At that time, I never would have envisioned the impact we would make in telling our story. It has been an amazing year. Not only have Philip and I grown in maturity and skill, we have had the wonderful privilege of helping others. These have included parents, grandparents, teachers, professionals in speech and occupational therapy, and most importantly, other kids like Philip.
Today I am reblogging a post from my friend Elizabeth Vosseller, a speech and language pathologist in Virginia. We correspond on Facebook and email. She has been doing great work with her students using RPM and her blog is an amazing resource of lesson plans and testimonies from her many students who are thriving in communicating despite not having speech. Her blog and original post (reposted with her permission of course) can be found at http://growingkidstherapy.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/the-body-and-brain-disconnect/#comments. Elizabeth- Thanks for your friendship, generosity, encouragement, and heart of gold!
-Lisa
The Body and Brain Disconnect
Several months ago, I read Philip and Lisa’s blog entry, “The Difficulty of Self-Control“. Philip described his struggles with control of his body and the disconnect between his body and brain so eloquently. Through his words, I gleaned a better understanding of my kids who have similar struggles. So, I wrote a lesson featuring Philip’s blog! This has been one of my favorite lessons and as you will see, I have used it many times with clients of varying ages. (These responses are from clients ages 8-23. I do find it is best used with individuals who are consistently responding at the sentence level, but I have used it with kids who are at the multi word level too.) *To access this entire lesson (and please try it out with your own child!) see the comments section of this post. Here are the responses from my panel of experts!
Can you relate to Philip’s statement that his body does not obey his brain?
I GET OVERWHELMED WITH TRYING TO CONTROL MY BODY. I HAVE
TO WORK SO HARD TO GET THROUGH MY DAY. I AM JUST TRYING TO LIMIT MY
MOVEMENTS SO I CAN FUNCTION AT ALL. ~Luke (8)
I CAN SO RELATE TO PHILIP. I CANNOT CONTROL MY MOVEMENTS
BECAUSE MY BODY FUNCTIONS SEPARATELY FROM MY BRAIN. TOTALLY SEPARATE.
MY BODY TAKES OVER AND I AM LEFT OUT OF THE DECISIONS. IT IS NOT
PRETTY TO BE LIKE THIS. I DO NOT LIKE THE THINGS THAT MY BODY MAKES ME
DO. Can you give me an example? GOING CRAZY WITH NOISES AND MOVEMENTS. ~Paul (23)
MY BODY DOES NOT OBEY MY BRAIN EITHER. I DON’T KNOW WHY
MY BODY WON’T LISTEN TO MY BRAIN. YOU CAN NEVER KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING IT
IS TO LACK CONTROL OF YOUR BODY. ~Huan (17)
YES. MY BODY AND BRAIN ARE DISCONNECTED. JUST LIKE PICKING MY FINGERS. THESE URGES COME OVER ME AND I HAVE TO DO IT. ~Ian (16)
I DO NOT HAVE CONTROL OF MY BODY. IT DOES NOT LISTEN TO
ME. MY BODY DOES WHAT IT WANTS. ONLY MY BODY KNOWS WHAT IT IS GOING TO
DO. Can you give me and example? SOMETIMES IT IS NAUGHTY WHEN I TELL IT NOT TO BE. OTHER TIMES I AM SURPRISED BY WHAT IT DOES. ~Emma (17)
SO VERY MUCH. I CANNOT CONTROL MY BODY. MY BRAIN AND
BODY ARE DISCONNECTED. SO I USE MY BRAIN TO THINK. VERY OFTEN MY BODY
BETRAYS ME. IT WONT LISTEN TO MY BRAIN. MY BODY HAS A MIND OF ITS OWN
WHICH IS VERY DIFFERENT THAN MY OWN. ~Ben (18)
I CANNOT STOP MYSELF WHEN I START TO DO SOMETHING. I FEEL BAD AFTER BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. ~Luke
I HAVE IMPULSES ALL THE TIME. MY BODY IS ALWAYS GETTING ME IN TROUBLE. IT IS UNCONTROLLABLE AND I HAVE SPENT MY ENTIRE LIFE FIGHTING FOR CONTROL. IT HAS BEEN A CONSTANT BATTLE. ~Paul
MY BODY TAKES OVER MY BRAIN AND I AM LEFT OUT IN THE COLD.
WHEN THIS HAPPENS I AM TOTALLY SURPRISED. IT IS LIKE A STRANGER HAS
TAKEN OVER MY BODY. ~Huan
I AM ALWAYS MEETING CHALLENGES FROM IMPULSES. MY BODY IS
OUT OF CONTROL. OFTEN MY BODY REVOLTS AND TAKES OVER AND KICKS MY BRAIN
OUT. FIRST I NOTICE SOMETHING. MY BRAIN REGISTERS SOMETHING AND I KNOW
WHAT TO DO BUT MY BODY DOES NOT LISTEN TO MY BRAIN. I CAN NOT EVEN TELL
YOU HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS. MY BODY NEEDS TO GO IN TIME OUT. SOMETIMES
I GET SO ANGRY WITH MY BODY. OTHER TIMES I THINK I AM REALLY MAKING
PROGRESS. ~Ian
IMPULSES HAPPEN ALL THE TIME. I SEE SOMETHING AND I CANNOT HELP HOW MY BODY RESPONDS TO IT. Can you give me an example? WHEN I SEE THE COMPUTER I GET OBSESSED WITH THE NEED TO GO ON IT. ~Emma
USUALLY IMPULSES FOR ME HAVE TO WITH MY NEED TO STRAIGHTEN
UP ALL THINGS OUT OF PLACE. I TRY NOT TO BUT MY BODY TAKES OVER.
USUALLY I LOSE THAT BATTLE SO I HAVE QUIT THAT WRESTLING MATCH. ~Ben
Philip talks about being tired. What makes you tired?
I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING MY BODY ALL OF THE TIME. IT IS A
NEVER ENDING JOB FOR ME. I AM SO WIPED OUT PUTTING UP WITH MYSELF AND MY
CRAZY BODY. I WISH I COULD STOP FIGHTING ~Luke
I AM TIRED OF CONSTANT STRUGGLE WITH MY BODY. I DON’T
WANT TO CONTINUALLY STRUGGLE WITH MY BODY. I DON’T WANT TO CONTINUALLY
HAVE TO WORK HARD JUST TO GET THROUGH THE DAY. BUT I HAVE NO OTHER
CHOICE. I ACCEPTED THIS LONG AGO. ~Paul
JUST GETTING THROUGH MY DAY IS EXHAUSTING. TRYING TO
CONTROL MY ACTIONS EACH TIME MY BODY TAKES OVER WIPES ME OUT. THIS
HAPPENS ALL DAY LONG. I NEED A VACATION FROM MY BODY. YOU LAUGH, BUT
IT IS TRUE. ~Huan
TRYING TO EDIT MY BODY’S ACTIONS NEVER STOPS. IT SUCKS
THE LIFE OUT. THE BODY IS THE ENEMY. I WISH FOR REST PARTICULARLY AT
NIGHT WHEN I WANT TO SLEEP. THE CONTRARY BODY WONT LET ME. ~Ian
I AM TIRED OF MY BODY BEING NAUGHTY. IT NEEDS TO LEARN TO
LISTEN TO MY BRAIN AND BEHAVE LIKE A TEENAGER. I AM SO TIRED OF MY
BODY GETTING ME IN TROUBLE. ~Emma
I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING THIS DISOBEDIENT BODY. EACH DAY IS
AN EPIC BATTLE BETWEEN MY BRAIN AND BODY. I AM EXHAUSTED BUT REFUSE TO
SURRENDER THE WAR. ~Ben
Philip mentions trying to control stims, what can you tell me about stims? (Note:
my lessons have a way of evolving over time. I have added these last
two questions over the months that I have used this lesson.)
STIMS HELP ME TO FOCUS. DO NOT THINK THAT WHEN I AM
STIMMING THAT I HAVE STOPPED LISTENING. I AM STILL WITH YOU BUT MY BODY
HAS CHECKED OUT. ~Luke
STIMS ARE A REST FROM MYSELF. THEY LIGHTEN UP MY BURDENS
BY LETTING ME ESCAPE. STIMS ARE LIKE NOTHING I CAN DESCRIBE. I BET IT
IS LIKE BEING ON DRUGS. STOPPING MY STIMS IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR ME. I
KNOW I CAN’T STIM ALL THE TIME BECAUSE I WOULD NOT GET ANYTHING HARDLY
THOUGHTS OUT. THE BAD THING ABOUT STIMS IS THAT THEY KEEP ME FROM BEING
ABLE TO THINK. ~Ian
Is there anything that we can do to help? What gives you hope?
I NEED TO BE BROUGHT BACK FROM THE HOSTILE TAKE OVER OF MY
BODY. IT HELPS TO TALK TO ME SO MY BRAIN IS INVOLVED. THAT WAY MY BODY
HAS TO TAKE A BREAK. ~Luke
I AM STILL HOPEFUL. EACH DAY I GET TO HAVE A CHANCE TO LIVE MY LIFE TO THE FULLEST. I AM GRATEFUL. ~Paul
I NEED HELP PATROLLING FOR UNSAFE TERRITORY, PLACES THAT
MIGHT TRIGGER A MELT DOWN. STOP YOURSELF AND THINK ABOUT WHAT MIGHT SET
YOU OFF. THINK ABOUT THAT HAPPENING TO ME DAILY, SEVERAL TIMES A DAY.
NOW YOU CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ME. ~Ian
I am so grateful to be a part of this incredible RPM
community. My thanks to Lisa and Philip for their leadership and kicking
off this discussion on the brain and body! Another huge thank you to my
clients and their families who teach us something new every day!
~Elizabeth
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