Guidelines from Megan for the next two weeks (May 6, 2011)

Hi all,

I talked to Megan and here is what she wants us to do in the next two weeks:

DUSYA

1) Everybody needs to google "school experiments" or "kids' experiments" or related terms. Megan wants us to introduce games/experiments to Duchis to really vary things up in the playroom. Examples she gave me are:
- tornadoes
- sand + balloons = squeaky balls
- water + baking soda
- weather theme
- float or sink
- plant a flower

We could introduce expressions such as "I wonder why ...." and "what do you think ....?
So, for the next two weeks, let's introduce as many experiments as possible. The materials should be easy for you to get, so please bring them and let us know if you need stuff that you know we have in the house. Make sure to be very excited when you introduce this to Duchis!

2) With Liam we are going to work on language.  We have done this with Duchis before, so this is not new for us. What we have to do is RESPOND LITERALLY TO WHAT LIAM SAYS.

Example:

a) he says "book". We say "I love book", or "I love that word", or "the books is on the shelf". What Liam will realize if we all do this consistently is that "book" is not clear enough. He needs to tell us: "I want book" "Give me book" "Where is the book?" "Find the book", etc.  So, everytime he tells us a one-word sentence, you celerbrate by saying "I love that word" or "that word is great" or something like that, but you PAUSE and WAIT. If he walks away, that's ok, because that means he does not want the book enough. He will come back to try again later. If after a while he starts to get frustrated and he is not saying the full sentence, you can model ONCE "I want the book" and then away PAUSE and WAIT. The key is to KNOW that HE WILL SAY SOMETHING IF WE WAIT. He knows all the words in teh world and he is ready to be shown how to express himself more clearly.

3) We will also work with YES and NO with Liam. For the next two weeks just ask him two types of questions:
- Open-ended questions
- YES/NO questions

Right now, I think that instead of saying "YES", he is repeating what we say. Like, "do you want the little people book?" and he says "little people book". When this happens, NOD your head and point to teh sign that says "YES" in his room so that he realizes that it would be more clear if he says "YES."  For "NO", he sometimes says it, and other times he uses a protest word like "helicopter" "diamond" or "glider." Same thing, if you offer him something that he does not like and she says "glider", you SHAKE your head and point to the sign that says "NO" in his room so that he realizes what is more appropriate to say. Let's be consistent and he will learn this.

4) In Liam's room there is also a list of commands that I have been teaching Liam, so that instead of pulling us from the finger around the house, he realizes that it is more helpful to tell us "lay down" "come here" or "sit down" so that we know what he wants. Feel free to use that poster for games or point to the sentence that you think he is trying to communicate to you when he pulls from your finger.

5) Liam seems to be going through a period again where he is itchy and wants to be naked and he may start having potty accidents again. So, please always remind him to go potty and to wear at least an underwear. We want him to be comfortable, so we just have to keep encouraging him to use the bathroom and to wear his underwear. Lots of love and patience also as he passes this phase. These are some of the effects of the cleaning with the homeopathy.

Have fun in the next two weeks! My next conversation with Megan is on May 23rd.