Over the last 21 years Paul has been assisted with an electric shave, which is not suitable for him as his hair snags and pulls and it hardly makes a difference to his appearance.
After working with him very closely, I noticed that he loves silly noises and people pulling silly faces. He likes to see if he can copy and make the same noises. He loves cats, and has a replica cat called Louis. Whatever Louis has done, he wants to do too.
One morning I asked Paul if I could wet shave his cat, he agreed and was very excited to be making electric razor noises and meowing whilst Louis was having his ‘shave’. Paul then said “me now,” and requested that I wet shave him and actually touch his face to put foam on. Whilst doing this I constantly reassured him and encouraged him, and pulled very silly faces and made numerous animal noises which he joined in with. We sang and laughed and made it fun.
This was a huge step forward for Paul and it happened by; observing him and his facial expressions, listening to him and reacting to his wishes and likes, touching him gently in a way that he found acceptable, being creative and drawing on his likes and dislikes and making it fun, reflecting on previous things that have been tried and tested and what worked and what didn’t, and continually making eye contact with him to show reassurance and friendliness.
Paul requested that his morning routine was updated in his plan, to show that he now wants a wet shave in the morning.
Using the facilitation skills resulted in a better outcome for Paul: a Great Interaction.
Stacy Wicks,
Support Worker, Woodacre