My kids are crazy about the Winnie the Pooh stories and like to reenact the stories with little pocket size characters I got off ebay (I have also seen similar ones at the Dysney store.)  In the story Roo's Big Adventure, they play hide and seek and count to 100.  Every time we "Play Roo in the hollow log", as my kids call it, they insist I count all the way to 100.  If I don't they remind me that I must finish.    My kids just turned 3 and don't yet get hide and seek, but I'm sure it will provide lots of counting practice when they get there. 

Your LO is at about the age where imagination starts developing.  One thing mine really liked were props to act out stories and Winnie the Pooh stories are their favorite to do this with.  I got some vintage McDonald's happy meal plush characters off ebay that stand about 3" high.  They could also be home made but I think I would have spent more for materials.  Anyway, I'm also planning on making props for the stories as well and happy to share my ideas if anyone is interested.  

Here is a toy maker's forum, I have seen lots of etsy artists posting there.  

Maybe try stickers.  I first tried them when mine were about 24 months so I'm not sure how it would work with an 18 month old, but worth a shot.  I have found great prices on stickers at the craft store (michael's) in the kid's section rather than the scrapbooking section.  Good luck.

dry/cereal
black/summer

cabbage & lettuce--same sign? They look the same to me.

One of my earliest memories is of a gigantic piggy bank; I remember it was taller than me when I got it.  My mom would give me all the pennies out of her wallet at the end of each day then I would put them in the piggy bank.  The bank couldn’t be opened without breaking into it, so I never knew exactly how much money I had. But I did get to watch the stack of money grow.   I wanted to open it so badly, but my mom said I couldn’t until it was full.  That magical day happened the summer before I started 1st grade and I chose to buy my first bicycle with the money.  The leftover money went to start my first bank account.  This lesson taught me that even pennies could be saved up to buy something wonderful and  I plan on doing the same thing with my LO’s.

Hi Chris,
I am wondering if there is a possibility for a patch to add solfege note names in PW? 

Mom2Bee, How old is your LO and what ASL resources have you been using?

My DD spelled her first word at around 2.5 yo with ASL.  It was a word she had never seen spelled before.  I have also read that young children that learn to finger spell in ASL become fantastic spellers, but haven't seen any studies.

sorry if i ask something wrong - but why do u think sign language is important?

I think learning a second language is important.  Sign is very easy for me to learn then pass on to the little ones.

My DD absolutely loved Say It With Sign (Sign Language Made Easy) and still asks for it on occasion.  It gives an introduction to ASL sentence structure and lots of practice with finger spelling.  I got it from the library and it should be available on an inter-library loan at least within the US and maybe Canada.  I would suggest getting this one from the library because it is very expensive to buy. 

I also just previewed Signing Naturally (also on library loan) and I don't think the kids will want to watch this since there is no sound.  If I have time I will watch it when the kids are asleep.   It seems to really need the book to give each numbered section the captions, but I can make out most of it.  This series is however very affordable to buy used especially the VHS version. 

Thank you for your reply DomanMom.  I haven't read the book you are referencing, but I have read about stimulating early language development in NurtrueShock.  Here is an article summarizing NS chapter 10.  I do recommend reading the book because it goes into more detail especially on how to identify the different stages of speech development.  After reading that and considering the lack of early results I got with sign language I might also consider skipping it if I were having more kids.  But I now know 500+ signs would probably get better early results if I gave it another chance.  However I think SL might have other benefits besides early communication including introducing a child to a second language if 2 languages aren't already spoken at home.  This is why I decided to continue using sign even after my kids are speaking in paragraphs. 

P.S. Congratulations on the new pregnancy. 

However, reading Glenn Doman's How Smart Is Your Baby?, he recommends not to teach sign language to baby but rather encourages a verbal communication program. He believes that babies "talk" from birth, that the sounds they make are not "like" language but they ARE language.

Is GD saying that using sign language interferes with speech development? 

I really like the ASL dictionary by My Smart Hands hosted on YouTube.  Here is a link to their channel.  http://www.youtube.com/user/SmartHandsCA#g/u  You can make your own customized play lists on YouTube and include the signs you need to practice.  I also really like how she explains each sign and gives you the chance to practice. 

Hello Twinergy,

Thank you very much for your reply. I am glad your son has graduated from ST, congratulations!

We are actually having ours today, in less than three hours. LM is not yet at the age-appropriate level, so, in theory, we should qualify for more therapy, but as we live in the UK, where this help is very limited and restricted, you never know! We have only received 6 hours in total in a year and a half!

We are due an OT assessment, so that may give some more light on the matter.

I have only been trying fleschcards for about 2-3 weeks and I have to say they have been a great articulation exercise, as LM got to practice each sounds. So I can see this is beneficial, and she does seem to remember many of the words. My concern was more about whether this is the best method for her bearing in mind her learning style (big picture before details) and if, perhaps, there are some alternatives. I remember reading that fleschcards did not work for some parents on this forum and was wondering if they may have found another way.

Thank you also for the link to the forum, I will search it for ideas.

2-3 weeks isn’t very long, and it sounds like at least some words are sinking in.  It took my kids about a month to even try to blend the words so it sounds like you are ahead of us on that.  My inexpert opinion is to continue trying the Fleschcards a little longer, until you see her OT.  Working the OT has been very beneficial for us in understanding my DS’s behavior, maybe you can also gain some insight into your DD during this meeting.  I found this book which looks like a good resource, from reading the reviews it sounds like the book is helpful in understanding different suptypes of APD.  I also came up with a lot of hits when I did a google search for  "auditory processing disorder + teaching strategies."

Hi LMsMum,
I have spent some time reading through your past posts to understand a little more about your DD.  My son also has sensory processing issues, mostly sensory seeking behavior, but auditory processing has been brought up by his OT as a possibility.  (We just had his anual review today and he has responded so well to speech therapy that he no longer qualifies for speech therapy.  He has responded very well to working on more eye contact.)  How is your DD's speach therapy coming along?  Does anything in her speech pattern indicate something similar to what you have seen with teaching phonics? (i.e. can pronounce individual phonemes but has difficulties stringing them together.)  How long have you been trying the fleschcards?  My DS can do do the Fleschcards so I don't have any BTDT advice, but I might suggest trying this special needs parenting forum for some ideas.