Inspire
A Suprise Video
By Sue Gordon March 29, 2022
My daughter, Emily and I have been creating short videos to reinforce the expectations I have for her regarding independent living skills. The videos are short and simply show her doing things like making the bed, washing and putting away dishes, folding laundry, getting ready for work, preparing a simple meal, the list goes on.
Constant Reinforcement
The videos are then uploaded to her circle on Quillo Connect. She has the opportunity to watch them when she wants. If she is not excited about doing a chore, I have on occasion shared the video we created and it reminds her how she has accomplished this task before. It seems to get her motivated to get it done.
Early on, Emily was a little reluctant to be in the video. As we continued to do this for several weeks, I could begin to see her confidence growing. I knew this was beginning to be something that she was getting comfortable with when she started suggesting to me that we create a video. I remember the first time Emily suggested it. I was driving Emily to work and pulled into a parking spot close to the door of where she works. Before she gets out of the car, she says, “hey mom lets shoot a video.”
Creating Consistent Patterns
A bit shocked, I smiled and stated, “let’s do it” and pulled out my phone. We leaned in together, raised the phone and hit the video play button. Emily immediately started to explain that she was going to work and described what she would do. She looked at me with a smile and I immediately reinforced the importance to be to work on time and shared how she independently got ready, organized her backpack with the items she needed, and was ready to go when her alarm indicated it was time to go. The video ended with a hug and “have a good day.”
The next day, while I was working in my home office, I received a text message. The message is from Emily. There is a video with the message, “hi mom.” I watched the ten second video. It is Emily introducing herself and sharing what she is doing today, “Hi, I’m Emily I am going to work and will be cleaning up today.”
Communicating Independently
She just independently created her first video! What a surprise. This is just the start of what I am sure will be Emily continuing to share videos with me to add on Quillo Connect. In addition, this reminds me to continue to do the little things to reinforce expectations and you won’t be disappointed.
If you would like to learn more about Quillo Connect and how video messages can help set expectations, reach out to me at [email protected]