We’re also continuing with his pre-writing activities as well as exercises to improve his focus, hand and eye coordination, and responsiveness to his name. I still get amazed because these are all just simple activities but they are bringing vast improvements to Miguel. As such, allocating an hour each day to reinforce these exercises is all worth it.

In case you are interested to know, here are some of the six activities that we are presently trying to do every day at home:

I’m putting an emphasis on this activity because color sorting is proving to be a challenge for Miguel. What we do is to simply group colored blocks by color. Then I’ll ask Miguel to put the block into a container of the same color.

We’re also continuing to do Miguel’s tabletop activity in which I ask him to stack the colored blocks. The objective of this activity is to supplement the color sorting activity that we usually start with. What I do is call Miguel’s name and then tell him the color that we are grouping (for example, “Miguel this is yellow.”).

We’ll do about five of each color (red, blue, yellow, green, and orange) and then ask him to press on the blocks once done.

This is a new addition to our daily home activity. Miguel seems to be really enjoying this activity and I like the focus that he is exerting to finish it.

What I do is put a couple of coins in a plastic container and then ask Miguel to pick one and drop it into the piggy bank. It’s become one of my favorite activities because Miguel is genuinely attentive in picking up the coins and then intently looking at the hole of the piggy bank before dropping the coin in.

A variation that we do is that I would hold the coin, call Miguel’s name for him to pick the coin up from me, and then shoot the coin into the piggy bank.

Part of Miguel’s pre-writing exercises would be for him to identify the letters that comprise his name. What I did was make letter cutouts of Miguel’s complete name from cardboard. I also wrote his name in bold capital letters on a large sheet of paper.

Each day, I would ask Miguel to match the letters that I cut out with the letters that I wrote on the paper.

A year ago, I noticed Miguel’s interest in painting. It’s one of the activities that he really loved doing. Two weeks ago, his teacher noticed that as well and told me that perhaps it’s good to include that in his daily activities. 

That would train him to do the three-finger tripod grip, not to mention that he would be doing something that he truly enjoys.

This activity will help strengthen Miguel’s grip. What I do is put five clothespins on a piece of cardboard. I ask Miguel to remove the clothespins and then transfer them to a container. It’s easy and Miguel seems to be also enjoying it.

Those are the six home activities that we currently do at home to supplement Miguel’s weekly occupational therapy. We still have our morning and afternoon playtime which both Miguel and Rafa look forward to. Those are great opportunities to have some physical exercises and play with twigs, stones, and sand.

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