Notes to volunteers: non-verbal communication

Nathan has sudden bursts of pinching, maybe biting, and soon as it starts, it’s over.

I just realized this is his way of communicating, “Stop that!” or “No!” This happens when Amor cries or shouts, or when Ian walks in to get my loud attention while I’m son-rising Nathan, or when he asks me nicely to go in the kitchen and I can’t say “yes”, etc.

So it’s very timely that we are targeting that he verbalizes his not wants.

I recall when they were toddlers, Amor could come over, hit him and walk away while Nathan couldn’t move. Kids hit because they can’t verbalize that they don’t want of they are frustrated. But soon as Nathan learned to proper forward by crawling, he would go over and bite her whenever she did something to him. It wasn’t an issue with me because I knew it was an adaptation to his communication needs and physical abilities.