My son and daughter are crazy about the Wiggles. Just in case you aren’t familiar with this children’s musical group, the Wiggles are four Australian men who write and sing their own songs for the under-five crowd. Three of the four (Greg Page, Anthony Field, and Murray Cook) met while studying early childhood education in Sydney. The fourth Wiggle (Jeff Fatt) was a member of Anthony Field’s musical group, the Cockroaches. For a bunch of preschool teachers, they have done well: recently, they were named Australia’s Highest Earning Entertainers of 2006, surpassing even actors like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
I don’t believe in using TV as a babysitter, and I certainly don’t condone kids watching videos until their eyes fall out of their heads, but the Wiggles have helped my autistic son with his gross and fine motor skills. Each song has its own set of movements; it encourages kids to get up and move their bodies. “Romp-Bomp-a-Stomp” has the lyrics, “Now you put your arms in the air from side to side…then the next thing you do is ‘romp-bomp-a-stomp’”. Michael puts his arms up in the air and stamps his feet along with the Wiggles. He jumps and flaps his hands and, well, wiggles around. Granted, he doesn’t follow the moves exactly, but he is watching and mirroring what they do on screen. (Before this, he watched them passively, with no movement at all, so this is a huge step in the right direction.)
With certain songs, I actually stand behind him and manipulate his limbs, to mirror the dance steps. “Do the Monkey” involves waving your arms to imitate a monkey, an elephant, and a tiger. “Can you Point Your Fingers (and Do the Twist)?” involves standing on one foot and shaking your hands. In “Quack, Quack”, you flap your arms like a duck. It takes a while before Michael understands the concept of sequencing (first you do this step, then the next, and the next), but once he masters the steps, he knows what comes next. This will help him with following directions in school and putting events in order.
Kids learn in many ways and if they’re having fun in the process, more the better! Now if only I can get the words to “Quack, Quack” out of my head…
“Teaching the Person with Autism How to Drive” by Kathy Harrington MA CCC SLP (This is an interesting article about how the concept of sequencing is important in many of our everyday activities, such as driving a car. Granted, Michael won’t be driving anytime soon, but I thought this illustrates the challenges of autistic children and learning disabilities)
[tags]parenting, autism, occupational therapy, sequencing[/tags]
Photo generously provided by One Tiger Fan, used under a Creative Commons License.
5 responses so far ↓
Cherylann // Mar 22, 2007 at 10:18 pm
My daughter loved The Wiggles, and they were fun for the both of us to dance to. It’s a nice change from building lego houses, playing ponies, and crafty stuff. We always loved “Rock a Bye A Bear”. They are truly a great family group.
tanyetta // Mar 23, 2007 at 2:28 am
WE LOVE THE WIGGLES
mcewen // Mar 23, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Anything that gets them moving gets my vote.
Cheers
Lady of Musotopia // Mar 26, 2007 at 5:11 pm
The wiggles definitely deserve my vote too!
My sister and I grew up having watched The Wiggles on several occasions and I can still remember their songs to date :D. It’s great to see that such a phenomenon has such a broad appeal and is so canonical.
P.S. I’m an occupational therapist in the making!
Sylvia Read // Aug 4, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I am an Australian Occupational Therapist currently in the US doing postgraduate training. I absolutely agree that the Wiggles have the full package. The kids (including my own) love them, they get them active and confident with themselves!!!!
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