Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Book 'N Play

Book 'N Play flyer with Book 'N Play in large green box and covers of three books: We're Going on a Bear Hunt, LMNO Peas, and In My Heart

We are trying something new! Attendance for our monthly sensory story times exclusively targeted to children with developmental disabilities was consistently low this past fall. Many factors are involved, including a wonderful abundance of new adaptive therapies and recreational opportunities in our community on Saturdays. I am truly so very excited to see all of these new opportunities available to children with disabilities and their families. Yeah! With these new opportunities in the community, though, comes the time for us to once again reevaluate our community's needs and how we can continue to meet and enrich those needs with our programming. Even though we might not be able to offer exclusive adaptive programs, all library events and programs can be made inclusive with adaptive tools (e.g. visuals, availability of sound cancelling headphones, inexpensive sunglasses to filter bright florescent lighting, alternative handouts in large font). Libraries can also have these accessibility services listed on their website to welcome people before their visit.

So what did we decide, you ask? We have moved the original adaptive Saturday morning story time (SENSEational Story Time) to Thursday afternoons after surveying some of our local special education directors to determine the best time (12:30 pm) and are opening this up to visiting school groups. Stay tuned for an update! These will be very similar to our multisensory outreach story times for the Wing Lake Developmental Center. We are also offering an adaptive and inclusive multisensory story exploration for children of all abilities, ages 3 - 7, once a month on a Saturday morning at 11 am. A much larger scale version of this program was welcomed by many of our young story explorers this past summer at our Book & Play: How to Catch a Star program.

Our first monthly Book 'N Play was held last month. Families explored the story We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. Here's a peek at some of the fun:



We're Going on a Bear Hunt visuals on board: long wavy grass, deep cold river, thick oozy mud, a big dark forest, a swirling whirling snowstorm, and a narrow gloomy cave



view from behind of child touching bags with blue water, mud, and sticks in bags on light panels



kids coloring and adding sensory paint and cotton balls to We're Going on a Bear Hunt sensory map outline



This month's story was LMNO Peas by Keith Baker.

Book cover for LMNO Peas by Keith Baker with large letters LMNO and word peas with tiny "pea persons" surrounding letters

Here's the plan:

visual schedule board with activity visuals

1. Hello (Welcome families and talk about what Book 'N Play is)

2. Welcome Song (“The Story Time Ball”)
tune: "Wheels on the Bus"
(Roll ball back and forth to each child)
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth.
The story time ball rolls back and forth,
Let's see who it found. Hi ______!
Now roll it back to me.
(Keep rolling back and forth until each child has said their name.)


3. Yoga pose: Alphabet letter poses (A, B, C) I really like this set ABC Yoga Cards for Kids by Christine Ristuccia, which is also in our Alphabet Discovery Skills Kit.

ABC yoga card set


4. Action Rhyme:  “Alphabet Beat”
First clap your hands.
Then stomp your feet.
Everybody do the alphabet beat!

Apple, Apple, Apple - a- a- a.
Apple, Apple, Apple - a- a- a.
Wave your arms high.
Swing your arms low.
The alphabet beat is the way to go.

Blue, Blue, Blue - b- b- b.
Blue, Blue, Blue - b- b- b.
Move to the left.
Move to the right.
The alphabet beat is way out of sight.

Car, Car, Car - c- c- c.
Car, Car, Car - c- c- c.
Shout it out loud.
Whisper down low.
Now give a high five to a nearby friend.
This alphabet beat has come to an end.



5. Multisensory experience story: LMNO Peas


large plastic bin with large cardboard blocks, circular bean bags, large bag of star finger puppets, and bag of wrist ribbon flags

actions / sensory experiences


A: Astronauts – make arms in A-shape and “blast off”

B: Builders – each child add a block to the “building” (use large blocks)

C: Climbers – pretend to climb

D: Drivers – “drive" with circle bean bag steering wheels

E: Eaters – “pretend to chew”

F: Flaggers – wave ribbon “flags”

hand holding up colorful wrist ribbon flag


G: Gigglers – giggle and laugh

H: Hikers – walk or wheel around the room 

I: Investigators – look around holding up hand "binoculars"

J: Jugglers – "juggle" imaginary balls

K: Kickers – kick feet in place

L: Listeners – listen with hand over ear

M: Miners – “dig” with hands

N: Neighbors – wave to “neighbor” next to us

O: Officers – hold up star badge (star finger puppets)

P: Peas – touch dried peas in bowl

Q: Quilters – touch quilt square

R: Readers – Read the letter “R”

S: Swimmers – make swimming motions

T: Truckers – honk “horn”

U: Underwater Divers – hand "goggles"

V: Voters – board with yes box or no box – kids can place a check on the yes or no

W: Weavers – weave yarn or string through loop

X: X-ray Doctors – look at x-ray overlays on light table (I finally got to use our cool "X-ray" overlays from Lakeshore Learning on the light table, and the kids loved these!)

chest x-ray on light panel


Y: Yogis (do “Y” pose)

Z: Zoologists - brush wild animal puppet

soft lion puppet sitting on floor



6. Sensory play stations: 

Discovery bin: find the foam letters in the dried peas (using strainers, large tweezers, and scoopers)

large sensory bin filled with dried peas and foam letters with tray of tweezers and strainers


Light table play: colorful acrylic letters on light panels

light panel with colorful acrylic letters spelling SUNDAY


Toy play: gluten-free playdough with letter stamps

child sitting at table pressing letter stampers into play dough

tubs of play dough and letter stampers on top of table



Craft: make a tactile letter (first letter of name) – with large letter outline, foam shapes, pompoms, and googly eyes

letter c outline with googly eyes and foam triangle shapes for spikes and teeth
(letter outline source: The Measured Mom)

And of course we had some of our alphabet puzzles, tactile braille letters, alphabet discovery skills kit, and toys from our Accessibility Support Collection available in the room to check out and continue the multisensory fun at home.

LMNO Peas book, Alphabet Discovery Skills Kit backpack, Braille tactile letter pieces, multi sensory alphabet card set on table display







Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Importance of a Name: Updating a Collection's Identity

What's in a name? Well...actually a name tells us quite a bit about the contents of a collection of materials, and sometimes a name needs to reevaluated. The name of the multi-media Youth Special Needs Collection at the Bloomfield Township Public Library was chosen over 10 years ago to be consistent with special education language at that time. When building this collection in 2008, I consulted with special education professionals, families, and students with disabilities. Because there were so many components in the collection, it was not feasible to use an acronym based on content type to identify this collection, as with some other library collections geared to patrons with disabilities.

Disability language has evolved in the past 11 years since the grand opening of this collection in January of 2009, and we are mindful of language that represents the voices of the disability community. The term ‘special needs’ is a euphemism that is considered offensive and ableist to many disability self-advocates, as it implies the needs of a person with a disability are special, even though everyone has needs that may be unique. After careful consideration, research, and discussion with disability self-advocates in the community and beyond over the course of a year, we are excited to announce the change to Accessibility Support Collection (ASC) to reflect the purpose of the collection: to support accessibility in daily living, learning, and recreation. The term ‘accessibility’ has consistently been used to describe the degree to which something is usable, perceivable and understandable by people of all abilities.

A Process in Progress

The task of updating catalog item records and relabeling is almost finished thanks to a wonderfully supportive Technical Services Department. Our Systems staff has also changed the MAT type icon and assisted with the changes on our website. (A reminder of the collaborative effort this collection requires!)

The web page has been updated and we are in the process of updating our signage, brochures, and bibliographies which will be added back to the web page soon!

screenshot of Accessibility Support Collection web page at the Bloomfield Township Public Library




Shelving range endcap sign for Accessibility Support CollectionShelving range endcap sign for Accessibility Support Collection




Check out these resources for more information on disability language: