Observing

I discovered something about Munchkin a few months ago.  He didn't have a vocabulary for the things he observes in the world around him.  Words like squishy, crinkly, hot, cold, soft, hard, shiny, etc. didn't have a mental connection with the real world physical examples of those things.

Now, this is not because folks haven't tried to teach him.  They have.  But over time, apparently, they gave up.  So it wasn't really part of his lessons.  I can't say that I didn't give up as well.  I didn't do it consciously but as he got bigger and outgrew toddler stuff, those things faded as well.  Mainly because it is something that typical kids learn as toddlers.  Now that I'm trying to do science with him, this lack was glaringly apparent.

When I was reviewing science curriculum, one of the authors had a section in her foreword that told parents not to expect too much from their toddler children.  Most of the experiments in the book were to teach them what they were observing so that they could use that knowledge as they got older.  Young kids don't have the skills to predict things that they have yet to observe in some way, shape or form.

So I paired that with the knowledge that Munchkin hadn't learned the vocabulary to describe his observations.  This year we are focusing on observing, and learning the words for what we observe.  Sometimes it's in the house, other times it's outside.  Sometimes it's the grocery store, other times it's the Botanical Gardens.  Sometimes it's a planned "experiment", other times it's whatever we find.

Science this year is to teach Munchkin to "listen and hear" what his different senses are telling his brain and what words to associate with those signals.  It's not easy.  And often we can only do one sense at a time.  For example, he can't "see" how shiny something is and "feel" how hard it is.  The switch between inputs to focus on is too distracting for him.  So I pick one or the other to focus on at the time.  If we are feeling things, then we focus on feeling things.  If we are seeing things, then we focus on seeing things.  Same for smell and taste.

I'll be honest.  I'm frequently not sure if he makes the connection because he is nonverbal.  While we have his communicator with us, right now it adds a level of difficulty that breaks his focus.  I do know that on good days, we can review whatever we have been doing and he will get things right about 80% of the time.  On a bad day, he's too overload to review anything.  And while he loves viewing the videos of himself doing different things, he doesn't show any signs of making those connections when viewing the video.  That may be because of the pure distraction of watching himself on video.

What I do know, thanks to other events, is that he is indeed learning to observe the world around him.  Or perhaps I should say, the people around him.

We will keep working on it.  With all the other things he's shown, I'm sure the knowledge is getting in there.  One day, when I least expect it, he will prove it to me.