I just had a look of the transcript of a speech Bill Shorten made, thought I’d share part of it with you. I was particularly touched by the bit at the end that speaks of a ‘Shut Out’ report from 2009 which says that the government relies on parents never being able to abandon their children. They say that the parents are being exploited by caring for their adult children until they (the parent) dies from fear of what could happen to their children if they are not around. As a parent it is one of my biggest fears. Clearly you want your children to outlive you, that is nature, but if nobody else can look after them with the dignity and respect that you do what choices are there? Hopefully by the time we are in that situation there will be housing and other facilities in place for special needs adults. I have heard of individuals being put into institutions and retirement homes simply because there was nowhere else for them to go.
We’ve just got back from Sensational Kids. Beth seemed a bit vague today but the work that Rod is setting for her is more challenging and she tends not to want to make too much effort when it gets too hard. Today Rod drew a picture on the whiteboard of a girl called Debbie who had dropped her bag of apples and was sad. Beth had to think of three things that could have caused this. She had said at first that she was sad because she had dropped them. Then number two Rod had to draw a little bump on the ground so that Beth could say that she may have tripped over the bump. She had problems with a third answer, even when Rod drew in a boy laughing. I think the confusion may have stemmed from Beth thinking that all three things had to be linked rather than three different scenarios. Even when she realised that the boy was the cause of the problem she still thought that it was because he had put the bump in the road. Rod encouraged Beth to ask me questions but she’s not quite there when it comes to giving me information. She kept asking me to help with the whiteboard but when I asked what sort of help she wasn’t sure what to say. I guess if she’s not sure of exactly what is asked of her she needs to learn to ask for clarification.
In the end Beth got some good sentences out, of course with her sense of humour intact. For example Rod drew a teacher who came in to clear up the situation and Beth thought she should be called Mrs Stein as she looked like a monster! The story was something like – Debbie was very sad because she had dropped her bag of apples. Don had pushed Debbie over on purpose. Mrs Stein came over and said “Don, don’t push Debbie over on purpose.”  Debbie put her apples back in the bag and went home. I was really pleased with these sentences. Rod says we are working on :
1) formulating a story using the right syntax
2) expanding on the ideas from life experience – postulating
3) understanding others motives/emotions and causaling
4) seeking clarification from others
5) requesting information from others and being specific
When Beth got an answer wrong Rod would make the ‘bu-bow’ noise like you hear in a quiz show and a ‘ting’ noise for a yes. Beth thought these were hilarious. Afterwards Beth went in with Whiskas (not her real name), the Occupational Therapist. Whiskas did some work with Beth on Beth’s favourite things again which they seem to enjoy. Beth then wrote it all down on a laptop. I have asked our O/T report to recommend the use of a laptop for high school which Whiskas was happy to comply with. I should get the reports in the next couple of weeks.
