Non verbal communication - part two!

Finally I get to part two!!


If you have read my previous post Non verbal communication - part one you would have seen from the video clip that Nick is competent at referencing a persons face for information (although his understanding of the subtleties of expression is limited at this stage). 


The following clip is another example of Nick interpreting my facial expressions and body language.  A few things are happening in this clip.  We are still working on creating a simultaneous pattern and he is starting to understand the process.  You can see that Nick is trying to tell me something, although you won't realise what he is trying to communicate!!  He keeps putting his hands on his head (this is his sign for school) - this repetitive gesture is telling me that he is not feeling very competent and he is stressed - he is trying to regain control of the situation!  Perhaps I should have stopped our interaction sooner but I decided to just ignore his gestures and see what happened next.  The last piece of the clip was very rewarding, Nick realised that when he went to put the biscuit in the bowl that I wasn't in sync with him - he then repaired the situation by moving his biscuit back to where I was holding my biscuit!!  This is BIG!  

Please be aware that the reason I put so much emphasis on non verbal communication is NOT just because Nick 'doesn't talk'.  It is also because he missed out on this area of development (yes I know, I am repeating myself!!).

Over the years I have learnt the following points to help in my interaction with Nick and to also guide him to become a more experienced communicator.  Thanks go to Michelle for providing the expressive pictures (although I haven't told her that I am using them in this blog!!!)

 The pictures are self explanatory............ 

to put them into practice is 

another story!  

~*~