I have a friend. In the interest of privacy, we will call her Clare. Clare is 11 years old and has a severe case of Downs Syndrome. Mentally, she functions on par with most one and a half year-old children. Claire is sweet and tenderhearted. She loves Disney Princesses, shoes, pizza and legos. More than anything in the world she wants to make her mom smile.
A few months after I met her, Clare developed a habit-- of sitting. She wouldn't dream of hurting anyone or disturbing anything....She will not cry or throw a fit. But when others are playing or working around her. She is very content to sit. Clare has lost her sparkle. Her smile has become an endangered sight. All day long, attempts to engage her result in a hunkered down resolve to sit.
No more drawing, or basketball, dancing or lego-fests. No more proud attempts to write her name or show me the Walmart ad with the new Ariel clips she just had to have for her hair. Nope, let's just sit. Bathroom? Nah. Don't need it. What's that, you want to go outside? If I must. As soon as we get out I will sit some more.
One day when she was particularly stuck, we had a pizza treat. I set it across the room, where she could see it and smell it. I was hoping that would act as the on a the carrot on a stick principle to rouse her.
There she sat, like a granite statue in a red polo shirt. The only thing that moved were the pink and purple ribbons on those Ariel clips. (My statue always chose her stations under the fans.)
Every time we transitioned to anything it was at least a 20 minute ordeal. For weeks this went on. I talked to mom and grandma sister and cousins, too. They offered little light, and no solutions. She would refuse anything and everything for as long as she could in favor of any opportunity to sit, and do nothing.. Positive reinforcement. Play based learning and therapies. Self-directed activity time. Reverse psychology. Applied behavior analysis. Bribery. Buddy systems. Temporary removal of chairs. I even checked her favorite shoes for pebbles. My sizable bag of tricks was severely depleted.
I would like to be say it was my stellar teaching efforts, counseling skills or inspirational touch that finally unglued my Clare from her chair and lifted her out of her funk. It wasn't. It was Micheal:
No kidding. A friend of mine doing was working on a college project. She brought in an old Micheal Jackson CD to use in a presentation. A few seconds of Beat It, and my sweet statue was groovin' and back to her old self. From then on, when she started to get in a funk, we would pull out the Thriller album and get back to business.
Something about that song spoke to her. It motivated her. It connected her to what she needed. Maybe that's what the Psalmist meant when they remarked:
The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation. Psalm 118:14
When we are stuck and we don't want to move. The Lord is the song to get us dancing again. Through music, through scriptures, through the loving support of friends and family, He sends that song, that hope and that support. When we feel small, or insignificant, He is our strength. When we have reached the end of our bag of tricks He always comes through. Sometimes it's with a hug, or a word, or a friend...(or maybe an 80's pop album.)
What gets you up and moving?
How has the Lord been your strength and your song?
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