communicating partners

  From the Communication Partners group: A mother recently sent an important message on the problem of being "burned- out." She identifies three causes of burn-out. I very much agree with her. And each reason makes me think of related problems and solutions. 1. "When you continue to try the same things and get nowhere." My comment: Often the things we try are not what our children need to do next. Often we make huge jumps choosing the next developmental steps for our children. We often, for example, push hard to teach a child to talk, when he doesn't frequently interact or communicate nonverbally enough to make a habit of talking. What a child needs to do is to interact with people with what he is doing now. It is so easy to want more of a child. But more of what? I find that the child needs more social interaction with whatever behaviors he can do and enjoys doing. So my point here is that the next step for every child is most successful wh