The following is a copy of an assignment created by Consultant, Zoe Thompson, that explores incorporating guiding into our everyday lives without even realizing it. It has the assignment, response and Zoe' feedback
Assignment
Please write me a short
paragraph on a time in your life when you took part in a ‘guided participation
relationship’ i.e., where you were either: a) guided by someone to learn
something new or b) a guide to help someone else learn something new.
Response
I have spent ages thinking of
particular instances that I have guided someone and eventually realised that I
do this much of the time without realising it with my young son, Daniel. I
waited for a good opportunity to engage in an activity or task with him and
tried to think more and consciously practice guiding with him.
Dan told me he was hungry and
wanted a sandwich which he wanted to try and make himself. I said we could both
make our own sandwiches as I was hungry too. We discussed what things we needed
to make ham sandwiches and assembled them.
With all the ingredients on the table we began our task. I took two slices of bread from the packet and passed the packet to Dan nodding to him when he looked at me and smiling as he copied and took his bread.
He watched me (referencing)
pick up my butter knife and begin buttering my bread and started to do the same
looking over at intervals for reassurance which I gave him that he was doing a
good job, thumbs up and smiles. He carried on - smiling and pleased with
himself. When the bread was buttered I got the packet of ham. Dan said he
wanted to open it and get his ham first. I said that was okay but he started to
get frustrated and upset because he couldnt do it and said he didn't want to do
it any more.
I suggested that we could share the ham opening as he had done so well making his sandwich so far that it would be a shame to not finish it when I knew he could do it. I said that I would start the lid peeling off and he could finish it, he was happy with that. We put our ham onto our buttered bread and completed our sandwiches. Dan looked over to me and I told him he had done a good job and made an excellent sandwich. He gave me a beaming smile and looked really proud of himself.
Zoe's Feedback
I like the way you start off
this activity with modelling when you take the bread out and pass the bag to
Dan.
When Dan starts to get upset
that he cant open the ham packet, you come in with a great scaffold by
suggesting you share the packet opening. This part I think is a good
illustration of how something small could make an activity fail, if you were
working with a child with autism.
Here, when the ham presented a problem and the problem was what we call 'edge+1' you were able to scaffold Dan so that he was competent. The problem was not at the edge of his competence (he would have been able to resolve it alone if it had been) it was 'edge+1' (a possible tip-over point....usually where a scaffold is needed from the guide in order for the child to safely and competently resolve the problem).
When you told him he had done a
good job and made an excellent sandwich, you were spotlighting his competence.
He will most likely have laid down a special episodic memory here. An episodic
memory is a personal, autobiographical memory. We use these memories to build
our resilience.
I thought what you described was an excellent example of a guiding relationship.
Zoe Thompson is an RDI Certified Consultant in the UK where she serves as Head of Development for Bright Futures School,
an innovative learning environment whose teaching methodologies are
influenced by the principles and practice of RDI. Zoe is also an advocate
and campaigner for children with autism, and has developed extensive
networks within the autism community. She worked on the guidelines for
the recognition, referral and diagnosis of autism in children and young
people for the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) and is
currently involved in the NICE quality standards for autism. Zoe
has been a Councillor for the National Autistic Society and has
recently had work published in the journal 'Good Autism Practice'. Read Zoe's blog