Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New happenings

It's been over a month since my last post. There is a whole bunch of excuses for that: we moved, I got a small irregular job, we have been having visitors and small get-togethers at our new place, and most importantly - the weather is getting better.

In the meantime, Sasha is learning new words in both English and Russian. His favorite English words are Hi! and fish, and in Russian he says каша, нет and he has been caught saying купаться. Of course, most of his communication is still signs, grunts, points, cries etc. The most identifiable signs are "more" (the classic ASL sign) and "play some music" (by swinging with whole upper body from left to right with hands in the air). However, I have also noticed that he sometimes talks and talks in long sequences of syllables, but I just have no idea what he says. For example, a couple of days ago in the car, he was repeating the same long utterance over and over, and the intonation sounded like it was either a question or a request, but I don't know what he said. It's very amusing.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been trying to teach Sasha to draw shapes. He easily identifies shapes. We have a green 3D triangle, a blue rectangle, a red square (it's actually a cube, but for the purpose of learning I call it a square), and a yellow circle (a cylinder). So, when I draw a circle, I use yellow color, etc., and it makes it easier to compare the drawing to the object, because we can identify it by color and by shape. Sasha easily finds the right object when he sees me drawing it. And if I ask: "Where is the triangle?" - He picks out the right object. Except that sometimes he confuses the triangle with the rectangle, because they sound similar. Still, it's a start. At the end, I always offer Sasha a crayon, so that he can draw a shape. So far, he has been drawing things that cannot be identified as a particular geometrical shape, but the goal is that he draws something instead of just scribbling lines across the page.

I see this exercise helpful not just for drawing, but also for language skills. Ultimately, the interaction between us, as well as naming and finding the right object is a language exercise. Every time an adult names an object for a child, he separates that object from the surrounding world of chaos. So, naming and finding is a great skill.

Last weekend, we had visitors from Germany and one of them were drawing fish for Sasha. I also drew one or two and went to take a shower. When I came back, our German friend informed me that Sasha drew a fish. The was a giant shape on top of all other fish drawings that absolutely looks like fish (it does not have eyes or scales, or fins, but it's a giant fish). So, officially the first thing he has ever drawn is fish. Both of his grandpas will be proud.

I will try to pace myself through all the other stories, such as explaining why Sasha calls birds kaka. So, watch for new posts soon.

3 comments:

  1. I'll bet the utterance in the car was something like: "Why are we in a car? Are we going to keep this?" The grandpa who lives with me is delighted at the thought of Sasha's drawing a fish. Is there a photo of it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. May we look at the picture of Sasha's fish? It is interesting what you wrote anout triangles and rectangles conversation.I will take it into account. So, you think it is necessary to draw the objects with the same color the toys are?

    ReplyDelete
  3. We didn't save the picture of the fish, because he drew it over other drawings done by adults. It's hard to identify.

    I don't think it is that critical to draw objects with correct colors, but it certainly makes it easier for him to identify an object if he has more than one characteristic of it.

    ReplyDelete