A couple of weeks ago my mom and I started a course called Hanen. This is a communication program for children with language delays. We learn skills and strategies that we can use on daily basis, in all the regular situations we have with Alicia.
The strategies they teach are very simple. For an example, the first one we did was "OWL". It stands for Observe, Wait and Listen. It is very easy steps, the problem is to really do it. Sometimes you have so much on your mind in your everyday life and you need to be reminded about easy little steps like this.
Now we really watch and observe Alicia - her body language and facial expressions. The waiting part is probably the hardest. Sometimes you have to wait for a long time for Alicia to respond or show what she wants. It's very easy to answer for her and not give her the time that she needs. After we started to do this I've realized that Alicia communicates a lot more than I thought, but in her own way.
We imitate her a lot in her sounds and games to make her realize that we are answering her and for her to understand that she steers the game and what is happening. I think that she is starting to get a grip of it. If she says Aaah, I say it back to her, she stops and you can see that she really listens, then she will say something again and then stop and wait for me to say something.
Alicia also responds a lot to when you do different songs and rimes were you have her on your lap and make her fall back in the end. Already when you put her on your knees she takes her head back and shows that she wants to fall back. She loves that!!
I think all of this is very interesting and it feels really good to work intensively with it to see what we can achieve. It is so important to me for Alicia to be able to show us what she wants and for us to be able to understand each other.
We are also in the process of starting to prepare Alicia more for the most comment routines she has. For an example that we give her a spoon before she will eat, that she will hold a diaper when we are going to change her, give her a bath duck before her bath and so on. In the beginning it might not mean so much to her but then she will learn to recognize the objects and will know what will happen next.
Alicia in her playcorner!
Wise OWL
ReplyDeleteMeMere, 23 sep 04:22
I think it is wonderful that you are taking this course with your mom, Linda. Remember when Alicia started playing the Wah Wah game. Once she found out we reacted, she kept playing to hear our reaction!
Great idea about putting the spoon in her hand first, diaper in her hand etc. Did you get that idea from the class, your mom or her nursery school? I believe Alicia has so much potential and that y'all are doing a great job developing that potential.
On the way back from Charlottesville today, I stopped at my favorite dollar store in Madison, VA. They had an unbelievable sale on little boy's oneseys. I couldn't resist and picked up a few! I even bought some shorts for Ross!!
Thank you for this wonderful blog!!!
Love,
Mom L.