People are complicated. We are a mixed up mix of subtleties, nuances, and sarcasm (who me?). That's one of the reasons kids are drawn to animals, cartoons and puppets. They are simple, understandable and easy to read. This is especially true for children with autism for whom social language is difficult. This is where JoJo comes in.
I met JoJo at a craft fair on July 4th, 2014. Handmade by @lovepuppetplay, I knew he needed to be part of my therapy. Little did I know he would become my right hand puppet (the avocado to my toast) and a vital piece of my daily therapy routine.
Working as an SLP in special-needs preschool, a large part of my caseload (while it does vary from year to year) are children with autism. Bubbles used to be my "go to" therapy toy for joint attention and social exchange. It worked. I saw progress. I was building positive social relationships. While those kids were engaged with me in a one-on-one setting, their attention and engagement was not generalizing to whole-group. I would be putting on the greatest one-woman show (or so I thought), seeing little to no interaction from those students. The first day I brought JoJo to whole-group, I had all eyes on me (really JoJo)! He totally stole the show! Not only were the kids looking at JoJo but I saw joint attention with me as well! For the past four years, JoJo has been with me wherever I go (he does stay at school though - I have healthy boundaries).
You'll be seeing much more of JoJo on my Instagram feed and future blog posts on how I integrate him into therapy.