December 12, 2012

What’s the ‘Big Idea?’….

Posted in Autism, Fidgets, Presuming Competence at 11:41 PM by kellyvansingel


December 12, 2012

In case you didn’t already know–our house is a ‘Bob and Larry’ house, or ‘Big Idea’ house.   From silly songs to books and DVDs, we are big time connoisseurs of all things Veggie Tales.

Larry the cucumber has especially been a buddy of Gilly for a few years now.  So much so, that she adopted a musical ‘hot pickle’ game as her favorite friend and comfort object.  She would take “Mr. Pickle” (as we called him–because ‘he’s a pickle and not a cucumber’) everywhere she went.MrPickle“Carrying around stuff” has always been a Gilly trademark.  Holding objects or fidgets can be a source of regulation and comfort for individuals living with autism.   When fidgets are kind of over sized, like ‘Mr. Pickle’ (who is a good ten inches tall), finding something a little smaller may be more convenient.

I was able to find keychain-sized VeggieTales backpack clips for Gilly.  I ordered them hoping they could become her ‘on the go’ fidget pals.  They arrived just last week.  After I showed them to Gilly she wanted to carry them around the house with her right away….a good sign.

Next, she put Larry and Bob side by side on the floor–just as they appear in the Big Idea logo.  Gilly then grabbed a box of plastic letters off the shelf and dumped them on the floor.  She grabbed the B…then the I….then the G….and placed them on the right side of Larry and Bob.  What was going on here?  Next came another I…and the D…and the E….and A.  “B…I…G — I…D…E…A” she spelled on the floor–just like the logo.

BIGideaSPELL2

She spelled this out spontaneously. Gilly had never done this before.  She spelled out “BigIdea” because of watching VeggieTales since she was a toddler.  Check out this opening video sequence:

So what’s the ‘big idea’? She’s a speller! Gillian is learning from observing her environment even when we are not ‘directly teaching’ her.  Can I just say…..We love Veggie Tales.

~KVS

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11.