our program, our team

Joining with Elliot

The primary goal of each child facilitator is to "join" with Elliot. This is where the acceptance and love that we emphasize really comes into play. As so many autistic children do, Elliot engages in a lot of repetitive play or what we call "isms." This is where Elliot may draw planets over and over or repeat phrases from movies. Another example of an ism would be Elliot’s current favorite activity of playing with model magic (like play-doh) as he makes a circuit around the room. Circuiting is basically running around the room which includes a jump or two on his trampoline.

Our job in joining Elliot is to literally do what he does – grab our own model magic and "ism" along with him. Joining is different than mimicking (which has negative connotations and is not respectful), in that we are trying to show him that we truly accept him through our own actions. When we go with Elliot it creates a bond and trust that is key to unlocking the mystery of his repetitive behaviors and facilitates eye contact, social development and the inclusion of others in play.

Building Interaction

Joining creates a feeling of acceptance that allows Elliot to bond with us. Once we have that bond, what next?

There are certain cues or "green lights" that we look for from Elliot that show he is ready and able to interact with us. Namely, eye contact (looking at us), verbal initiation of his wants (talking to us), physical contact (grabbing our hands, sitting in our laps) and watching our actions (looking at what we are doing). When a child facilitator gets one of these "green lights" from Elliot, he or she will build on the activity that Elliot is currently engaged in and make it more interactive.

There are countless ways to build...funny voices, singing, tickling, counting, pretending with puppets and other props in the room, grabbing toys from the shelf to introduce into the activity and many more. The facilitator's job is to make it as fun as possible for Elliot.

We often use Elliot’s current motivations to create and build more interaction. For example, Elliot is motivated by physical games. He loves being tickled, given piggy back rides and playing “get you” by different animals. So, when child facilitators get a "green light" from Elliot, they will often build by creating new and fun physical games to play. Through these games, Elliot moves beyond repetitive play and begins to engage interactively and meaningfully with his facilitators. Elliot is learning that social interaction is rewarding and fun.

Requesting / Challenging

Building is all about creating a more fun and engaging environment for Elliot, but WITHOUT requiring anything from him. In other words, with building, the facilitators do all the work of making the game fun. Elliot just gets to enjoy our silliness antics and creativity. Once we have Elliot’s interest through building, we move onto requesting more from him.

Requesting is a way to engage Elliot even further. If Elliot is enjoying a game we have created for him, we will begin to request more participation from him, as well as more eye contact and language. For instance, if a facilitator has created a piggy back ride game for Elliot, he or she might begin to model language that Elliot can use to ask for the game again, like "I want a piggy back ride ." When Elliot is having fun and is engaged, he is more likely to use words to ask for what he wants. In order to increase the interaction, the facilitator might also request more participation from Elliot, like asking him to choose a “bouncy or a fast” piggy back ride before they begin. As Elliot’s verbal ability and flexibility within a game increase, we add more challenges and requests to the interaction, all while keeping it fun. Little by little, Elliot’s language, eye contact, and interaction improve.

Following Elliot

A facilitator is always very watchful and respectful of Elliot in the moment. If a facilitator has been successfully building and requesting for awhile, but Elliot suddenly becomes exclusive and returns to more repetitive behavior, the facilitator always returns to joining with Elliot. It is extremely important to honor Elliot’s choices, to maintain that deep rapport and trust. As he moves away from an interaction, we simply join Elliot again with passion and warmth until Elliot gives us another "green light" for us to begin building and requesting again. And the process begins all over again--- like a beautiful dance, back and forth always following Elliot’s lead.