Casa Colina: Early Start Pre-School & Speech Therapy

One of the first forms of early intervention that John received was an Early Start Pre-School class at Casa Colina in Pomona, California. The Early Start class is focused on developing the goal areas of gross motor, fine motor, sensory, communication, cognition, socialization/play and self-help. Children work individually and in groups with their parents and child therapy instructors as they rotate through a series of activity centers.

John attends the class two times a week for 2-and-a-half hours each time. Upon arriving, John must find his picture and place it on his schedule. After completion of each activity, he is instructed to "check his schedule". Using a laminated paper with a check mark on the front and piece of velcro on the back, John takes it to his schedule hanging on a wall. He places the 'check' next to the first activity, which is dipicted in a photo. The first activity is to 'wash hands'. John takes the photo to the sink, places it in a folder and proceeds to wash his hands. He is given a second 'check' to take to his schedule.

The next photo announces that its "circle time". John takes the photo and finds a square to sit on with the other children. He hands the photo to the teacher, announcing that he is ready for "Circle Time". The teacher shows the children a board that has pictures that represent different songs they can sing. Each child, in turn, chooses the song that everyone will sing. A picture of raindrops represents the first verse of the song "if all the raindrops". After the group sings the song, the child who picked the song is given a "prop" for that song. A rain stick is given for "If All the Raindrops". The child watches it fall and then is instructed to turn it over and watch again. They then must hand it over to the next child sitting next to them. After the prop makes it's way around the circle, the next child picks the song they want. John's favorites are "Boom Boom Ain't It Great to Be", where he can play the beat on the drum, "Wheels on the Bus", and "If All the Raindrops". He doesn't sing much at school, which is surprising because he does at home, but he loves the pantomime gestures and passing each of the props.

The schedule order is then different for each child, but each will have time outside on the playground, project time at the table, imaginary play, work time, and gross motor skills activities.

We have learned, through Outside time, that John loves the swing. He could swing for the whole 20 minutes. I started going through counting and alphabet games while we swing. He loves to talk and verbalize while swinging. (more on this in a later blog).

I have never let John play with glue or scissors up to this point because I just felt that he wasn't ready. Well, a kid is never going to learn if you don't teach him! So, he's learning to cut with scissors and squeeze out the glue. He loves the glue and the first week called it "gluke", but has already corrected himself and says it just right! Already, he has made a shaker, 2 caterpillars, a texture book, and a flag. He wanted to glue paper with the glue side up, but he learned quickly that his hands get messy that way and paper won't stick.

He has a 20-minute one-on-one work session where individual goals are set and then worked on to meet. John sorts colors and shapes, does animal puzzles, strings beads, blows bubbles, plays with Mr. Potato Head, and various other activities to strengthen his skills in each of the developmental areas. How they play with him is the key to his success' thus far. John came in to this program very impulsive. If a teacher held two objects, one in each hand, asking for him to pick the red one, John would reach for both without listening to her directions. By the second session, they had him waiting, looking at each one and then choosing. His first reaction is definitely impulsive, but slowing him down is the key. He has a very busy brain, which is easily distracted. He learned the "clean up" song really fast and he says and signs "all done" pretty quickly after starting a task. The therapists are really good at making him do it "one more time" and "we will be all done". I think he enjoys cleaning up and finishing more than anything else, but he is learning so much.

In addition to his early start classes, he attends 2 hours of speech therapy a week. Speech therapy is play based therapy that works on his language skills. They use a reward system (for John it's bubbles) to get him to say his words. They play with cars, Play Dough, flash cards, balls, etc. while concentrating on his verbal skills. John loves coming to "school", but speech therapy wears him out. About 30 minutes into a session, John becomes distracted and begins to look around and "space out". This is the most important time to keep going --trying to increase his attention span.

We've been in the program for 6 weeks and he has improved so much! I can't believe the changes we have seen both at home and in the classroom. He tested at a 6-9 month age level for language 2 months ago. Last week, they told me his language has already gone up to 17-18 months age range.

Things we've noticed:

• He sits during circle time
• John never sits still and the first day, I chased him around the room, leading him back to his square and having to hold him in my lap
• By the third class, I was able to sit behind him
• He has poor posture, which I never noticed before because he would never sit still; he sits leaning back on his hands or slumped over his knees
• His language is controlled
• There is intent behind his words; he communicates to have needs met
• "all done" and "more" have helped us understand when he is ready to do something
• he points to objects and tells us what they are
• He is engaging
• The inability to engage, which he showed during his Regional Center testing, is one huge part of the Autism diagnosis
• He is able to follow direction
• He is able to get my attention and tell me about an object or what he wants
• There is a 'give' and 'take' in play with him
• His attention is increasing
• Work wears him out
• John yawns about 10 minutes into every work session
  
• John gets tired after school
• John tends to have melt downs when he is tired

Goals we are working on:

• Building towers with blocks
• Increase attention
• Completing tasks
• Articulation in Speech
• Jumping from 2 feet
• Decrease impulsiveness
• Stringing multiple beads
• Blowing bubbles

This has been the best experience so far. I can't believe his progress in the little time he's been attending Casa Colina. I can't wait to see what the next few months brings us.