I hope you are able to implement what you learned at home!
We were lucky our therapist had trained under Vincent Carbonne VB/ABA in New York just a year before we got her. Sarah learned how to mand right away which was very hard for her but necessary to motivate her to use words later for language:)
That sounds like a really great presentation. That is what we are doing, the mands with something they like, never thought of it as VB meets Floortime, but that makes perfect sense.
Here are some key things I learned from the Nashville Conference on Saturday - it was only to attend and the time was really well spend I thought - wish I could have attended all of it
First of all its real fun staying at Opryland – they actually have a Gelato Bar – which is great – Plus TABA had a discounted rate so the hotel room which is in Opryland was 155 bucks – Sweet!
We attended only Saturday – Patrick Mcgreevy presented – here are some of the key highlights
He really was an awesome presenter and I plan on attending his or Vincent Carbonne’s VB workshop as soon as I can Patrick M – really seemed to love our kids – he has a step daughter with Downs and maybe that is why he gets it – he is one of us
His topic was teaching Sign Language to DD kinds including ASD –Since ASD kids are not always good imitators teaching them to Sign is not that easy
The videos were great – in one he showed very severely ASD child with frequent self -injurious behavior who supposedly had an IQ of 20 how to make 2-3 signs in like 20 minutes
For kids who may never be verbal – he strongly recommended Sign not PECS ( PECS he said cannot explain everything while Signs can – as far as the issue that parents worry with an only Signing child of others not understanding the sign – he said that – most Signing Adults carry around a small notebook which has PECS in them – it was something from a company in Florida that makes Assistive communication devices
VB meets Floortime – he was big on starting with teaching MANDS that the child likes – so find out what really motivates your child – like Cookie / Sprite and then teaching them the MAND
Never to teach with the question – “what would you lik” or “always start with give them a choice”– must teach child to MAND – because you don’t want all their lives that they need for someone to ask them if they want something – like if they are thirsty they should deMAND a drink not wait for permission in a “What would you like?”
Sign MANDS should be specific – teaching “more” and “please” – rather than a specific thing the child wants is not good – so we should start with teaching them for example “cookie”
Another important philosophical approach that he reminded me was “Enjoy the present “-He gave an example of an exceptional family in London where the parents have basically trained themselves into becoming the VB therapists and he talked about Hector – ( very sweet child – getting more and more adroit at signing but only has a few words ) In his latest visit with his parent – Hector’s mother pulled him aside and told him to stop being frustrated that Hector was not talking – she said “If Hector never talks – that is fine by us – we will make sure he is always ina signing environment - - he is perfect as he is – I am not going to let the anxiety of our future destination ruin our journey” - an important thing which I totally beleive but frequently lose sight of