The following information is given based on what was observed in a school setting.
Meet Sophie
Sophie was 5 years old attending kindergarten:
-She was non-verbal but did babble.
-She was non-responsive when spoken to.
-She would not initiate communication of any kind.
-She would not play with toys.
-She was unable to communicate her wants.
-She needed constant supervision - she did not understand ‘danger’.
-She required full hand over hand support to accomplish any task at school.
-Specialists diagnosed her as having an IQ of 30.
-She had very low tone in her upper and lower body, therefore she had difficulties walking, running or climbing.
3 Years later using the principles of this game:
-She was able to speak full sentences although she had a severe speech impediment, as well as stuttering issues.
-She was very friendly and outgoing.
-She initiated conversations and played with peers.
-She loved to play with cause and effect toys and puzzles.
-She was able to converse easily with educators and peers alike.
-Required little to no supervision.
-Knew all upper/lower case alphabet, as well as all sound of alphabet letters.
-Could read well over 125 words, as well as spell over 75 of the words.
-Could do simple math of adding, subtracting, carrying and borrowing.
Meet Andrea
Andrea was 7 years old attending grade 1:
-She would answer “I don’t know” to any open ended question.
-She could not complete any school work assigned.
-She would not initiate any verbal communication in her class or on the playground.
-She was extremely shy.
-There were no diagnoses given for her language delay. (Suspected a word retrieval problem)
-Extreme expressive and recessive language delay
After 2 weeks of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-She began putting 3-4 word sentences together while playing this game.
-She began attempting to put 3-4 word sentences together in a conversation with encouragement in one on one sessions.
After 4 weeks of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-She began putting 7-8 word sentences together while playing this game.
-She began initiating conversations with educators.
-She was putting short sentences together in one on one sessions consistently.
-Her confidence began to grow.
After 6 weeks of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-She was able to put long complex run-on sentences together.
-Initiating conversations with peers and educators consistently.
-Putting her hand up to answer questions in her classroom.
-Teacher remarks that Andrea won’t be quiet in class.
-Her confidence has grown to the point that she is laughing, smiling and talking to everyone on a consistent basis.
-School speech pathologist is amazed in the changes this child has made.
Meet Billy
Billy was a grade 3 student with severe academic learning difficulties:
Note: Because Billy had learning difficulties the game was used to stimulate his brain and ready him for learning difficult tasks. The game would be played for 10-15 min. before working on difficult academic tasks.
-Billy could not identify any upper case or lower case alphabet letters… (Not even the first letter of his name).
-Can not complete any written assignments.
After 1 week of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-He began to understand that there are two sets of letters… (upper and lower case).
-He was able to recognize the first letter of his name “B” as well as several other upper case letters and was able to identify them upon request.
After 3 weeks of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-He was able to identify as many as 10 sets of alphabet letters… (upper and lower case).
-He could verbally spell his name as well as write it with support.
-He began to understand that each letter has its own sound.
After 6 weeks of playing this game 4-5 times per week:
-Billy was able to recognize 22 of 26 alphabet letters as well as recite the alphabet by memory.
-Billy knew several of the letters sounds.
