Dr. James MacDonald 332 Mimring Columbus, Ohio 43202 Phone/Fax 614 447-0768 macdonaldj86@gmail.com

Communicating Partners

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Helping Parents Help Children. Programs for Parents, Therapists & Educators


Responding

I'd like to say a few words about why we encourage you to "RESPOND" to your child. Many people seem to misunderstand this. I'll keep short. and look for responses. (you see, just like your child is you respond to me I will come back more to you!)

Why should I respond to what my child does when I really want him to do something else?

This is a common question , spoken or unspoken, when I encourage people to respond to anything positive their child does.

Why respond? Because responding is the best way to get the child to do what he can do, feel successful, and stay interacting with you.

The recent stories on this list of parents who have turned their relationships around just by doing what their child does is strong support for the strength of responding.

When we respond to what a child does spontaneously, we are doing several things.

  1. we are supporting him for what he can do.
  2. we are showing him we respect his interests
  3. we are showing him that his behavior can be socially successful; that is, it can get responses from people.
  4. It teaches him exactly what we want him to do with us---RESPOND--- A major problem with language delayed and other children is that they do not respond in social situations.
  5. we are telling him he is okay
  6. we are entering his developmental world, which is just the place from witch he can learn something more in little steps.

I'll stop for now; I have just finished a new book on this so I better to get obsessive.

Jim

ps: remember the goal of Communicating Partners is not for the child to perform but to spontaneously interact. And he will interact more when you respond to whatever he is doing ( as long as it is safe and not obnoxious).

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Dr. James MacDonald 332 Mimring Columbus, Ohio 43202 Phone/Fax (614)447-0768 macdonaldj86@gmail.com