Where do I Fit in the Easter Story

<sup>Easter is a time of reflection in many ways. For me, the story of Easter has several powerful messages and examples of people who demonstrate great faith as well as crushing unbelief. 

Jesus is the focus of Easter. There is redemptive hope found in the actions of Jesus. He's the one who gave his life for all of us born into sin. Jesus embraced the call on his life. He died a gruesome death for the love of us. He is THE story.  

Then there's Peter. We all know what Peter did. Peter told Jesus he would follow him no matter what but ended up denying him three times, as predicted. Some can see how Peter caved under the pressure of the situation around him. Others wonder how Peter could deny Jesus after witnessing a multitude of miracles. Peter is a remarkable a figure and shows how diverse the reactions of the followers of Jesus were.</sup>  

^{Of course, we have to mention Judas being that he was one of the 12 disciples too. Judas saw the miracles of Jesus, yet evil entered his heart somehow. He turned Jesus over to his enemies for money after everything he saw Jesus accomplish. Judas is a reminder that being close to Jesus doesn't mean anything unless we fully commit our lives to him.}

There's more pivotal people that are worth mentioning but for time's sake I will stop there.

As I was reviewing the story of Easter this year, I had to pause and wonder where I fit. Who am I most like in this story?

Then it became clear to me who I have been in the past. I have been chief among the mockers.

Scripture tells us that soldiers mocked Jesus by saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself." (Luke 23 NKJV) Other people were recorded saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God."

Those mocking Jesus couldn't understand what was happening. They couldn't comprehend Jesus choosing that path. Sometimes, God's intervention doesn't look like what we picture. God may not move how we anticipate.

When reflecting on Easter, I surmise that I would have been one of those people wondering if Jesus really was God's son, because he was enduring a horrible death. Surely God's goodness would spare his son the pain? Can God's love be found in the middle of such suffering? A grand display of power in the form of suddenly destroying those who were hurting Jesus would have been just as effective, right?

Yes, I would have been one of those hecklers. Perhaps, I would not have openly shouted something to the crowd, but I would have been thinking it. I know this because I have had those thoughts too many times in my life as a parent.

I have stood by my daughter's hospital bed and been bombarded with thoughts such as:
There's no way God could be with us. If God were here, my daughter wouldn't need all these machines and tubes to stay alive. God would spare my daughter of all of this. 

If God cared about my family, we wouldn't be dealing with this situation now. 

Surely all this suffering isn't part of God's plan.

I struggled for years to find God's mercy when my daughter's situation seemed mercilessness. Several surgeries, diagnoses, and health scares meant that I had every question and doubt possible enter my mind. I rarely voiced them aloud but my mind was full of them.

I'm not sure if those mocking Jesus ever realized how wrong they were. However, I realized how wrong I was.

I knew I needed a renewed mind when trying to find God in my daughter's medical situations. Of all the characters in my own storyline, the role of heckler is not doing any good. I need a voice of faith resounding through my situations. I need affirmations and reassurances. I don't need questions. I don't need to be my own worst enemy providing the mocking statements.

Thankfully, I have learned to recognize my doubts. God has given me the grace and ability to go through situations with my daughter without emotionally trying to figure out why they are happening.

As another Easter celebration passes, I thank God that I don't have to be a mocking unbeliever anymore. I know who God is. I know what His love looks like- even in the hospital. I know what His goodness looks like too- even if my daughter is deathly sick. What about you? 

Therapy Tip: Easter Language Ideas

It's Therapy Thursday! Today is the day that I share a tip based upon my experiences as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the mother of a child with special needs. Today's tip is:

Easter Language Ideas

This week, I am on spring break. I'm off work and spending some much needed time with my family. I have put 3 of my nice little Easter blogs on this post for you, so you can easily find them. These links have ideas for growing language and vocabulary related to Easter. So go ahead, take a look at these if you missed them the first time. 


10 Uses for Plastic Eggs

Building Language During Easter

Easter Sensory Bin

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice. 

Therapy Tip: 10 Uses for Plastic Eggs

It's Therapy Thursday! Yippee! Today is the day that I share a tip based upon my experiences as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the mother of a child with special needs. Today's tip is:

10 Uses for Plastic Eggs in Speech Therapy

It's Easter! If there isn't already, there will soon be plastic eggs littered all over yards and homes. I love using these plastic eggs to change up activities for the work that I do with toddlers. Today, I thought I would give you 10 ways you can build speech-language skills with these plastic eggs. Obviously, anything small and plastic should be used with supervision for toddlers, but you knew that.

1. Color matching: Gather 10 eggs (2 of 5 different colors). Show the child how you can sort them out by placing green by green, blue by blue, etc. If it is too hard or too easy, change the number of eggs. You can also use an egg carton to make it a little more structured. On one row in the carton place 6 different colored eggs. Then, ask the child to place the matching color next to the egg in the carton. Still yet, you can get colored construction paper the same color as the eggs. Place the construction paper out and show the child how you can match the eggs to the same color as the paper.

2. Big/Little: You can reinforce the concepts of big and little in a couple of ways. First, you can simply get two different sized eggs to show big and little. Secondly, you can get small items and see which ones are little enough to fit inside the eggs and which ones are too big to fit in the eggs.

3. What's in the egg?: If you look hard enough, you can easily find things to place inside the egg. You can then teach vocabulary with the things that are in the egg. The child will have fun opening the eggs to see what is inside. It is important to pace the child, so that they only open one egg at a time and focus on the object inside. Some things I have placed inside the eggs have been: play money, little animal figures, a beaded necklace, plastic rings, pom-poms, small dinosaur, etc. Children have really enjoyed this activity with me in sessions. Again, anything small enough to fit in the eggs will require strict supervision, and this shouldn't be done with kids who frequently put things in their mouths.

4. Spatial Concepts: By placing eggs in different positions, you can teach many different spatial concepts. You can show the child the spatial concepts ("I'm putting this one in the basket." "I'm putting this one under the basket.") to teach them the concepts. You can "test" the child by telling them where to put the eggs by telling them to put it in/out/on/on top/under/next to/behind/in front of a basket, container, or chair.

5. Counting: This is sort of obvious. Count the eggs! If your child isn't counting very far, then count to 3 over and over with the eggs. If they can go higher, count higher. To make it harder, you can tell the child you hid 5 eggs. Count them out as they find them.

6. Following directions: Use the eggs to work on following 2 and 3 step directions. Examples of 2 step directions: Get the egg, and put it in the basket. Pick up an egg and bring it to me. Go to the couch and find the egg. Examples of 3 step directions: Go to the chair, get the egg, and put it in your basket. Find the egg, put it in your basket, and then come to me. Stand up, get the egg, and come back here.

7. Speech Sound Targeting: If your child is working on a specific sound like p or k, then you can put some things inside the egg that have the target sound for your practice. For instance, if you are doing initial /k/ words, you can put the following things inside the eggs: candy, key, cat, "K," kid, car, etc. If you can't find objects small enough to fit in the egg, then use stickers or find pictures of these objects from Clipart or magazines to stuff in the eggs.

8. Shakers: Fill those plastic eggs with items to turn them into shakers. You can use items that will create a soft noise and some that will create a loud noise so that you can compare items and teach those adjective words. Make sure you secure the egg shut with packing or duct tape so they won't spill out! To make a soft noisemaker, use pom-poms, rice, or gummy bears. For loud noisemakers, use rocks, beans, Legos, coins, and M&Ms. Add music to the activity and dance with these noisemakers as you remark on which ones are loud and soft.

9. Kitchen Fun: If you have pretend play kitchen items, add some plastic eggs to them. I love watching kids imitate me cracking the egg and pretending to cook them. This will work on pretend play, play imitation, and actions (crack, stir, cook, eat, cut).

10. High/low: Without the child present, you can hide eggs up high and down low. As they find the eggs, you can remark on the eggs that are low and up high. The ones that are up high will also create an opportunity for the child to ask for help since they will most likely need you to pick them up and help them get the egg.

Well, now you know what to do with all of those eggs sitting around. Have fun!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice. 

Therapy Tip: Easter Sensory Bin

It's Therapy Thursday! This is the day that I share a tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and the mother of a child with special needs. Today's tip is:

Easter Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are fun and popular with young children. Sensory bins are simply containers filled with an item meant to provide some sort of texture to the child as they dig and feel around while playing. People often associate these with children with autism or sensory processing disorder, but these are useful and fun for all children. 

Working in homes of toddlers, I try to make up small sensory bins several times a year. Traveling from home to home to conduct therapy sessions, I use a small container to serve as my sensory bin. A small container is perfect for one child to play in and is easy for me transport. I generally don't fill the container completely full since some of the toddlers I work with will end up dumping out the contents.

Generally, the base of the sensory bin contains something like uncooked macaroni noodles, rice, beans, shredded paper, pom-poms, etc. For my Easter sensory bin, I like to use the grass people often put in the bottom of Easter baskets. It has a texture that is a bit different. You could also use the green shredded paper that is found in stores, which you can also replicate easily. 

Next, additional items are placed in the bin based upon the fine motor skills that are being targeted or vocabulary that is being addressed. I collect little Easter related toys I find in dollar stores or on clearance at the end of the season to use in my bins. What you put in the bin can be different, but I'll share what I put in my mine for the work I do with toddlers and why.

For my Easter sensory bin, I use a couple of plastic eggs. One egg is big and one is small to target the size words. You can further reinforce big and little by seeing what will fit inside the eggs. The colors of the eggs can also be a target as well. Then I have a few rabbits in my bin to work on actions like hop, jump, or eat (which is why I have the carrots too). I like to bury the people under the grass for more actions like find and hide. I can line up all the rabbits and count them as they jump in the grass. You can model questions and phrases like, "Where's the bunny?" and "I see you." The vocabulary and phrases that you can target can continue from there. Of course, there are all sorts of targets, but these can hopefully give you an idea for your own bin.

Sensory bins are great for speech therapy because it allows me to use a fun activity to target several language skills. Have fun making one for your child! 

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended for therapeutic advice. 

Therapy Tip: Building Language During Easter

Welcome to Therapy Thursday. This is the day I give an idea for helping your child based upon my experiences as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mom of a child with special needs.

I love incorporating holiday activities into my speech-language therapy. If you have Easter eggs, baskets, and bunnies around your home, you will love today's ideas.

Building Language During Easter

Here are 5 different therapy skills that you can address during the Easter season with things that you may have around your house.


1. Colors:  Gather up all those lovely Easter eggs of assorted colors.
-If your child doesn't know colors, then first see if they can match. Hold up a green egg and have them find another one like that.
-Sort through all the eggs with your child. Put blue eggs in a pile and green eggs in another pile.
-Too easy? Move to identification! Put three or four different colored eggs in a basket. Tell the child to get a specific colored egg.
-Still too easy? Ask the child the color of all the eggs as s/he drops them in a basket.

2. Spatial Concepts: Using the eggs, have the child hide the eggs for another family member or just for themselves. Give them directions using spatial concept words. Examples: Put the egg UNDER the couch. Put the egg IN FRONT OF the table. Put an egg NEXT TO the pillow.

3. Following directions: This is similar to the previous idea but is a little more general. Give your child 2 or 3 step directions using the things around you that are Easter related. Examples: Pick up the egg and put it in the basket. Go to the hall, get the basket, and bring it to me. Find the bunny, put it in the basket, and bring it here.

4. Big/Little, Small/Medium/Large: If you have eggs of different sizes, use these as a way to teach size concepts.

5.  Articulation: If your child is working on a specific sound in speech, then incorporating small objects into eggs is a fun activity. For example, if the child is working on the /p/ sound, I will search around to find small objects I can stuff in the eggs. These may be: penny, pig, pony, pet, etc. I keep a variety of small objects to fit inside eggs for situations like this, so I have a collection to choose from. Look in dollar bins or the party treat bag section in stores to find things that may work for this. In a pinch, I have searched through my stickers to find the right word that I want to target. After you stuff 10 or more eggs with the objects or stickers, the child can open the egg and say the word.

Now that you have some ideas, gather up all your eggs and have fun building your child's language.

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.