Your Baby CAN Read Month 3....

We have continued our journey with teaching the boys to read. Its actually quite funny to see the jaws drop when people see how well the boys are doing. We take them to outpatient Speech and Occupational Therapy twice a week. Each boy is given 1/2 hour sessions. While the first twin is back in the room, myself and the other twins TSS is in the waiting room doing the Your Baby CAN Read flashcards and/or books. The people sitting in the waiting room see the boys and literally their jaws drop.. its hysterical, but encouraging. Not only are my boys actually learning to read these words, learning new signs to go along with them and associating the pictures with the words to do a command (arms up, clap, point to you nose...ect.) but they are also showing people who know nothing about them, about Down Syndrome, about PDD Autism, about sign language... that they are capable of reading. It truly brings tears to my eyes to see the progress they have been making over the past three months. It gives me so  much encouragement for their future.

We have opted to start each new stage after about 6 weeks of reviewing and learning the current stage. With that being said we began Stage 3 on June 9th, after we were comfortable with what they have learned about Stage 2 was sticking. Here is the routine I have the boys in now.

Monday- watch Stage 3 video in the morning, watch Stage 2 video in the afternoon
Tuesday- (Therapy Day) Read Stage 3 book, do Stage 3 flashcards, review Stage 2 Flashcards, then let them look through the my first words board book. This book is so awesome. It has the word with a sentence, once the boys sign the word the reward is that they slide the word to the left and see the photo. They love this part :)

Wednesday- video in the morning and afternoon. Usually try to review Stage 1 on this day.
Thursday- (Therapy Day) do the same today as Tuesday
Friday- Preschool today, they take the book out and reinforce the words from the flashcards and book for us. They are so impressed by this program they are seeing if they can get the funding to purchase the program for the Autism Preschool Program Caleb and Isaac attend there.
Saturday- video if we get a chance, but usually this is an OFF day
Sunday- during church services this is a GREAT way to get them to sit and be quiet for a bit. They love looking at these books and flashcards so much that when we get them out of their backpack, we literally have to shush them from clapping so hard during church.

In case you have not kept up with my blog over the past few days, we've had a bit of an accident and have Caleb in a SPICA cast right now due to falling and breaking his right femur last Thursday. I had planned on taping them on Friday to show off a video of their progress, but I will hold off a bit and get it on here as soon as I'm able. Its a bit of a challenge getting Caleb around right now, but I can honestly say, this little guy will be watching WAY MORE TV than he usually does over the next 8 to 10 weeks. I'm certain that Your baby CAN read will be part of that tv time and sitting time he will be doing.