Diane Lynch Fraser Bücher

Your baby is trying to tell you something. And learning to understand her is the first step in becoming a better parent---and in providing the basis for a well adjusted, sociable adulthood. Now, you can pinpoint your baby's individual learning CODE. * The V CODE: is your baby content to stare at the little clowns on her blanket, or a picture of another baby? Watch out--you might just have a V coder! * The A CODE: The colorful mobile holds no interest for her. But the music box sounds make her giggle, shriek and "talk" all through the night----she's an A coder. * The K CODE: You've considered putting her on a lease, she wiggles and crawls so much. She gets into every nook and cranny, and even falls asleep while standing! WOW---you've got a K coder!

Imagine there is no one in the world with whom you can communicate. All your attempts to reach out and make sense in the world are thwarted because there is no one who understands your language. This is a normal event in child development. Yet the child with disabilities has less adaptive skills than other children her age. Attempts are more frustrating.To make matters worse, the whole circle of communication between adult and child becomes thwarted as parents and therapists, instead of reading nonverbal cues accurately, misjudge them and send the whole communication circle spiraling downward. The character, the pacing, the whole theatre of our play and movement with young children is extremely important. As we believe children must learn to speak, we adults, parents and therapists, must learn to play. Its not that adults are not well meaning. Very many are. Its just that most adults have no idea "how to be" in the childs preverbal world.It is to this preverbal task that ChildDance is addressed. It describes one therapists encounter with six different children with special needs, how child development theory and practice is woven together to form a fabric for preverbal communication.