I’m very excited about introducing Joey to anothe
r of my favorite books – Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion. For those of you not familiar with the story, Harry is a white dog with black spots who hates baths. One day he runs away from home and becomes so dirty that when he finally returns home his family no longer recognizes him, even when he does all his tricks. Finally, he runs into the bathtub and begs for the family to give him a bath. Once he’s clean, the family realizes that the dog in their tub is actually Harry and Harry learns that baths aren’t so bad after all. [Read more…]
How important is reciprocal communication?
On Monday, Joey said “Dog Firetruck” on his AAC device, looked at me, and then carefully used one finger to point to the box on the floor that contained Dot the Fire Dog book and the props we use while we read aloud. Although it seemed like a small thing – two words together paired with a gesture, in turns of language development, this is a big deal. Seeing him pair language with his gestures shows that he is building an understanding of communication, and how we interact together. He can use gestures and words to communicate with me and expect that I’ll respond. [Read more…]
