Building Thinking Through Body and Movement
Child Profile
A young child with Autism, Global Developmental Delay and significant language difficulties who struggled to understand and draw simple geometric shapes.
Approach
Instead of starting with pencil and paper, we explored shapes through emotional opportunities. Using tape on the floor, body movement, language (spatial concepts), colorful constructions and drawing, the child gradually experienced the concepts before representing them on paper.
Initial Challenge
The difficulty wasn't simply drawing a square or rectangle — it was understanding the spatial concepts and movement behind them.
Progress/Outcome
The child became able to draw shapes independently while also improving spatial understanding, language, sequencing and motor planning, visual perception, symbolic representation, and abstraction.
Why it Matters
It reminds me that children don't just learn a skill - they build the thinking that makes the skill possible.
Building Thinking Through Body and Movement
A young child with Autism, Global Developmental Delay and significant language difficulties who struggled to understand and draw simple geometric shapes.
Child Profile
A young child with Autism, Global Developmental Delay and significant language difficulties who struggled to understand and draw simple geometric shapes.
Initial Challenge
The difficulty wasn’t simply drawing a square or rectangle — it was understanding the spatial concepts and movement behind them.
Approach
Instead of starting with pencil and paper, we explored shapes through emotional opportunities. Using tape on the floor, body movement, language (spatial concepts), colorful constructions and drawing, the child gradually experienced the concepts before representing them on paper.
Progress/Outcome
The child became able to draw shapes independently while also improving spatial understanding, language, sequencing and motor planning, visual perception, symbolic representation, and abstraction.
Why it Matters
It reminds me that children don’t just learn a skill - they build the thinking that makes the skill possible.
