ECC Family Project 2

I quite possibly think that this new series is becoming my favorite during this quarantine time. Why? Because I am a mom and I know first-hand how hard it is to manage life! This is a project that kiddos with multiple impairments or typically developing can do with their siblings. 

You only need THREE ingredients and a popsicle mold--easy peasy! I bought these molds in the Dollar Spot at Target awhile back. You can also probably find them at Dollar Tree or order them for a minimal cost. My youngest (she's 6 years old) did the project with minimal support from me. 

The other bonus? It wasn't a marathon long project. We were done (including set up, preparation and clean up) in 15 minutes. Boom! The recipe was a find from Pinterest. Here it is: http://poofycheeks.com/2014/06/jell-o-popsicle-recipe/. Now that we have discovered this one, Pinterest has been awesome to find me a dozen more variations. 

A couple of important notes for maximizing your total Expanded Core learning: 

1. Your child is the one who should be in charge of the set up & clean up (not just the actual cooking). They should pull out the pot for the water, measuring cup, bowl and spoon. This is the part that may take a few extra minutes if they are new to the kitchen scene. Don't do this part with siblings as they tend to be well meaning but give away the answers. Normally I would suggest that your child also buy the Jell-O but we are in a new normal here. Have a quick (seriously--QUICK) discussion on the different flavors of Jell-O if they are new to Jell-O. Talk about the cost (Jell-O and store brand is cheap!).

2. Consider contrast. Notice that I selected dark blue. It is easy to see. If your child has no vision, consider using a tray with all of the ingredients to keep things organized. 

3. If your child has limitations such as multiple impairments, think about how they can actively participate. That's different than being totally independent. Can they hold the box? Open it? Can they stir? You can discuss hot and cold, empty and full concepts easily. Are they very limited with their hands? No worries--go hand-under-hand with them. Not sure how? Watch this super quick and awesome video: https://www.wsdsonline.org/hand-under-hand/ (watch Daniel Makes A Smoothie). 

4. Let them use the stove! The easiest thing you can do on a stove is boil water. Highlight how you know water is boiling without seeing it. You can hear it! 

5. Put your child in charge of cleaning up! That includes wiping down the counter. 

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about how my little one was going to pour the mix into the containers. I have a small one cup measuring cup. We simply dunked the cup in the mix and then poured it. She did it all by herself. ECC bonus skills: pouring! No vision? No worries! Don't let your child put their finger in (we do discourage it but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do). Try having them feel the outside of the container while they pour. The water is hot and you can feel it fill up the container. BEFORE they pour have them indicate with their finger where the top of the mold is. This way you know that they know where the top is. 

Freeze for a few hours and enjoy! I didn't add as much sugar as the recipe called for but you can do whatever works for your family. NOTE: for kids with multiple impairments, really play up the temperature aspects of this. There are repeated opportunities to talk about hot and cold. You could easily make a new recipe with a new flavor each week. Once you master these, you can rank up and try the fruit ones with fresh fruit and coconut milk. Go for it! 

Braille Sundae

I was hanging in one of our preschool classes with my new fave preschool teacher, Annie, to co-teach with her. She had a fun lesson for dipping apples into different toppings. We did a quick brainstorm and turned her lesson into a Braille lesson with a few quick changes. Next thing we know, we have this fun ECC lesson and are making Braille sundaes. 

Annie's lesson started like this:

And became an Expanded Core Curriculum lesson:

We added an APH tray (any tray will do though) and arrange the toppings into a Braille cell. 

Easy update!

For instruction, we reviewed the Braille cell and the corresponding numbers. 

For example, (look at the picture above), the chocolate chips are "dot one", the caramel sauce is "dot 2", etc.  

Students took turns selecting toppings but had to request it by the number (to teach the number configuration of a Braille cell). It was a success! The students did great requesting using the dot numbers. For example,  "dot 6, sprinkles".We did a quick but direct instruction on the Braille cell to set the students up for success in the lesson. 

This wasn't just a Braille lesson though. We incorporated much of the Expanded Core, too! 

We addressed other areas of the ECC such as:

Independent Living Skills: cooking skills at the preschool level

Orientation & mobility: positional concepts 

Self-determination: making choices, trying new things and making opinions about them

Social skills: turn taking, eating etiquette and conversation.

These were the areas that also received special instruction during this Braille lesson. We had each of these areas in mind during instruction (that's the secret to implementing ECC!). This was a preschool lesson so the whole lesson was about 30-35 minutes. My favorite part: listening to these sweet little preschoolers request their toppings using it as a Braille cell ("dot 2, caramel sauce!"). 

Holiday Ideas!

Can you believe that we are in December?! It's crazy! I am sure everyone is set for holiday ideas but I thought I would share some ideas that I have been doing this season. These are ECC activities that can be done at home or school, December through January and can be done with kids of all abilities with a little modification. There are so many good ideas to do so I decided to include some baking/cooking as well as other type of activities. I've pinned a lot of these on Pinterest already but I thought I would share here too.  I made sure to include link to the site.
Here goes:

Christmas S'mores
http://mineforthemaking.com/2011/12/christmas-smores-snack.html

I am doing this activity this week! I love it because it is a simple three step sequence for our MIVI kids as well as something yummy and doable for our typical kids. Did you miss Christmas? How about calling it New Years S'Mores? I also experimented with different types of marshmallows and M&Ms and let my students choose (easy peasy self-determination skill). I bought mint flavored marshmallows and a variety of different types of M&Ms. I'm having the student make their own labels or they can decorate one that I'm giving them.

How fun is this idea for painting? This is a great modification for a lot of our kids. You could also add in O&M skills by going to the grocery store and buying the spices/scents. This makes it a complete skill! **Remember you don't have to do it all in one day---you could go to the store and purchase on the first lesson and make the paint on lesson #2**

I'm really excited for these cinnamon snowflakes that I am doing this with not only my students by my kids too! Find the steps here: http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/01/cinnamon-snowflakes.html. You can always practice cutting snowflakes on paper first. This is also another activity that you can do well into January in case you missed December. 

I loved this idea as well because it allows you to incorporate some fun kitchen skills in the discussion. This activity includes all areas of the ECC! Can you see how? A lot of times we do cooking for the actual activity but what about giving a gift (think social skills! It is fun to give not just to receive--perfect lesson for our kids!). Read more about this idea: http://www.emma-courtney.com/2013/12/cute-diy-gifts.html

And what about learning about all the pots, pans and kitchen utensils for the holiday? How about this idea:

Of course there is also this popular activity:

You can find several variations of Snowman Soup but the one pictured is from http://www.the36thavenue.com/25-edible-neighbor-gifts/

http://befickle.blogspot.com/2010/03/secret-service-activity-days-activity.html

I did this for my kids last year and it was a hit! I am suggesting for our kids because this is another awesome idea for teaching our kids about giving to others. You can expand on this lesson by not just talking about service, but about how to be a friend and how to show gratitude. This is also a great one for teens (just make the mission more mature). Use Braille or Large Print. If Braille isn't available and you need it, think about making a auditory mission and record the details.

How about having some fun at your next holiday party? Do you want to build a snowman? Another fun ECC activity for students of all ages and abilities!

Original idea from: http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2011/12/evergreen-gift-tags.html
I thought this idea was the best match up to my tactual labels idea. You can make a tactual label for everyone in the family. It may take a bit more effort so choose easy items to glue onto labels or use ribbon (like in the picture). Can you put peppermint or nutmeg on your kids' tag? This is sensory integration and it's ECC (plus these are just soooo cute).  If you are thinking this is a great idea but too much time, turn the project into a family night activity! Each person can make their own labels as you sing holiday songs! 

 This candle project is from one of our own talented teachers, Annette Loveland. This idea is perfect because it teaches core and expanded core at the same time! Can you see how? It's also great for students that use candles as part of their holiday traditions. I loved it!

Also this is the time that I remind everyone to stock up on CVI materials!!
Grab up those red and gold beads, shiny red wrapping paper, red ornaments and Christmas lights!! I just bought 5 new boxes and I think I have to head back and buy more!

Let's get cooking again: Monkey Bread

My kids and I do a "mom activity" once a week. I found a fun recipe for pizza monkey bread. As we were making it, I realized that this would be a great post for a new Recipe Renovation! I liked it for several reasons--it involves multiple steps for cooking, the feel of different types of textures, nice contrast, utilizes the oven and when using reduced fat cheese, turkey pepperoni and adding in veggies, it's a healthy tasty meal! Thanks to my sweet kids who are the stars of this post! I also repinned the original idea on my Pinterest boad, This works for Blind kids, too!

The ingredients: reduced fat mozzarella cheese, spaghetti sauce, Grands biscuits (we did this again and used smaller, thinner biscuits and it was even more yummy), turkey pepperoni and cut up red and orange peppers. Feel free to add in your ingredients!

We put the dough in the fridge until we were absolutely ready for it. Discuss the feeling of it being cold for younger kiddos. We "thinned out" the dough by pulling on it. 

Build your pizza! We used three ingredients aka a three step sequence (perfect for kiddos that are MIVI/DB). If  your child cannot hold the dough in their hands, grab a plain colored place mat and have them work on it there (or their tray if in a wheelchair). 

Proof that even though it looks pretty on Pinterest doesn't mean it looks so pretty in real life!

Roll ingredients into a pocket. The second time around we experimented by just making it into a ball and that worked too. You just need it to be sealed. This is a good time to work on those pinching fine motor skills. 

I helped place it in the pan. We used a bundt pan to make the "monkey bread" layout but we also experimented with making balls and putting them in a regular glass pan. That worked too!

I sprinkled some cheese and Mrs. Dash on top before we put in the oven. 

It's okay if you have a kiddo that needs a bit of help to do this. Your rule of thumb as parent or teacher is to make sure that you are not doing everything. Remember the 80/20 rule: They do at least 80% of the work (that includes initiating the steps) and you do 20%. My kids' age range is 5-9 so it's a good mix for kids to do. We did this a second time and we had high school students cook with us. It's perfect for any age!!

Salad-Tastic!

Hi Friends, I am back from vacation! I went out west to Utah and Jackson Hole and....I....LOVED....it! It was a blast to be back on the west coast! It was also super fun to surprise my mom!! She had no idea that I was stopping by for a visit. She thought she had to sign for a package so imagine her surprise when she hears my not-so-quiet voice booming across her dining hall!

Anyways, I got to thinking that it's been awhile since I have blogged about a good Recipe Renovation. I had an idea while preparing dinner the other night about how fantastic salads are for cooking projects!! Salads come in great varieties, can be big or small and can be customized to fit anyone's kitchen skill repertoire. My other win-win of salad making is that it is a healthy choice and doesn't usually require the use of a stove, microwave or oven.

A few of my fave ideas for salads:

The Waldorf Salad (a great mix of grapes, yogurt, apples and cranberries). Perfect for the "non veggie" salad kind of kid. You can hit up allrecipes.com for some great ideas on Waldorf salads. 

The pasta salad--okay, I know I said no stove but this one is for the more experienced chef. I found tons of super easy pasta salad ideas from kraft.com. Simple recipes that include basic stove skills--great for the  student who needs intro to cooking skills!

The Seven Layer salad. I actually thought this one would be fun for kids because I thought they might get a kick out of making the layers. Plus the layered salads can be easy for some students because they are quite prescribed as you need only do one layer at a time. 

I loved this idea! Now, make sure you cut yourself some slack and realize that your kid might not make it this pretty. I just thought the cone idea (maybe even with some yogurt) would be fun for kids. You can also make fruit salad in a bowl. This is also a great idea as an alternative for dessert!

The other fabulous part of salad making is that if you allow your kiddo to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, it allows them to explore an area that is quite hands on. Salad making utilizes kitchen skills that can go from basic---just mix and serve to using slicing, peeling and mixing skills (even cooking if you prepare pasta or chicken). If you are teaching a life skills class, have the students do a salad taste off and let them prepare then sample a variety of salads (then vote on students favorite). It's a simple skill that can work as a side dish or a main dish. How cool is it if your kid prepares the salad for the next family BBQ? It would be great to see our kids preparing something other than brownies (healthy too!!)

Easter Projects

Happy Easter friends! I have a few ideas for this fun spring holiday. I have a couple on Easter eggs that you might like. A lot of people typically do the audible Easter eggs. It's a very popular way to have an Easter egg hunt. Make sure you do a good pre-teach with your kiddo (6-8 minutes long) and describe important landmarks and the boundaries of the area. Remember, you want to give meaningful information about the area. It's a good idea for them to have a mobility plan so that when all the kids are running around, your child has a base plan of attack.

I wanted to find some different kinds of crafts this year for Easter project. In my opinion Easter is one of the more difficult craft holidays because everything is so tiny and usually fragile. I found one fun idea in Family Fun for making a felted egg:

And then when I was Pinteresting I found this rad idea using regular eggs and glow sticks (both are a dollar at Dollar Tree right now!) Turn down the lights and this could get seriously fun (just remember to think about mobility as well---no large dark objects for our kids to bump into). I also thought this was a good idea for our kiddos who are MIVI---a few of these might be really fun to put in a large cake pan and then on their tray of a wheelchair. You could even add some beads or jingle bells inside (seal the egg with a bit of tape) so that our kids can shake them and have some more fun. 

And of course I had to find a fun cooking project!! Look at these! They are Easter s'mores!!! I can't stop using the exclamation points because I am SO excited about these!! These are the perfect cooking snack for preschool through teens. It's an simple 3 step sequence so it's also hit for our MIVI kids too! You can even add the vocational step by packaging them and putting on a label like the ones in this picture. Wait, there's more!! I know you are probably just as excited as I am right now until you think to yourself: "There's no way I can pull this off by Easter!" Do not despair my friends! This is also a fantastic spring project to do! Peeps will be going to clearance by Monday and you can turn this into a fab spring project--yay!! All you need for this project are: Peeps (they even make yellow ones for our CVI friends!), graham crackers and miniature (wrapped) Hershey's chocolates. Get some labels and snack sized plastic bags and you are in business!

Happy Easter everyone!

Last of the Christmas-ish ideas...These could still be good over winter break too!

Countdown to Christmas! It's just around the corner and sweet nibblets, I can't believe I put off Christmas shopping!! I just got it done this past Tuesday. Luckily for me I am firm to the three presents per child rule. This year the spirit of making homemade gifts just filled me up. My fiancee and I made tie quilts for each of our kids and we made art buckets. In between all the crafting, I still thumbed through some magazines and found some fun ideas. These ones are keepers not just for the actual holiday of Christmas but are super fantastic for the whole winter holiday. Here's my last three recipe/craft/projects. I LOVED these pie in a jar ideas!! I thought they were just perfect for our kids. I photographed every detail of these. I am going to try them after Christmas over winter break. I'll post them when I do them. 

I loved this next idea as well but let's face it, it's never gonna look this pretty with little hands and hand under hand work so rest assure that it might not look the same as this pretty picture. Nevertheless, I still think this is a great idea and something fun to hand out to neighbors, family, church members, etc. Remember to still work the connected teaching experience by letting our kiddos go to the store to buy the items. I think it works because our kids like to eat chocolate chip cookies so there's a little motivation there. 

Lastly, peppermint bark! I know I use this every year. It's such a good kid recipe (tweens to teens, too!!).  There are so many version of bark but here's just another one that I found. Making peppermint bark is also super fantastic for kids who are MIVI/DB and ASDVI. They really can't mess it up! Plus most of these special kiddos like to hammer the peppermint. I also like to add Heath toffee chips to mine as well as swirling the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. Peppermint is also a strong smell that most of our kids dig as well. Feel free to sprinkle peppermint sprinkles or red sprinkles too!

 And remember to go to Target the days after Christmas for your

 CVI stock up bonanza!! 

Happy holidays my friends! I'll blog again soon after the holiday and while I am on winter break with my sweet little kids. 

Candy Cane Twists Recipe

You can make these into candy canes or wreaths! If you are going to do candy canes, think about expanding the lesson and buy some actual candy canes and eat them! Have your child hang candy canes on the tree! Let them smell the peppermint and discuss what other things smell like peppermint during the holiday! I can go on and on but I hope you are picking up what I am putting down here about connecting your recipe to other concepts around this holiday especially for younger children. There is even a little OT-type work in this one with the twisting (a little fine motor, hand coordination, etc.). I found this recipe in Family Fun (my never ending idea box of fun). You can also make wreaths, hearts and star shapes :)