Today Owen meets his new teacher, Marilyn.
Actually, Marilyn is coming to teach me and Edward. She will be here with us today and tomorrow, watching and developing an understanding of Owen, and of each of his parents. How does Owen already communicate? How do we communicate with him? How can she invite him to reach out into a wider world of speaking? And how can she teach us how to continue this work with him? The beginning of speaking does not happen in a minute, for anyone.
The answers to these questions are what Marilyn must try to discover in these hours we have together, today and tomorrow.
The questions that haunt Owen’s mother and father are different. They wonder, Can this really be possible? What kind of understanding does their son really have? Could it be that his behaviors and his funny echoing speech hide an active, bored and frustrated 24 year old intelligence, as they have often thought? Can it really be possible that Owen’s mind can begin to wake up, to be born today as the words of others who type to communicate describe? Is this possibly all a hoax? Owen’s mom keeps thinking of Helen Keller…and Annie Sullivan.
We will see.
If you live locally you also can meet Marilyn. Tonight, at 7pm, she will talk about Assisted Communication methods and show footage of people for whom this has worked. Here is where to come to meet Marilyn Chadwick — you are all invited. Please be sure to share this invitation with anyone you know who has a nonverbal person in their lives.
An Evening with Marilyn Chadwick – 7pm Thursday May 17th
The Washington New Church – 11914 Progress Lane, Mitchellville, MD 20721
“Seeing people as intelligent is foundational to the method and to the assessment process. Treating people as intelligent is critical to setting the proper tone and approach to the invitation to communicate.”
Marilyn Chadwick, Facilitated Communication Manuel
Embracing Chaos 