If you want to watch the 2 little videos I sent to SonRise, here we are.
This is Liam’s video:
http://www.vimeo.com/9656628
This is Dusya’s video:
http://www.vimeo.com/9657192
This is summary of what Gerd said.
1) He complemented my 3Es and my passion.
FOR LIAM:
2) He was very happy to see that Liam was over me all the time. He said for Liam I am clearly "his #1 toy." He said that is FANTASTIC because it means Liam is people-oriented; Liam believes that people can be a great toy. He asked me how I felt about Liam being on me all the time. I sais I was very happy about it and I just did not know how to take advantage of it more for his learning. He said that I need to think how to make my face and body the most fascinating toy in the world. Ideas for this are:
- masks
- funny faces
- face paint
- popping sounds, any sound with the mouth
- show what the mouth can do, including blowing balloons
- with teh body, be a robot, be a horse, etc.
I told him that we have done the masks but that he takes them away from our faces. He said to keep trying
3) Gerd said that if Liam's nails hurt our face, we should tell him "gentle, gentle" and show him how to touch our face. He noticed there was a moment I moved him away and I said it may have been because of the nails.
4) There was a moment when Liam went to a book and tapped the floor and I did not go with him. I told Gerd I knew Liam was coming back immediately to be with me. Gerd said that even if he goes away for a short time, I need to go and join him with the book and the tapping. He said that when Liam breaks eye contact, I need to honor that moment and do what he does. The green light may come very soon and then I can play again. Gerd said this may be Liam's way to check "Are you with me, mommy?"
5) There was a moment when Liam said "hippo, caribou" and I did not do much with that. I told Gerd I sometimes think that is random talking. Gerd said that nothing is random, that if Liam says hippo and caribou that is a big deal because it was spontaneous and looking at my eyes. I need to become a hippo or a caribou and show him that anythign he says is so important to me and has so much meaning. That was a huge learning since I tend to give more meaning to what Dusya said, and tend to see Liam’s speech as more scripted but Gerd said that Liam’s talking has all the meaning in the world.
FOR DUSYA
6) Gerd said that Dusya looked more object-oriented that Liam and that we need to think "how can I get myself in the picture?" "how can I show her that when she includes me everythign is more fun?" "how can I become the most interesting thing here?"
7) Gerd said I did fine with teh dollhouse and that I could have also have sat on the other side of the dollhouse and have given things to her through the windows, etc.
8) I told him about the puzzles and he said he has seen children dissapear in puzzles and that I need to get puzzles with people and puzzles made of pictures and to put away puzzles that do not have people.
9) Gerd said eye contact still needs to be a priority. He noticed she tries to avoid looking. He said we need to be consistent askign for eye contact, positioning for eye contact, offering her things at eye level, and celebrating for eye contact.
10) Gerd said I did not build on one song Duch was singing, although I did do it with the teddy bear song. He told me to pay attention to her humming because that is a source of interaction.
11) He said that everybody who goes to the room should have the conviction that "I am an irresistable magnet. Children cannot resist coming to me" If we enter the room with that attitude we will be irresistable to Duch.
12) Gerd said that when Duch was pushing balloons, my question of "what do you want to do next?" did not make a lot of sense. She already was pushing balloons. He said to pay attention to the details of what she is doing. Also, when she did not respond, I switched to "do you want to blow more balloons?" and she said "yes." He said it was good to ask open-ended questions (what, where and who at this point) and that when she does not respond, we could switch to multiple-choice or yes/no questions.
I will send him another video next month!
