PICTURE THIS

Lauren Porter is the Clinical Director at the early intervention clinic, the Champion Centre in Christchurch and explains how a simple activity can be vital in the early development of a young person with an intellectual disability.

What do you see when you look at two-year-old Louis painting at the easel? An adorable child? A toddler at play? A creative spark? A fun activity? Yes. All those things are in the picture. Within an early intervention program like the Champion Centre, we would like you to see more. There is a picture behind the picture. That background holds a hidden world of neuroscience, child development, relationship-building, sensory experience and scaffolding to achieve motoric milestones. Play is a child’s work. Play creates meaning and learning. Play is central to brain development and is so important that it is recognized as a fundamental childhood right by the UN High Commission. According to paediatricians, scientists and child development specialists, play allows children to use their creativity in service of developing physical dexterity, imagination, emotional balance, and cognitive skills. Play allows children direct access to the world around them in a way they can both explore and master. Child-driven play creates a way for children to follow their passions while making new discoveries and enjoyment of their world. In the first years of life, physical development is a significant foundation for ongoing growth and learning. This coincides with a burgeoning social and emotional world that is linked to the relationships in a child’s life. From birth, learning is a process of scaffolding a child’s needs. In other words, learning is about providing support for the child to take the next step toward something they can almost do in a way that allows them to do it on their own.

This not only creates the learning of new skills and information, but develops resilience, problemsolving skills and emotional strength. The story of Louis at his easel is so much more than first meets the eye. Louis is a child who is learning to stand. Standing is not easy for him right now. Yet standing is the next scaffolded step in his journey, the thing that will then open the next door and the next challenge and the next discoveries. The Champion Centre physio needs to find a way to support Louis to stand. The early childhood teacher needs to find a way to support Louis to enjoy learning. Louis’ mum needs to find a way to celebrate who her child is now while also helping him to achieve more. Together – guided by paying attention to who Louis is – they arrive at a deceptively simple solution. Louis loves to paint. Painting is play he is passionate about. Painting offers enough fun, interest and enjoyment that Louis will stand without experiencing standing as either impossible or as a form of pressure. When Louis is at his easel, his mum, the physiotherapist and the early intervention teacher have understood Louis well enough to create an activity that bridges the gap between what he cannot currently do and what they believe is next for him to learn. He is immersed in a creative, sensory experience that scaffolds his motoric development because he showed them who he is and where he needs to go. A picture is worth a thousand words. It is perhaps worth far more than that.