Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
I am sorry to tell you that the path of language is long and requires extensive, deep and consistent preparation in terms of motivation, attention and imitation. This will not only bring us language development, but most importantly: autonomous learning, independence and constant evolution towards autonomy and personal development.
Our children not only have to learn language, but many other things before that. So let's take it step by step!
THE MOTIVATION
To prepare them for language, you'll need to find something that motivates them. I want you to not only make a list of things your children like, in terms of objects, food, or activities, but work on expanding that listOne of the things we work on in initial therapies is to expand the things that motivate the child, which in an ABA methodology is known as reinforcersWe need them, and they will be essential for our future work, because they will be the anchor that will make our children want to be there with us.
This concept is so essential for nonverbal children because motivation doesn't follow the same parameters and isn't governed naturally like ours. It's necessary to find what motivates our children and do some research and exploration to further expand that motivational range. Some examples that may help you are: jumping on the bed, blowing soap bubbles, playing with water in a basin, music, instruments, songs, sounds. Primary reinforcers, such as food or objects they like to manipulate, can also be useful. Even people themselves can be reinforcers for these children.
The idea behind these motivators is that, through them, we can develop much more social and verbal images. If we establish an association while their motivator is occurring with signals, phrases, or words, these can act in the same way when we no longer associate them with those motivators.
In short, the first step is to discover the reinforcers and then systematically label them as we do them. It's very important to use this exercise every time we complete everyday activities to ensure that the activities and objects become broad reinforcers, enriching our children's lives and bringing them joy. Because without emotion, there is no learning or willpower; so keep this resource in your pocket so it's always at hand.
ATTENTION
Attention is the second process that takes place prior to language. Eye contact will be The first aspect we'll work on with our nonverbal children is to use these wonderful reinforcers to perform an exercise to reinforce every eye contact the child makes. With this, we seek interaction with our little ones: we have to find it and focus on it. And this second skill is responding to their name. Every time our children turn around when they hear their name, we'll be reinforcing these motivators so that it happens again.
The third aspect is the permanence of the object. This ability It's innate in children without disorders, but it's often underdeveloped in our nonverbal children. It's very important to develop it to understand how the world works, because when it's not developed properly, it generates a lot of behavior, stress, and anxiety because children feel like things they can't see or stop seeing are disappearing. This can happen with their favorite objects, with a person, with their mother.
To develop object permanence, playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek games is very important: hiding under a blanket or hiding objects inside a box full of lentils. We need to teach children what happens to these objects, so it's very important to gradually introduce these activities. We encourage you to hide objects partially at first, allowing them to see a piece, and gradually work your way up to hiding the entire object. You can even use transitions, meaning we hide the object out of the child's reach.
Although it may seem like a simple skill, the vast majority of nonverbal children struggle to develop it, and it even generates a large percentage of the stress children experience due to this change in environment they can't understand. Arm yourselves with bags, trunks, sheets, and boxes, and dedicate significant time to developing object permanence.
Finally, in this attentional phase it is important the signageAlthough it's not a skill that all children develop, it's true that acquiring this ability greatly facilitates family life, communication with our nonverbal children, and their emotional health. We shouldn't obsess over it, and of course, we should provide all the non-invasive physical support possible: physically helping, but without forcing. We can manipulate the child's body and use our own to redirect them, provide verbal support by telling them what to do, help by signaling, etc.
So, at the beginning of the activities, it's very important to provide as much help and reinforcement as possible. We gradually withdraw the help and increase the reinforcements, as the child is already doing it on their own.
IMITATION
Imitation is the most complex and complete skill before reaching language.
After working through the entire motivational phase, we are happy, active, animated, and attentive. These are the ingredients that lead to joint attention, active communication within a framework where we learn something together, and we attend to a hand-in-hand activity: this is where imitation emerges.
There are many types of imitation, some simpler than others, but it is absolutely essential for the child to have this ability. Imitation with the hands, arms, feet, legs, mouth, tongue, head... all this coordination will provide us with the basis for controlling all the prerequisite aspects of language. It is through this imitation that we will reach verbal imitation, that our child is able to imitate what other people say and learn from the context of all the people around him.
Families using the VICON Method are very familiar with all of these concepts and the importance of each one. They are all progressive and evolving, so it's very important that each one is strong, developed, and active for language to emerge.