Dying/broken/forgiven.... now I begin

Born: 17-06-56....gemini.... monkey
re-born: 3-09-80
born again\found: 14-04-08
other notable dates: 10-03-68; 03-09-87; 23-03-96;
1-05-98; 31-01-02; 5-04-04

Interests: movement, stressed/transgressive embodiment, lived experience (body\space\time\relation)
expression ( word, dance, text, image, story, music, poetics)
learning, yielding......

Hopes for the blog:
offer up the wild intersectedness of lived experience and engage others in creative, expressive, perhaps irreverant, hopefully playful, and respectful encounters....
enact kindness
create moments of pause for disclosure, discovery, stillness

Thursday, October 3, 2013

.... a very sad song!

Tales from Autism camp.... vignette #2

Virginia speaks about herself in the third person. She says things like "Virginia will now sing".
And then she sings.
or....
"Virginia will now go to the bathroom"
or "Virginia will now eat popcorn"
or.... on the occasions when she is willing to be observed doing activity she says " Virginia would like you to clap your hands 100 times" because of course we are sooo impressed with her spectacular performance.

She is bright, observant, savvy. She knows what she likes and doesn't like. When she is particularly displeased she will frequently say " Virginia will now  sing a VERY SAD SONG!!"
and then she proceeds to do some quite dramatic faux sobbing.
Ooooo uh ooooo uh ooooo.... sometimes sliding into Nooooooo, noooooooo.

Mona Lisa, the excellent and sensitive student who works with Virginia says to her....
 "Please,  sing that sad song quietly" and Virginia, never one to walk away from a challenge then offers this....
Ooooooo uh uh oooooo; noooooo, noooooo
 and then Mona Lisa whispers " now make that sad song even quieter" and Virginia will look at her and will bring her voice to an even quieter place, all the while maintaining the plaintive lament.....
Noooooooo, nooooooo......



This is a lovely example of how these kids communicate their emotional states and how they use codes and registers.They are so damn smart!! Virginia will sometimes slip into the use of " I". But it really doesn't matter. We know that things are just not going well when it is time to sing a VERY SAD SONG.
I may have to adopt this as a strategy for department meetings. I will give fair warning ( Harlequin wants to sing a VERY SAD SONG)  and  I will launch into a plaintive lament and wail beautifully..... Noooooooo, noooooo.
I will keep you posted on the results.

Thanks for reading. The kids I work with are gems. And my students... are amazing.  



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4 comments:

  1. the walking manOctober 4, 2013 at 7:45 AM

    Virginia would sing that sad song continuously were she here.

    Do the staff meeting thing, next year you might get-to be a camper instead of a staffer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. jadedjOctober 4, 2013 at 7:09 PM

    What a beautiful post H.

    ReplyDelete
  3. intelliwenchOctober 5, 2013 at 6:40 AM

    I love these sweet, sometimes bittersweet, stories you share with us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HarlequinOctober 6, 2013 at 7:42 PM

    WM-- yes, that would be the likely outcome. Or jail. ahem.
    Garth-- hey, you get it!! you just need a plaintive lament....
    Jadedj--thanks, glad you liked. It is a nice thing to let others know about these wonderful kids and students
    Intelliwench-- they do have that sweet and bittersweet feel about them. you can laugh and cry within a moment.... these are the moments I cherish as a teacher.

    ReplyDelete

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