homeschool

As the mother of a special needs daughter I understand the daily challenges parents of special needs children face.  Simple tasks can become such a burden and things that should take only a moment to do can take hours to accomplish.  We not only have to teach our children what to be able to do but how to be able to do it.   We have to be able to instill the art of interpersonal communication so that our children can survive in an ever-changing world.  This is not an easy task for parents of children who do not face special challenges.  It is nigh impossible for those of us who do.  But Thank the Lord for tools that can help us along.

Choiceworks Visual Boards

About 4 years ago I stumbled upon the concept of “visuals”.  Visuals are tools that help non-verbal people communicate in a verbal world.  Our daughter struggled not only in verbal communication, but because of her disability she could not stay focused for more than a few hours without tripping over into her “own world.”  In her world, she was happy, loud but happy, and life would stop for the rest of us as we tried to manage the noise levels, and the chaos that ensued.

Grocery shopping would leave me exhausted for hours, as my daughter “flapped” her way nosily throughout the store, knocking cans and produce everywhere, and screaming throughout the meat and dairy section.  I remember once at a Walmart, EllaBella was “flapping” and making a high-pitched shrill noise in the laundry aisle, (most special needs kids are very sensitive to smells) and the floor manager of all people, who saw that it was her, said rather loudly, “I wish the parent of whatever brat that is making all that noise would make it shut up.”  My first thought was “me too buddy, if you only knew..” Yes, I did give him a small piece of my mind, in a nice way of course.

It was at this point that I found BeeVisual and after a few months we discovered our lives became more organized and peaceful.  Every day I would set up her boards, use the tiles to get through the tasks, and the books when we had problems.  The timer and wait boards were invaluable.  However, the original boards and books were too bulky to take along on outings. We could only manage her outbursts and problems at home.  Going out was a huge challenge.

Recently, I was asked to try the new app for IPhone.  What a GODSEND, this was.  I have an ITouch and carry it with me everywhere so this was going to make life easier for us all.  I downloaded the app in seconds and was able to even take pictures and recordings of Ella doing tasks and such that are unique to our family and lifestyle.  I could even make different boards for different parts of the day and different situations.   She eagerly stays on task as the visuals keep her motivated. It is portable because it is on my ITouch and it comes with everything the original version does.

The Waiting Board is used a LOT in our home

Here is how I use the app.  I set up the boards I will need for the next day, which takes but a few minutes.  The boards are reusable and you can have as many as you like.  I even use this for my younger son Noah, just because it is easy to keep him on task as well.  Then in the morning when Ella wakes up she gives me a hug and we go through Ella’s Wake-up Board.  She has five simply things to do, go to the bathroom, wash her hands, eat breakfast, wash hands and face, and get dressed.  After she does these things she can choose between to activities which are timed at the bottom of the board.  Off she goes to have fun.  She has learned, responsibility, she has made good choices, the morning has gone smoother because I am not frustrated trying to get her to go to the bathroom.  She sees what she needs to do, the boards speak the task and she does it.  So wonderful.

Visuals are not a new concept for special needs children.  There are many kids of visuals as well.  We are ever grateful to the Lord that our dear Ella is so high functioning and very articulate.   We use the Waiting Boards and Feelings Board a lot as she has great difficulties with managing feelings and understanding boundaries.  The Timer is invaluable.

I highly recommend this app for ANY parent of ANY child under age 10, special needs or no, because it is an invaluable mom helper tool.  As I mentioned, I also use this for our son Noah, aged 6, who is just your normal rambunctious boy.  It helps me to use this with both of them simultaneously and keep them on track, learning responsibility and interpersonal communication.  I love this app!  It has made my life so much easier.

Destiny helping Dona Chilo pick some clothing at the bazaar tonight

Monday is tiangus day

one of the sweet babies with his bread from tia stasia

the ladies that help me sort the bread to give away to the poor families

holding one of the sweet babies while his mommy looks for clothing at the free bazaar

some of the sweet kids at the center

sweet Gabie, I love her

helping one of the moms with her bag of goodies

helping a momma sort thru things at the bazaar

"Jesus hoding da wode in His hands" Noah John aged 5

We learned about planes in science today

Our science lesson continued with levers

Destiny helps a lot when she makes lunch

Ella looking at the world thru her own eyes

Destiny studying her health and science

Ella is learning to read

Mondays are super busy days for any family, and for us it is no different.  Since we have always been a homeschooling family, it happens to be our fullest school day of the week.  Monday is the day we handle new fun projects, especially in science.  Today we learned about planes, levers, and the circulatory system.  Ella is learning how to read which is a miracle.

We also have the tiangus on Mondays.  The tiangus is our market day, so we have to walk to the market and buy our food for the week.  We have to clean and bleach all the fruits and vegies, so I usually clean the fridge as well.  I have found through the years that if you clean the fridge out weekly, you never have to do the dreaded deep clean.  Then there is the usual cleaning the house and catching up on the washing, with people coming around asking for food or money.  I can often hear them calling “tiastasia” as I hang the washing on the line.  Since we live on the corner of a busy bus stop, there is always a lot of noise and something interesting going on.

On Monday evenings we have the prayer and counseling meeting in Tepehua.  The local market gives us day old bread and we give it to the poor.  I also give out whatever clothing, diapers, food whatever I have been given, or found, away.  

Tonight I opened the bazaar for the families who have been faithfully coming to the prayer meeting.  I let them each take a couple of bags of items so that we could make room for more pre-loved stuff that we will be given very soon.  There were many children and babies.  It was a very busy and hot evening.

I do not know what I would do without Gabie, a dear friend for over a decade.  She lives with her 5 children in tiny house with only half a roof.  She is one of the greatest people I know, lacking everything tangible but abundant in all things intangible.  She is a woman of great faith, love and compassion.   We have laughed and cried together, she is always there to help me however she can with the cheeriest disposition.  Her life rings true the fact that in the end it is not what you have but who you are that remains.

So the beginning of my week is huge, and I often end up in the wee hours of the morning wondering how I will make it through to Wednesday because Tuesday I spend the majority of the day up in the office in Tepehua.  Mommas come to the office to ask for help and advice, but what I have noticed most is that they want someone to just listen to them.  

These precious women are poor, hungry, battered and without hope.  One dear momma, who cares for all of her grand babies came in to the center tonight with the words “bread bread do you have a piece of bread and water?” trembling out of her mouth.  She was famished, as were her grand babies.  How do you handle things like that?    

Destiny was a huge help today, making lunch and helping with some of the ladies choosing items at the bazaar.  She has taken my love for the babies, and I caught her several times this evening toting a baby on her wee hip.  She is growing up into a lovely young girl full of compassion for the poor.  She usually has her foklorica ballet class on Monday but she begged to help me tonight instead.  I was so grateful she stayed to help me.   

And then we came home, where my dear hubbie had already gotten my own precious wee ones to sleep.  I gave them cuddles and prayed over them with such gratitude, for our home and food.  This type of day keeps me centered so to speak.  We often lack for ourselves, because we are missionaries and survive on what support comes our way.  But in reality we are so wealthy in Christ.  He takes such good care of us.  How can I grumble and complain after a day like today.  Love, joy, care, compassion, and I got to be a part of it all.  What a privilege.  

Yes, there were times throughout the day where I wanted to scream for the world to stop.  Like the “cream man”, a vendor who sells miracle creams from a broken down truck and parks in front of the gate with his loudspeakers blaring about the marvels of his homemade cream for a couple of hours.  Then our precious Ella, who is high-functioning Autistic PDD-NOS, had her moments today where she reverted to her own “world”.  Her own world seems to be loud and full of messy activities, but as the Drs have told us, we should be grateful that when she is “there” at least she is happy.  And Noah, who at five years old, loves to see things go from organized to un-organized, rapidly.  He has no greater joy than to toss a couple of dozen hotwheels across the floor, or even a whole box of legos on the sofa.  Mess, mess, and more mess.  

I close today thinking on some special moments.  One, that precious grandma who asked for bread, and during the prayer time shared rather shyly, that after I had visited her very ill grandbaby last week and prayed with them (baby girl is 1 1/2 yrs) that somehow the Lord provided them with food and water and the baby got better.   

Finally, in school when Ella actually read a few sentences to me out loud and that sweet moment during science, where my 5 year old son Noah, rolled a small ball of playdough with his wee chubby hands into the shape of what seemed the earth and said, “Wook mommie, Jesus hoding da wode in His hands.”  *sigh* Life is soo sweet *sigh*