I think most EI practitioners jump to “Have you tried…” – me included. A trick can be to change the question to “So what kinds of things have you already tried to help your child learn to…” That way, you learn what they’ve tried first before jumping in with suggestions. Being in the moment with the parent and being face to face through zoom can actually make facilitating some of these reflective conversations easier.

I have not had any active B-3 sessions.

That’s a funny story, Michelle! I learned to drive on a family truckster – a big white station wagon like the one from the old Vacation movies. I did learn to parallel park – and I figure if I could parallel park that thing, I can parallel park anything! 🙂

Yikes, Cori, that sounds like quite a driver’s ed adventure! My fond memory of the driver’s ed car was the power steering and brakes going out as I was attempting to back up. My partner and I almost rolled backwards down a hill. So fun!

I agree that it’s often easy to spot the best practice example when we read it. What’s harder is to reflect on which example better mirrors our practice, than taking that reflection and using it to improve the support we provide. Adult learners are self-directed – meaning that we, like parents, need to take the initiative to apply new knowledge to our lives. It’s not always easy, like you said, and starting by reframing the process and your role with families is a great place to start.

The thing was, my driver’s ed teacher NEVER asked me what I knew about backing up or whether I’d ever even tried it. He assumed that my driver’s ed course prepped me enough to be qualified to be behind the wheel at all.

When I look at Example #2 it is just so easy to say, “Yes, that’s the one.” Putting this in place when you are actually with a family requires ‘thinking on your feet’ but if you see the process as a shared problem-solving collaboration with the mother it makes it less-intimidating to try to implement.