Author Archives: BlogPost

A Wink and a Nudge to Mr. B

Posted on by

Dave’s been hard at work as you may have seen all the new material (The new Comic Strip, Joke Gallery & the new Coloring Pages) we’ve posted the past few days.

Here’s a quick video of Dave working on some new artwork for the joke gallery. You’ll notice he has headphones on as he’s listening to Mozart while he works. He narrates the joke, and if you’ve seen the artwork in the Joke Gallery, you’ll understand this…It’s dedicated to Mr. Butler. Thanks Mr. B for all your hard work, not just in math, but you always “got” Dave. A special thanks also to Mrs. Raye, who worked diligently with Dave in his math class for many years.

Dave working on a joke
[KGVID width=”640″ height=”360″]https://www.puppyducks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/DaveTellingOwlgebraJoke1316.mov[/KGVID]

 

Welcoming the New Year!

Posted on by

As we enjoy the last day of 2013, I can’t help but reflect on how amazing this year has been. It certainly had been a year of adjustments, growth, discovery and challenges. I found myself a bit lost over the holidays having broken from our normal routine. It was good to let go of the daily hectic agenda, and maybe reset my clock so that I can start the new year’s daily routine with less hype. I had been asked on several occasions if I had drank too much coffee as I just had so much to get done, I couldn’t help but be over-wired.

Clock

Looking to the New Year, I’m hoping we will get a final decision from the DDD on how they’re going to support David’s self-directed program. I’ve been managing on my own till now (with the support of our awesome crew), but I’d like to get a few things in order and put a few people on the payroll.

Plans for the new year include:

  • Continuing to publish David’s comic strip online as well as the new comic strip for the newsletter he’ll be working for.
  • Further developing content for the PuppyDucks website
  • Extending our reach to spread the word about the PuppyDucks , using SEO as well as joining groups and reaching out to people directly. I still prefer the later, as I also like to read and see what others are doing and how maybe our ideas can help them as well.
  • Developing and writing the new books for Dave to work on. The books need to be written for any illustrator to then develop the artwork, so this is a big ticket item on our agenda.
  • Final stage of publishing the books and getting them on bookshelves, as well as a few other items to help bring PD to the next phase.

There are a few other things that we have lined up, but too soon to talk about. I guarantee they’re very exciting! For now, we’ll leave the list as is.

There’s a lot of work ahead, and through all that I still have plans on how I can offer a variety of things for Dave to do. Once the weather starts to warm up, we’ll also have the benefit of outdoor activities, like riding his new bicycle that he got for Christmas, continuing to work on his frisbee skills, and working on his getting a few baskets in at the local township basketball court. Until then it looks like Candy Crush, reading books, puzzles and a few other games will have to suffice for free time activities. I’m sure Dave will be happy about that as he prefers to stay inside.

To everyone who showed such incredible support and participated in helping us reach our Facebook goal, I offer my sincerest appreciation. Thank you so very much for the supportive e-mails, for continuing to come back to the website, as well as forwarding and telling your friends and family about our efforts here.

Our sincerest best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year! ~ The PuppyDucks Mom

 

 

 

A Surprise Visit to Some Old Friends

Posted on by

Today was a rather special day as Dave and I went over to the old school to pay a surprise visit. Well only a few people knew we were coming as I called to make sure it was okay for us to swing by (Thanks Mrs. Comstock for the greenlight!). Dave had written out all his Christmas cards himself (as he does every year-some years numbers went into the 60s) to the 30 something friends (teachers) he was going to distribute, and so I took him to give them out.

Dave was allowed to distribute his Christmas cards through the mail room, as that was his old job at KRHS. So he knew all too well how to manage the territory. We had been told that he could do that after the mail job was done, which Mrs. G & Mike ordinarily do. But today while Dave was there, he saw a pile of mail and started to help out. He helped get the job done pronto, leaving plenty of time to distribute his own mail.

It was great to see so many familiar faces as we waited in the office, and then as we were in the mail room we got to see a few more friends as they stopped by to get their mail.

After we took a stroll down the halls, to see who we could visit. I’m sorry that we didn’t have more time as we missed going to see Mr. Meyers and Mr. Carnegie. But we did make it over to a few of the old classrooms, where Dave got to tell a few jokes. Then we went down to D-10 as he got to see the rest of his old friends. The boys seemed happy to see Dave, which I was so glad to see. They were all giddy talking about the PuppyDucks site, and some of the old routines they use to cover together like the Muppets and other fun characters that I know Dave brought to the table. Ms. Nugent even had a gift for Dave, which he sought out and found a place for as soon as we got home. We managed to scam a few pictures, although I wish I had taken more.

I truly feel so fortunate, as we were welcomed with open arms, smiles, hugs and a true sense of joy to see David. I know I’ve said this before, but I miss you all so much! I’m truly thankful that we can stay in touch, and drop by once in a while.

Thank you all for the holiday wishes, you truly made my Christmas season start today.

My apologies as I had to remove a few of the pictures as I had been advised it would not be appropriate to have pictures of the kids at school, without permission from their parents.

Dave is Doing Sound Therapy!

Posted on by

You may have noticed that content development for the PuppyDucks website has slowed down a little. There have been a lot of preparations here in our home for the upcoming holidays, but also Dave has just started round 2 of Sound Therapy. Luckily we can do this therapy at home, thanks to The Davis Center’s innovative program.

This version of sound therapy requires doing a therapy session for 2 hours a day (for 15 consecutive days). It also requires Dave to speak into a microphone at the beginning of the session. That requires a bit of prep on my part so that I can have material ready for him to read or sing in order for him to hear his own voice.

The philosophy behind this therapy was established by Dr. Alfred Tomatis, as he postulated, “The voice can only produce what the ear hears.” He also established that although we are born with the ability to hear, we must be taught to listen.

Using the microphone while listening to the filtered music, David can hear his own voice to provide a source of stimulation for the body. “Eventually the listener incorporates the use of his own voice to form a relationship between the way he vocalizes and the way he hears.”*

We’re hoping this will help David further develop his language skills.

Quoted directly from Sound Bodies through Sound Therapy, by Dorinne S. Davis, Chapter 5 – The Tomatis Method® – and again you can learn more about this and other forms of sound therapy at www.thedaviscenter.com.

Here’s a few pics of Dave singing into the microphone: