we want fun
If it’s fun,
Bringing us joy,
Feelings of achievement and success,
Then we what more of it.
This is my own personal experience.
After ten years as a stay-at-home mum,
A special needs mum,
A mum driven to be the best she can be,
Always putting her children’s needs first,
A life bursting with constant demand,
It didn’t leave much room for fun.
So to now be back playing the sport I love,
That genuinely brings me so much joy,
Laughter,
And social interaction,
Playing an instrument that fills up my creative void,
That for longer than I can remember had always had an outlet;
I feel rejuvenated.
I feel appreciative.
I feel purposeful.
I feel happy.
My body is moving,
My brain is engaging,
And I’m more myself than ever.
Now this is pretty crucial,
When I think about Isaac’s development.
While I don’t have a brain injury,
The same driving factors are at play.
Our brains both recognise pleasure,
The sense of joy and achievement,
The waves of satisfaction,
And recall upon it like a drug.
And while I can go out and join a tennis club,
Or pick up a flute,
For Isaac it has been a finely facilitated crafting,
A process of recreating,
Reinventing,
And discovering ways to tap into that level of satisfaction,
Albeit mostly through guided movement initially,
But subsequently through more and more self directed play with every passing year,
The outcomes of pure joy at our own physical successes,
Are parallel,
And drives the craving for more,
All the while fuelling the brain with skills,
Of new pathways to movement,
To creativity,
To self.
I now see clearer than ever,
Just how much of Isaac’s Feldenkrais journey thus far,
Has been about play.
About having fun.
Never about therapy.
And yet,
His developmental growth,
Improvements,
And capabilities,
Just keep reaching further and beyond.
And I’ll never be more grateful for our Feldenkrais Practitioner,
For the past ten years of always thinking,
Of ways to bring everything into play.
Beyond the FI (Functional Integration),
Hands on guided work she does biweekly with Isaac,
She has so effectively found access to Isaac’s missing links,
Through play.
Constantly creating,
Finding,
Inventing,
Games and activities,
That seek out what’s unavailable,
Or hindering current function,
And draws it out,
In play,
Giving Isaac access to it,
And adding it to his repertoire.
And the more I see of this approach,
I credit it also to the mindset biproduct,
That he carries,
That HE CAN.
And more so that HE WANTS TO.
And through our practitioners expertise,
And all the experimentation,
She can make sure the particulars of a game or activity,
Like the weight of a bat,
The texture of a surface,
The placement of a ball,
His starting position for any given movement,
Are advantageous,
Not making things more difficult,
Before he’s even begun.
We want the thrill of the game,
Without the overload of too much challenge.
We want the success,
And drive for more,
Without reaching fatigue.
It’s a balance,
That doesn’t exclude,
Or isolate him from participation,
But rather encourages and enhances participation,
Through seeing and knowing,
His efforting-patterns,
His movement organisations,
And putting them together as best he can,
In play.
We don’t want perfect,
We want easy.
We certainly don’t want to be precious,
We want confidence.
We want invaluable variation,
We want having-a-go,
And we want fun.
It can range from big movement high energy games,
Like balloon tennis,
To quiet board-games,
And everything in between,
Extending from his Feldenkrais lessons,
To home,
And into the school curriculum,
Because everywhere is an opportunity for growth,
For inclusion,
And most importantly for fun.
And EVEN to the Roller Skating Rink.
I mean why not?!
And the excitement and joy it brought with it,
Was priceless.
(Not to mention the mind blowing skill of independently roller-skating with his walker)
Next up,
Power-wheelchair tennis,
HOORAY!
Stay tuned folks!