able to

What really matters- Acting out Social Scripts reveals sense of self and other. Whit is very observant about what her parents do during the day and started to understand and remember frequently repeated scripts. For example, I noticed Whit taking a tooth brush and attempting to brush her teeth (eventhough she does not have any teeth). The important thing that she is learning important scripts. She can hold a mental picture of me brushing in her head, and combine this with information about her own body. Whit now enjoys imitating familiar people doing familiar activities.

Another favorite is the telephone where whit will put phone to ear just like her parents. Whit is exhibiting deferred imitation:  she is repeating familiar actions after seeing them, with a sizable delay between the stimulus and her response and recalling which actions are appropriate with certain objects (such as talking on the phone).

How to put it into practice-

To support her budding imitation abilities, I tried to play give and take games to intensify Whit’s development of social turn taking.  I would do something with a toy and then give it to Whit. She might try it and then I would then ask for it back. 

When asking for the toy back I tried to be patient, and provide her with plenty of cues (for example, holding out your open palms when asking for the toy, or saying thank you in an exaggerated manner while taking the toy).

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Lessons Learned: Bridging from Child’s agenda to learning agenda while having fun-

I would try to expand on the mental images that Whit was displaying with her deferred imitation. For example, when she pretended to brush her teeth, I might say: “You are doing a great job brushing your teeth... its very important to keep them clean... that is why we use toothpaste...how did your teeth get dirty?”

Discovering & developing Whit’s story-

(read more about I4 Dev Focus: Theory of Mind)