communication and "wellness"

I wanted to say a bit more on the subject of communication, which is the main emphasis in the "language arts" department, but with reference to another of the categories on the FS@H learning planner: "Wellness". Under this heading I've noted: Emphasis on harmony with self - physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. That would be a pretty tall order if I were actually trying to impose some sort of curriculum on Ray, but, again, this is his emphasis. These are issues he's working on right now, in his own life. That's pretty gosh-darned spectacular, from my perspective. Its also one of the (many) reasons I think its soooo important to meet him "where he is" at every possible opportunity in terms of learning in general and communication in particular.

Talking with people is how Rayan learns. He learns other ways, too, but as far as conceptual learning goes, talking with people is his biggest, most important strategy. I want to be really clear about my language, here. The key word is "with". He's very very sensitive to anything other than friendly conversation, but he loves that! He's all about sharing what he thinks and feels about the world and getting feedback and ideas from others - as long as, from his perspective, it is a case of sharing, not "being told."

In light of this, creating an environment of free, open communication is really important. That's a challenge for us introverts! Its a challenge for me, especially, bc I have a lot of knowledge on the subjects of learning and cognition, in particular. Sometimes I can drop bits of that into conversation, a casual mention of multiple intelligences here, a word about yoga there.... sometimes he follows that up with a comment or question of his own, other times he's not interested. Conversation.

The very last category on the learning planner is "Community service" under which I've noted: Emphasis on family as microcosm for larger community. That kind of sounds like a cop-out, but it revolves around this whole idea of building communication. If Ray can learn to communicate with us - a family of people he doesn't know very well, isn't really sure of, and doesn't have a lot in common with, he stands a far greater chance of being able to communicate with the many many others in the world who share his passions and views and connect with some of those who don't. Building bridges of communication with this very very social guy is going to be far more important in the long run than any other service we can offer him.