3-D with Texture

We had another visit with TARC this morning (that's the Shawnee County Infant Child Development) and it went very well. Our coach, Sarah, who is a physical therapist, also brought along a girl named Melissa who is a special education teacher. With only first meeting Jocelyn and to have a limited amount of time this morning, we made a lot of plans for hopeful progress. Let me be the first to say that it is very difficult to have age appropriate toys for a child when vision, motor and communication is a problem. I did learn some new things I can try with her and that's all I ever want - guidance, direction and ideas.

Since Jocelyn decided it would be fun to get up before 3am and stay awake, she was getting pretty tired towards the end of the visit. Once the girls left, I started on a little project that I organized last week. Since I'm always having to factor vision and motor into everything we do, I decided I would get lightweight wooden letters from the store and cover them with textured, colorful material. With the letters being 3-D, Jocelyn will be able to feel the letters, and with them being fun textures and colors, she will be able to see the letters. In my mind I'm thinking okay, she will be able to feel the letters, see the letters, hear the letters when I say them and maybe...just maaaaaaaaaaaybe...this will help her with learning the alphabet. That's three modes of learning right there so I'm being hopeful.

I haven't bought all the letters of the alphabet yet because I wanted to make sure my idea would work, but below are six letters that I sprayed with glue, covered with the textured material and trimmed with an exacto knife.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but each letter has a different texture. Some are smooth (like the snake skin), others are bumpy (like the zebra & cow print or the letter "A"...and they are all 3 different types of "bumpy"), rough & shiny (like the letter "E") or fuzzy (like the letter "F").

Once I have all the letters completed, I'm going to put a small piece of velcro to the back of each one so they can be attached to a felt covered board. By doing this, we can easily spell words or just work on the letters and the alphabet in general. One idea that the teacher gave me today in regards to the letters, was that I could put paper over them and have Jocelyn use a marker and shade over the letter. That would not only give her another way to learn the letters, but also a cool texture underneath, or at least that would be the idea.

Anyways, like I said, after the girls left and I laid Jocelyn down for a much needed nap, I started making the letters. I have only finished these six and it took longer than I thought it would. I like fast easy projects, and just for the six letters, it took me 20 minutes. Ouch! Time is precious for all of us isn't it? Here's to praying the letters help Jocelyn learn in a fun, creative way.