Description

When this little girl came to the clinic, her immediate needs were to improve attention and increase vocalizations. Her oral motor skills were weak, and oral motor imitation is a critical first step in verbal expression. Focusing on an isolated task - like watching modeling of oral motor action is also fundamental. In this clip, she listens to a familiar song and is given a "warm up" cue to respond when the music stops. Then, as she listens to the song a second time, she responds to 5 out of 6 cues by making eye contact, imitating oral motor action, and vocalizing. Her curiosity, impulse to hear the song uninterrupted, and her familiarity with the song helped her work on difficult tasks of improving attention and increasing oral motor imitation. And she even responded on cue twice with a vocalization.