Mackenzie is a six-year-old girl who was born blind and has learning disabilities related to reading, writing, math, reasoning, social behavior and physical coordination. Her favorite things are baking, watching movies and animals.
Mackenzie wants to invite her two best friends to her birthday party. She wants to make the invitations, and help plan the party with her mom.
The objective for this experience is to encourage and support Mackenzie, as this will be the first birthday party Mackenzie has taken an active interest in. Mackenzie will gain confidence, as well as get an opportunity to work on her language, writing and social behavior skills.
Once all the planning has been done and the invitations have been made, Mackenzie will create her experience book, some of which will be done ahead of the party and some afterwards.
Experience Book:
Mackenzie is having a Princess Party, so her experience book will be made out of cardboard covered in satin fabric.
- Cover: Mackenzie’s 6th Birthday Party!
Mackenzie will decorate the cover with adhesive rhinestones and add a sticky braille label with the title.
- Page 1: The Invitation
Mackenzie will make the invitations on heavy paper. She will include the date of the party, the time, and location with sticky braille labels. Then she will decorate them with adhesive rhinestones. On the other side of the invitation, she will add the name of her friend with a sticky braille label. She will ask her mom to print the information for her.
Mackenzie will make a sticky braille label that says “I planned my birthday party and made the invitations myself!”
The invitation will be attached to the fabric with a large safety pin.
- Page 2: Tiara
When her friends arrive, Mackenzie will give each of them a tiara to wear. She has asked her parents if they will take a photograph of her with her friends wearing their tiaras.
Mackenzie will make a sticky braille label that says “Me and my party princesses wearing our tiaras”.
The tiara and photo will be attached to the fabric with Velcro.
- Page 3: Pinwheel Straws
Mackenzie wants everyone to drink out of straws and has decided that adding pinwheels will be more fun.
Mackenzie will make a sticky braille label that says “Princesses love pinwheels!”
The pinwheel straws will be attached to the fabric with Velcro.
- Page 4: Castle Cookies
Mackenzie will help bake her own birthday cookies using a castle cookie cutter. Then they will ice the cookies and decorate them with M & M candies.
Mackenzie will make a sticky braille label that says “Castle Cookies baked by Mackenzie are delicious”.
The castle cookie cutter will be attached with a twist tie (so it can be used for baking again).
- Page 5: The End
This page will be left blank until the party is over and Mackenzie decides how she wants to express her feelings about the day and what object she wants to include here.
