Day 6

Day 6

I should be asleep right now. It is 11 PM and I don’t have to go on any 4 AM adventures through the streets of Kolkata to find internet tomorrow. However, I was just so excited as I was sitting here filtering though pictures from the day and I felt like I should post something about the latest adventures.

Today was a glorious day just spending time with the girls. I have a tendency to find “Camp Arrowhead” in random countries. Those of you who work/worked there know what I mean when I say that; for others, it’s finding a group of kids/adults with special needs who remind you of some of the “regulars”. Isn’t it funny how we all come back to what we know, “oh you know she’s like so-and-so but a little more mobile” or whatever the description may be, or, “her personality is just like so-and-so”.

After spending time with the girls today I have embarked on a few projects. The first one is to put symbols/words for a few everyday words on all of the trays for the girls. There are tons and tons of GREAT symbols that are filed in folders and arranged by categories and have the Bengali and the English with a drawing, but they are tucked away in folders. So goal number one is to get some of these pictures out and about and being used by everybody who interacts with the kids.

Goal number two is to label all the objects in the room they spend most of their time in with photographs, the Bengali and English. This will help to promote photo awareness and the beginning foundation for communication and language. Goal number three is to go back to the Tim Luff days of ADL, emotion cards!! To make a few emotion portfolios and teach the caregivers and educators how to use them to talk about emotions and how you are feeling at the start and throughout every day.

With one of the girls, I had to up the ante a bit. Ganga, the one who was up anxiously awaiting my arrival. She yearns for knowledge, you can just see it in her expressions, and she is the most vocal and already has purposeful communication. The others have a bit more to go, but they are certainly well on their way! I spent some time setting up some laptops with software to operate the BIG MAC button and games to choose and tell nursery rhymes. I exposed her to this software yesterday, but it was the novel thing yesterday and EVERYBODY was just so excited about it, it was difficult to teach it. Today, that changed. While the older girls were in their afternoon lessons, things were quieter downstairs and Ganga had just gotten up in her stander. I asked her if she wanted to play with me on the computer while she was up. The first sign of remembering what we did yesterday, was immediately when I set everything up for her on her tray, she used her cheek as she did yesterday to hit the button with excitement, followed by a smile of course.

In addition to scouring the internet over Google Images and fake laminating things, I do believe I held a speech language pathology therapy session today with Ganga. This picture is probably my all time favorite thusfar. She created and told her own story today, was so excited (can you tell?) and shared it with all of her sisters. How cool is that??

I can’t wait to spend some more time with her using it tomorrow. One of the other girls is very close to imitating her first sign, MORE. I have a strange feeling that by the time next week is done she will have mastered it. I want to write more, but can hardly keep my eyes open… more to come tomorrow!