Since Gideon's verbal skills have been slow to emerge, I made a "communication board" for him out of a white board, some velcro and blank business cards that I drew on and laminated. One side of the board is white and the other side is black. I'm not sure how well this is going to work, due to his limited vision, but no harm in trying right? I have embossed braille onto each laminated card as well.
The idea is that I will show/hand Gideon a card while naming it and he will do one of these things:
a) reach for it
b) hold a gaze on it
c) not toss it away
...and then I will give him the corresponding item.
So far there has been limited success. He doesn't like the sound of the velcro. (I wonder if it reminds him of the velcro on his stander?) He hasn't reached out for any of the cards, as he tends to be cautious with new things. His eye gaze has been very difficult to establish because he often uses each eye separately and not together. He is also in the "throw everything within hands reach far away and listen to it crash" phase. Occasionally, he will just start to cry and turn his head away from the board when I present it to him. So yeah- limited success. On the up side though, when there is some success, he does like it when I take the card(s) away and give him one his favourite toys. (Cards = frowns Toys = smiles) I guess it's a work in progress.
Another little project I did was cover some of his blocks with black and white duct tape. These high contrast blocks are much easier for Gideon to see and hold his interest for much longer.
What DIY projects have you been up to?
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