31. December 2008 by admin.

Have you ever ran out of Cream of Tartar? Seriously … the other day I was making some new dough for the kids and absolutely no cream of tartar. So I made several different kinds of ‘doh’ - all without the cream of tartar (which has always been my favorite type) and realized that the play doughs with oil have a nice consistency. After experimenting ….. I discovered (many of you may already realize this ….. and your one ahead of me) that adding a little oil to any of the basic clay doh recipes will make them more malleable and of a decent texture. Now our play dough area smells great with peppermint, coffee, pumpkin / cinnamon and some type of candy scent - and yes I did make that many different recipes to experiment with adding a little oil - and they all turned out great. One more thing …… I did have to add a little extra flour to some of the recipes when kneading the dough. Hope you find this helpful …. and have a great evening. 

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31. December 2008 by admin.

Picture Exchange Communication programs are a wonderful asset to the educational environment.  The value of a PECS or PEWE system encourages sight to word recognition as well as basic communication ability for the student with speech impairments.

 Aside from the designed use of PECS, the visual stimulation for a ‘typical’ student has shown proven results.  The small photo cards have become a popular replacement for the old fashion flash cards.  The compact size allows for convenient portability and storage. The picture exchange word exchange pieces are not only useful for communication boards but will compliment any reading program.  The pieces can be placed, using hook and loop tape, on any published book near the picture of choice to increase sight recognition of the word / picture.   The pieces have also found a useful place along the side of spelling words.  When working on a spelling list provide the student with coordinating picture / word pieces to create sentences, books and even art pieces.  Remember that many students need not only verbal but visual (any additional sensory) stimulation when working on certain skills.   PEWE pieces are used on communication boards, reading material, art pieces, sentence structuring work and so many other places.  In an early educational environment it is not uncommon to find a classroom filled with word cards taped to common items.  This practice has improved the word recognition at an earlier age of such words as table, door, art, reading and many other words.  Add a PEWE card to the taped cards and create a fun game from doing it.  Give the students the PEWE / PECS style card and have them walk around the classroom labeling the items.  This is just one of the many activities an instructor can do with the students. 

Remember that the only limits on education are the ones we set for ourselves.  

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