A different post to usual.
I am always on the lookout for ideas to help the children develop their communication skills, so when I saw these Rory's story cubes on the weekend at Play Expo I knew they were ideal for us. Not only are they small and compact enough to fit in my wheelchair pocket or handbag, but also very simple to use.
There is no reading involved which immediately removed demands for J and A, and the topic is fantasia which is ideal for G.
All you do is open the magnetically closing little box, take out the 9 cubes and roll them. Unlike normal die with dots or numbers, these have pictures on each side. You then create a story linking the pictures together.
I thought this would be great for those times when we have to wait for a coffee, for someone in a shop or when travelling.
We can take it in turns to make up a silly story, each taking a dice at a time, or one person coukd create a whole story and we could create a storybook perhaps.
This might sound simple, but when you add autism, ADHD ,PDA and other needs into the mix then it becomes more complex. They all take things very literally and J and A find it extremely difficult to use their imaginations. They can't understand or think of things that aren't there in front of them. G is very good at using her imagination when she wants to but it often is in repeating patterns based around an anxiety she has at the time.
This is my little story based on this roll of the cubes for an idea...
Hidden inside the giant horse statue were twenty one golden birdcage, each hanging from a wooden peg on the old beam above the doorway. Inside each glimmering cage was a small bald elf like creature, arms in the air. Some were doing pull ups, others swinging to and fro with the remaining motion of the horse. Those that were still were captivating. She darent look in their tiny yellow eyes for fear of becoming hypnotised. Breaking her out of her thoughts was a loud 'Miaow'. She looked all around her, expecting to see a fierce cat with claws ready to scratch her limbs, but instead what she found surprised her. At the end of the beam, towards the horses head she could see the reflection of the eyes she knew belonged to a cat. Carefully she crept down the beam, unsure where to look. It was fairly dark away from the doorway so she was focusing on those reflections but a cutely aware of those strange creatures above her, wondering all the time what else she would encounter, wishing her partner had offered to be the first to enter this unusual creation. She felt it before she realised what she had done. It went straight into her sock making her toes feel uncomfortable. So much for those new work boots! She barely dared to look down, the warmth causing her concern. She was visibly relieved to see it was nothing but a pool of water she had crept into. She had to empty out her boot. How coukd such a small pool of water have made her foot so wet? She gingerly knelt down, still remaining a cutely aware of her surroundings whilst reaching for her boot laces to loosen this useless boot enough to bail her foot out. As she got closer to the boot she noticed something in the water. Convinced her mind was playing tricks on her she ignored it and carried on undoing her laces. She bailed out her foot, wrung out her sopping wet sock and was alarmed to see a tail hanging from the leg hole of said sock. She picked at it but it bit her finger. What on earth was this place? How coukd a tail be hanging from her sock? How coukd anything as tiny as that possibly bite her? She saw the reflection of the eyes vanish and felt something rush past her naked foot. She had had enough. She decided to abandon her sock, put her soggy boot back on her wrinkly foot loosely and head back towards the door to get backup. It was then she realised that whatever had rushed past her had also stepped in the pool of water and left giant paw prints heading back towards the same door as she had been about to dash for. Change of plan she thought. Then it happened. As if this wasn't odd enough already she heard a crack. Initially she jumped and instinctively ducked, covering her head, expecting the wooden statue to collapse any second. But her knee was now like a porcupine, with tens of tiny splinters sticking out of it and a small ships sail hanging down to the floor beneath her. She tried her best in the terrible light to remove as many splinters as she could, collecting them in her pocket. She also took the tiny sail with her, knowing no-one woukd ever believe her if she didn't have some proof. She crawled to the head of the horse, now able to see through its mouth and kicked a hole through the nose through which to escape quickly. Her evidence was collected in a police cart and observations recorded for future reference as this was truly the strangest case the small village had ever seen.
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