Davis Stepping Stones
What is it?
Davis Stepping Stones is the beginning steps to the Davis Autism Approach® Programme.
It has been developed to assist you in helping your child/student to develop the foundational life’s lessons needed to complete essential early childhood development stages.
It is a gentle, holistic programme, suitable for:
- Autistic individuals under the age of 8
- Autistic individuals with very limited language
- Autistic individuals who have been using the NOIT and have begun to develop a sense of self
The structure of the programme is flexible to enable it to be delivered in the most harmonious way for your child.
The Steps
STEP ONE
Tools for the Helper
You (the support person) are given a set of tools, or mental strategies to allow you to be calm and relaxed while working with your child. These tools are called Release and Dial.
Release allows you to ease any stress, tension or anxiety you may be feeling. When working with those with autism, if we are feeling anxious, we can inadvertently add to their feeling of anxiety, as they are often highly sensitive to their environment and all that it contains. By putting ourselves in a calm state, this will allow for a calm environment for your child.
Dial helps you to determine and control your personal energy levels for self-regulation and positive interactions with others, particularly the child you will be working with.
STEP TwO
Awareness of Self
The child is assisted towards becoming more present in the world and facilitated to create an awareness of self, existing as separate from others. This process includes:
- Auditory Orientation: a sound, specifically engineered by Ron Davis to facilitate the individual towards developing accurate, stable perception and help create an awareness of self.
- Clay modelling of ‘self’, ‘another’ and ‘others’
- Exploration of ‘self’, ‘another’ and ‘others’ in the real world
STEP THREE
Davis Stepping Stones Life Concepts
The child will then be facilitated towards gaining an understanding of fundamental life concepts, and how they relate to ‘self’ and ‘others’, through explicit teaching using clay models.
The following concepts are covered in the programme:
- Change
- Consequence
- Cause/effect
- Before/after
Each concept is covered in the following way:
- It is introduced through demonstration and experienced together with the child in a fun way that appeals to their interest.
- The child creates a clay model of the concept, and masters it.
Integration of Life concepts
The child has LOTS of experiences with the concept in the real world with their support person – physically interacting with these concepts in the environment is what integrates the concept into self.
Davis Stepping Stones 2
What is it?
Stepping Stones 2 follows on from the ground-breaking Davis Stepping Stones programme as the second step to the Davis Autism Approach Programme
They have been developed to assist you in helping your child or student to develop the foundational life lessons needed to complete essential early childhood development stages.
It is a gentle, holistic programme, suitable for those who have completed Stepping Stones and are ready for the next step, but who are not yet ready for the full Davis Autism Approach. This includes:
- Autistic individuals under the age of 8
- Autistic individuals with very limited language
- Autistic individuals who have been using the NOIT and have begun to develop a sense of self
The structure of the programme is flexible to enable it to be delivered in the most harmonious way for your child.
Davis Stepping Stones 2 follows on seamlessly from Stepping Stones
Davis Self-Regulation Tools
If ready, the child is given a set of self-regulation tools
These tools empower them to able to:
- maintain or regain focus
- manage stress
- regulate their energy level
These are simple, yet effective techniques that work in harmony with the autistic individual.
Davis Stepping Stones 2 Life Concepts
Following on from change and consequence, the child is facilitated towards gaining an understanding of additional life concepts, and how they relate to self and others, building on what was covered in Stepping Stones. This is achieved through explicit teaching using clay models.
The following concepts are covered in the Stepping Stones 2 program:
- Time
- Sequence
- Order/disorder
Each concept is covered in the following way:
- It is introduced in small steps, through demonstration and experienced together with the child in a fun way that appeals to them.
The child is guided to create a clay model of the concept, and master it.
Integration of Life Concepts
The participant has LOTS of experiences with the concept in the real world with their support person – this is what integrates the concept into self.
Physically interacting with these concepts in the environment, facilitates an understanding of these life’s lessons and their transference into daily life. Integrating these concepts into their identity takes the confusion and chaos out of life and gives the participant the ability to make predictions, cope with different situations, and be able to create order in their life.
Programme Structure
Davis Stepping Stones is a flexible programme, depending on the needs of your child. Options include:
Fully Facilitated
Margot can take your child through the full programme, while you reinforce the learning at home.
Part Facilitated
Margot can take your child through part of the programme and coach you through part of it, with her support.
Mentor Support
You can take your child through the programme yourself, with Margot’s mentor support.
Workshop
You can attend a 2-day Stepping Stones workshop to be able to take your child through the programme. Click here to find a workshop running near you.
Testimonials
“My student’s attention has improved dramatically and his speech production is the best we have ever heard from him. I really was not expecting change that quickly.”
Speech-language therapist
“This programme is not like work. It is just a simple and enjoyable way of learning while going about your daily routine.”
Cathie
mother of autistic boy
“In the past year since we started the Stepping Stones programme, my son has developed a stronger sense of self and his own identity. He very rarely speaks in the third person now. His is increasingly more independent as he sleeps in his own bed now and it is easier to leave him with others. He is much more able to cope with change and is less anxious. He is able to find his own strategies or justification for things happening that he doesn’t like or is unsure of. I appreciate Margot’s flexibility, her calm, relaxed approach and her ability to connect and relate to S.”
Rachel
mother of 7 year-old boy
Yes, tell me more about how Stepping Stones can help my child
Get in touch with Margot today to start your child on the steps to help your child.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!