Today, we spent the afternoon at UE for a Children's language study. They observed each of the boys separately through a series of activities to gauge how a typically developing child plays and interacts. They hope to use the findings for application to children with Downs syndrome and autism.
Connor was very excited about going to mommy's college, so he could see where I went. However, he was very clear that he would be going to his own college one day (when he rides a school bus). They started with Connor, while Brady went in another room to play with Chris and the professor. I wasn't sure if Connor would participate with strangers and in a new setting, but he really amazed me. They went through various activities (playing with toys, reading a book, doing puzzles, bubbles, eating a snack, etc.) all the time encouraging the child to participate, carry on a conversation, or be creative. Connor really got into the imaginative play - apparently we have a brown dog that likes to get on the couch and Connor has been on a boat ride where he went fishing with his fishing rod and caught lots of big fish while throwing the little fish back. Really??
The best story Connor told was when the student asked him if he drank his drink with the sippy lid on or off. He said that he was a big boy and could drink without the lid, but that he usually uses a lid at home so he doesn't make a mess on the furniture that mommy and daddy paid lots of money for (oops - guess we have said that a few times). One activity that was kind of neat, but difficult for both boys was explaining the steps involved in a particular activity like brushing teeth or washing hands. They would act out all steps involved, but when asked what they did it was the general task performed.
We concluded with a final activity of answering questions about Connor's development and then traded places with Chris and Brady. Brady went through the same activities, but had less of the imagination in the activities. However, Chris said he did participate and answered the way he would have expected. The professor will be providing us with a summary of findings on each child as well as the final study results, so that will be interesting to see.
Afterwards, we went to McDs (typical weekend meal) where the boys got the chance to burn off their energy in the climbing tunnels after they ate. Connor had the hardest time finding the slides within the tunnels, so finally Brady had to show him how. Sometimes, we are confused by who the older child is - I think Brady is more mature than Connor and it is very obvious some days (Connor is going through the 3 year old stage where everything is a crisis and his feelings get hurt more often).
All in all - Saturday turned out to be a good day with the boys and we got to make some new observations about their development.
No comments:
Post a Comment