Snowman Jack and Breaking News

Today, we were greeted by Snowman Jack, a cowboy snowman from the cold West. Our three desperados—Bilal, Corey and Simon—posed for this photo with the celebrity guest.










Snowman Jack looked on in horror as Miss Forbis read from Snowballs. "It was a perfect snowball day until the sun came out," she said. "Then it was 'So long snowball!'" He felt better as we sang from The Twelve Days of Winter.

Meanwhile, as Bilal and Marlon "made music", as Kamryn learned to sign, and as Corey built an IPAD snowman...

Julian wondered, as he often did, "What's next?" To ease his worry, his IEP (Individualized Education Program) now calls for learning daily structure through actions. To this end, our teachers set up two "7-Message Take N' Talk" boards. (available through www.enablingdevices.com,). Each board holds 7 icon frames, each with its own icon and activity message recorded by the teacher.
To learn his next activity, Julian removes the next icon (e.g., a washing hands symbol) from its holder and hears his teacher's voice say "It's time to wash hands!" Julian keeps the icon until the activity is over and then returns it to the "used (replayable) icon" holder at the bottom of the board. Why two boards? One for morning, one for afternoon.

As Tanner the frog—recently returned from his long Christmas vacation—looks on, Julian holds his "Table Activity" icon and watches Kamryn replace Snowman Jack's missing arm.







A little structure added to his life, and a little music with Miss Paula, makes it a happy day indeed for Julian!










Breaking News!
Wake Forest resident Melissa Matthews wins national IKEA contest
(see www.wakeliving.com/News.aspx?li=6907)

Congratulations to Melissa Matthews!
Our own Melissa has been chosen by a public vote as the grand prize winner of the IKEA Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest! Her project, Special Technology for Special Kids, will use cutting-edge educational technology to help children with intellectual disabilities. Out of over a thousand applicants, Melissa was chosen by you and your friends to spend a year (and $100,000) helping the children at Frankie Lemmon School. Again, congratulations Melissa!

Visit www.thelifeimprovementproject.com to learn more about Melissa & her project or see my blog "The Polls are Open!" for Dec. 7.