You walk into a room and see a person with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities – what do you think, what do you do?

A couple of months ago I had the honour of keynote presenting at the New Zealand ASID Conference. Here is a link to the slides and presentation.

“How do I need to be in order to be with you?” Building partnerships that enrich lives”.

Dr Sheridan Forster recently presented at the NZ 2018 ASID Conference. She draws on research, clinical practice, and the very real issue of sitting down with a person with PIMD and thinking “how do I need to be in order to be with you?”

Visit https://www.asid.asn.au/conferences/asid-nz-2018-conference to download her presentation.

Let’s think about understanding

I talk and think a lot about communication.

We have Speech Pathology Week, AAC Week, and other like things.

But I don’t know if we have a week dedicated to understanding.

A core part, too often neglected, of communication is the ability to understand the communication of others.

To be understood by another person, the partner needs to use the best modes (e.g., speech, sounds, facial expression, pictures) and the level of complexity for which the person can understand now. If partner’s do not use the best modes and level of complexity, then the communication is less likely to be understood.

We are often so focused on how a person can “communicate” to use – but too rarely consider how we can make ourselves understandable to the person.

Communication breaks down because we may not be understood.

Because of pain, I can not understand the same way as I used to. For me to understand television, I need subtitles – I can not understand speech on it’s own – it’s too quick for me to process.

I can not understand text the same way that I used too. I need to read when I am not fatigued; if I don’t, the words just don’t travel to my brain.

In conversation, I need a quiet environment, short turns, longer time to respond, and different expectations about what message I will be able to remember. I need important information to be written down (and preferably photographed because I will probably lose the paper).

I’ve created my own “how do I need to be in order to be with you – enhancing understanding?”

This week, can I celebrate Communication Comprehension week – celebrating communication that can be understood best!

Cross posting – event coming up in Victoria which may be of interest to those of you interested in people with severe and profound levels of cognitive impairment.

ASID Victoria – Workshop

Decision making support for people rarely heard

When:  Tuesday 19 June 2018

From:  9.00am to 3.00pm – Please BYO Lunch

This workshop is designed for those who support someone with a severe intellectual disability who communicates informally.  Within this practical and interactive workshop, Jo will introduce participants to a range of communication tools and approaches designed to support a person with severe intellectual disability to have their will and preferences realised through the decisions that are made within their lives.

Participants will gain valuable insights from presenters and fellow participants.
https://www.asid.asn.au/…/100_decision_making_support_for_p…

Cognitively speaking

I’ve been meaning to post for awhile, but have found it difficult to coordinate the time, energy, and words, which I guess is a great example for this post.

In May 2017 I had a fall. I broke both ankles and incurred some serious spine damage which was not diagnosed until I recovered from ankles and concern was raised why I wasn’t fully recovered. In response to this I had effects from my general anaesthetics and painkillers.

I had (have) some cognitive impairment. My cognitive impairment got me thinking about the adults with disabilities that I support and the underappreciation of the cognitive impairments that they might have.

Here were some of the impairments that I noted (please note, essentially I am noting my conscious incompetence and possibly missing features of unconscious incompetence):

– short term memory losses (did I say that already?)

– reduced auditory processing (I didn’t get hooked on SBS Nordic crime for my love of all things high Northern hemisphere, but because I could only understand written subtitles and not speech on TV)

– word finding problems (I had to call up my son’s name to remember my next procedure – the Curtiszone injection)

– inability to distinguish target vs field sounds (a hatred of being in a room in which more than one conversation was happening – and an overwhelming desire to scream “shut upppp!”)

– oversensitivity to noise (such that just closing my eyes helped me escape and find a happy space).

– a tendency to just answer yes to choice questions (“what do you want for diner?” “Yes”)

– problem solving requiring a systematic approach and longer time

– a desire to break down in tears in difficult situations (let’s not talk about trying to find black shoes for school concert and Curtis having to say in the middle of KMart “mummy, get off the floor”)

– a reduced tolerance for anything irritating (and a tendency for most things to be irritating)

– a rigidity of thought and need for clarity (and sorry, what does the term AAC really mean?)

– a tendency to be a much nicer person when enough pain killers were given to numb the soul.

So the last 6 months have given me a deeper understanding of these impairments.

I reflect that we often presume that the people we support have clear thinking minds, but what if they have any of these thing above or any other cognitive differences? What is the long term impact of a neurologically based intolerance? What is the impact on “social inclusion” if you feel overwhelmed by the sounds, sights, and movements? What judgements are made when a person can’t remember what you just told them? What happens if we presume that lack of response is due to lack of comprehension, when it might be being in too much pain to process or respond?

I am lucky; for me, these things should pass. But expect an (oh shit what was the word) excavation, excalation, getting biggerer of them in the next month as I enter surgery again next Monday. But do spare a thought for people that you know who have cognitive differences…

Ps. Post the bloody word to me if you know what it is