PERCEPTION and PRESUMING COMPETENCE!
A Few Great Posts From Around the Web to Illustrate This:
His Body Does His Feelings by A Diary of A Mom
We Knew She Understood but Now We Know She Minds by Living with Rett Syndrome
Yellow- Living with Rett Syndrome
Life with Lief: We are Different But Same by Sunshine Bodey
Perception Drives Everything – Uncommon Sense
Share your stories of perception and competence.
Filed under: PrAACtical Thinking
Tagged With: presume competence
This post was written by Robin Parker
4 Comments
I was working with a young girl (about 6 years old) who was coming to see me for augmentative communication opportunities. One session I asked her to pick the letters of her name from a variety of letters Velcroed to a Halloween tree. Dad and I were talking about how I felt she understands and has a great deal locked inside a body with severe motor impairment. I turned my head back to her and found that she had pulled all the letters of her name off and had a huge smile! A number of years later, as this same young lady was responding to some really challenging questions, I asked her how she learned all of this and she typed out NPR. Her Dad was dumbstruck. They had put NPR on the radio each night for the classical music. She indicated that when she couldn’t sleep she would listen to the talk programs! This young lady taught me to NEVER under estimate these children just because their bodies can’t function normally.
That’s such a great story, Glenna! These folks surprise us all the time, reaffirming the message in this post. Thanks for taking the time to share this experience. 🙂
Christy, thank you so much for linking back to our site and using Robin’s graphic in your post. She would love knowing that you are spreading this message!