Arizona Family Photography
A few months ago I was able to reconnect with a friend from my
hometown. Michelle and I were neighbors growing up and it is lovely to
have her here in Arizona. This afternoon I headed up to Peoria to
photograph her work and also to take a few shots of her boys.
Michelle teaches movement lessons, primarily focusing her work on
infants and small children. She works with your skeletal system and
central nervous system creating new movement in your system. With her
gentle touch, your body quickly learns an ease of movement that you
could ever achieve on their own.Special needs children are particularly
receptive to the application of her method. After taking a few photos
for her to use for marketing purposes, Michelle worked on an area of my
back. I have to say it truly made a difference in pain that I have
experienced for a few months. She has such a gentle touch you would
never know that your are making such strides until you leave the table.
After we did the marketing shots, I took her two boys out into the
courtyard to photograph them...it was a very quick session:) Although it
was short we garnered a few great shots. Thank you Michelle for
allowing me to see what you do, and to photograph it. I had a wonderful
time.
The More Than Words program is sold as a tool for parents that have children with autism. This program is for any child that needs help communicating.
The More Than Words® approach to early language intervention
The More Than Words approach to early language intervention is based on this theory of social language learning and parent responsiveness. The More Than Words program has adapted and intensified its approach to address the needs of children on the autism spectrum.
The approach used in More Than Words as
well as in other interventions that are based on this social theory of
communication development include the following characteristics:
- allowing the child to initiate interactions (as opposed to the adult always doing the initiating)
- following the child’s lead and basing interactions on what interests and motivates the child to communicate
- treating
the child’s communication as if it is meaningful (even if it isn’t) and
being responsive even if the child’s communication is unconventional
- using
natural, everyday situations as the context for learning to communicate
– so that communication is about real-life, meaningful things
- using the natural repetition, structure and predictability of everyday routines to make it easier for the child to learn
- using
visual supports, such as gestures and visual aids (pictures, photos,
written words) to help the child understand what others are saying as
well as to express himself
- setting
up the environment to encourage communication – e.g. briefly
interrupting an activity in a playful way, changing a familiar routine
to elicit a response from the child, putting things out of reach