OBJECTIVES FOR LIAM
1. The key objective we have for Liam is to use the same techniques with him that we used with Duchis a few months ago to help him to go to the next level with his communication. The key techniques we discussed were:
• RESPOND LITERALY: If he says “brown cracker” or “opposites”, we DON’T KNOW what that means. He needs to realize that those words don’t work anymore and that it would be so much more helpful to say things like: “Give me a brown cracker,” “I want a brown cracker,” “let’s play opposites,” “give me opposites”, etc. In this situation, DON’T ASK QUESTIONS. Instead of “what do you mean?” make a comment like: “I love brown crackers,” “brown crackers are super yummy,” “opposites are lots of fun.” And then WAIT to see what he says.
• USE NON-VERBAL GESTURES. Try shrugging your shoulders and make face that shows that you don't know exactly what he wants. And then WAIT to see what he says.
• USE THE SIGNS WE HAVE ON THE WALL. Point to the sign or take the sign from the wall and put it in front of him. Don’t read it, just show it to him. And WAIT to see what he says.
• If after all this, he has not said the full sentence, then model the sentence in an exciting way “give me the brown crackers” and give the crackers to him.
• Let’s be consistent with this. Don’t give him what he asks right away when he only uses one word or two words. He is so smart that he will realize what works and will start saying the long sentences. You will see!
2. The second key objective we have been working on is for Liam to say YES and NO consistently. Liam is using "YES" very consistently. He is also starting to use "NO" more, but he still many times just yells "EEEAAAA," or something random like “pizzaaaa”. These are his protest words. The technique again for this is:
o RESPOND LITERALLY: Let’s respond to Liam's EEAH or YEAH literally, so carry on a bit with what you are doing that he seems to be protesting. Slow down a bit, don't move as fast since nobody else besides us knows that “EEEAAAH” means “NO”. Then, pause and wait.
o USE NON-VERBAL GESTURES: Try a non-verbal gesture when he says the EEAAAH, or maybe put your hands up and shrug as you don't clearly understand. Then, pause and wait.
o SHOW HIM THE SIGNS ON THE WALL for “YES” and “NO” or make the signs in sign language. Then, pause and wait.
o After that, feel free to model the word NO in a strong voice.
o Sometimes he is saying “don’t like”, that’s good, too!! Celebrate that!
3. Keep in mind NOT TO OVER-MODEL the sentences for him. It is TOO EASY for Liam to just repeat the sentences we are feeding him. At this point, he needs to practice putting the whole sentence together by himself. He can do it! He is super smart!
4. Ask him multiple choice questions like: “Do you want the big cracker or the little cracker?” or “Do you want the opposite puzzle or the ABC puzzle?” Make sure you put what you think is his preferred choice FIRST in the question to make sure he is not just repeating the last part of the question.
INTERESTS AND GAMES FOR LIAM
5. Liam has been very interested in “opposites” lately. In addition to his opposite puzzles (he has two of them) and opposites book (he has an Elmo opposites book), we talked about acting out the opposites in dramatic and funny ways.
6. Liam is also into feelings. Act out feelings. We have Baby Einstein feeling cards. He likes: silly, scared, surprised, excited, sick, happy, sad, grumpy, mad, etc. Feel free to add any other feelings and act them out dramatically.
7. Also, since he is interested in the feeling of “sick”, let’s introduce playing doctor again. Be dramatic, use the doctor kit on yourself, the cars, or the animals first. Remember Jessie’s example of pretending to do CPR on Duchis!
8. Liam has been very interested in traffic lights lately. Many of us have played “green light-red light” in different ways. He is also very interested in “stop” and “go”. Some ideas we had were:
- Introduce the yellow light as “slooow”
- Build big stop and go signs with poster board
- Build a traffic light with foam paper and velcro
9. Liam is loving cars again. We talked about:
- Creating a city in the room
- Using the car dress-up clothes
- Build simple model cars
- Build cars with legos
- Use the toolbox with the cars
- Use the street that Nick built in the past
10. Liam loves physical games. Let’s build more obstacle courses and mix them with the cars and dinosaurs.
Remember that whenever you have Liam or Dusya HOOKED in a game, it is time to REQUEST SOMETHING FROM THEM AND GIVE THEM A LITTLE ROLE: Liam do this, Liam bring me that, Duchis push the bottom, Duchis say this, etc.
OBJECTIVES FOR DUSYA
1. Our objective is to show Duchis that she can use language not only to ask for things, but to SHARE EXPERIENCES. Use the signs that we have now on the wall when you are playing with her. Talk about “I love …”, “It’s funny when …”, “Let’s play …”, “I am excited to …”. Tell her stories of things you really like or fun experiences we have had. Even if she just listens to us and does nothing, that is great, we are modeling for her how fun language can be. She is learning from our stories. Use your 3Es when telling the stories.
2. Our second objective is to keep modeling conversations for Duchis with the puppets or any other figures. Be animated, act the conversations out. Celebrate Duch if she says anything in the conversation; even if she has the smallest part in the conversation, it matters that she is deciding to participate and that she feels successful. If she attempts to share something and it doesn't quite pan out, celebrate her for trying. She could have just ignored us and she chose to try.
INTERESTS AND GAMES FOR DUSYA
3. If Duchis wants to smell your feet or lick your feet, tell her that is not so good for her body and give her alternatives. Run to the kitchen to get spices and have fun smelling different things. Also, Jessie was going to look for the sensory game her professors taught her.
4. Duchis is liking dress-up more. Let’s take advantage of that motivation!! Play dress-up more, in particular, she seems to be liking princess stuff more and she is putting more necklaces on!
5. Duchis seems to be liking things on her hair more. Get the big Barbie head from the big closet and I will get more hair stuff to play with the Barbie, your hair, and her hair.
6. She seems to like Dora again. Let’s play Explorer and create maps that help us find things that are hiding.
7. If Duchis sits on you while playing, it does not mean that she does not want to play, try to adapt the game to a “sit-down version” and keep playing. Congratulate her also for coming to sit on you in a sit way. Sit in front of the mirror so that you can continue to see her eyes.
8. She is also into physical games. Obstacle courses will also work for her.
9. Think of different versions of the hide-and-seek game:
- Invite her to hide the stuff
- Hide yourself
- Invite her to hide herself
- Go to play in a different room
- Transform the hide-and-seek into a “memory” game with pillows and blankets
HAVE FUN AND REMEMBER: It is the connection and how much fun we have that matters the most and not the amount of loops Liam and Dusya can do or how many questions they answer, etc.
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