smile at the possibilities

I N S I D E RTHEI N S I D E RTHE

ISSUE 12 / February 6th, 2014 The Acadia S.M.I.L.E. Program

“We’re all humans,

before anything

else”pg. 3

>> Gavin Power, Carolyn Woolridge

“ ”“ ”

Feb. 6INSIDER

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The music room at S.M.I.L.E. incorporates the skillful music and musical elements by music therapy students to promote, maintain, and re-store overall health and wellbeing. Music has nonverbal, cre-ative, structural, and emotional qualities. These are used in the therapeutic relationship to facilitate contact, in-teraction, self-awareness, learning, self-expression, communication, and personal development. “What makes

me happy is to be able to contribute to the great things that S.M.I.L.E. al-ready offers for the participants. We

are using music as a form of expres-sion and connec-tion because music is within everyone and is a universal commun ica t i on

tool. We want to highlight the abili-ties that can surface through music for the young adults at S.M.I.L.E.” Adya Sequeira, Friday Night music leader.

We are using music as a form of expression and connec-

tion because music is within everyone and is a universal

communication tool

Activity Profile:The Music Room

Upcoming Events

Feb. 4 & 6Assessment: Pool games that will make the participants assess different cues, such as stop and go cues during the red light/green light game.

Feb. 11 & 13We will be incorporating Valentines Day into the games and there will be candy and valentines for all the participants.

Feb. 7Video Game/Baking NightBring your aprons, oven mitts, and a smile, because we’ll be making per-sonal pizzas! Not interested in baking, we’ll see you at the video games station where everyone’s favorite games will be set up!

Feb. 8Valentine’s DaySpread the love on Saturday morning!

There will be no S.M.I.L.E. on Friday, February 14

or Saturday February 15

T

F

S

TUESDAY & THURSDAY

Friday

Saturday

>> Friday S.M.I.L.E. Music Room

>> Saturday morning S.M.I.L.E.’s gym activities

>> Check out the music activities at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0NzTInrM

There’s a problem happening all over

the world, every second of every day.

Most people don’t even realize they do

it, but it’s something that’s important and

that I believe needs to change, and all

it’ll take is a little more awareness.

Frankie MacDonald is from Atlantic

Canada and he has dreams of being a

weatherman. He even has his very own

YouTube channel dedicated to explain-

ing the weather to people (and he’s

quite accurate). I want you to read this

headline that I read today on the Toronto

Star’s website about him…

“Weather reports cause storm: Autistic

Frankie MacDonald tells critics ‘I have a

good heart’”

Now I want you to read what I would

have written instead…

“Weather reports cause storm: Frankie

MacDonald, a young adult with autism,

tells critics ‘I have a good heart’”

Read them both a few times. At first,

I’m sure you don’t really notice a dif-

ference. It’s the same sentence, right?

Wrong. I volunteered with a program

called S.M.I.L.E. (Sensory Motor Instruc-

tional Leadership Experience) where

students at Acadia University work one-

on-one with children with special needs

from all across Nova Scotia, and that’s

where I met Roxanne Seaman, Program

Director of S.M.I.L.E. She explained to

me Person-First Terminology as putting

the person before the diagnosis. At first,

I didn’t really understand it, and then she

put it to me like this.

Are you the electrician Matt? The man-

ager Tracy? The racecar driver Dale? No,

you’re Matt, you’re Tracy, you’re Dale,

and you just so happen to be an electri-

cian or a manager or a racecar driver.

Person-First Terminology

Hey there’s white Matt or brown-haired

Megan, you’d never say that. We don’t

identify each other by what we do for a

living or by our race or by our hair colour,

we call each other by name, so why is it

different for people with special needs?

Why does the Toronto Star call Frankie

“Autistic Frankie MacDonald”? (And the

article is riddled with stuff like that. The

author, Curtis Rush even goes on to say

“Despite his disability, MacDonald is far

from handicapped at the keyboard” which

makes me want to punch Mr. Rush square

in the face). The first thing we identify

Frankie as should be Frankie, because

that’s who he is. He isn’t the autistic kid

who does the weather; he’s a kid before

anything else. He loves talking about the

weather. He’s Frankie. And he just so

happens to have autism.

So next time we talk or write about

someone, not just someone with a special

need, but everyone for that matter, let’s try

and remember that we’re all human be-

ings. That’s Frankie, and I’m Geoff, and

we’re both people before anything else.

By Geoff Gates

“Because we’re all humans, before anything else”

Feb. 6INSIDER

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Feb. 6INSIDER

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Kelsey DuplessisThe instructor of the month for January is a 2nd year kinesiol-

ogy major. This semester may have been her first time being

a part of the SMILE program but she has shown that she is

more than capable of taking on the challenges that can come

during a S.M.I.L.E. day. The first day was also her buddy’s

first time ever at SMILE and also her first time in a pool. I can

only imagine how nerve wracking that was on top of being a

first time instructor. Not only did she get her buddy in the pool

(with the help of Roxanne and Alana) but they also stayed in

for the majority of the morning and went from crying to having

a ball by the end of the morning. That being said I would like

to congratulate Kelsey Duplessis on being named instructor

of the month, keep up the great work!

Tuesday Instructor

Lucas ChamberlainThe Instructor of the month for Thursday SMILE goes to a

third year psychology major that is doing SMILE for the first

time, but you would never know it! I could tell that he was do-

ing S.M.I.L.E. for the right reasons, and that is to try to change

a little boy or girl’s life. On the first day he met his buddy,

Ross Cox, he showed so much care and enthusiasm. They

spent the majority of their time in the deep end trying to get

Ross to accomplish a “perfect cannonball” but he kept getting

discouraged. But with Lucas’ patience and encouragement,

Ross went from being down on himself to being determined to

reach a certain amount of cannonballs. He was so determined

that he was going to remember where he left off and was plan-

ning on continuing next session!

Thursday Instructor

Lacey CoxLacey Cox is a 2nd year bio and psych major, and she became involved with the

SMILE program last year. This is her second year working with Caleb, and they have

formed one of the best friendships we’ve seen at SMILE. She is always very en-

thusiastic and brings her A game every night. Her humor, creativity and easy-going

nature make every night an adventure. Though her use of semi-colons is question-

able, she is very encouraging and is great at convincing Caleb to try new things. He

always comes running through the door and greets her like they haven’t seen each

other in weeks. Her positive energy is infectious and this is only a small part of what

makes her such a great instructor. We are very lucky to have Lacey as an instructor

on Friday nights, and we can’t wait to see what these two can accomplish together

in the coming years. Congratulations Lacey, this honor is well deserved!

Friday Instructor

Instructors of the Month

January

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THE ACADIA S.M.I.L.E. PROGRAM

http: / /smi le.acadiau.ca/

Contact Program Coordinator <smile@acadiau.ca>Marketing Directors Rebecca Glenen <103073g@acadiau.ca> or Becky Grant <105061g@acadiau.ca>

Feb. 6INSIDER

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Saturday

Kelsey DuplessisThe instructor of the month for January is a 2nd year kinesiol-

ogy major. This semester may have been her first time being

a part of the SMILE program but she has shown that she is

more than capable of taking on the challenges that can come

during a S.M.I.L.E. day. The first day was also her buddy’s

first time ever at SMILE and also her first time in a pool. I can

only imagine how nerve wracking that was on top of being a

first time instructor. Not only did she get her buddy in the pool

(with the help of Roxanne and Alana) but they also stayed in

for the majority of the morning and went from crying to having

a ball by the end of the morning. That being said I would like

to congratulate Kelsey Duplessis on being named instructor

of the month, keep up the great work!

Tuesday Instructor

Saturday Instructor

Saturday S.M.I.L.E. is pleased to announce Eileen Haskett as our January In-

structor of the Month! Eileen is super energetic and cheerful! Her enthusiasm is

exemplary. She was paired with Lakesha at the beginning of the year, and they

immediately became the best of friends. Her buddy Lakesha and her are always

having a blast, and bringing smiles to all onlookers’ faces! She has been work-

ing on a lot of life skills and social goals with her buddy. She comes up with the

amazing goals and creative activities! Eileen’s reflections are always extremely

detailed and insightful. We are looking forward to all the great S.M.I.L.E. days

to come with this pair!

Eileen Haskett

Saturday Instructor

Kelsie has been a true role model in her work with Andrew in Pre-school SMILE

this year! Kelsie always shows up bright and early with an amazing positive

attitude and a big S.M.I.L.E.! Andrew is always excited to see Kelsie every Sat-

urday morning, and the two of them never run out of fun activities to do. Kelsie

always puts 110% effort into her summaries and reflections, and is consistently

creative in the goals that she sets for Andrew. Andrew is very energetic, but

Kelsie never backs down from the challenge of keeping up with him! We are

so happy to have Kelsie as part of our pre-school team, and we can’t wait to

see what this term has in store for her and Andrew. Congratulations, Kelsie, on

being our January Pre-school Instructor of the Month!

Kelsie Enright

>> Pictured left to right: Michael Pereira, Jennifer Pothier, Tess Dell, Jenny Parks