Our Morning Story

You may know that my son has delayed speech so our morning is quite a set routine of phrases and activities.
After a little play in his bedroom, Little Bird come to me and says 'I want downstairs'. I then get him dressed although we do take time on this as it is learning opportunity. Can he name all the items of clothing, pick  a t-shirt, the red one or the blue one and can he choose himself a pair of socks from the pile in the cupboard. It does draw things out a bit but it is a great way of LB exercising his use of language and also to gain a bit of independence.

We go downstairs and LB will straight away say ' I want Apid' which I know is I want iPad, He's getting the word a little mixed up at the moment. He finds some background music he wants or has a quick play on an animal app where he wants me to ask him 'where is the snake/whale/ fish etc. and he will find it. This little process keeps him calm and then we have his background music which is usually classical over breakfast. 

Breakfast is pretty limited for LB due to his sensory issues, toast but will only eat the crusts, sausage roll (currently his favourite so I'll go with that) and maybe some cheese or a dry cracker. 'I want orange juice!' I know his language is severely delayed but 12 months ago we had no language so being able to express what he wants has changed family life. I recommend PECS for anyone in a similar position as it seemed to kick-start the language. 

After breakfast we tidy up and do some chores. I try to get LB involved in bringing dishes into the kitchen and then helping me with the laundry. Pass me the red sock, pass me the yellow t-shirt, pass mummy a peg. This has really helped his understanding and following of instructions. All to the tune of Mozart on the iPad still which he often goes back to for a little activity such as a puzzle or a matching game.

LB attends a preschool just three mornings a week and after July this year he will finish and we will be home educating 100% of the time. In the meantime we start doing some activities after breakfast and after a few chores. 

Firstly we look at the weather and change our weather board. We don't really focus on anything like days of the week or months as yet! Then we usually do some sensory work to calm LB's system down. On our programme we roll him over a gym ball or play squishing games with it. LB feels like he has to move a lot so these kind of sessions make him feel more grounded. 

I bring out a few puzzles or a busy bag over the duration of the morning. Small activities that don't overwhelm LB so it is little and often. We do silly dancing and singing rhymes and look out for the post lady although the dog usually notifies us first with lots of yapping. 

The morning usually finishes with ' I want Tree Tu Tu' which is I want Tree Fu Tom on the television :) We have a snack and then plan the afternoon. 

This post is an entry for #MorningStories Linky Challenge sponsored by belVita Breakfast. Learn more at www.facebook.com/belVitaUK