JEANNE BASSIS
A Serious Player Harryet Candee: Now, what is PlayReflections all about? Jeanne Bassis: layReflections: Playshops For The Kid In Everyone brings more play, laughter, joy, relaxation and self-acceptance to a world that is deeply hurting. It’s a participatory approach, inclusive of all ages and abilities. I created PlayReflections almost 30 years ago. The mission statement from back then still rings true for me: “PlayReflections is committed to a peaceful and harmonious world.” I play with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, first and 36 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
second graders, individuals with special needs, elders in nursing homes, families, educators… basically anyone who used to be a kid. I especially love offering Intergenerational Play. How did you come up with this idea? Jeanne: I was just a few months into the job that I thought was the end-all be-all of jobs, pulling together my passion for early childhood education, my masters degree in Special Education and my new EEE certification (Essential Early Education, early
childhood special ed in Vermont). I started and ran a home-based EEE program in a very rural school district in northern VT. A big part of my job was to get the children thru the special ed eligibility process, so they could then receive services, and eventually be mainstreamed into the kindergarten for the first time. In the district early ed program, Headstart day care centers, I joined my little learners in the context of whatever program they attended and also in their homes. Mostly I was a bureaucrat, fairly competent at putting together the pieces of a new program. But