let's talk ...

It is the last day of school for the year, and I have spent hours on paperwork that no one will likely ever look at. That's okay --it's the nature of the beast. I feel no sense of accomplishment in having completed it, though. That time could have been better spent, which I find a bit frustrating.

To put that busy work out of my mind, I am going to think back to something that I felt very proud to be a part of. A colleague of mine is the primary person behind it, and I feel very fortunate to work with people like her. I worked with her and some other colleagues on developing a very simple means for nonverbal people to communicate. From there, we used these communication books with children who have difficulty communicating with others using language, and I shared how to make them with parents and the wider community online. I've included that information below. And here is the part that I think back to tonight ...

In all, so far, I know of at least four people, including two adults I don't work with directly, who were able to communicate using language after being introduced to the communication books. In the case of the two adults, they were able to use it without being taught how to use it. This makes me incredibly happy and sad at the same time: happy, because they finally had a means to communicate using language that they had developed on their own; and sad, because the people around them either assumed they had nothing to say or didn't have the patience to figure it out. 

If you know people like this, please feel free to use this idea. Let me know how it goes. 'Core vocabulary' are words that are frequently used; 'fringe vocabulary' are words that are thematic or may fit within a particular category that aren't used as often. Please let me know if you need the pages --they're a little tricky to download here! The directions below are for use with kids, but that doesn't mean adults can't use them.

To make a communication book, you will need a ½ inch binder, like the one shown, and a color printer to print out the core vocabulary and fringe vocabulary sheets.

 

Place this core sheet on inside top left cover of ½” notebook. This example is affixed with clear packing tape.

 

Place the other core vocabulary sheet on inside top right cover of ½” notebook. Use tabbed plastic notebook dividers, cutting out the top portion so the core vocabulary can be seen from any tab. Attach fringe vocabulary to these dividers. These examples are affixed with clear packing tape. 

Tips:

1. Review all of the words on the board before expecting your child to know what they say. They are still learning to read, and it helps with that learning.
2. The adult or another communication partner also uses the communication book. This will help model how they are used and how the “buttons” are paired with speech. It also helps to normalize using AAC for communication -not all communication is verbal!
3. Have your child imitate what you are doing, or look for words on the board. The adult or communication partner might provide the voice, or you both say it together, or they might say the words themselves, depending on ability level.
4. Not all of the words or word forms are included on here for the sake of space. That’s okay. You can add words or word endings when you are talking (e.g., for “I have the glue”, you would say that sentence and touch I +have + glue).
5. Feel free to use or have the kids use the question words as well (e.g., “Where’s red?” could be where + red).
6. The blank “buttons” are in case there is a word that is not included on the board (e.g., if you wanted to say “octagon”, you could touch a blank button on the shape fringe vocabulary page). Communication supports don’t always have all of the vocabulary we would like because of space, but you can still have the option of using words that aren’t on there.

war and peace

"So, I've been thinking ..."

"Not again."

"Hear me out. I've been thinking ..."

"Alright. What've you been thinking?"

"Well, in times of peace, we don't notice it --peace, I mean. We don't notice it. In times of peace, we are at war because our bodies are in one place, and our minds take us somewhere else."

"What?"

"Well, you can be in a peaceful place and your mind is thinking about bills or what you said wrong or where you'd rather be and who you'd rather be with ..."

"I know I'd rather be with someone else right now."

"That's what I mean! You could be enjoying yourself. In the greater scheme of things, having a few beers with a friend, it's a pretty peaceful thing."

"Normally, but you're being weird tonight."

"If your mind and body could just settle in together, that's peace. You're at war with yourself when they don't settle in together. And it works opposite during times of war."

"What?"

"During war, you want your body to go one way and your mind to go somewhere else. You don't want your mind dwelling with the body in war. To find peace, your mind has to take a walk somewhere a little less hellish."

"Sorry. Missed all that. My mind took a walk somewhere a little less hellish ..."

"You don't get it."

"Actually, I do. I'm just messing with you. When things are peaceful, hang out in it and notice what's around you. When things are warlike, let your mind go somewhere else. Did I get that right, Tolstoy?"

"Yeah. Pass me another beer, will you ...?"

i don't know

There is an answer to every question, and sometimes, that answer is, "I don't know."

It seems like, nowadays, everyone is expected to be an expert at everything. This leads to trouble. If we feel like we can't say, "I don't know," it means we have to know. That's not a comfortable feeling.

We lash out.

We disappear with embarrassment.

We pretend we know and potentially mislead others.

We alienate other people.

I work with students who need to be explicitly taught that they are allowed to say, "I don't know". The difference in behavior is significant once they learn "I don't know" is an acceptable answer. When they think they have to know the answer to everything, they become highly agitated and use all means at their disposal to get out of the situation. Once they understand that they are not expected to know everything and can communicate when they don't, they relax. 

I think most people are similar to my students in this way.

When we can say we don't know, we can seek assistance. When we can say we don't know, we can ask questions. When we can say we don't know, we can listen to answers. 

When we can say we don't know, we can learn.

I don't know everything, but I do know that.

not an award winner

Way back in December 2016, which seems like a million years ago now, I won an award for writing. It was the first one I had ever won. It was a strange feeling to win --so odd, in fact, I wrote a blog post about it, as one does when one is prone to process life through written words. Here's that blog post: award winner?

Because I am a compulsive teacher as well as a compulsive writer, I feel the need to write that post's companion. This one is about a theme as familiar as old clothing, yet it feels as comfortable as I hear a hairshirt is supposed to be. 

I entered a contest some months back. I worked as hard as I could on the story. I sent it in. The winners' names were revealed and ...nothing. Not a winner, not a finalist, not a runner up. The story (my story) was "released". Not that kind of "released". The other kind --the kind more closely associated with discontinuing employment.

It is a disappointment. No one writes a story to be told "no, thank you". No one edits to be ignored. There is always that hope in there that something you needed to say connected with an audience. There are times, though, when the answer is crickets and tumbleweed.

Here is where I kick into writer self-help mode. This is why I'm writing this post. I'm not into humiliating myself. It's because I know that I am not the only person who goes through this, and maybe I do something that would be helpful for you to try unless everything you write is accepted for publication and is universally lauded (which, frankly, smacks of delusion).

What I am doing:

1. Reviewing the old blog post. I am fortunate to have something to look back on where I suspect an objective third-party liked something I wrote. I say "I suspect [they] liked" it because of the prize. Which brings me to number two ...

2. Remembering that people read it and enjoyed it. There is always the suspicion in there that the people reading it were being nice, but I was fortunate in that the people gave very specific feedback and that is what told me it might not all be kindness to my poor writer's ego. (An aside: if you read for a friend, please be honest --not brutal, mind, but say what you liked and what didn't work for you.)

3. Remembering that reading is a subjective experience. What I like may not be for you, or maybe it is. It is all dependent on individual tastes. In this case, my taste was not the same as the judges' taste. I looked to see what won. That helped me understand further what their taste was and to see what worked for them, and to understand it was the wrong piece for that audience.

4. Thinking about the details of new projects. It is hard to think about disappointment when you're thinking about what to do with a particular scene or a particular character. Or you can focus on what's going on around you. Basically, think about something else. No one can think about two things at once.

and, my favorite,

5. Sillying or listening to music. Both of these things help me feel better. Laughing about nothing is enjoyable. Music is that thing without words that makes the world take on a brighter aspect.

What do you do that helps you handle writer (or other) disappointment?

nothing at all to do with the state of the world

This blog post has nothing to do with the state of the world. 

This is a mushroom. There are things that are only here for a short moment, like this mushroom, and you miss them if you're not paying attention. It's good to remember to enjoy them while they're here.

Similarly, there are things that were here before we got here and that will likely be here after we're gone. This tree is high up in the mountains. It withstands brutal winters. It stands like a testament in the rocks. It's good to remember that some things have seen more than we have and will see more than we ever will.

Perspective is good. I said that this blog post had nothing to do with the state of the world, but that's not entirely true. It has nothing to do with politics or current events. It has everything to do with the state of the world, though. There is a world beyond us, and it's good to think about that from time to time.

inspiration

I've gone and done it again ...

Another idea.

It was actually an old idea, but I finally figured out what to do with it.  

When you write, inspiration can come from all sorts of places. I think everyone probably has his or her own starting places when writing. Some make sense to me. Some others make absolutely no sense to me, but more power to them. 

Does that mean the people who get their inspiration in a similar way to me are "right", and the people who get their inspiration in ways I can't fathom are "wrong"? Absolutely not. It does mean, however, that what I'm about to talk about may not be helpful for everyone. Heck, it may not be helpful to anyone at all, except maybe me. If I worried about that, though, I'd never write anything --so, moving on ...

I've been told my writing style is more literary than commercial. I'm not exactly sure what this means, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that I also write poetry, and that way of thinking permeates everything I do with words. I'm a so-so poet, but I would say that there's a fascination with language and sound and metaphor that gets into everything I write. The first bit on inspiration is for the literary types ...

Sources of inspiration I have used include the following: bits of conversation, works of visual art and sculpture, animals, verb tense, logical arguments that make no sense to me/world events, situations I've seen at work, life experiences outside of work/relationships, psychology, other people's life experiences (biographies), and --my personal favorite --older works by other writers I read. 

I really love that last one. My latest project I am working on/distracted by is based on an old short story. I love nothing more than taking someone else's work and either 1) looking at it from another point of view/points of view or 2) coming up with alternate versions. 

I've never used music as inspiration, but I've heard of people doing that. Other possibilities I haven't used include items of food, geography, items of clothing or other historical articles, and events in history. There may be more. What have I forgotten?

For commercial work, there is one motivation: sell it. There is nothing wrong with this. I have no issues with commercial writing --I'm just not very good at it, I guess. 

There is a difficulty with sales as your inspiration for writing, I would think. It's hard to predict what people might buy. You can look at trends, but it's very important to stay ahead of them so as not to have your voice drowned out in the flood of the latest big thing. If you sell something outright, like an article, that would make more sense to me, if sales are truly your inspiration. 

If I am to be honest, I do use what people are asking for as inspiration, too. My latest project? I saw someone was looking for plays with 1-2 characters in them. That solved my problem of the format for my content. Would I have ever thought to write a play? No. Could I write it as dialogue-heavy prose instead? Sure. But why not give a play a try? Having an idea of what someone else was asking for definitely helped me narrow my focus and figure out exactly what I wanted to talk about, so it was helpful (in this case) to think commercially.

What do you use as inspiration? What works for you?