It used to be that Gaz would never ever go on camera deliberately and videos would make him hide, it made him feel anxious and self-conscious.
Over the past year I have worked with Gaz to develop a good relationship with him, by understanding his need for space, his need for gentle praise, utilising his special interest for trains and overall patience and warmth toward him.
Gaz has progressed: we now seem to have a budding film maker as Gaz's confidence has grown immensely in the last few months.
A trip to Buckinghamshire Railway Centre was the final catalyst, with understanding, encouragement, fun and the temptation of his own YouTube channel, Gaz watched me demonstrate making a video at the centre. I used different voices and a few deliberate mistakes to engage Gaz and we joked that he could do a much more professional job. When I started to interview a steam train Gaz decided to have a go.
It has taken many months for Gaz to gain the confidence and trust to be able to do this and he was brilliant. A new Gaz appeared behind the camera and began to address the audience and without any practice he encouraged them to comment on his work.
Well done Gaz! I personally feel the work, patience and person centred approach has enabled Gaz to grow into a more confident young person and there is more that can be done to open more doors for Gaz and give him the confidence to decide to go through them.
Gaz has now made 6 videos with support in a week, using the iPad and the iMovie app. These videos are now proudly displayed on his own channel; he checks the views daily and awaits any comments with bated breath.
We plan to make some Gaz eye view tour guides of different places.
Watch his space…
And his channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWZE2XTXiLNUyqtUzdqDsGQ
Here are the links to Gaz's first two videos.
https://youtu.be/iq-v1RB5GTQ
https://youtu.be/BvMEf9FvmCw
He would be delighted if you visited and left a comment.
Mark Sawtell
Community Learning Facilitator
MacIntyre No Limits - Luton
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