This is interesting.
For my bachelors degree I looked at the perception dyspraxic children had of
themselves.
Having searched the literature and worked with therapists, teachers, parents
etc I came up with an almost entirely negative overview of these children,
the emphasis being on thier weaknesses. When I asked and interviwed some 60
children about their perception of themselves it was largely positive, and
I wondered if it might be the negative perspectives of other's that
infiltrated these children's minds and disallowed their previously buoyant
attitudes to their disabilities.
My own son ,who has a whole complex range of learning difficulties teaches
me every day that his view of the world and it's expectations are very
different to mine, and I now make a real effort not to judge a situation by
my own framework of acceptability. That seems to work out more comfortably
for both of us, and if other people view us srangely then that's thier
disability!
Gill.
Gill Dixon BHSc Hons, RGN
Independent Dyspraxia Advisor/Trainer.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask]
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Laurence
> Bathurst
> Sent: 01 August 1999 13:46
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: IEP's
>
>
> Hi everyone
>
> I did not want to cite any post or statement in particular but was led to
> wondering the other day, about individual plans and other types of
> documenting systems that record objectives, goals and outcomes. In my
> experience (and this is very much limited to my experience and the
> particular organisations I have had contact with) the planning is based
> upon the expressed goals of the people using the services. I have a
> problem though with the evaluative stage of this process and the
> assumptions that are made by professionals and family and basically anyone
> else other that the person with the disability (sorry I should have said
> from the outset - intellectual disability). Do people here think
> that what
> we see as valuable is necessarily seen by the person with a disability as
> valuable or even relevant? For instance, what assumptions do we
> make about
> a goal such as social networking based on our own values? We see that if
> the person with a disability is successfully negotiating transactions with
> a range of people, we would see that as a desired outcome. I would agree
> too in this case.
>
> What if we were able to find out what the value of such social
> competencies
> were to the person with an intellectual disability? What would happen if
> they really could not give a damn about the importance of social
> interaction but rather see it as a mundane means to an end for example,
> buying a sandwich?
>
> I am just using the social interaction and networking goal as an example
> here. Do we always know whats best for ourselves? Is it
> important to find
> out what the person with an intellectual disability thinks and feels about
> their encounters in everyday life as opposed to the assumptions we make as
> informed people about their success in meeting planned goals?
>
> The reason I ask was because I have arranged an integrated arts project
> with my Uni students and the art students of a Technical college who have
> developmental disabilities and use our premises and equipment. I
> am getting
> my students to complete reflective journals as a way of examining their
> experiences and learning. I thought it would be an interesting idea to
> have the students with disabilities do the same, perhaps using a
> dictaphone. I wonder whether the disabled college students will recognise
> the integrated nature of the project as important? The logistics involved
> in obtaining this data will make it almost impossible to do this
> right now.
> They start in two weeks and I do not have time to get ethical approval and
> consent from all participating organisations. The only thing I can think
> of is to do it as my own students are ie. as part of their
> learning or as a
> subject evaluation...not sure of ethics here.
>
> Has anyone done this type of narrative where interpretation of events is
> left entirely up to the narrator? In other words no questions asked like
> "how did you feel about working with the Uni students?" but rather "what
> did you do today", "how did it feel?" and "what did you learn?". Does
> anyone else feel that this may yield valid and useful information?
>
>
>
>
> With best regards
>
> Laurence Bathurst
> University of Sydney
> School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
> Faculty of Health Sciences
> East Street (P.O. Box 170)
> Lidcombe NSW 1825
> Australia
>
> Ph+ 61 2 9351 9509
> Fax+ 61 2 9351 9166
> E-mail [log in to unmask]
>
> Note: This is the e-mail address for my home as well
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> There is not one shred of evidence that supports the notion that life is
> serious.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
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