Before the boys entered preschool, computer games were not a part of their lives. They were definitely deprived, if you ask them. All three of them LOVE computer time, now. It also helps (or hurts, depending on your point of view) that the baby gates are down at home, because now they have full access!
Both of the little guys have touch-screens in their classrooms at Early Start. Sawyer's class had one before he ever started, so it's always been there. And, even if it there hadn't been one, his IEP (individual education plan, for those of you lucky enough to have no idea what that is) would have gotten him one. It took a little while for him to get over his early aversion to the headphones (you know, putting something besides his hands over his ears), but now he's decided it's one of the greatest things ever. One of his teachers told us at open house last week that he will even reach up to the time on top of the computer station and turn it off (you know, if they dare to turn it on for him). Apparently he doesn't do time limits, he says. He likes to play the special card, as Josh says. He just flashes his cute little grin and most people (including us) have a hard time telling him no.
Xander's classroom wasn't equipped with a touch-screen last year or this year, and his teachers and I thought it would be something that would really benefit him. It wasn't in his IEP though, so apparently the teachers and speech therapist had a hard time getting the school system to put one in there. But, after some persistence on their part and requesting a trial basis if nothing else, it's arrived and he is LOVING it. His speech therapist told us just this afternoon how much it has really helped, that he's gone from just watching others work on the computers to actually sitting down and enjoying the educational games, doing well with some of his favorites like matching upper and lower case alphabet letters and also just general matching games. It's just one more way that he's participating with the rest of his classmates this year, and we love it.
So we have three computer boys. Connor does pretty well with the mouse and navigating around the one site we let them use at home, PBS Kids. The other two usually require help at home, so I guess I'm seeing a touch screen in our near future. If it will help with core concepts like letters and numbers, shapes and patterns, then I'm all for it.