Hellooooo. It’s been
a while. Mad busy at school, lots going
on. All good stuff, which I may blog
about in the near future. For now, here
are some clips of some work I have done with Ben, one of our newer pupils at
school. There are three clips: the first
prior to any guiding inputs, the second was the start of us working on joint
attentional learning and the third is the latest clip, where you can see Ben
has mastered the initial stages of this objective….Go Ben!! We will now be moving on to elaborate on this
objective – Ben will be working in different settings with different
people. The footage is 16 mins 24 and
the explanatory commentary is provided here for anyone who wants to look at the
detail but I hope you'll agree that the footage is very powerful on its own.
First clip
0.00 – 1 min 54
February 2012, with the white table in shot. Ben is hardly looking to me at all (social
referencing) for the information in my facial expression that will help him to
understand my thoughts and intentions.
I am having to talk a lot to ensure that he
understands. It doesn’t feel like there
is much reciprocity in this clip and neither of us seems very comfortable.
Second clip
1 min 55 - Is a series of clips from one session of cooking
at school.
Mid September 2012.
This is my first attempt at ‘joint attentional learning’ where I support
Ben to reference me for information. I
am scaffolding heavily by saying ‘I’ve got some eye clues for you’ so he knows
to look at the information in my face to help him to make his decisions about
what to do next.
2.19 I bend down (information in my body language) to help
him to realise that where he needs to look is on a lower level.
2.24 (off camera) He references me and I bob down more and
look to where he needs to go for the piece of equipment.
2.36 I give him a thumbs up to celebrate his success
2.49 I prompt him to reference by giving the ‘eye clue’
message again
2.50 He references straight away
2.55 I say ‘my eye clue is….’ and he references
3.00 He initiates referencing by looking back to me for
reassurance (and I am not looking at him!!
Doh!)
3.01 He glances away and then references again, enabling me
to use gesture to indicate what to do next
3.11 A lovely big smile and reference with a turn of his
head towards me as he checks in to make sure his last action was on track and
look for clues on the next action. I use
gesture and facial expression to convey ‘a really small piece’
3.17 He checks in to see if that does the trick – an even
smaller piece is needed
3.22 He checks in mid way through his action with a smile
3.25 Another reference – they are coming thick and fast now
without prompting
3.35 We are doing a different part of the measuring, so the
eye clues come back in and he references
3.39 He reads the gesture correctly and transfers the butter
to the bowl
4.03 He references in response to my next eye clue prompt
4.07 He references again, I shake my head so
4.10 He references in relation to another object. I nod and smile. He returns my smile because he got it right.
5.04 He references again in response to my prompt,
understands my gesture and references again to check in that he’s right at 5.07
5.40; 5.43;5.46; 5.51
He references in response to my eye clues
6.03 He references me to see what my emotional reaction to
his suggestion is
6.04; 6.07; 6.10; 6.12; 6.15 He references in response to
the eye clues and looking for my emotional reaction to his suggestion
6.19 I am a bit imperative in my gestures! But Ben understands and passes me the bowl.
Third clip
12.10.12
6.24 We are sharing a memory of having done this
before. Ben picks up the chocolate and
references me with a smile around the shared memory
6.48 I introduce a new challenge for us – trying to break
the chocolate up at the same time.
6.57 He has a slight mishap with the chocolate, smiles and
references me for my emotional reaction, which I give with facial expression
7.00 He puts a piece to one side (mischievous, as I know he
is thinking about eating it) and references for my emotional reaction, which I
give by laughing – we are sharing our thinking here (the joke around
squirreling the choc away to feast on) without saying anything
7.06 Ben gestures and uses facial expression (eyebrows
raised) to see if we should break the choc
7.13 Another reference with facial expression and gesture
from Ben (initiating now, no prompts)
7.18 When I spotlight (facial expression and gesture) that
Ben may have made a mistake, he references and repairs his mistake, checking in
around this at 7.21
7.25 He gives another reference with facial expression and
gesture – competent at communicating non-verbally now
7.31 He has gone ahead of me. I spotlight this, he repairs it with a
lovely, confident ‘I can fix this!’ at 7.37 and checks in at 7.45
7.57 I should have scaffolded the breaking of chocolate with
a count or something to make it slightly easier for him to co-ordinate. He makes the repair.
8.21 I think he is a little reluctant to sacrifice the piece
that was earmarked for scoffing, but he is able to make another repair so we
have equal chocolate
8.28 Again I should have counted here to make it easier to
co-ordinate
8.43 We nearly manage to co-ordinate and share a
non-verbal joke about just having missed
it
8.54 Ben days ‘re-do’ when we miss again
9.15; 9.18 Ben references me around ‘a reward’. I nod, he references and we scoff choc with
him checking at 9.22 that this is ok (gesture towards mouth)
9.28 Ben mirrors my puzzled gesture
9.35 We have a non verbal conversation about who should get
the margarine (Ben is happily and competently ‘conversing’ non verbally here)
9.49 Ben references around the splodge he has on the knife
9.53 He references to see if its enough and reads my facial
expression
9.58 He references to see what to do next and reads my
facial expression and gesture
10.04 We have an un-scripted accident! Ben references for my emotional reaction around
this and we share a joke about it
10.30 Ben references and reads my gesture for a tiny bit
more
10.39 He references again to see if that’s ok
10.46 He plays a joke on me and references for my emotional
reaction, which I give with facial expression and gesture
10.53 He knows its probably too much and references around
this
11.07 He references and its perfect
11.11 I want us both to carry the butter on the kitchen roll
over to the stove. The carrying will be
a co-regulatory pattern that allows me to see whether he will synchronise his
pacing with me
11.25 I come in with a verbal scaffold as I can see he’s not
understanding my non-verbal communication
11.50 – 12.15 Ben goes straight into referencing around the
pouring – no need for prompting
12.18 This is lovely – he initiates non-verbal communication
about where the sugar should go…my bowl or his
12.39 I started the ‘excellent’ sign (Mr Burns from the
Simpsons). Since then, we have been
using it regularly as a shared non verbal communication
13.03 Ben looks for my emotional reaction to his sharing
‘dump it in then!’
13.07 I share something.
Ben references the object and then me (joint attention)
13.40; 13.43 Ben makes a joke and references for my
emotional reaction
13.47 I make a communicative noise to prompt Ben for his
attention
13.56 I am trying to coordinate our actions around egg
breaking…again I think I should have used a count to make it easier
14.04 I celebrate our achievement at breaking the egg at the
same time
14.12 Ben references and co-ordinates the egg cracking
14.22 He references again and we co-ordinate the egg
breaking
14.35 He references for my view on the measure
14.37 He checks in to make sure he is on the right track
14.58 Referencing around a question
15.18; 15.19 Checking in again
15.27 Checking to see whether more is needed
15.31; 15.36; 15.41; 15.43; 15.46 Checking for my emotional
reaction
16.12; 16.16; 16.18 Checking to see whether more is needed
16.24 I use our new gesture to celebrate his success
Compare the amount of referencing in the final clip to the first
clip and you can see how far Ben has come in a very short space of time. By this time, we had only done 3 sessions on
joint attentional learning. In the last
clip, the social reciprocity is really flowing.
We are very co-ordinated and comfortable with each other. There are lots of successes to celebrate, all
around Ben’s competence or the fact that we have achieved things together.
