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www.downinthesouthland.org Down in the Southland 1
Down in the Southland
Friends Don’t Count Chromosomes! Volume 2, Issue 9 November/December 2012
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E
1 Down in the Southland, Inc. Events
2 Monthly Calendar
3 Ages & Stages; Resources
4 Education and Community Awareness; App Corner
6 Birthdays; Look What I Did
Ink from the Inc.
Information on the latest organizational happenings
Fall always means another birthday..for me and for Down in the
Southland! It’s hard to believe that it has been 7 years since we
started with a few moms meeting in a storefront on Oak Park Ave
in Tinley. So much has changed in the past 7 years…for the better!
We are hard at work behind the scenes trying to get our cooking
classes going again as well as developing a Sibshop program,
swimming classes and much more! There will be some
organizational changes that will help DIS become all that it can be
for all of our kids in the near and distant future!
We don’t have all of the final numbers for the Walk yet, but they
should be in the next newsletter. All I can say is WOW! What an
awesome job everyone did! All the hard work of all the committee
members and volunteers showed in a great event!
As always, questions or concerns about anything in the
organization can be sent to the Board of Directors directly by email
at: [email protected] or to any board
member by phone at the phone numbers on the last page of every
newsletter.
Juliette
LOOKING AHEAD…
Down in the Southland has some exciting
new programs and funds that are designed to
help our kids and our families!
Join us for our first ever LIVE webinar to
learn all about these exciting new offerings
from Down in the Southland!
These programs and funds exist because of
the hard work and generosity of all who
have supported DIS over the past year!
The webinar will be on Thursday 11/1/12 at
10:00am. Attendees will have a chance to
have their questions answered in real time.
The webinar will be recorded so that it can
be viewed at a later date/time.
An invitation to attend the webinar will be
sent to all DIS members!
www.downinthesouthland.org Down in the Southland 2
November 2012
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 ’08-’10 North
Ages & Stages
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ■ 7pm Parent
Night “iPad apps at home and in the community”
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Veterans' Day ■ 10am '11-
'13 Ages Stages Play Date
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Thanksgiving
Day
25 26 27 28 29 30 ■ 9:30am '08-
'10 South Ages Stages Play Date ■ 3:30pm '02-'04 Ages Stages Monthly Play Date
If there is something on the calendar that you would like to attend and don’t get an E-vite to, please email
[email protected] and put the event in the subject field.
www.downinthesouthland.org Down in the Southland 3
December 2012
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
■ 3pm '08-'10
North Ages
Stages
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
■ 10am '11-
'13 Ages
Stages Play
Date
■ 7pm Parent
Night –
COOKIE
EXCHANGE!
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Christmas
■ 1pm '08-'10
South Ages
Stages Play
Date
■ 3:30pm '02-
'04 Ages
Stages Play
Date
30 31
New Year's
Eve
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Ages and Stages Groups '11-'13 Calling all babies born in 2011 or 2012! Have mom send an email to [email protected] so you can come play! '08-'10 South The first Friday afternoon of the month is when you will find this fun, young group getting together! We love to meet new friends! ’08-’10 North This new group is meeting regularly on the 1st Saturday of the month for some play time! We are always welcoming new families! '02-'04 Last Friday of the month will find this group playing and having a good time! Contact [email protected] and indicate '02-'04 in the subject field if you would like more information on this group. '05-'07 Mark your calendars! This group will be meeting on the 3rd Saturday of every month! Contact [email protected] for more info! '98-'01 If you have a child born during 1998-2001 and have an activity that you would like to see on the calendar, send an email with your ideas to [email protected] with ’98-’01 in the subject field.
The Ages & Stages Committee needs your help! SEE PAGE 5 OF THIS NEWSLETTER FOR MORE INFORMATION! If you see an Ages & Stages play date on the calendar for your child’s age range, but don’t get an E-vite, please email [email protected] and put “Evite Ages & Stages” in the subject field. Be sure to indicate the group for which you would like to receive an Evite. If you have an idea on how to improve the Ages & Stages program or have suggestions for activities, please email [email protected]
Resources:
Ages 0-3: http://www.signingsavvy.com This on line video dictionary of American Sign Language is a real help for exactly how signs should be made. No trying to figure out little arrows and 'motion' lines in a book! Ages 4-6 The Kaufman Speech Praxis Kit is a motor driven approach to apraxia of speech. Even if your child does not have apraxia, this method can be very helpful to children with Down syndrome. Watch for more information coming about this topic! Ages 7-9: Boys Guide to Growing Up (also available for girls) is an invaluable resource, geared specifically for children who are developmentally delayed. It is designed to use with your child to help them understand the changes that can come with growing up! Ages 10-13: See the Ages 7-9 information!
ALL AGES: Do you know what PUNS is? Are you registered on this important database? If you would like to learn more about PUNS, the ARC of IL has some great information on their website here or http://www.thearcofil.org/applying-for-services-and-puns
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D A T E : T H U R S D A Y , N O V . 8 , 2 0 1 2
T I M E : 8 : 0 0 A . M . - 4 : 3 0 P . M .
L O C A T I O N : L A U R E L M A N O R , 3 9 0 0 0
S C H O O L C R A F T R O A D , L I V O N I A , M I 4 8 1 5 0
http://rlac.com/store/Wrightslaw.html
COOKIE EXCHANGE! Do you have holiday parties coming up where you would like to bring a variety of cookies, but only have time to bake once? Then the DIS cookie exchange is JUST the solution! Let’s gather and enjoy some holiday treats and help each other through the busy Christmas season TOGETHER! All of the details will be included in the Evite for the December 14th Parent Night, so all you have to do to be a part of this fun evening is RSVP YES! If you are interested in helping plan this event, please email [email protected] and indicate ‘Cookie’ in the subject!
The Ages & Stages program is looking for
leaders for the following age ranges:
’98-’01
’08-’10 North
’11-‘13
Being a leader means setting up the monthly
play dates, attending 5 meetings a year (usually
by conference call), and generally helping to
create a fun group of friends for your little one!
If you think you may be interested in helping create something wonderful for your child,
please email [email protected] and
put ‘Ages & Stages leader’ in the subject. We
will get all of the details out to ASAP!
A star next to the app, means that it's a good app to look into for kids with Down syndrome. No star means there are concerns listed that may not make this app the best choice for children with Down syndrome. All reviews are the views of the reviewer and not Down in the Southland. The links to external websites do not endorse those sites in any way, and are provided simply to allow access to other reviews and links to the iTunes store for more information.
Agnitus http://www.agnitus.com/ Free
A great free app geared toward typically developing 2-5 year olds. Choose between 8 curriculum-based games and 2 fun
activities. The games get harder as your child masters them. Evan has learned or reinforced his knowledge of shapes,
letters, counting, colors and matching. The counting game is excellent for our kids because it's visual. There is one block
for number one, a stack of two blocks for the number two, etc. The object is to put the numbers in the correct ascending or
descending order to form stair steps so the character can move across the screen. Evan is able to play unassisted now.
Another game involves matching upper and lower case letters, which he is also working on at school. Silly characters and
voices keep Evan engaged. Parents can choose to receive weekly emails about their child's progress. Detailed
information about the curriculum included in the parents' section of the app and on the web page.
Con’t p.7
www.downinthesouthland.org Down in the Southland 6
LOOK WHAT
I DID!!
Each month, this space will be a place to share our children’s recent accomplishments. Send your child’s recent successes to
YOUR CHILD’S
PICTURE
COULD BE
HERE!!!
Down in the Southland Board of Directors:
President: Juliette De Nova 708-614-6118
Vice President: Lisa Pringle 708-535-1438
Secretary: Rachel Thornberry 708-599-4212
Treasurer: Peggy Marchionda 708-258-6963
Member-at-Large: Mollie Gryga 708-214-8186
For more information about Down in the Southland email
[email protected] with DOWN IN THE SOUTHLAND as
the subject
Happy Birthday!!
November and December Birthdays
Vanessa Dankert 11/4
Joe De Nova 11/4
Lilian Urbas 11/14
Ethan Gowaksi 11/15
Tony Soto 11/18
Russell Garcia 11/29
Gwen Smith 12/22
Emma Smith 12/22
Natalie De Nova 12/25
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY
Allie Garcia 10/10
Grace Gaskill 10/15
www.downinthesouthland.org Down in the Southland 7
Injini: Child Development Game Suite (Lite version is free, full version $29.99) Pre-K/K. The free version contains 8 games and the full version contains 12 games and unlocks some of the mini-games within each game. Each game has 9 levels of difficulty so the game gets more challenging as your child masters the concepts. I especially like the way this app presents the concept of patterns. The game starts with an AAAA pattern and only one choice to complete the pattern before moving on to an AAAA pattern with two choices to complete the pattern. The game then moves on to ABAB, AABB and ABC patterns. Besides patterns, there is a great game called Find It that reinforces following simple commands, by asking the child to find 1 or 2 objects among a set of 2-4 objects. This type of game is especially difficult for Evan, but because the little girl asking for the item simply says "no thank you" if he chooses an incorrect item, he is willing to try again and again. Evan really likes the tracing and farm animal games on this app. Write My Name by Injini http://www.injini.net/ $3.99 Great for kids learning to write their name and other simple words. The great thing about this app is that it is customizable. I have added pictures and recorded the names of all our family members. Evan can see their picture and hear their name as he is writing. Evan started calling me mom a lot more after using this app for a week or two. This app is errorless in that the user is tracing the letters. If your child can already write letters and words it will probably be too easy for them. Other options in this app are tracing capital and lowercase letters and short words, including many sight words. We use a stylus with this app to better simulate actual writing.