Wanting too much

Please remember: I tried to explain a lot, in a very limited time in these videos. Usually, I work slower, and so should you.

• if your child is moving fast and freely, give hime the space to do so. Slow is not always better.
• If it runs into something new or difficult, go VERY slow - much slower than I am showing in these videos.
• if you see the child is highly concentrated and involved in a new task, do not do anything to disturb that situation - just be there for support, or to keep the moment going. The quieter the surroundings (inclucing us, our voice and movement) the better the child can percieve what is happening. Doing (almost) nothing is the way to go here.

Let`s look at this with a special needs child.

Finding an Arm

I picked this video because it shows a child learning one very specific movement - controlling and lifting arms and fingers. You can also see the issues the child is struggling with: how to coordinate a body, and then finding what exactly happens when his mind is trying to control one limb. He certainly wants to do it - there are no lazy children. His muscles work more than enough. He just didn`t know how to use them.

This seems incredibly slow, but having learned the movement once, he repeated it all by himself and has been using it ever since without further incitement - whenever he wants to play.

Doing it for him, or trying to move faster and in a wider range would not have provided him with enough time to figure the movement out.

Success

Did I do it perfectly? Waited just the right amount, had just the very best ideas at the right time? Certainly not. We do not have to be perfect. I provided enough learning experience for him at that time to make progress. This is what you are after.

Did I follow my plan, and did the lesson turn out as I had initially intended? Again, certainly not. We found something more interesting. He found it. I followed.

We did a lot of movements you will learn in this course first - basic movement patterns like stretching and bending to lower the overall muscle tone. I helped him to touch and sense his hands. Most of all, I searched with him and gave him the chance to experience his own body, I was ready to be patient and was attentive enough to see what he is doing. The rest of the course or plan is no more than a rough idea.