Wendy's Session

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Posted By Kelly on September 06, 2000 at 19:29:40:

I have been observing a session with a relatively new volunteer named Wendy and had some thoughts to share. Ben is ism'ing so beautifully today, thoroughly enjoying the paper skeleton he recently got at Walgreen's and having a great time circling the room and making funny sounds. He is poetry in motion, and I am having a blast watching him. Wendy is still learning how to ism, and my intent of giving her feedback today was to give her some examples of how she could build on Ben's isms.

But it's turned into something a little different. She was ism'ing with him pretty well, but there were several times where he was available, where he took a little rest from the ism and stopped to look at her or say something to her or answer a question she'd asked. Some of the things she was saying to him got me wondering about what her beliefs about Ben's intelligence might be.

For example, she spilled some water and was cleaning it up, and she asked him if he saw the water, and could he point to it. She got into a repetitive activity herself and asked 2 or 3 times "Guess what?" to see if he could tell her what she'd done. At one point she had the big stuffed spider they were playing with snuggle up to his face, and she asked "Did he get you?" Nothing terrible - all conversation encouragers - but his reaction was very lukewarm and didn't really go anywhere - he would just go back to the same isms. I wondered what she thought about his brain, and what shape she might think it's in in order for him to be playing the games he was playing (i.e., ism'ing), and how this affected what he may be capable of outside the ism (when he was available).

I can't wait to ask her about this, and to challenge her to think of playing with Ben in a different way. What would happen if she looked at his play as though he was an absolute genius and that the purpose of her interaction with him during ism'ing was an attempt to show him that she wanted desperately to keep up with him, to act as though she was beginning to grasp the meaning of what he was doing and that she was trying her very best just to keep up and impress him that she was smart enough to play along? Wouldn't changing her beliefs change the whole dynamic of their play, and make it more challenging and enjoyable and exciting for her? And for him???

I think it would be a lot easier to see when he's available if she was TOTALLY into the ism when he was. Then during the available time, she could be more present and make a more interesting transition to non-ism'ing time. For example, when she was cleaning up the water, what if she asked him about how that much water might seem like an ocean to an ant, or if she'd gotten very dramatic about telling him how she'd spilled water all over her porch last night? Or if she'd leveraged off the "guess what?" idea and played some game where they could guess about what card would appear next in a pile, or what saying the Buzz Lightyear doll would say the next time his button was pushed? Or giving him the spider and encouraging him to put it somewhere on her, somewhere where he thought would be the absolute scariest place for a spider to be? I think all of these things could've happened easily if her beliefs during ism'ing were different, and so much more energy would've been available during the times that he was available.

I love the feedbacks... and I can't wait for my turn to ism after Wendy!!!! I enjoy going from ism to ism with him, believing that "normal" life is just made up of a bunch of different isms anyway - he's really available for transitioning in this direction - I've experienced it several times. I LOVE showing people how to do this - I think Wendy's going to be just great. And all it will take is a little shift in attitude - isn't that what Option folks have told us all along??

Ism'ing is BOSS!!!!!

Love - Kelly.

Follow Ups

• Re: Wendy's Session Kelly 16:06:59 09/07/00 (3)
  • Re: Re: Wendy's Session Doug 00:40:37 09/08/00 (0)
  • Re: Re: Wendy's Session ola 18:59:36 09/07/00 (1)
    • Re: Re: Re: Wendy's Session Jeanie 19:46:09 09/08/00 (0)

Name:

Subject: Re: Wendy's Session

Comments:: I have been observing a session with a relatively new volunteer named Wendy and had some thoughts to share. Ben is ism'ing so beautifully today, thoroughly enjoying the paper skeleton he recently got at Walgreen's and having a great time circling the room and making funny sounds. He is poetry in motion, and I am having a blast watching him. Wendy is still learning how to ism, and my intent of giving her feedback today was to give her some examples of how she could build on Ben's isms. : But it's turned into something a little different. She was ism'ing with him pretty well, but there were several times where he was available, where he took a little rest from the ism and stopped to look at her or say something to her or answer a question she'd asked. Some of the things she was saying to him got me wondering about what her beliefs about Ben's intelligence might be. : For example, she spilled some water and was cleaning it up, and she asked him if he saw the water, and could he point to it. She got into a repetitive activity herself and asked 2 or 3 times "Guess what?" to see if he could tell her what she'd done. At one point she had the big stuffed spider they were playing with snuggle up to his face, and she asked "Did he get you?" Nothing terrible - all conversation encouragers - but his reaction was very lukewarm and didn't really go anywhere - he would just go back to the same isms. I wondered what she thought about his brain, and what shape she might think it's in in order for him to be playing the games he was playing (i.e., ism'ing), and how this affected what he may be capable of outside the ism (when he was available). : I can't wait to ask her about this, and to challenge her to think of playing with Ben in a different way. What would happen if she looked at his play as though he was an absolute genius and that the purpose of her interaction with him during ism'ing was an attempt to show him that she wanted desperately to keep up with him, to act as though she was beginning to grasp the meaning of what he was doing and that she was trying her very best just to keep up and impress him that she was smart enough to play along? Wouldn't changing her beliefs change the whole dynamic of their play, and make it more challenging and enjoyable and exciting for her? And for him??? : I think it would be a lot easier to see when he's available if she was TOTALLY into the ism when he was. Then during the available time, she could be more present and make a more interesting transition to non-ism'ing time. For example, when she was cleaning up the water, what if she asked him about how that much water might seem like an ocean to an ant, or if she'd gotten very dramatic about telling him how she'd spilled water all over her porch last night? Or if she'd leveraged off the "guess what?" idea and played some game where they could guess about what card would appear next in a pile, or what saying the Buzz Lightyear doll would say the next time his button was pushed? Or giving him the spider and encouraging him to put it somewhere on her, somewhere where he thought would be the absolute scariest place for a spider to be? I think all of these things could've happened easily if her beliefs during ism'ing were different, and so much more energy would've been available during the times that he was available. : I love the feedbacks... and I can't wait for my turn to ism after Wendy!!!! I enjoy going from ism to ism with him, believing that "normal" life is just made up of a bunch of different isms anyway - he's really available for transitioning in this direction - I've experienced it several times. I LOVE showing people how to do this - I think Wendy's going to be just great. And all it will take is a little shift in attitude - isn't that what Option folks have told us all along?? : Ism'ing is BOSS!!!!! : Love - Kelly.