heres one I made earlier

Heres one I made earlier...

Shan Graebe is based at 100 Cheltenham Road, Gloucester GL2 0LX, e-mail shan.graebe@btinternet.com.

Shan Graebe complements her My Top Resources (back page) with two low-cost, musical suggestions.

Beads in the drum

This seems to be a very attractive sound and sensation for people who are at an early stage of development. Make sure you routinely inspect it for damage. (It is easy to replace the Glastop if necessary.)
BRAWN 1. Snip the beads from the string if necessary. Put some in the Frisbee and make sure they will roll freely around when there is a lid placed on it. You can vary the number of beads to give different effects. 2. Cut out two circles of Glastop. One should be exactly the same size as the free edge round the Frisbee. The other should be 11/2cm bigger. Fold each circle into quarters, but only crease a tiny portion in the centre. Make a small mark on the plastic, showing the centre of each circle. Remove the paper from the sticky plastic and, matching the two centres, place one circle on top of the other, sticky sides together. 3. Place the plastic on the Frisbee so that the smaller circle fits inside the circumference of the Frisbee and the larger circle is overlapping the edge. 4. Using scissors, cut small V-shapes all around the edge of the larger plastic circle. Do not cut right to the edge, but just a little in front of it. Then bend the tabs you have cut onto the outer edge of the Frisbee. These must be secured by tape. Some holographic tapes work, as well as super sticky duct tape. IN PRACTICE It can be held close to the person so they can feel the vibrations and hear the gentle rolling sounds. Those with very limited physical control can join in by having the beads in the drum resting on their hands or arms. You can facilitate any movement they make to get the beads rolling. It is useful for promoting attention to object. I usually sing a short song as we play together (e-mail me if you would like to know my tune, shan. graebe@btinternet.com): Rolling the beads in the drum Rolling the beads in the drum We are rolling, rolling, rolling Rolling the beads in the drum. At the end of the song the drum can be removed from sight. You can then wait for some indication from the learner that s/he would like the activity repeated. If you want to promote eye contact, bring the drum up to your eye level and give a big positive affirmation with your voice and face that the learner has requested more. A similar routine works well for AAC users. The AAC singer activates his/her device and sings the first line of the song. You then bring out the drum and sing the rest of the song while the learner rolls the beads around. You can add some fun by saying s/he must NOT knock it onto the floor, and then feign horror when that is where it inevitably ends up!

MATERIALS One cheap plastic Frisbee Large shiny plastic beads. These are often sold on a string as decorations; you just need to snip them apart. Glastop - this is like sticky backed plastic, but is more rigid. It is available from glass merchants. Small sharp scissors Strong duct or holographic sticky tape

Rattletops

This instrument is popular with most learners, but is particularly suited to those who may have physical control difficulties.
BRAWN 1. Using the awl, make a small hole in the centre of each bottle top by pressing down and through it onto a chopping board. 2. Take your elastic and wrap a piece of sellotape around the end so that you can form a point which will draw the elastic through the holes. 3. Thread half the tops onto the elastic, making sure each pair of tops meets face to face. 4. Leave about 20cm of elastic at one end and tie a knot there, making sure the tops cannot move over it. Tie another knot at the other end of the tops, just stretching the elastic a little to give a tight fit. 5. Then thread the elastic through one piece of plastic tubing. Allowing for some elastic to show on either side of the tubing, tie a knot in it. Then thread the rest of the tops on and tie a knot at the end of those tops. Thread the elastic through the second piece of tubing and tie it to the loose end of elastic. This makes two handles with two rows of rattletops strung between. IN PRACTICE The learner holds one handle and you stretch the rattletops between you. (Some learners need to have the handle padded with Velcro fabric or enabled to maintain grip with a glove such as Active Hands see www.activehands.co.uk). The real benefit is that your shaking movements are mirrored by the learner as your shake travels along to his/her arm. Conversely, s/he may be able to make your relaxed arm shake about. This gives a great sense of joint action and includes a bit of safe rough and tumble activity. There is a song which goes with this instrument (recorded on the Nice Warm Socks CD, www.nicewarmsocks.org.uk): Shaking, shaking, shaking the rattletops Shaking, shaking, shaking the rattletops Shaking, shaking, shaking the rattletops Shaking the rattletops together. It also works well for AAC singers. The whole song could be recorded onto a voice output device requiring one or more activations. The song can then be sung by both parties actively and enthusiastically. And it is amazing how often the rattletops get pinged from one to the other.

MATERIALS A quantity of clean plastic milk bottle tops (about 36) Elastic An awl Some sellotape Rigid plastic tubing (available from hardware stores), two pieces cut to 10cm

SPEECH & LANGUAGE THERAPY IN PRACTICE SPRING 2007