Entering In

     So this is how I enter in.  Confident , but with pen and paper.. NOT an app.  There is something  "weighty " about carrying a paper notebook and a pen to write my observations, I choose Not using an I-phone or voice to text.  I rely on the "basic me" : my eyes, my ears ...my human hands writing what I see and hear...  the real me, without technology. I do it this way because I've learned that relying on things less human carries risks.  Like a "no signal" halfway through an observation,  or an EMP from an unfriendly admin that wipes you out completely  and the two hours you just spent observing goes to shit.
So, by going "base" with pen and paper and the sensory experience of being fully in the moment of watching a kid,  I record the observe in the place of no apps...the place  that carries a depth that no technology ever could: My brain... but more importantly my emotions.  The big E word.

     Listen...I could record what a kid in full tantrum "looks" like;  throwing of chairs, the over turning of desks, the self abusive head banging,  but none if that conveys my emotions as I watch it.  if I just record the frequency, duration, and intensity by using an app,  something is lost.  But when I write it down , I include my emotions  and when I fully engage myself in the act of fully "being present " in the experience of observing, that's when I record not only that sad, frustrated child in crisis, but I record me as well.  It is me taking my time to  use  my hands that are writing what I am seeing and  hearing. It is me using my brain to experience  "an observation  of a tantrum"  ME USING my ability to write and capture ME on the paper. And that's when  i become engaged in the process and that's when I am invested in wanting what no app could ever make  me want:  TO Help. THAT'S  when all of the methods, techniques, all of the science the EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICES (EBPs) for children on the autism spectrum rise up in me and when "Base Me" kicks in and I know with certainty I am ready to move from that "child and me" to... US.. 

• Read other works of Joseph Trance
• Jtrance91gmail.com(Spam Protected - Please type eMail-Address by hand)