Redirecting My Apprentice

A couple of people have commented, either publicly or privately, about Pamela's ability to be a willing apprentice. Trust me! It took years and years and years of trial and error (lots of error on my part) to get this far. I can still hear her piercing screams and crying and falling on the floor when I was asking her to do things way outside of her zone of proximal development or when sensory overload caused her to meltdown.

On Friday, we had a couple of power struggles where Pamela got angry at me. My strategies include:

• Stay calm. If I am calm, she has a greater chance of staying calm.
• Stop and spotlight my emotion. A year ago, she would not have even noticed. Now, she sees when I am upset.
• Make a command decision to scaffold by making the task a bit easier.
• Use body language and slower pace of speaking to spotlight what I am saying.
• Agree to her proposition if it fits my objective for the activity.
• Postpone her proposition until after she meets my objective for the activity.
• Remind her to breathe and use sensory calming.

The follow clips shows our missteps on the path of self-regulation.