It was our first shift working with Callum and, to be completely honest with you, we both felt a little out of our depth. We were just starting a new year, a new term, and for myself, all new students. I have little experience working in 2:1 situations and on our first Wednesday back that is exactly what I was doing. Neither Tom nor I had ever interacted with Callum before, and, other than the information from colleagues and paperwork, we knew very little.
We set off to collect Callum by driving the company fleet car (a Ford Galaxy – entertaining to watch 5ft 3in me climbing into the driver’s seat!). When we collected Callum and throughout the whole morning he made no eye contact, slowly doing things at his own pace, and rarely saying anything. As the afternoon progressed it was clear he was becoming a little more comfortable in our company – who can blame him with two strange faces to get to know!
Tom and I began to push Callum in his wheelchair around a local park before going back home. We went to the pond and watched the ducks being fed before walking back through the park towards the car. On the way back I remembered our summer conference and doing a workshop where Hannah and Hollie showed us how creative you could be to make a session more sensory. As I thought about this I picked up a conker that had fallen off one of the trees. I showed it to Tom and asked him to stop pushing; I bent down to Callum’s level so that he could see me properly and held out the conker. It was big and green and spiky. Callum held it up to his nose to smell it before I broke it open in front of him to show him what was inside. I took out the two large brown conkers and banged them together making a noise and saying “It’s a conker Callum”. I handed them over to him, again he smelt them and felt the shiny, smooth material with his hands. In that moment Callum looked at me, giving me direct eye contact, and said “conker!” Tom and I looked at each other and smiled just as Callum said again “conker, conker”.
Safe to say this made our day!
The name of the student in this blog has been changed
Demelza Smale
Community Learning Facilitator
No Limits, Oxfordshire