I wonder if you are the same Jane who I met at Advanced Son-Rise Training a few years ago?
We also found our son stagnating at that period of our program and decided to begin more structured things with him. He was very interactive, motivated and interested in learning but seemed to have many challenges we hadn't fully understood so we were getting more and more isms. As soon as we added the appropriate structured stuff, at his specific level, the isms all but stopped and he was totally motivated to do all of the activities. One word of caution though, be sure not to over-structure things, leave lots of time for play, interaction and fun and keep the balance. And, keep open and creative while doing the structured stuff so that you can build on what the child gives you.
There are many ways you could try to structure things. The beauty of Son-Rise is that so many other things can be easily built into your program and are so much more effective because you have the attitude and appreciation many do not and always consider human togetherness as the main goal. Some things I'd suggest looking into:
"Teach Me Language" -- a curriculum designed for use with ABA programs that gives great ideas on how to break more advanced language tasks (conversations, etc) down and teach them through reptitious activities. I use this to give me ideas and then build games out of them.
Look into the structured activities offered by the National Academy of Child Development if your child has auditory or visual processing difficulties or sensory issues or attention span challenges. If you want some guidance on how you can tell, e-mail me privately and perhaps I can help you determine this. They are really good at determining neurodevelopmental breakdowns and giving short, simple activities to correct them. All of their activities range from 1-5 minutes and can easily be built into a Son-Rise program. They can give you from 1 hour a day to 8 hours a day worth of activities depending on your desire that you can spread out over your child's day.
Take a seminar on ABA if one is offered in your area or talk to an ABA consultant/parent. Get Catherine Maurice's "Let Me Hear Your Voice" that lists a sample ABA program in the back. It's really helpful at understanding how to break down tasks to determine exactly where the difficulty is for your child. You can do these in a fun way when your child is motivated.
Look into the TEACCH program if you want some ideas for building skills through visual teaching. They have some good ideas.
Another fun thing to do is set up theme weeks where you teach/explore/play as much as possible using that theme. Go to the library and look up books on the subject for ideas. You can teach, read, create art for, find experiential stuff that fits, pretend play, etc. We've done the 5 senses, seasons, space, plants, animals, food/nutrition/digestion, the human body, geography, presidents, religions, holidays, languages (had volunteers fluent in three different languages at the time plus two who knew sign language), electricity, transportation, plus a bunch of others. These can be alot of fun and really get your creative juices going.
Good luck! Gaylen
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