Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to Everone!

I'll be on a blogging hiatus while we're busy with Christmas. Best wishes!

Progress in Math, Telling Time

Samuel started the school year being able to tell time on the hour and half hour. We have been working on telling time to the 5 minute markings around the hour on a clock face. I have tried a couple different things. I had this terribly marked up clock face with circles drawn around the hour numbers and then I wrote in the 5 minute times outside of the circle (I used a clock face slightly larger on the page than the ones I pictured here). It was a bit messy looking. I have also used a talking "teaching" time clock. That was good, but it was distracting because any time it talked it had to say an introduction that was programmed into it, kind of distracting.

I had the best success when I recently started using three clock face worksheets during each lesson (these worksheets are from the Enchanted Learning website). I begin with a time on the hour or half-hour, which he is already familiar with, easy.

Then on the next page he has to tell time within a few minutes of that. Each day we progress five more minutes. I only write the minute numbers around what we are working with, I'm no longer filling in the whole hour anymore. That was just too messy on the worksheet.

On the third worksheet I give Samuel the time and then he has to draw the correct time with the hands. After several weeks of prompting, he has recently been able to do these three worksheets each day without any verbal or hand-over-hand prompting from me. Now it's just the written prompting of the green minute numbers filled in.

I'd love to hear what you have tried with your child or student to teach them time!

This is the third worksheet we use during a lesson, on which I give him the time and he has to draw it with the hands.

Some Progress in Math, Subtraction

The first photo is a recent example of addition problems that Samuel did. It turned out a little messy because I had to "fix" the fours. The touch points for four don't work on one with a closed top. Careless preparation on my part, oh well. Samuel can do these problems without the sentence at the top of the page "I see a plus sign....", I'm just putting it there for right now to make it consistent with getting him to think about the kind of problem he is looking at.

I have been trying to teach Samuel subtraction for several months now. The first attempts I made at teaching him were using word problems in which he crossed out the items being subtracted. This worked pretty good. He seemed to understand that the number he ended up with was the answer to the problem and he knew where to write it. I only had to prompt him how to do this a few times. However, when I removed the sentence with the problem and just put images for him to cross off he couldn't seem to get it.

The next step was top use touch points on the numbers. Samuel learned to add at school with touch points and he had this system down quite well. Using touch points for addition is simply adding the dots that are on the numerals and the total is the answer. For subtraction you teach by starting on the top number and then counting backwards on the touch points of the lower number that is being subtracted. It has taken Samuel a while to understand this but we are starting to make some progress! I have been using more physical prompts (hand over hand placing his finger on the numbers or the touch points) and I try to minimize the verbal prompting. I started putting two problems at the top of the page and folding the paper in half. When Samuel did those problems I prompted him. Then, after he finished them I flipped the paper to the bottom half and told him, "Okay, this time you do them yourself." At first he couldn't and I had to prompt him again, though usually less. Eventually, he was able to do the problems on the bottom half of the page without prompting.

What was really exciting recently was when I put both addition and subtraction problems on the same page. The only "prompt" he had was the words saying that it was an addition problem or subtraction problem. I did not have to prompt him at all to do the problems after that! The next step will be to remove the words from the page.

This photo shows how there are problems at the top of the page, which I had to prompt him to do at first. The page was folded in half and when he finished these problems I turned it to the bottom of the page and he did these with less prompting, eventually no prompting.

This photo is an example of getting Samuel to differentiate between addition and subtraction problems. Eventually the only directions on the page will be words to the effect, "Solve these problems."

I Have Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Mother of Many at A Blog on the Spectrum

"When people say 'Christmas' you immediately think..."

..about how simple I want to keep things. At this point in my life I'm just not into a lot of decorating or entertaining. I'm more interested in focusing on Advent - preparing for Christmas spiritually. As we have had more children I wait for my husband to get out our tree (yes, we have an artificial tree!) and I put off decorating it as long as I can. We try to wait as close to Christmas Day to decorate it as we can.

"Favourite Christmas memory..."

This is a tough one to answer because I have so many happy memories to choose from. Christmas time was always a lot of fun in my family. Among my favorite memories are going to see my parents once I was an adult. They left the area that I was living in, Virginia Beach, and I had some great times travelling to Pittsburgh, Colorado, and Michigan to see them and my siblings. It was great to get away from my routine of working two jobs and attending college part time and being able to see my parents.

"Favourite Christmas song/carol..."

I don't know that this was written as a Christmas song, but I love "Sheep May Safely Graze" by J.S. Bach. This is on a favorite CD I have of James Galway entitled "A Christmas Carol." I love all the music on this CD, and am partial to it because I am a flutist. I chose it as the processional music in our wedding.

"Favourite Christmas movie..."

.. is A Christmas Story. This movie is a timeless depiction of all the craziness in the life of a child as they anticipate Christmas. It's set in the '30s (or maybe the '40s) and I grew up decades after that, but it really brings back memories of my childhood!

"Favourite Christmas character..."

I'm having trouble recalling from the stories and legends I know.... I'll fill this in later. I will say that I try to focus on the one who is the reason for Christmas, Baby Jesus!

"Favourite Christmas ornament/object..."

.. the various homemade ornaments that I have from my childhood and that my children are now making!

"Plans for this Christmas..."

I'll be spending Christmas with my immediate family and the godparents of my two youngest children. I'm sad that we won't be seeing my parents and siblings like we did last year. I'll see my parents within a few weeks after that though, so that helps.

"Is Christmas your favourite holiday?"

I think because of how far-reaching it is, yes, Christmas is my favorite holiday.

The universal joy of Christmas is certainly wonderful. We ring the bells when
princes are born, or toll a mournful dirge when great men pass away. Nations
have their red-letter days, their carnivals and festivals, but once in the year
and only once, the whole world stands still to celebrate the advent of a life.
Only Jesus of Nazareth claims this world-wide, undying remembrance. You cannot cut Christmas out of the Calendar, nor out of the heart of the
world. - Anonymous

I'll tag others soon.

Life is going along at our house quite well. I am as busy as ever. I rarely have a free moment anymore. I am stealing time that should be used for other things around my house to even do this writing. It's a little frustrating sometimes, but this shall pass. Even with all the frustrations and challenges I am happy with how we are all doing.

I am not at all in the Christmas spirit yet, which I suppose is okay. After all, it's not Christmas yet! We are enjoying our new Advent wreath and two Advent Calendars; one given to us by my oldest son's godparents and the other from my parents. It is still somewhat of a novelty for me to keep up with all the feasts and celebrations that the Catholic religion has. I didn't really grow up with these things being celebrated in my home. I gather all the kids together in the morning and we talk about feast days as we go over the calendar each day.

I am so grateful for the Personal Attendant help that Samuel has. The two people who help us out are doing well with Samuel. In between the times that I do his school work they keep him busy and out of trouble. It's really great to know that I don't have to worry about Samuel sneaking food or sneaking time on the computer. We still have a ways to go teaching Samuel to be more independent in using his free time appropriately. The visual schedule we use will help us teach him.

I have made a renewed effort to properly use reinforcers with Samuel. Using them properly makes his school work sessions so much calmer. As I prepare his schedule I prepare a token board. If I know that he will be agreeable to the work then I will use "high 5's" as reinforcers. Then for the subjects that he is not so agreeable I use "sweet snack" (Skittles ) or perhaps a "healthy snack" (raisins or peanuts) , or a "crunchy snack" (pretzels or a cereal bar). I want to move beyond just food reinforcers. There are some books he likes to look at, so I should have a supply of them ready for him to look at after he "works".

I hope everyone is enjoying preparing for Christmas! My thoughts and prayers this evening go out to a family I know whose son is scheduled for surgery tomorrow.