360 chapter 40
Thinking about Celia’s behavior, her mother realized that she already has the beginnings of
many valuable skills. She uses her hands well and has begun to develop skills for feeding
and dressing herself. She also speaks a few words—although it would be nice if she could
say “yes” as well as “no.”
It is important that she likes praise and hugs, and
bathing, and rough play. This means she will probably
learn well with a reward-based approach.
However, certain things seem to be stopping Celia from developing her skills more.
Not being able to sit still and give attention makes it hard for her to learn from other
people, or even to learn to enjoy her toys (which she always throws). Also, her baby
bottle is a big problem. She is much too old for it, but her mother is
afraid to take it away because Celia screams. Her mother fills the bottle
with sweet drinks (which have already begun to rot Celia’s teeth). The
biggest problem is that by always holding her bottle, Celia’s hands are
not free to do other things—such as play with her toys or take down her
panties when she has to pee-pee.
For these reasons, Celia’s mother decided that the ‘key needs’, which need to be solved
in order to advance in other areas, are:
• helping Celia learn to sit quietly and give her attention to something
• helping Celia grow out of her need to always hold her bottle
The health worker discussed with Celia’s mother what she might do. To help Celia learn
to sit quietly and pay more attention to things, her mother decided to start with the times
when Celia was already willing to sit fairly quietly—which was mealtime and bathtime. For
example:
After giving Celia her food, but before her final
‘sweet’, her mother or her older brother, Oscar,
plays quietly with her for 5 minutes or so,
praising her whenever she gives attention.
Her mother also uses bathtime as an
opportunity to help her concentrate on toys
and to give attention to words and sounds.
Disabled village Children
To make a paddle wheel boat, see p. 475.