I am a brainstormer. Every year at Christmas I make lists and then more lists, on how to create the perfect holiday experience for my family. Yes, this is stressful and I wish my personality type allowed me to just chill. And yes, every year I say that I won’t do it again next year, but then always a few days before, when I can see the finish line over the horizon, I start feeling like all the work was worth it.
This year, my iPhone tightened the reigns on my crazed list making. Instead of having lists tucked in my jeans, my nightstand, my office drawer, and in the car, I consolidated it on my phone and each time I would think of something, I would text it in. In addition to the usual holiday chores, I brainstorm on good gifts to buy my children. No, I don’t get my kids all the presents I come up with, but it does give my family members and I ideas to choose from.
Games have been a huge motivator for Jake to say his sounds/words in speech therapy over the past three months. In public therapy, he plays games with two other children and they love them too. It’s also an added bonus that he’s learning numbers, colors, shapes, and counting.
At one point, I thought I shouldn’t work on this early learning stuff with him because he couldn’t talk. Then, I realized he could learn without verbally expressing himself.
Here’s my master list for 2011-2012 …
- ThinkFun Zingo
- Any Melissa & Doug toys – This year I chose the See & Spell Puzzle, but I highly recommend the Alphabet Train Floor Puzzle for boys. They love it! (Tip-Before I give Jake a piece, I make him say the letter and sound.)
- Uno Moo Game
- Richard Scarry Busy Town Game
- Cootie Game
- Flyin’ Frogs Game
- Super Why ABC Letter Preschool Game
- Lauri Toys Peggy Back Game (similar to Candy Land only bigger spaces and a big dice)
- Pop Up Pirate Game
- Kids’ Express Train KET SET 1 (www.expresstrain.org)- Pricey, but awesome music CDs that our speech therapist uses
- Books- Especially lift-the-flap kind
- Baby Babble Speech-Enhancing Video (Jake has this now and it is recommended for ages 3 to 30 months. I got it over the summer and even though he was technically too old for it, it was PERFECT for him. He loved watching it and he learned a lot of basic sounds).
- Stocking Stuffer “treat” ideas for the food-allergy conscious family: Rice Krispie Treats, Oreos, bananas, suckers
Merry Christmas and happy gift buying!
Jake's Journey with Apraxia 
Hi Tori,
I have enjoyed reading your blog! Jake has made a lot of progress since last year at this time. I loved your game ideas and will have to check out the ones that I don’t have. Happy New Year! Kelly
I just for your blog…and am so happy I did!!!! My daughter is 2.5 and was recently diagnosed with suspected CAS. She began her therapy in the beginning of January so she is at almost the same place as Jake. Thank you for these ideas…they are all so great!!!!! I am looking forward to reading about Jake’s progress!!!!!
Thank you so much for your kind words! How great that your SLP is proactive and has said that your daughter may have apraxia at such a young age. When Jake was that age, I kept thinking, ‘Isn’t this like any other illness or disorder? Once I know what I’m up against, I know how to begin fighting it.’ I think getting the right, structured therapy from age 2 1/2 to 3 years old would have made a huge difference for us. Now, I feel so blessed that we have such a great specialist and are on such a good path. I briefly checked out your blog just now and saw that you’re doing Kaufman therapy. It’s great, isn’t it? The words will come, so hang in there!
I’m looking for some word flash cards… have you seen any? My Eli seems to like them at preschool for his therapy and I will be asking them in the fall where to get them if I haven’t found them or something just as good. This is a great post to share again and again with family and friends for birthdays and christmas. I look forward to more posts of yours! Thank you for taking the time to post them!
The Artic flash cards have a picture with the word underneath. You can find those at http://www.superduperinc.com/. I couldn’t find any cards that were exactly what I wanted, so I made my own. It’s time consuming though and is expensive if you print pics from your computer and laminate them. Thanks for your kind words!
Thank you! Appreciate your help 🙂
Awesome thank you!