A Second Trip to the Moog School

The Moog school at Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center is absolutely wonderful. I absolutely wish we lived in Buffalo to take advantage of their parent-infant program more often! The parent-infant program takes place in their 2-3 year old preschool room, so the little kids get the benefit of seeing the "big kids" in action. Nolan would be eligible for their preschool program soon, and I am truly sad that we're too far away to consider going on a daily basis.

We arrived about 5 minutes late, right in the middle of the music program. The school has two dedicated music teachers who sing songs with the kids, and bring out a guitar. The songs are great, with many repetitive stanzas that the kids find easy to repeat. We also did a song with various tapping rhythms, which most of the kids loved (Nolan was still in Velcro mode and wasn't participating much at that point).

We took the kids outside to play and it was so nice to see all the kids playing and enjoying themselves. Matt fit right into the class and was a good language model for the kids. After sliding and blowing bubbles, we went back into the class and made pudding, then had some free play and a goodbye song. I really can't wait to go back again, with the small class size and the large amount of teachers (there were the two music teachers, the main class teacher, another TOD, and a speech language pathologist in the class)!

While we can't go on a regular basis, I do try to take him up for the occasional program. Despite the long drive (four hours in the car round-trip), it is always worth it. This time, I took Julia's advice and stopped by the Buffalo Zoo after class. The zoo is only 3 miles from BHSC, and I should have started the audiologist/zoo thing earlier. The boys had a blast!

After a three hour stint in the zoo (which is quite a bit larger than the Erie Zoo we are used to), I headed home with two comatose boys in the backseat. We certainly had a great day, and I hope to make it up to the school again soon!

Visit to the Oral Deaf School

There is an amazing oral deaf preschool in Buffalo (affiliated with BHSC) and we visited their parent-infant program today. We won't be able to go very often, because it is four hours in the car for a one hour program! I was impressed with the activities they did, and the individual focus on each child.

The class started with some free play, so that the children could settle in. The group of children was then assembled in a circle, with individual monkey mats to sit on. They sang a hello song, mentioning each child by name. We read "Wheels on the Bus" while singing the song with the finger plays, and then we played a dance game.

The teacher turned on music, and the music stopped at random intervals. When the music stopped, everyone had to freeze. The little guys loved this and it really reinforced listening skills. Then they moved over to the tables for a craft.

They were given diluted glue and paint brushes to paint over a picture of a bus. Nolan absolutely loved this, and Matt did, too. Then the children placed yellow squares of tissue paper onto the bus. We used words like "push," "paint," "sticky," "wet," "square," etc.

The children then had a goldfish cracker snack and we returned to circle time to finish the hour. We played a ball game with a song, where a ball was rolled to each child and the child would roll it back. Everyone had to listen for their name and wait for their turn. The final event was the goodbye song.

The only problem was that my children did not want to leave! They loved the classroom so much that I had to drag Matthew and Nolan out. Matt is not hard of hearing, of course, but he served as a good language model. Nolan was able to impress everyone by saying "I want ball" and other three word sentences. To say that I'm proud of the little guy would be an understatement.

I only wish we lived closer to utilize this resource on a more regular basis!