The family project has been such a good experience, I feel
like my heart is really passionate about the resources available in order to
help these specific families. For one of the formal resources we chose to find
a counselor, after searching for counselors in the area- I became discouraged
about how little I felt that the counselors could apply to Mrs Fong. I ended up
finding a counselor that specialized in children and adults, and working with families
that have disabilities. Even though I was searching for a while, It felt like a
good match once I found her.
I feel that that is how a lot of resources can be, its hard
to find them in the first place, but what is even harder is trying to find the
right fit. We were able to find a few different options for support groups, but
whether the particular support group works or not all depends on the fit and
whether or not the family clicks with the rest of the groups and leads.
This is reminding me of this summer I was having health
issues, and every doctor I went to said that it was a quick and easy fix, yet
none of them were able to solve the issue, even though it was frustrating going
to a million different doctors and specialists, my mom continued to reach out
to find new solutions. At this point because I was so frustrated with failure-
I wanted so badly to forget about it and give up looking for a doctor. After
months and months of exploration, we finally found a good doctor and she was
able to figure out what was wrong with me and get it all worked out. If I had
given up after all the failures I still would have been so sick and miserable.
Sometimes experimenting new things and solutions can get so annoying and
frustrating, yet we cannot give up looking for solutions. There are solutions
out there!
Weekly quote: “I walk slowly, but never backward” –Abraham
Lincoln.
I love this quote because you can never go too slow to
success, as long as you don’t give up and don’t allow yourself to go back to
where you came. Sometimes in classes I feel like a failure, but you can never
fail if you keep going. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for a student to
master something, as long as you are going in the right direction.
HWD: IMITATION
Help! My Child Won’t Imitate Words ….
Begin with Imitating Movements & Sounds in Play
Learning to imitate
sounds and words is a critical skill in a child’s quest to become verbal. Many
children who are apraxic, or who exhibit motor planning problems, have great
difficulty learning to repeat words. Teaching a child to imitate words often begins
with teaching him HOW to imitate. Sometimes it’s easier to start with movements
of your body rather than with words or even sounds. You can begin by modeling
easy movements you know he can do such as banging on his high chair tray,
smacking at a window when he’s looking outside, or clapping. If your child is
already waving bye-bye or playing interactive games such as Peek-a-Boo or So
Big, he already knows how to do this since “copying” you is how he’s learned
the game in the first place.
For kids who don’t catch
on and try to repeat what you’ve done, I always back up and start to imitate
their movements. Pick a time when your child is in a happy, playful mood to do
this. It might also help to be in a confined space, such as inside a playhouse
or under a blanket or table, so that her attention is focused on you. Wait
until she does something, and repeat her movement. Stare back at her
expectantly and wait for her to do it again. If she doesn’t, wait for her next
big movement, then try again. When she notices and repeats the same or another
movement, copy her again. Make this a game over the next several days or weeks
so she expects you to imitate her. I also try to not to talk too much during
these interactions so that the focus is on imitation, not on what I’ve said.
Too much talking takes the focus off imitating, and this is the skill you need
to teach. If I talk at all during this kind of exchange, it’s usually to say a
funny novel word such as Bang, Bang, Bang or making a silly noise.
Once your child understands
this game, try to take the lead by initiating movements you’ve seen her do in
your last few play sessions. If she doesn’t do this on her own, try to take her
hands and gently perform the action after you’ve done it. Some of these are
performed with your mouth (blowing, fake coughing/sneezing, smacking, etc..) so
they are particularly useful for helping kids move toward imitating vocally.
Additional ideas for
other movements to have your child imitate –
Touching various body
parts
Jumping
Pointing
Shaking his head
Smacking lips/kissing
Opening & closing
your mouth
Clicking your tongue
Waving
Yawning
Give me 5
Touching the floor
Holding arms up
Patting your head
Stomping Feet
Fake Cough
Fake Sneeze
Blowing
Moving on to Imitating
Sounds
When your child can
imitate these movements pretty well, but still doesn’t seem to be able to make
the leap to imitating words, I add silly sounds to the imitation games to
accompany movements he can already imitate. For example, when I’m clapping, I
say, “Yay!” If I shake my head, I say, “No, no, no” (in a silly, playful way),
or I might add “sound effects” with popping my lips, or saying, “Do Do Do” as a
I jump up and down. One silly sound that works well is saying, “Mmmmmm” when
you’re eating a yummy snack. I add a little side-to-side shoulder action as I
model this one to give them a motor movement to copy. These silly words, often
called Exclamatory Words, are often among the first words that babies try to
repeat?and say on their own. Try some of the following:
Other Exclamatory Words
uh-oh, oops, whee, wow,
ouch, oh, Oh man!, Oh no!, yuck, icky, yum-yum, boo, an audible inhalation or
exhalation (think a surprised noise)
Fun With Noises
Some children are able to
produce animal sounds before they begin to imitate words. I try these often
during play with a farm set. A good first one to try is panting like a dog. I
particularly do this if I know the child can imitate opening his mouth. Don’t
forget other animal sounds like a bark, meow, neigh, oink, quack, moo, baa,
roar, ssss for a snake, etc… I sometimes ask a child, “What does the ____ say?”
before I do it, but most of the time, I grab the animal, hold it up by my face
as if I’m pretending to be the animal, and model the sound. Exaggerate your
facial expressions too. This nearly always generates a laugh, even if I don’t
get them to try to repeat the animal sound just yet. Model the sound in play
with the animals and barn too, but holding the toy animal by your face while
you emphasize the sound and darn near make a fool out of yourself works really
well! If they don’t try to imitate this, I might hold it next to their mouths
and say, “You do it. You’re the ____!” If you need to take the pressure off of
vocalizing, pretend to kiss the animal using an exaggerated smacking sound,
then have them try. This also works well with puzzle pieces using animals.
Don’t forget zoo animals either, but you may have to be more creative with
their noises.
I also try noises to
accompany whatever action we’re using in play with the farm animals or even
dolls. Have them eat, drink (I do a loud slurpy noise), and everyone’s
favorite, snore. When characters walk I either say, “Walk Walk Walk” or “Up Up
Up” as they climb. You might also try to model a new consonant sound that they
can’t usually produce in a word attempt. My friend who is a DI uses a little
chant, “Doo dee doo dee doo” when characters walk, and she’s gotten several
children to produce a /d/ in this context when I haven’t been able to get it in
a real word. Other sounds I use routinely in play include fake crying,
sneezing, laughing, yawning, and shivering for cold or scared.
I always play using
vehicle noises. Don’t forget about vroom, zoom, boom, crash, honk-honk,
beep-beep, choo-choo (or woo woo), siren noises, etc…. Try these in the middle
of play. One of my favorites to do is to get the vehicle stuck when I model
“stuuuuuuuuck” and then make lots of effortful noise while I try to pull the
vehicle out. Again try the by the face method, especially for the honk,
beep, choo-choo, etc… I also do these with puzzle pieces of vehicles if a kid
is too “busy” with a toy vehicle to notice all of my vocal efforts during play.
Another good thing to try
is having a child vocalize into a bucket or can since this produces an
echo-like noise. I had one little girl with Down syndrome who would not imitate
any sound or word unless we first tried it this way. Babbling syllables is a
good way to start with this. Try to use the same sounds you know your baby can
do such as mamamama, bububububu, or dadadadada. If you can’t get a babble with
consonant and vowel syllables, start with vowel sounds such as “ah,” “uh,” or
“oh.” Then I move to vowels that sound like words like “i” for “Hi” or
“ay” for “Hey.”
If a child is pretty
quiet and I don’t hear much noise at all during play, my goal is always to make
him noisy, even before we begin to work on words. One thing I try to is to
imitate any noise he happens to make whether it’s accidental or on purpose.
Tickling or chasing is a good way to elicit squeals or laughter, then I make a
big deal out of matching the child’s laugh or squeal with mine aiming for the
same sounds, length, volume, and pitch as him.
