September 10, 2005
Does Learning Only Go One Direction?

I’ve been looking into doing some “traditional” work as dietitian. You know what I mean: working in a hospital or community-based clinic, counseling people in a little office with rubber foods, wearing a white coat and listening for your name to be paged overhead. It’s a fun thing to do, coaching people who want to make changes in their life to improve their health. Each step forward is a celebration.

Regardless of the job—paid or not—there is an interview process. I began to think about what my particular skills are as a dietitian, a nutrition coach. I realized that in the process of becoming a knowledgeable advocate for my son, who has Down syndrome, autism, and is nonverbal, I’ve developed invaluable skills for just about any situation. Here are a few examples:

• Behavior as communication. I am an expert at dissecting circumstances to uncover why something is happening. Rather than worrying about how many M&Ms someone eats, I want to know what need was met by their consumption.
  
  
• Positive Behavior Support or looking for the win-win scenario. Why get all sweaty and sore jogging if it isn't enjoyable or has no tangible reward? Find another option!
  
  
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Unlike my early years as a dietitian, learning food preferences from someone who has just had a stroke is much easer. Make a communication board and follow eye-gaze!
  
  
• Accommodations and modifications. Learning is a very individual thing. Some people need to hear information, some need to see information, some need to feel information, and others need to experience it in every way possible before it sinks in. Everyone can learn!
  
  
• Learning is a celebration. I thought I knew how to do this until I started nutrition coaching and education with teens and adults with Down syndrome. I've never had more fun watching a skill sink in. The joy in understanding what to do to choose healthful living is contagious.

Patience, persistence, and praise are key to any nutrition coaching and essential in my role as Mother. My children, including my son with Down syndrome, taught me invaluable lessons and nurtured priceless skills. It may sound backwards, but is it really? Do the concepts we learn only go in one direction--from the general public to those with disabilities? Or can we learn important skills from people with disabilities and modify the concept to fit our lives, too (the reverse direction)? I think we all learn from each other.

In his keynote address at the National Down Syndrome Society in Chicago this past July, Dennis McGuire reminded us we have a lot to learn from people with Down syndrome. Dennis is the Ph.D. social worker at the Adult Down Syndrome Center in Chicago. In a light-hearted, but precisely on target presentation, Dennis considered, “What if People with Down Syndrome Ruled the World?” The mood of the room changed right before my eyes. The audience, who seemed a little dazed at this point, began to soften, to focus. We laughed at the commonalities we all share and bonded with each other. We knew he was right: if our children ruled the world, it wouldn't be a bad thing. We could learn a lot from them.

Though reading the presentation doesn’t have the feeling of camaraderie we enjoyed that morning, you will still feel the warmth of knowing, you are not alone. There is a lot to learn from people with disabilities. After you read Dennis' presentation, ask yourself, "Does learning only go in one direction?"

Take a few minutes to enjoy his presentation on the NADS web site:
http://nads.org/pages/ruletheworld.htm

Take care of each other,

Joan Guthrie Medlen, RD, LD, is the Project Director of Creating Solutions, Founding Editor of Disability Solutions, and the mother of two grown boys, one of whom has Down syndrome, autism, and celiac disease.

PS- Check my fundraising page and Volunteer Page for ways you can support the work of Creating Solutions.

©2005 Joan Guthrie Medlen
(Please email for permission to reprint blogs)

The opinions shared in this Blog are not necessarily those of Creating Solutions or The San Francisco Foundation Community Initiative Funds