Dillan
Tami Barmache has been working with Dr Miller for four years during which time her son, Dillan, has made very significant gains.  The Barmache family lives in the Los Angeles area, thousands of miles from LCDC, but video conferencing technology has made it possible for Dr. Miller to guide Dillan’s therapy in real time.  Here is Tami describing her experience with the Miller Method® over the last four years.

What’s different and attractive about the Miller Method®?  Tami explains.

All the specific cognitive gains have made Dillan much more engaged in his environment.  Tami describes an example of the creative ways Dr. Miller performs his therapy.

Intensive language intervention is a central feature of the Miller Method. Signs/words are incorporated in systems that the child already participates in until the signs/words become meaningful. Tami explains how the “come” sign was incorporated into Dillan’s chase game.

Functional language — not the mere appearance of it -- is the ultimate goal.  Here we see Dillan use the words and signs to make his parent “get up” off the object he wants. His language is intentional and emotionally connected.

Dr. Miller’s language intervention is unique in that he categorizes children’s language abilities based on the two different ways that they attach words to objects.  Some children are “word guided” and some are “context guided,” and Dr. Miller intervenes with greater success by understanding which mode of language ability a child relies upon.  A child is “word guided” if he/she can carry a word like “shoe” in mind when asked to get a shoe from another room.  A “word guided” child can keep the word and its meaning in mind -- in spite of potentially distracting objects -- until he/she can find the named object in that room.  On the other hand, a “context guided” child can locate a shoe only if it is in the immediate surroundings.  A “context guided” child will have difficulty locating a named object when other objects compete for his/her attention.  “Context guided” abilities are a step in the right direction, but children need to work toward “word guided” abilities to achieve functional expressive language. 

Here Tami explains how the distinction between “word guided” and “context guided” abilities made her realize that Dillon’s receptive language was context bound; Dillon could attach the word “shoe” to the object only if nothing else competed for his attention.

The ability to connect a word to its referent independent of immediate contexts is the foundation of expressive language.  That is why it is so important to help the child develop the ability to hold the word in mind even when the designated object is out of sight in another room.  Dr. Miller’s intervention made intentional, expressive language possible for Dillan.  Tami explains how Dillan developed the ability to connect words to their objects beyond their immediate settings and how that ability is contributing to his expressive language development.