FELICITY'S GOALS & ACTIVITIES – AGE 2
When I started home-schooling my nieces and nephews, Felicity was 2 years old. I did not begin working directly with Felicity until she was 2 ½. She was receiving services from Birth to Three and when the school year started, my sister, Angela, worked with Felicity while I taught Felicity's siblings. Felicity's oldest brother, Zacchaeus (who was 16 at the time), also did "therapy" with Felicity during the school day. Below is a list of goals and activities I wrote down for Angela and Zacchaeus and for the rest of Felicity's family at the beginning of the school year. Reviewing her goals with the entire family was extremely important because we all worked together, not only during structured learning times, but throughout the day, to help Felicity make progress towards her learning objectives.
***During all activities promote and encourage MOVEMENT, LANGUAGE, & FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS***
1. Narration
- Continually narrate actions and label objects during interactions Ex: "Time to go outside. Let's go down the stairs. We need to get your shoes. Today you can wear your pink shoes. Let's put them on your feet. One shoe, two shoes. Stand up. Open the door. Oh wow! It's cold today. Where is the car? Oh, it's on the driveway…"
2. Sign Language
- more, all done, again, yes, no, please, thank you, sorry, common objects, animals, food
3. Songs (encourage Felicity to imitate hand motions)
- ABCDEFG…
- The Wheels on the Bus
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm (sign language for animals)
4. Following One-Step Directions
- Have Felicity follow simple one-step directions ("stand up", "sit down", "clap your hands", "touch your head", "throw it out", "clean up", "put it in", "close it", etc.) If you give a direction, always follow through. If Felicity does not respond, gently prompt her to follow the direction so she understands what you were asking her to do and then praise her for responding appropriately.
5. Imitation Skills During Play Activities
- Doll House, Play Kitchen Toys, Dolls, Little People figurines, Dress-up
- Ex: Model and encourage Felicity to imitate you stirring, pouring, having dolls go to bed, having dolls sit in doll chairs, wrapping babies in blankets, feeding babies, etc. Have Felicity walk back and forth from play kitchen to small table to set the table, from couch to drawer with doll clothes to dress the babies, etc.
6. Vocabulary – Receptive Identification of Words ("Point to…", "Give me…", "Where is…?")
- Flashcards – pictures of objects presented in an array of 2 or 3 - pair with sign when possible Ex: "Give me the leaf"
- Body parts ("Touch your feet", "Where is your nose?")
- Animals (by animal name "Point to the horse" or animal sound "Which one says 'woof'?")
- Objects - while playing, present 2 objects and say "Get the (object)." For example, while coloring, hold up pencil versus crayon, "Get the crayon." While playing in kitchen, hold up a plate and fork, "Which one is the plate?" etc.
- Point to pictures in books (ex: "Point to the pig" or "Touch the ball"
6. Speech and Language
- Model, encourage, and praise Felicity's use of vocalizations, particularly encouraging her to imitate beginning sounds of words.
7. Learning Readiness and Behavior
- Increase the amount of time Felicity will sit for teacher-directed activities. Work on developing good learning habits and gaining behavioral and instructional control.
8. Reading
- Read lots of books to Felicity.
9. Letter Sounds and Counting
- Work on letter sounds and counting while playing, reading, and singing. Use flashcards, plastic letters & numbers, magnets, etc.
10. Matching
- Match identical pictures in an array of 3 or 4
- Match identical objects, non-identical objects, associated objects/pictures in array of 3 or 4 (i.e. toothbrush with toothpaste, bowl with spoon, bike with helmet, etc.)
- Match objects to pictures or pictures to objects (i.e. match a ball to picture of a ball when the picture is presented in an array of different pictures)
- Match by color in an array of 3 or 4
11. Sorting
- Sort silverware (ex: spoons vs. forks)
- Sort toys (ex: containers of balls vs. Little People)
- Sort by color (ex: 2 different colors of linking cubes sorted in 2 containers)
12. Problem Solving Skills
- Simple puzzles
- Shape Sorter
13. Fine Motor Strength
- Hide 2 colors of beads in play dough/theraputty. Have Felicity pick the beads out and sort by color, putting them in 2 different containers as she finds them.
14. Exploring Materials
- Coloring, writing (straight lines and circles), paint (with water), play dough, sand, rice, etc.
15. Exposure to animals, shapes, colors, numbers, letters
16. Other
- Monitor Felicity playing with many different toys in her high chair – block her attempts to put items on the floor, prompting her to put undesired items on the table and praising her as soon as she does.
- Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD
- Signing Time with Alex and Leah DVDs
Educating Felicity & Friends