Stage 2 - Dynamic Learning Curve Transcript Patty Obrzut: Now that a child is aware of an object or their own movement in the environment, we're going to move onto Stage 2. And in Stage 2, a child becomes curious and interested; and that's going to lead to something. So, now you have a child who is actually aware of the whisk, because you've moved the whisk so that that child's hand or arm is touching it. I do want to make a point. It doesn't have to be the hand, and it doesn't have to be the arm. It could be a child's mouth. It could be their feet. It could be their legs. Any part of the body. But just for this demonstration, I'm going to talk about moving an object toward a child's hand. So, you've moved the whisk, and it's actually slightly touching a child's hand. You have to learn to wait to see what happens. So, let's say this object has been sitting here for five minutes and that child barely moves at all. But then, all of the sudden, they decide to move their hand away and they come back to it. Hopefully that child becomes curious and interested, which leads to activity. So, maybe, they start to go, you know, there's something there. And they start to just move their hand, ever so slightly, where it's actually coming in contact with the object. And if you can listen closely, you can actually hear the whisk making a little dinging sound. And so, now, that child is getting auditory feedback from what they're doing. They're also getting tactile feedback from what they're doing. I can feel that that object, it actually vibrates a little bit when I hit it. It makes a sound when I hit it. And if you watch my hand, I'm kind of playing with how I'm hitting the whisk. I might decide to hit it really hard, or I might decide to hit it really softly. So, you have a child who has become curious, and they're interested and that leads to something. So, what does it lead to? It leads to making a repetition. So, now this child is repeating over and over again, hitting this object. While they're repeating their activity, their brain is making a memory about that activity. So, my brain is understanding, 'Hey, when I hit this object hard, it makes that kind of sound.' 'If I hit it lightly, it makes that kind of sound.' 'What happens if I take the object and hit it this way, and it whacks me in the head?' 'Maybe I don't like that, so, maybe I don't want to do that again.' And a child is experimenting, exploring, and figuring out what does this thing do? So, let's go back again to a child with cerebral palsy. If their hand is fisted, they may never open up their hand, and they may just push the object, and understand what happens when I push my hand on this whisk. So, you're repeating an activity. You're establishing memories about that activity. You're experimenting. You're exploring and maybe comparing. If there happened to be another whisk hanging here, maybe that child is going to push between the two objects, and figure out how the two whisks are different. That's all that happens with a child in Stage 2; is that they're curious and they're interested, and that leads to activity. Now, a child could also respond to people in the environment, or they could share their experiences with people. I want to try to stick, for this example, to only be talking about the objects in the environment, and the movement of the child and their sensory experiences. We're going to talk later about interactions with other people when we cover the 5 Phases of Educational Treatment. But I want to let that idea go, until a later point. So, let's just stick with the object and the environment. The one most important thing about Stage 2, is that you notice that this child, if it's me, that I'm initiating activity. I didn't need help, from anyone, other than to position the objects, so that I could be the one that decides to be active. That's what Active Learning is; it's the child being the active participant. Not having things done to them, but them deciding, "I like to make that sound," and figuring out how to make that activity happen. Now, most people will sit and say, "Well, how long is the child going to stay in Stage 2, before they go on to Stage 3?" And I'm going to tell you, I can't answer that question. It's going to vary for every child, and every activity that you do. So, it could last five seconds. It could last two hours. It could last three months, and it can last three years. As long as that child is active, and they're learning from their activity, and they're learning and experimenting and exploring, then that's how long that child needs to gain an understanding about the object. And then, once they do, we're going to be moving on to Stage 3.