KiKi's Color Choice Board

KiKi's Color Choice Board



     This is a project that was a long time coming. In that I had the idea for a long time, but took quite a while to get around to actually bringing the concept I had in my head to fruition... What you see above is a blurry (cell phone) pic of my newest creation. This is a color choice board for KiKi. The concept is quite simple, the cards above the unit are placed on three options, and the color button he pushes coincides with the item he receives. For example, you could place the red square on a cd, the yellow card on a puzzle, and the blue card on a Tigger. Whichever button he presses is the toy he "chooses" and gets. Or for food, he can "choose" between rice milk, a butternut squash soup box, or a pumpkin spice creamer pack... I put the word "choose" in quotation marks because at this point it's simply making him take whatever he selects and hoping that eventually he catches on that the end result is connected to the button he pushed. He is very good at color matching, so I'm hoping this process only takes a few months. At that point, the benefits and uses would be astronomical...

 

     How I made this choice board... The base the 5 layers of corrugated cardboard, hot-glued together. The end result is stiff, solid, and durable. The top has an envelope to hold the 2" square color cards, and three sound buttons from Build-A-Bear Workshop. The buttons make sound when pressed solidly, to make it easier for the person working with KiKi to know his choice. He does not hear the sounds and has no idea they exist. Each sound button has a 1" color square on it, to match the big squares. The red button is a monkey sound, yellow is a magic wand sound, and blue is children laughing. All pieces are laminated and hot-glued in place, and the envelope is made tight enough to hold the cards in place even when turned upside down. I have 3 back up 2" cards of each color, in case some get lost. The entire board is 2" by 8", small enough to easily fit in most purses (if I carried one), or the stroller basket. This is made to travel with him anywhere he goes, to enable him to choose items when pictures aren't an option. My total cost into this board is at about $15, excluding about 45 minutes of measuring, cutting, and laminating. Overall, I'm very happy to finally have this done. His speech therapist plans on introducing it in the therapy setting on Monday. At home training sessions have already begun. :)