Wednesday 29 February 2012

Socialising, by the Learning Assistant

I've recently noticed some interesting changes in Robert's socialising...

Today he played hide-and-seek with another child during his playtime.  There were several remarkable things about this.  First was that he played for the entire 15-minute period with this one child, without wandering off.  Robert has, in the past, been asked to play with other children, but often ends up wandering off during the time and playing on his own.  He didn't do that today.  Second notable thing was that this was a continuation of a game that had happened yesterday.  Somehow, Robert and this other child managed to agree to play this game again the next again day.  That leads on to the third point: that there seems to be an indication that Robert might have initiated this interaction with another child - something he has never done in the past.  It will be interesting to see if he continues the game playing with this child tomorrow!

Robert has really been enjoying the weekly social communication group.  I think from the work in the group he has been honing his observation skills, because he is now doing things and actions that he never did before and I think some it is copying the behaviour of other children.  Copying other children's behaviour has never been a problem for Robert; unfortunately, it was generally the negative behaviour he copied.  But recently, the copying has been of behaviour seen to be more positive in nature, and of class and school routines.  I've been getting a lot of cuddles off of Robert (his teacher has been reporting the same thing), which I think is from seeing the other children in the group cuddling me.  He now gets in line when he notices the other children doing so, rather than needing me to remind him.  He is also now giving the quiet signal (finger on lips, sitting up straight and tall) to show that he is ready or paying attention - Robert is now attending to these class routines more and more.


Written by Ms Childs (as told by Mrs Brodie)