Sometimes we realize
we are incompetent at a skill we value and we create a learning plan to become
competent.Playing the piano, becoming a
long distance runner, raising a self-confident child and developing skills
needed in the workplace are all examples of things we might identify as
desired.There are myriad sources of
information and guidance in how to learn these abilities and when combined with
practice, ongoing evaluation, adjustment and then more practice, we develop
competence.
Sometimes our incompetence catches us by surprise.We discover a missing skill or ability that we had no idea we needed.We unexpectedly discover an ability or skill that we thought we were already competent at but current circumstances reveal a deficit.When this happens it can unsettle us, shaking the foundations of our sense of competence overall.This happens to us all from time to time, but when we are faced with a significant challenge, like having a child with autism or other neuro-developmental disorders, recovering our sense of equilibrium requires more thought.We must become more aware of what we don’t know and create a plan to become competent: a plan for seeking information, guidance and practice.
My own story of the journey from incompetence towards competence began after 30 years in the field of healing relationships when I discovered RDI.I was astounded by what I did not know and what I needed to become competent at if I were to continue to follow my passion to make a difference in the lives of children and families. My ego suffered. After all, I had been doing this work for 30 years and I already felt fairly competent.But following these new discoveries I put a plan in place and went through the information learning, the practicing, the evaluation and more practicing.Now I find myself in the perpetual state of feeling more competent than I used to be but rarely as competent as I would like to be.
Developing competence is an ongoing theme for each of us.Consultants, parents and students have all developed areas of competence, often because of the symptoms of the neuro-developmental and executive functioning disorders of their child.We become experts on diet, anxiety management and interpretation of the child’s subtle cues.Our areas of incompetence are often the result of those very same symptoms.But they can sometimes be camouflaged within areas that give the illusion of competence.Cultivating language use versus fostering communication is one of the most common examples of a hidden incompetence and one of the first to be addressed in remediation work.In RDI, it is important to discover our hidden areas of incompetence, since these are the areas that are essential to growth in the child.Consultants and parents work together to design and implement their plans for developing their own competence so they can create opportunities for their child to journey towards competence.This is always a collaborative process with each family in which we provide each other with opportunities to discover and learn.
An example of this round table style of learning and guiding, so available on the RDI Platform, is evidenced by consultant Amy Otis’ April 2013 post, in which she noted the four stages of competence. A family had shared this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competencewith her and she in turn shared it on the site.I am sure that I am not the only one whose thinking and competence was enhanced by their generosity. Below I share the four stages of competence as described in this article and invite each of us to think about and share in some way our discoveries of incompetence and the journeys towards competence we have made this past year and those we anticipate taking on in the year ahead.
The four stages of competence:
1. Unconscious incompetence: The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.
2. Conscious incompetence: Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.
3. Conscious competence: The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.
4. Unconscious competence: The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become"second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
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Pat Voytko is an RDI®
Consultant, special education teacher and early intervention provider.RDI® has become the foundation of all her
work as it focuses on the natural process of developing relationships, which,
in turn, supports social/cognitive development and an improved quality of life.
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