what's the point

Today at work I have been thinking about pointing.  I have been to a couple of workshops this year which have talked about pointing being very important.

And it has clicked for me working with the kids at special school today

'The proto-declarative point
is when the attention is joint'

Hear me out on this - before your eyes glaze over and I go into an excited ramble about speech therapy related things.

That moment when a child (about 9 months old) starts to point at things is a turning point.  They are saying:
'check that out - it is so cool - I want to share how cool that thing is with you' - sharing an emotional experience with you and an object
or
'what is that - label it for me so I have a reference point for later' - vocabulary building
or
'I want that - hand it over - or you'll hear about it' - requesting

This moment in communication is so exciting.  Because the child is telling you something, and waiting for your response.  Some older kids, especially those with autism, are not at this joint attention pointing phase.  But now I know what I am looking for and wanting to achieve, I can practise it with them. 

Today I had a wonderful moment of pointing with a young girl.  And she totally got what I was saying and I totally understood what she was communicating.  It was very exciting.  Because I was looking for her point.

It also makes me think about how we can be 'pointers'.  We can be a pointer to Jesus, where people are not looking at us but at God.  Where the whole point of what we do is to send others in the right direction.  To say 'check this out, it is so great', or label it 'grace'.

Thanks for letting me point this out.