a word to get the better articulation he would shut down. He still tries to skip unknown words with an unidentified utterance hoping I will accept it and not question him but I am getting better at listening for this and can usually tell the words he does not know and will just give him that word. His comprehension of what he has read is improving. His comprehension is good in games like treasure hunt but with books he sometimes likes to go into word identification mode and doesn't choose to process what he is reading but the Discovering My World books have decreased his frustration with reading so he is now working on the comprehension too.

This next video is of Sam using the new Simply Smarter app. This was his third time using the app and he does well with it but I do wonder if he intentionally likes to go back to one to hear the kids cheer more and sometimes I think he likes the buzzer for the wrong answer. The good thing is that he does like to do it so please let me know how often and for what duration I should use it per day. Should I encourage as I did later in the video to get him to work for a higher score or have him work it through on his own?

The next video is Sam working on his writing. Sam uses the TVTeacher.com along with my new favorite app by Injini, Write My Name. This app allows me to put in pictures and create my own word cards or sentences to go with the picture. If you put it in watercolor mode as seen in the video Sam is able to see how far off he is from the letter it doesn't just snap it into perfect letters. Due to Sam's hip issues he of course is not in good writing posture but his letters are looking better and better. I hope to use this app in conjunction with his fun unit studies and the books he is reading. I hope the app soon offers a link to Google images for easy loading of misc. images that can relate to the unit studies or books. In the second video I ask him to write his name freehand without dots or tracing. He often writes the letter S backwards and will sometimes write the m upside down...oh the joy of cross dominance.

The next video will give you an idea of how he is doing with the word identification on the 4th 100 of the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language.

The next video is Sam gathering his ingredients and supplies for breakfast. We are now working on putting the toast in the toaster, cracking eggs and buttering bread. Slower process due to the issues with the hip. In this video you can see how he will not weight bear while standing, uses the counter if not using the walker, the use and struggles with the walker regarding movement and manipulation around the kitchen. I would love to increase the steps but Sam is usually asking to lay down after getting the ingredients and supplies. I pushed to see if it was behavior or need and he sat down on the floor and then laid down on his stomach so I think at this point he needs to lie down. On some mornings the gathering is not possible because Sam does not have enough movement. I go day by day and see what each morning brings us.

The next couple of videos will allow you to see how well Sam is swimming. He is so happy in the pool and his movement is fabulous. He will compete in his first Special Olympics swim meet on Sunday.