The Picture Dictionary

I've gotten lots of comments about the Picture Dictionary. Honestly I started it a few months ago because I knew it make take some time and that I might need it is a short amount of time. I had remembered it from my teaching days and it occurred to me that this might be a perfect way to communicate with an adopted child. I am going to have some Lugandan speakers make sure my vocab is correct when I visit. :-) And I know I will also have to hear most of the words to be able to pronounce them myself.

Another idea I had (and how it is usually used in an educational setting) is to print it on 5x7 cards that are double sided and laminated and then punch a hole in the top of the several cards and hang it on a lanyard around the child's neck for easy and quick reference... but I don't know many 3 year olds that would be to happy about having a deck of cards swinging from their neck :-) I think the smaller 'booklet' would be ideal for a 6+ year old.

It also has about 6 places for pictures and names of family members (mom, dad, siblings and bio family or foster parents.) We were fortunate enough to have photos of some bio family and also of the place he is currently living. So we have a photo of that and our home under the "home" box. Adding your real images are always better than stock photos... but it is a bit of work taking them and finding the right ones, and sometimes it is just impossible given where your child is coming from.

I would LOVE to pass this on to whoever needs it!

If your child speaks Lugandan I would love to email you the document so that it saves you work. I have tried to get most of the images to be racially appropriate or at least non-specific... I was stoked about finding several images with white parents and darker skinned children!

If you are adopting from else where I am not so sure how helpful my document will be... but if you want it I will send it.

I will email it to anyone for free, but if you would like to donate a few bucks under our adoption tag at the top it would be nice, since it did take lots of time... but either way it is totally good. I would just like to see it used and helping children and families!

So you can leave a comment with your email and I will pass it on to you... (and I won't publish your email.)

Thanks for the feedback!

I am glad this is giving others good ideas of how to connect in fun and mutually beneficial ways!

If you've been there and have good ideas I'd LOVE to hear those too.

This has been one area that I feel like adoption resources and books fall very very short on!

I am a practical person and they seem to just offer problems, not solutions to help families.

So that is where advice and others experiences are very helpful!