Imitation

Hi Lovelies! They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In my house, it's that and so much more. We use it as a way to deescalate a situation and we use it to help with speech therapy. Of course, we use it to be silly too.

My favorite use of imitation is to help with speech therapy. Seeing as how the Princess is non-verbal, and the Prince is learning to develop his speech, this is a crucial time that we really focus on getting the back and forth of conversation. Most would simply continue a conversation with their toddler, even if their toddler isn't actually saying any words. Eventually they will. It's a little different with autism.

With autism, things just seem to process differently. For example, with the Prince, we can show him how to do something, like stack rings on a toy. We might show him once or twice, he'll watch intently, then try. If he doesn't get it, he will within the next couple of hours-- to a day or two-- while he ponders how we were able to stack those rings, and he wasn't. He will come back to it, and just do. Epiphany, it works! The Princess on the other hand, is a different story.

We can sit her down with the same stacking rings toy. Attempt to show her the same way as a we had the Prince. She may gaze in our direction once or twice, or even stare. Her focus is the rings. She will then get up, grab two of the rings and run off. We've tried this with the same result many times. She'll get it eventually. Consider teaching the to and fro of conversation in the same light. With the Prince, we can continue to have a normal conversation with him as he's babbling back to us. Words will replace the babble. We have to wait for the Princess to initiate with us.

It usually starts with her saying "Bah!" and going from there. It tends to become a game to her, where she is constantly trying to throw us off our guard. "Gah!" or "Bah, gah!" come into play. This is where it starts for her. The smile on her face as she plays this game while simultaneously learning is enough for me to continue this mimicry until she grows bored with it.

I mentioned that we use this also to deescalate situations, but this really pertains more to the Prince than the Princess. You see, he craves back and forth interaction, whereas the Princess is perfectly content to sit and play seemingly oblivious to her little brother. He also hates diaper changes. Anytime that he is getting worked up into a fit, one of the ways that mostly-- not always-- works is to start mimicking his sounds. He cries "Ahhh!" I repeat it back to him in a slightly melodic voice. We then start this back and forth until he is smiling, memories of upsets long forgotten.

So you see, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In the right hands, it can be a most useful tool. It's a favorite of mine, and until the day it becomes ineffective, I will continue to wield it.