Early Childhood Pros: How did you come up with the desire to tell stories in your psychomotor therapist practices?
Pascale Pavy : 20 years ago, I worked as a psychomotor therapist in a pediatric and rehabilitation hospital working with toddlers and I wanted to pass on my knowledge so that it could be taken up by professionals caring for toddlers. This is why I imagined Formibébetea game of hands, to approach intrusive care on the baby’s body, like an injection, with lightness and fun. My remarks also aimed at awareness and body schema as well as motor coordination. Some nurses took it and as it worked, I imagined other stories with the hands and that’s how were born The Formidables.
What’s “great” about them for toddlers?
Each character is played by the hand posture which mimics the story. The hand caresses, kisses, plays on the body and in space. There are rhymes and rhythm. The child associates the sound with the gesture and becomes an actor in the story. In this book, which is told with the hands and the body, the exchanges are joyful between child and adult, verbal and physical communication is reinforced. From the pleasure of being in movement, the child becomes aware of his body and coordinates his movements.
You have just published a new series with Larousse with My Little Story to Mime. Does it follow the same principle?
Yes, with, in addition, in each title, a story and several entry points: motor, sensory, cognitive, neurological and psycho-affective. Take the example of Clack clack, little crab :
On the crab rock, everything is calm Shhh!
We only hear the ocean waves chchchch
(put the index finger on the lips when shushing, then mime the waves with the right hand by waving the arm back and forth when shchchch)
Mirror neurons activate in the brain at the simple sight of these two gestures. They will allow the toddler to strengthen the neural circuits that generate these actions. As it develops and its ability to reproduce the motor gesture, these neurons make it possible to connect the movements it observes to its own movements. Any imitated gesture that has meaning – just like the gesture of placing the index finger on the lips by associating the onomatopoeia shhh – will bring the child into the world of representation, representation through gesture and sound. This is the principle of nursery rhymes but there is the book support which adds a mental representation thanks to the image associated with sound and gesture…
-For you, the book is therefore a support which also supports the motor development of toddlers
For me, it’s obvious. Children’s stories and books also have a psychomotor dimension. In any case, this is my way of understanding them as an author. And as the book is a medium that can be transmitted, I know that early childhood professionals use it. In the training courses that I lead, I see that they appropriate the books in a physical way, they understand all the psychomotor benefits for the child.
This requires putting your own body in motion… How do you make them want to read by getting physically involved?
The bodily approach can be frightening but in training, professionals quickly become aware of their gestural and facial spontaneity, they realize that the gestures or facial expressions come naturally because they are associated with the story. It’s not just the voice that tells it. The whole body can move, even the faces via expressions. Most books for toddlers allow this because the physical and psychomotor dimension is present in children’s stories. Videos accompany the little stories to mime for inspiration, but there is no model to follow.
If the professional doesn’t feel it, she can stick to a more static reading, as long as the pleasure is there. The main thing is that the reader perceives himself naturally. At no time should the motor aspects overload the toddler’s senses; there is no need to dramatize the story, just let the expression come that seems right at that moment in the story.
Especially since books, including yours, summon other dimensions, notably sensory and emotional…
As a psychomotor therapist, we take into account not only the motor domain but also the emotional, cognitive and sensory domains. In his approach to the book, the young child makes connections between what he sees, what he hears, what he touches but also what he perceives from our motor expression… all this allows him to make sense to the content of the story, to identify their emotions and why not to play with their fears. These moments of triangular relationship (child, adult, book) are very important for strengthening emotional security. On this essential basis, the toddler’s imagination, knowledge and attention are stimulated.
Your latest book, which has just been published by Casterman, is very different… How professionals can make it their own ?
It’s a mirror book that highlights free motor skills. Unlike the little stories to mime, there is no story appealing to the child’s imagination but the illustrations and words will allow him to have mental images of his body and his motor games. As it has just been released, I have not yet been able to observe how professionals are using it. It would be interesting if, as soon as they see the child take his/her feet from the ground to move around or settle into a position, they show him/her the image and tell the corresponding text in Look what I can do. The mirror effect would then be guaranteed!
