When I first met Adam, he was not very attentive and he was reluctant to interact with me. This at times would frustrate me as I felt that I was not being very useful in terms of meeting his needs. I noticed that he would not respond when I spoke to him in a calm manner, however when I raised my voice a bit that’s when he seemed to cooperate. So my initial thought was to work on this with him as I am a calm person myself when interacting with anybody and it is important he can engage with lots of different people. It took him a while to notice that I wouldn’t raise my voice whilst speaking to him, so this became a game for both of us until he gradually learnt to respond to my calm tone of voice.
Gradually, over time, by using Makaton signing and my learning and using MacIntyre’s ten facilitation skills to have Great Interactions, Adam opened up to me.
I feel like it has been an interesting journey with Adam during his transition back into college. Although he does not really use words to communicate, he will randomly surprise you by vocalising a few unexpected words, like the time he had just finished his lunch and he looked at me and said “home”. I was very surprised and excited and told everyone what he had achieved.
What I have learnt about Adam is that he is very conscious of his personal space and needs patience. He also needs the Great interactions skills to be used well for him to be content and open to communication. He really loves music, movies and being read to. Now these are also things that I enjoy myself so the majority of the time we are on the same page although we can agree to disagree about liking different artists. I use the things Adam loves as his rewards for achieving a target for the day, which he thoroughly enjoys and this motivates him. I communicate what his reward will be by using symbols that I know he will respond to and by using his ‘now and next’ chart.
Together we have built up a routine that works and we are both beginning to understand each other more and more each day.
The person’s name has been changed in this blog
Eron Tusiime
Community Learning Facilitator
MacIntyre Camden College