Blog
Will VSM Work For My 34-Year-Old SON?
Hello VSM friends,
Will VSM work for my 34-year-old son…..???
I have recently been working with a parent and support worker of a 30+ year old man Todd. His fabulous mum reached out to me to find if VSM could help her son, even though he is in his 30’s. Todd is non-verbal, very ritualistic in his habits and socially isolated.
Absolutely, VSM will work with adults. Yes, Early Intervention is important, but if you are now past that stage, I’m here to say, IT’S NEVER TOO LATE….
VSM offers so much POSSIBILITY for change and transformation. There is HOPE beyond school for your child to continue to learn and grow and develop into the best possible version of themselves.
It gets tricky when your child leaves school and all the continuous learning supports that come with going to school are no longer available.
This fabulous family have invested in training for their son’s support workers, who are now busily creating VSM’s to support Todd to leave the house and showing him ways, he can ask for a break. Currently Todd asks for a break in the slightly in appropriate way of pushing the carers with him out the front door… When we unpacked this behaviour, we worked out that Todd is just needing some quiet alone time, such as playing with his iPad. We reckon Todd’s logic is that if the workers go away, it will suddenly be the end of the day when iPad time is available in his routine. So, a VSM has been made showing him how to ask for a break, with a timer showing him when break has ended and it’s time to return to the activity or job going on.
I love this family’s approach to upskilling their support workers and having a team around Todd who are working together to make empowering videos, supporting his independence.
In Todd’s case, his mum, and 2 support workers met with me twice online to unpack some challenges, discover his strengths and superpowers, and find ways to best support getting his needs met in safe and appropriate ways.
Here is what one EMPOWERED and HOPEFUL mum from my Doctoral Research said after her VSM sessions with her 14-year-old son.
Jo was totally prompt dependent to do any self-care such as showering, and would refuse to shower, making it an everyday battle. Jo would self-harm when upset from frustration of being non-verbal and was reluctant to participate in any exercise program. After personised 1:1 training and coaching with his mum, Jo is now showering independently, requesting with visuals, and fully participating in physio exercise sessions because of her work making him empowering VSM’s.
“How we can empower the child is by empowering the parents. If the parents believe they can make a difference, then the child will believe – ‘Oh my mum believes I can do this- so I can do this”.
If we walk around thinking that we can't help our children, then what do they have? And it's just a simple video, we're not asking them to remove a kidney, you know what I mean?
It's just so easy! I just don't understand why we're not taught these skills when our kids are young. “
NDIS will cover the cost of both online training or personalised training / coaching with me. Please click this link to learn more about my Online Training Courses and Coaching services.
If you are interested in working 1:1 with me, please email me to start the conversation at naylor.anthea.j@gmail.com.
VSM Easy-Peasy Goes Online.
I have been quietly working away at converting my VSM Easy-Peasy course to be online.
There is now a self-paced course, equivalent to the 3-hour live training available to work through to support your work with Tricky Kids.
This is suited to professionals such as Teachers, OT’s, Speech Pathologists, Psychologists, Teaching assistants, support workers and Wellbeing workers.
In this course you will learn-
· The history and research behind VSM
· Ways to apply VSM to communication, social, functional,
independent living, and behavioural skills.
· How to know what VSM to make
· Using editing apps
· How to create a VSM intervention.
Please click this link to learn more about VSM Easy-Peasy Basics Online.
Much Love and HOPE,
Anthea