Children
When things do not happen by themselves, or easily, we start suspect something is wrong. Sometimes it is only a minor detail, sometimes a big delay in comparison with other children. Sometimes it is evident that there is some malfunctioning, that might even have a name and a diagnose. In all cases, my approach is the same: a child with developmental difficulties is a child whose ability to do what is expected of him and to explore and discover the world by himself was harmed. My role is to create and restore the positive dynamics through which the child could move himself progressively in order to reach out, feel and sense the world around him and start initiating more and more actions.
These in turn would create the stimulus to continue looking for additional sensations. In many ways it can be said that I function as a sensitive environment that mediates between the child's will, the movement he executes and the result. I do that through the way I accompany his movement, manipulating him gently so he can feel the relationship between his intention, his action and its result. This is what produces the information needed in order to know something about the world.
An obligatory condition to this process is the well being of the child. He is not forced to do anything, and is not trained through repetition to do what we assume he should be doing. He is not passive, and to bystanders it might seem that we are only playing. But joy and pleasure are a very important part of any learning, and that is exactly what produces the motivation to do the next step. There is nothing more exciting then the look in the eyes of a child the moment he discovers a new ability he can use....
