As part of the local service, Tampines Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS), we during service hours went to visit the actually center itself. Our main objective was to learn more about “what they do” and “how they do it” and ask questions regarding both the center and how we can best assist the patients. MIND patients are diagnosed with autism or down syndrome from either early development youth or later stage acquired.
Due to the bus taking longer than expected thanks to navigation issues, it meant our limited time with the service was greatly shortened. Despite this we still managed to get the full presentation and many questions were asked. We learned more about the issues these patients went through and how we could change to fit their needs. Something that stood out to most of use was the concept of ‘learned helplessness’, which is the concept of over-helping someone to the point where they rely on you to do the task. This could be us grabbing and placing their arms to a certain position in yoga every time, while they don’t actually learn to do it themselves. We learned to counter this we should use signals, demonstration, and only light assistance (some of the time).
Overall it was a really insightful trip that helped better my understanding of the service and how we can plan our yoga sessions around specific client needs.
Learning outcomes and reflection questions topics included:
- Big picture (Goals, Action and Learning)
- LO 1 AWARENESS (Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth)
- LO 2 CHALLENGE (Undertaken new challenges)/NEW SKILLS (Developing new skills)
- LO3 INITIATIVE (Planning and initiated activities)
- LO 4 COMMITMENT (Showing perseverance, resilience and commitment in activities)
- LO 5 COLLABORATION (Working together to achieve an outcome)
- LO 6 GLOBAL VALUE (Engaging with issues of global importance)
- LO 7 ETHICS (Considering the ethical implications of actions)
