PlaySchool

It has been 6 months since Nash has been receiving Early Intervention for his sensory issues and we have seen some BIG improvements. We now receive Occupational Therapy once a week and Speech twice a week. We had to up our services with Speech because Nash seems to be digressing at times. The Speech Therapist is always baffled with Nash because he does not follow any normal speech patterns. Nash is definitely his own little self! Each week Nash and I are given homework and a lot of times the activities we are asked to do would be easier if we had more bodies. So I decided to put together a PlaySchool. Each Thursday from 9-11am we have 4 children ages 3 and younger dropped off at our house and we have a school that is centered around play. Much of the activities we do are sensory areas that Nash struggles with. All of the children come from families that have just recently moved into the area. I hand picked them based on their home circumstances. Some of their moms are having child #2 and need some time to prepare. Others come from families where the mommy just needs a break, and then there are a few that Nash just plays well with and that is why I invited them to our PlaySchool.

Will - a friend from Club Mom. I love it when Nash and Will play together, there is always a ton of laughter and a lot of running!

Travis - friend from the ward. He is a good helper with new concepts, I can always count on Travis understanding the task quickly and modeling it for the other kids.

Camryn - friend from the ward. She also is the oldest of the children and very helpful when working on language. Whenever I take her picture she always closes one eye! haha. Nash seems to have a crush on Camryn. The other week he kept trying to give her a kiss. The nursery at church has reported this happening as well! UH-OH!

Ava - a friend from Club Mom. She is such a cutie. Although, Nash and Ava love to push each others buttons. If Nash comes near her she starts panicking saying "Mama! Baby! Mama!" :)

The way our house is set up I am able to have different activities in each room. It helps our routine flow smoothly, which makes it less stressful. Sometimes I think I am crazy to run a PlaySchool alone with five children 3 and younger! YIKES! I LOVE IT!

You may notice that my child is not in a lot of these pictures. This is because Nash still has issues with people. A lot of PlaySchool is spent ignoring Nash's tantrums and trying to draw him into the activities. Most days it works, although there are some days when we have to put him in another room and let him figure things out. Books seem to always calm him down.

I have seen a BIG improvement in Nash since we started PlaySchool back in February. He is being more tolerant and able to share his mommy a little more each time. I love it because I get to teach. I do not charge the moms anything, it just makes me feel good that I can do a service for them each week and my little boy is receiving some good peer interaction while learning at the same time! You can take the teacher out of the classroom but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher! :)