Making choices is something that we have found to be a very difficult task for Stella. Especially when it comes to food. We needed a clear way for her to see what is available for her, and since she is not reading yet it needed to be visual. So we made a list of her favorite foods, and then took photos of them all for this little book. Now when she is hungry, we do not need to do the "What do we have to eat?" routine (you know, where I then list everything in our kitchen numerous times every day, and it is almost always the same stuff...)- she can just flip through the photo menu and see what looks good to her.
We also decided to use the same idea for our movie library- since we had been experiencing a similar frustration when it came to picking out a movie to watch. The DVDs are in a cabinet with the spines facing out, which clearly is not an easy way for a non-reader to choose from. So Daisy helped me lay them out in groups of 9 to photograph, and then we slipped the printed pages into plastic sheets. Instant movie catalog! I expect this will get a lot of use and make it so much easier for both Stella and Lyle to decide what they would like to watch.
I am really hoping these books take a good bit of frustration out of our day-to-day lives. Some kids have no problem making simple snack requests or deciding from memory what movie they want to watch. Stella is not one of them. She has a difficult time dealing with even small frustrations, so coming up with creative ways to help her with this struggle is something that is very important to us.
i LOVE this idea! i think i'll d this for my kids too!!
ReplyDeleteYou are brilliant!
ReplyDeletei'm so glad that you got it finished. i would love to hear a progress report in a couple of weeks. i know this would be really helpful for john with his movies. unlike you however i don't have the motivation just yet!
ReplyDeleteSeriously- the movie one took us less than a half hour to shoot, load up to the computer, and print. Then you just stuff them in plastic pages. The food ones took longer because I had to take pics when I had the foods ready each time, so it was over the coarse of a week or so, and it took some dedication. The movie one was SO quick and easy!
ReplyDeletewhat an awesome idea;)
ReplyDeletecreative mommy!
What an incredible idea. You compassion and willingness to help your children tap into whatever they need to to get their needs met is very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteYou can always use google image for pictures! When Zane was little he always wanted to know WHEN or HOW LONG. So I printed a clock and pictures of what we did during the day lunch, dinner, time dad would be home, pick up Trevyn at school TV time stuff like that then laminate the clock (clear contact paper works too) and use velcro dots to attach the pics! We kept it near the regular clock and he would match up the hands and we would talk about time. We also did a bed time routine bath brush teeth story then left side was to do right side was done and he moved the pieces over as he did each thing. It gave him some independence and I didn't have to nag.
ReplyDeleteConnie
Yes, jennifer. This really, really is a brilliant idea.
ReplyDelete