Reflections, Next Steps, Amazing Kids

We are back home following a short trip to visit our RDI(r) Program Certified Consultant for a couple of days of assessment and treatment planning. The children were able to swim in the hotel pool and one late afternoon, while they were swimming w/ their dad, I got to watch the HBO movie about Temple Grandin in the hotel room. (!!!)

As we progress in the RDI(r) journey, in our assessment times with our consultant, the developmental gaps are easier to see and we can target them more specifically. Our wise consultant spotlighted a piece of a wide set of objectives in the area of collaboration where we need more experience, and as we chatted about it, I realized that this piece has become a stumbling block. She's right -- we need to get this particular piece in place, experientially, or any forward movement will be a foundation-less splinter skill.

My consultant helped me brainstorm some concrete ways to begin the piece of this particular objective -- and all of her suggestions were hands on, concrete, "manipulative mode". I could clearly see why we need to begin this way and how I'll need to offer lots of opportunities to practice this and be poised to watch for signs that some discoveries are being made. I know the importance of staying in manipulative mode.

I had an a-ha moment, a discovery of my own, a discovery I wish I'd made sooner (or wish someone would have explained to me instead of my having to read it in one of Ruth Beechick's books that I found on my own!): One of the mistakes I made in the past was leaving manipulative mode and moving into mental or abstract too quickly, as if they were all the same. The more I think about Beechick's description of Piaget's work, the more I look back and realized mistakes I made.

I blogged about Beechick's descriptions here.

I've got a lot to think about -- my own studying response, as I plan our next actions.

Here are a couple of photos from the trip. Thanks to my friend Denise, I have a caption for this photo.

Got Amazing Kids?!


Can you belive these shoes are back in style again?

We found them on sale while we were on our trip.

Eldest chose the same color I had when I was a teenager:

I'd love to hear from you -- leave a comment!