Winning Over The Big Guy
A True Story
A few months after attending Lilli's 3 A's of Active learning training in Austin
Texas, the Little Rooms we ordered finally arrived.
I was excited about giving a homebound student an
opportunity for learning as nothing much had been
going on for her up to this point. This delightful
three year old female was diagnosed as vision
impaired with a degenerative disease, severe and
profound cognitive disabilities, and other health
impairments. Her life up till then had been at home
with a full time nurse, with visits from ECI, OT,
and PT.
My husband and I assembled a Little Room at home
and loaded it onto the truck. I passed by my office,
picked up a colleague who also came to the 3A's
training, gathered up my materials and we headed
down the road anticipating the wonderful event that
was about to take place. We chattered endlessly
about the implications for having access to a Little
Room would be for B…
Upon our arrival at the home the nurse looked
very skeptical and commented it was a very large
piece of equipment for such a small house. We went
about the business of setting the Room up and
hanging the materials. About five minutes passed and
Dad arrived home from work. Through the door came a
Texas State Trooper, hat, star, gun uniform and all,
a really imposing presence. The small living room
was crowded at best. He stared at us and Deb
explained what I was doing crawling around the
floor. He became really quiet and said "your not
putting my baby in that box, are you?" (That was my
initial reaction twenty years ago when a Little room
was first
introduced to me.) Deb explained more of
the Little Room concepts to him and how it would
work for B… He continued to stand at the end of the
Little Room and stare at me. He watched every move I
made.[ Meanwhile on the floor I am no longer
assembling materials but fervently praying!] My
hands were shaking and I am now asking the powers
that be to please have the child respond to the
Little Room somehow, anyhow! The room was ready, Dad
was not. Finally we positioned B…on the resonance
board and slid the Room over her. Then we waited for
what seemed like a week to me, Deb later said it was
no time at all.
B… started to explore the objects closest to her
with her mouth, then she tried to reach up, all the
while she looked and tried to manipulate, pull on
the objects with her mouth, tried to relocate them,
move them about, and we even think she might have
smiled. Dad had tears in his eyes. He then
disappeared and came running back with a video
camera and a smile and videoed the whole thing! By
this time I am now chanting to myself, Thank you
Lilli, thank you Lilli! Each time I go back to visit
B… has been doing and exploring more.
I had the same experience with the second Little
Room which I set up in a classroom. Within ten
minutes after the student was placed in the Room all
the staff were true believers. I spent time sharing
all I have learned on Active Learning with these
enthusiastic ladies. We watched the videos, read the
books and did our homework. We now have an Active
Learning Classroom set on that campus and are
constantly adding to it. We have ordered our first
Hopsa Dress. We feel truly blessed to have had the
opportunity to be trained by Dr. Lilli Nielsen and
will continue to use her methods with great results.
- Marth Vincent, Region VIII Education Service
Center, Mt. Pleasant Texas
