Yesterday, we worked with an individual who has the most demanding problems in the center. Although his mother missed the staffing, we had planned on having a goal setting meeting.
This individual is a 21 year old male. The DSP had given me a list of 15 problem behaviors and as well he is reported to be obsessive and stimulated by his senses (such as the need to touch, smell, see, taste, and hear), which partially explains the habit of slamming doors. Very gratifying noise!
At one point of the day, we had found he'd suddenly run out the door and had stopped at the corner of the courtyard gate. We said to the dismayed DSP, "Umm, we'll get this one."
We've been working on gaining his trust, so we promised we wouldn't take the ball from him. This decision got him to leave the corner. He figured it was important for him to play basketball so we negotiated the time. "How many minutes?" We both agreed to five minutes and we set a timer. After three negotiations he peacefully rejoined his group and put the basketball away. A win-win situation!
As far as a goal, we thought of marbles because they'd be very stimulating, especially if there were a variety. We figured he should wash the marbles in exchange for more negative behaviors. After all they'd get fingerprints and many adults have collections, right?
Hence ... the purchase of 1,450 small 16 mm. colored marbles grouped by 58 bags of 25 marbles each. We figure the goal should last for a year and each week he will receive one new bag. We'll give one bag each to his peers, so the individual will have an opportunity to interact with them by asking to wash their marbles too!
The individual will have to negotiate getting the marbles with the DSP. He will have to write 20 times the newest marble's name. For example a marble could be named banana swirl, black panther, or bumblebee. At present, he spends most of his time writing the names of his favorite restaurants.
We showed the individual a large picture of the above and asked him if he would be interested. Man! Did his face pick up an outstanding glow! Hehe, the marbles will be here by Friday. What's a budget for if not to break?!
2 comments:
This sounds so interesting. My goodness, you are so clever to think of such things! I would never have the capacity to understand or contruct something so marvelous for someone who needed this interaction. You must update us on this idea. With love,
Erin
Thanks very much Erin! Jonahan Swift wrote, "Necessity is the mother of all invention." I think this is very true. People work to resolve tensions presented them. We found for you a great link! It is a 6-week curriculum on teaching 2-4 graders about creating inventions. Highly recommended reading! :)
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/ltag/effectteach/unitsamples/Inventions/Inventions.pdf
Corey
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