The Challenges of Change
Learning to face change can be one of the hardest obstacles we have to overcome in our lives, and this is especially the case for neurodiverse people. The young people we work with were made to face this during the refurbishment of our playground, as we had to find a new space for our after-school clubs. We were lucky enough to be offered to use the Eco House from local charity Bost, yet this was a step that would be rife with challenges. Helping the young people adapt to the change of location, both in terms of the logistics and the mental change would be a hurdle.
Having faith in our children’s ability to deal with change
As parents and carers, we can be wary of launching young neurodiverse people into new environments. Creating scaffolding and clear structures which fully support the young people is the best way to empower them to deal with this. We understood just how challenging the first step of guiding the young people to the ECO House would be and so created a video with step-by-step instructions, and clear signs on how to get there. We hoped that the directions would boost the young people’s confidence in their ability to navigate there and it did! The first success of the day was that people arrived in the new location. It was a testament to how we must retain faith in young people’s capabilities to deal with these obstacles; with proper support, learning to adapt to change is completely possible.
Transgressing boundaries in arts and crafts
We set up a space in the Eco House to encourage the children to create art. Being able to be in nature, doing arts and crafts was a way to get everyone to relax and let them find confidence in themselves. What was incredible was to see children take creative initiative and bypass the usual boundaries of arts and crafts. For example, the children were allowed to draw on the tables, taking inspiration from the greenery around them. They used specialised gel pens and crayons to create a spread of colourful images. The sheer joy at being able to leave their mark and work on items, that we cannot normally make art on and that that will be used again, with others, was amazing to see. Furthermore, a young girl decided she wanted to build her own swing from a tree outside. She started from nothing, requesting all the materials, and managed to construct it herself. This was so successful that it drew all the other children to her, and clamour to try it. She was utterly buoyed by her success and the fact that she was able to share it with everyone. This activity was a great reminder of just how vital letting children express themselves in safe and nurturing environments is.
Overcoming conflict with kindness
Some of the young people came together to play various active games in the grass outside. The afternoon was filled with diverse activities, from frisbee throwing to cops and robbers highlighted the incredible, if testing, skill of learning to play together. As well as the usual favourite of Rummikub, a game which we have many dedicated fans of, we branched out to Chromino. Whilst there were tensions that arose, the young people were helped through this by being taught to shift perspective. Something as seemingly mundane as learning to deal with the loss of a game of monkey football can be a way to ultimately reinforce the value of kindness. This environment is key to teaching the core aspects of conflict resolution, by getting everyone to remember that ultimately that we are all good people, each trying to win our own game, and that respect for one another is the most important thing to retain throughout it all.
Everyone was able to find their own rhythm in these gardens at ECO house, alone, and as a team. It is always deeply moving to see these core values, of learning to adapt to new environments and to other people, and to be kind even in the face of conflict, being developed before our eyes. These are challenges universal to all of us yet are far trickier for young neurodiverse people to handle. To see them overcome these was a reminder of their incredible capacity for learning and bravery.
Our Clubs for 6-11 and 11-18 run every Monday afternoon from 15:30 until 18:30 in Mint Street Adventure Playground SE1 1QP. Check our website and contact us at [email protected].