May 2008 Edition - agosci

ccommunicationo m m u n i c a t i o nppartnersa r t n e r sSeeing the Feelings for Young Adultswith High Needsby Jacquie CowanJacquie presented in February 2008, at the VALID, “Havinga Say” conference, in Geelong, Victoria. Jacquie has beenrecognized by her staff and peers as having excellent skills ininteracting with people who have “high support needs.” Thefollowing is Jacquie’s written presentation notes. No changeshave been made to the text.Ihave a mild disability myself while I cant get my driverslessons I am not so lucky in that. But I am lucky in lots ofother ways if I have a head ache or I am in pain I will tellmy staff member at the house or my mum. If somethingis upsetting me I can talk to my house staff member or myparents. So in lots of way I am very lucky to talk and tell peoplehow I feel.Working as a volunteer with our high need venues of centralBayside I am lucky in lots and lots of ways some of out highneed clients cant always tell staff how they feel or what theyfeel. And also if they are in pain or upset about something.Some of them will express their feelings in ways such as hittingtheir heads or hitting their hands on their head or biting theirfi ngers or crying.But while some of the clients can try and tell us how they arefeeling such as using their yes to speck etc. if a staff memberasks them do you have a tummy ache they use their eyes to sayyes or no. Once for yes and twice for noSo I am very lucky in those ways such as I can tell my staffmembers if I am in pain or upset or sad or tied to just needmy space. But the clients who have the high needs cant tellthe staff members how they feel or how they are feeling at thatmoment so in ways I am lucky.Spread the word ...Let users of AACand their families know about AGOSCIDownloand a membership formfrom the internetwww.agosci.org.au14