Weekly Content Update | Saying No, Carrier Phrases & Motor Imitation
This Week at Gemiini
This week I'm excited to share new content teaching effective ways to communicate rejection of an activity or request. We also added to our gross motor imitation category and uploaded a series of clips that use a new interactive format to teach the carrier phrase "I hear".
Effective Ways to Say "No"
The objective of these new clips is to teach our students how they can effectively communicate their desires in different situations. In each skit the child is offered something she doesn't want or is asked to participate in an activity she wants to avoid. She uses gestures and language to convey this desire to her peers.
A handful of these skits provide a model of the adult prompting the child before the child speaks. We recommend starting with these if your student is more reluctant to communicate. All of these clips serve as wonderful behavioral models for learners who are practicing communication skills. The titles of these new clips are prefixed with Appropriate Ways to Say No, and all of them are located in Spoken Language → Conversational → Encouraging Conversations → Carrier Phrases.
Carrier Phrases: I Hear
Over the past few months we have been working hard to expand our carrier phrases category. This week I'm excited to share an interactive format we developed for teaching the carrier phrase "I hear". These clips use vibrant visuals and fun sounds to engage the audience. Our actors repeat the carrier phrase multiple times per skit to make sentences about a variety of objects.
Each skit is paired with an optional "audience participation" segment in which learners have a chance to repeat the sentences that have just been modeled by the actors. You can generalize this concept by asking your student about sounds you hear in your environment. Listen for sounds your student can recognize and ask, "What do you hear?" All of our carrier phrases are located in Spoken Language → Conversational → Encouraging Conversations → Carrier Phrases.
Motor Imitation
Imitation is an important early step in language development. It is the foundation of learning to speak. The Gemiini clip library is home to hundreds of clips designed help students learn imitation skills. Our imitation content is divided into two main categories, Motor Imitation and Vocal Imitation. Motor imitation teaches mirroring actions and vocal imitation teaches copying speech sounds. This week we added a new group of clips teaching motor imitation skills.
The newest clips focus on imitating gross motor actions like standing on one foot, jogging in place, and raising both arms to the ceiling. In all of our imitation clips, an adult or older child looks at the student and says, "Do this!" before performing an action. The student pays close attention and waits until the action is complete before mirroring it. The adult responds with positive reinforcement and a prompt to do the action again before repeating the action herself.
Using these clips in a Gemiini video assignment helps students begin to develop imitation skills. When you're not watching Gemiini, imitation activities can easily be generalized with your students. The clips in our library provide a rich sample of activities you can recreate at home or in school. All of our motor imitation content is located in Verbal Behavior → Imitation → Motor Imitation.
If you are wondering where to start with teaching imitation and carrier phrases, or if you have any other questions about using clips from our library in your student's assignments, schedule a call with one of our product specialists. If you are looking for clips on a topic that doesn't exist in our library, send a content request to videos@gemiini.org.