I recently went to a talk given by
Dimensions who described transition from child to adult services similar to falling off a cliff. I would like to add there’s an undercurrent as well which you can’t see and don’t expect.
I should have anticipated this in the light of the
I Exist NAS campaign. But I didn’t and I am struggling with what adult services have to offer from what I have seen so far for someone with C’s level of ability and challenges.
C went to a specialist school. It was full on – he had access to many basic therapies, was a part of a thriving community and the curriculum was geared to him. Access to different opportunities/experiences He leaves school and we fall off the cliff. All the stress of various battles over the years - all that education and for what?
Or this is what it feels like to me. I don’t get it. Why do the expectations change in the adult world? Why do old stereotypes ‘still’ exist? Why don't care homes seem to socially evolve? With all the new regs about dignity, equality, human rights acts etc etc why are many attitudes still so out of date?
Is this it for C? The universe answered me in the form of an avalanche of emails from bloggers and
Fb who had seen a promotional video clip (I had also seen it but am bowled over at the kindness and thought from people letting me know) in a
Jessica Kingsley Publishers newsletter -
Phoebe Caldwell about Intensive Interaction.
Something I had never heard of. But something I unknowingly do naturally with C. A good example is the post I wrote about C’s and my first
clubbing experience. I have now read every book ever written on the subject and through googling I found a
local organization that run workshops using
Intensive Interaction! I went to one of their meetings for practitioners across the SE and sat there overwhelmed - stunned - fighting back the tears listening to their stories that here were a group of people
passionate about making a difference to 'pre-verbal' people’s lives.
At the same time as this was unfolding I was in talks with C’s service provider about – 'is this it for C'. And the service manager asked me what they could do – out of my bag I produced an Intensive Interaction book. She had heard of it so I pushed my luck a bit further and produced an application form for a workshop.
They are sending
4 staff on the course. As you can imagine I am over the moon. I am also going on the course – and am really looking forward to ‘working together’ with staff and with C.
All this came about through blogging. Through chance. Something I will not leave C’s future too.
So thank you everyone. I will keep you posted how it goes.
A new year and I hope a new beginning.
I recently went to a talk given by Dimensions who described transition from child to adult services similar to falling off a cliff. I would like to add there’s an undercurrent as well which you can’t see and don’t expect.I should have anticipated this in the light of the I Exist NAS campaign. But I didn’t and I am struggling with what adult services have to offer from what I have seen so far for someone with C’s level of ability and challenges.C went to a specialist school. It was full on – he had access to many basic therapies, was a part of a thriving community and the curriculum was geared to him. Access to different opportunities/experiences He leaves school and we fall off the cliff. All the stress of various battles over the years - all that education and for what?
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