Video Transcript: Gathering Information for a Plan

So let me direct you to one of the pages in your reading. It's in Appendix A. Do you recognize that puzzle piece because, again, one of the things that we're going to want to do in a responsive design plan is to get to know persons’ greens and pinks; greens being those strengths, pinks being those areas of challenge. And again, I think it's so important for us. Remember, don't skip thinking about the green parts. Many times the green parts are what are going to supply a strategy for what you're going to do. In fact, that's almost always the case. So don't skimp on the greens. You need to know the gifts, the interests of this individual. 

And then there are a set of other questions in Appendix A in that book. I really want to take a little bit of time to talk through those because I think it will shed some light onto some information that could be helpful as you think about an individualized plan. Some of these things you might want to ask an individual or an adult, a guardian, a parent. Other things, you may know because you've observed this person or been a part of this person's life. So I really want to just walk you through some ideas. 

Let me tell you, you're going to hear this one more time at least. Ask the right question. So often, again, we ask what can't this person do. That will lead you to zero strategies, by the way. We have to form the question, what can this person do? And it's from that place that strategies can form. So a very important thing to talk about what this person can do, as opposed to give you the list of things that this person can't do? Again, dead end to strategies. What you can do opens the other avenues. 

Remember, when I had on that apron and I said to that individual, look at this person, what can this person do? There's a whole long list of body movements this person can't do, but she can have controlled eye gaze, she can control what she looks at and looks away from. So that is a communication avenue. That person could enter into the prayer of thanksgiving, because I knew how she could communicate. And that I think, is really important. So what can this person do? 

I think the other categories on here that will just be helpful for us to go through. How does this person take information in? What are those avenues? Does this person learned best if there are pictures around because if that's true, we'll want to make sure we have enough pictures in our environment, right? Maybe this person takes information in by ear or by music. What works for this particular individual? 

Maybe by touch, maybe this is a person who takes information in through Braille. Maybe this is a person who takes information in through sign language or gestures, or reading, or conversation. And I think this is important for us to know. 

Also within a congregational setting, I think it's helpful to know in how much can this person memorize? We often do memory tasks within a congregation to recite things, to encourage children's settings to memorize scripture, sometimes in adult settings, too, but we put a lot of pressure on memorizing things or songs. So how is that person's memory in terms of taking that information in and in addition to that, there's a boundary for all of this information coming in called attention span. So if you've got an attention span of 30 seconds, you have exactly that amount of time in which to get information in before you take a break, do something different. 

That attention span may change if you have a fidget pencil, if you've got a wiggle seat, see you've got some other tools around - important information - but to know a little bit more about that person's attention span is really, really helpful. 

I think another question that you might want to ask about an individual that you're preparing a plan for is how does this information, or this individual, get information out? Right? How does this information – how are we going to understand what this person knows or what they're trying to communicate? Does this person know sign language or gestures? Does this individual write some things, some words, some opportunities to know because that person can write it out? 

Can they point to a picture or a word or an object? Can this individual hand you a picture from a bank of pictures? Can this individual speak? And how well can this individual speak? All of those I think are really important questions to be able to ask when you're getting to know a person, because that allows you again, to take the right tools, to take the right approach to interact with this person. 

If we know that pictures are important for your communication, we're going to want to make sure we have those available in our environment. So if we know that words, speaking, reading, well, then let's put those things in place as well. 

What kind of movements can the person do? Often we have activities. And we don't always factor in that there are some people that are stopped from participating in the activity because of movement issues. So can that person walk? Run? Can that person use a spoon, shake hands? Can that person manage the wheelchair on his or her own? All of those things, I think are important to ask when we're interacting with a particular individual. What kind of movements can this person do? 

Imagine some of the activities in a youth group, for example, or in a game type setting, or even playing cards with the people who are part of the adult group because they get together and they play Euchre, or some kind of card game as part of a fellowship time. Well, if that person isn't able to hold cards, now we've created a barrier. 

I'll see if I brought it along. Sometimes I do. But again, sometimes it's just knowing that because now we can have a tool, right? Now we know that in order to play Euchre, we're going to have to have a way for this person to hold their cards. And so by having a plan that says look, we will bring along a card holder for this person. Now Euchre is a possibility. But we need to know that about this individual. So again, what movements can the person do? 

By the way, I love these, you’ve got to grab these before they go out of style. This is actually a telephone book that has been cut off with a circular saw about an inch, an inch and a half up. And it is one of the best card holders you will ever find. So whether that's for playing cards, or whether it's for pictures or a schedule, this is a nice little thing to have around as well. In any event, I think movements, what can this person do?

Another thing that's really important, and again, we'll have a little more time for teaching about this when we get into the section on Autism Spectrum Disorder, but this is part of many people's lives - the sensitivities to sensations, to sounds, to sights to touch. What is this person like? Are they going to react to sound because they're overly sensitive to that? Or, again, it could be just sights, and all of a sudden you put up all the Christmas decorations and the person isn't able to be part of that because you've got all these blinking lights going on. What kinds of sensitivities does this person have? It could be to smells, but it's really helpful to be able to figure that out. 

For example, if I know that this person is terribly impacted by unexpected noise, I would never allow balloons in this person's environment. That is called an imminent threat. Right? So you put a balloon in there, and at any point it could pop. So we're just not going to do balloons in the setting, because there's no way that this person is going to survive the threat and the anxiety of having that item present in our time together. 

So how do we learn about that person? What kinds of sensitivities are involved? And then, so what works? What kind of equipment does this person need? Or have? And again, are some of these things looking familiar to you? Do we need some fidget pencils? Do we need a different kind of pencil or scissors? Do we need a card holder? Right? Does that look familiar? Do we need some noise cancelling headphones? And again, if Universal Design has brought some of these things in, it takes the pressure off the number of personalized plans we need, because guess what, but perhaps it's not.

And we want to make sure this person has it. Different seating. I love that tape, and I'll see if I can quickly find a roll of that tape. It's actually tape that is used in settings where there's some reading. And for an individual, they might lose their place or might not be able to read. And it's highlighter tape. And so you can take a piece of this and it's sort of like on a scotch tape roll. I don't know that it's going to cooperate with me completely today. It travels with me around the country. So sometimes my supplies come back less than desired. But there we go. 

Highlighter tape is one of those wonderful things. You literally can take this tape and put it in any Bible. And so let's say you want somebody to read Colossians 2:10. And you know, they will be nowhere close to verse 10 by the time you get there. This is just some tape that can go right over verse 10 so that when it's their turn, their eyes just land naturally on that particular text. And it comes off without hurting the print. Anyway. So it's a wonderful tool - highlighter tape. Again, how would you know what equipment you need? Well, not because it's one of the six pictures. You would know because you got to know that person and what that person needs in order to be successful in that environment. So, again, I can't tell you exactly what everybody's going to need, primarily because, again, it could be a variety of tools.

We're going to go over a lot of these tools. And let me just give you a quick preview of what that's going to be like. We, many times, there are specific tools and strategies that are helpful when you know, for example, that a person has autism, or you know that a person has an intellectual disability, or you know, that a person has an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. So, many times the things that I carry along in my bag, or whatever that could be, are matched up so that it can show some examples of what might be useful within a particular category. 

So it's possible that, for example, you might be in a younger children's setting. And you're finding that you've got somebody who's very upset. But first of all, there's no diagnosis involved. There's not a plan involved, because this is all new information. But perhaps, as you look at some of the strategies, you could say, you know, what, we could try this idea, we don't have a diagnosis yet, we're not sure we don't really need a plan. But let's just figure out if we put a few tools from this autism category within the context of our kindergarten setting, and just use some of the tools and strategies, would it be helpful for this individual and the class as a whole, the group as a whole. So sometimes, it's a matter of matching up just a variety of things. So we'll, we'll have a good time exploring some tools over the next little while. And I just wanted to entice you into this opportunity. So again, plans, from within congregations, we get to know that person and ask some key questions that could be part of that person's life. 

Let me also suggest… I gave you some categories here of information that might be helpful. You noticed it was much more related to specific, noticeable things, as opposed to what does this person have? Sometimes it's helpful to know, and we'll get into that. But I think, in general, the questions that I suggest asking are much more functional, for lack of a better term. What does this person like to do? How does this person take information in? Again, it allows you to pick out some ideas for that person's plan that would be helpful. 

So before I move on to the next section, I just want to tell you about the first part of the book that you've been reading, Accessible Gospel, and then that second part, Inclusive Worship. Inclusive Worship, of course, is related to those vertical habits, that universal design language for worship that allows you to bring in so many of those personalized plans as needed. But I think one of the pieces that I've been so passionate about, and the reason I put together the beginning part of the book, is that there have been so many times when I've had parents or grandparents come to me and say, is my child or my grandchild saved. That's what I want to know. 

I've had another situation where, in fact, I was just interviewed the other day on a radio broadcast for the Autism Society of Florida. Here was the question. Oh, my child with autism, my adult child with autism? Does he experience faith differently? Fascinating questions around issues related to faith. And these are important issues, not just for family members, these should be important issues within our congregation, and things that were asking. So often, I think, we have been trained with very many words, and very few other ways of thinking of introducing people to Jesus Christ. 

So the first part of the book that I put together was in response to so many of those questions over my career. How can I know my child is saved? Will she ever experience faith? Will she ever know God? Can this person know God? So, the list of questions and deep concerns, heart questions, hard questions. And so the first part of the book is, as you well know at this point, I hope… if you've been doing your reading is about taking this information of getting to know a person and coming up with a way to introduce that person to Jesus Christ. 

And you know, again, it's not us who saves, we're not responsible for that, but I do believe we're responsible for setting up those introductions. So the first part of the book is basically putting together a personalized plan for how you can make that introduction to Jesus Christ. 

So, you know, I've had just some fun examples over the years and they continue to roll in. Just unique ways of thinking about faith. And one of my favorite examples from the book and hopefully you got that, but again, as we got to know this person, got to know this love, he had this passionate love for Capture the Flag, do you remember this story? And how much he enjoyed that game, and to say, okay, he can run, he has movements, he understood this game, he doesn't have the words to be able to speak, but he certainly got Captured the Flag. So could we use Capture the Flag to set up this introduction to Jesus Christ; to the salvation message. And so clearly, although I'm sure a pastor or a theologian would clean up my work a little bit here, but you know, Capture the Flag is one of these great games where you've got these two bases, and they're jails, and a line in the middle, and you've got flags on either side, and it's the job of this team to cross the line, run over, grab a person's flag and get back to the other side, before they're tagged. If they're tagged, however, they need to go in the jail. And the only way they can get freed out of that jail is if somebody from their team comes and tags them. And they get a free walk back. 

So do you remember that we set up sort of this salvation Capture the Flag where we're stuck in the sin jail, and we call Jesus, Jesus. And it’s, again, something this person could sign call, come tag us, and Jesus tags us and then we get to go back. I love you, Jesus. And so it was, again, this beautiful way of taking something that was critical in this person's life. You're never going to find that - Okay, now, this is the salvation plan for people with Down syndrome. It's Capture the Flag. No. It's based on getting to know this person, having relationship with this person, putting together opportunities based on what this person loves, and what this person can do. 

So again, might be a personalized plan for how to do worship. Could be a personalized plan for having a awesome way to make an introduction to Jesus Christ. I don't know, I don't know who God is sending to your community. But I do know that as we incorporate these tools, it's a chance to connect with individuals in new ways, based on that knitting pattern, based on that person that God intended for that individual to be with all of those gifts and all of those needs in that beautiful hand knit package that we have a chance to know to love, and we have a chance to befriend, to be part of community with. And that's a great gift. 

So anyway, personalized plans applied in a variety of ways. And for our next section, I just want to spend a little time thinking of some additional examples from congregations. I gave you a brief taste of one within that introduction to Jesus category, but you have more in the book, right? And then going to talk more about some plans and how they've worked with both adults and children within the congregational environment.