Hello,
This is a short message to let everyone know that we have finally established the permanent blog on the website. Just go to the site and click on blog in the top left hand corner.
www.intergrationservices.com.au
I've included the "new" URL here. We've had a hiccup with a miss spelling of the name at the Dept of Fair Trading that we are going to have to live with. Bare with us while we adjust everything. Whilst this does gripe my soul I'm going to have to get used to the spelling as a "funky business branding thing" or the like. We do own the URL etc with the correct spelling and we'll continue to link it up but unfortunately can't 'trade' under it.
Hope to see you soon at the new blog.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Having just read an insightfulblog post on the behaviour of children with cochlea implants I am reminded of the immense difficulties in communication that arises at the other end of developmental spectrum - acquired hearing loss in later life of old age.
I recall vividly as a young care assistant in a foreign country (UK) asking an elderly resident if they would like butter on their toast. "What?" came the very load response. Over enunciating in my very clearest diction (which is quite clear having had extensive elocution training for singing as a child) I repeated the phrase several times ever loader, ever clearer. With the other local carers by then starring at me I stood back, evaluated and said "Want some bu'er" and not all that loudly. "Oh, yes thanks, love" came the reply.
We forget how important consistency of phonetic sounds becomes with hearing loss. My accent, even when pushed to very clear received pronunciation was not anything like the sounds this person was used to hearing. Combine that with hearing loss and you have real trouble. Initially I thought they may have been taking the mickey, treating me with contempt regarding my colonial roots. No, it became clear as I strengthened my local dialect that communication with this elderly group of people for whom I had become a critical companion improved with every clipped 't' and local colloquialism I acquired.
Excellence in communication is about recognising the needs of the person to whom you are directing the communication. Very tricky to teach toddlers I grant you. Care assistants, nurses, teachers and parents however need to understand this. It is certainly a good lesson to take into the work environment too even where hearing impairment may not be an issue. When communication is unclear to the person to whom it is directed we may not always see the behaviour we expect.
I recall vividly as a young care assistant in a foreign country (UK) asking an elderly resident if they would like butter on their toast. "What?" came the very load response. Over enunciating in my very clearest diction (which is quite clear having had extensive elocution training for singing as a child) I repeated the phrase several times ever loader, ever clearer. With the other local carers by then starring at me I stood back, evaluated and said "Want some bu'er" and not all that loudly. "Oh, yes thanks, love" came the reply.
We forget how important consistency of phonetic sounds becomes with hearing loss. My accent, even when pushed to very clear received pronunciation was not anything like the sounds this person was used to hearing. Combine that with hearing loss and you have real trouble. Initially I thought they may have been taking the mickey, treating me with contempt regarding my colonial roots. No, it became clear as I strengthened my local dialect that communication with this elderly group of people for whom I had become a critical companion improved with every clipped 't' and local colloquialism I acquired.
Excellence in communication is about recognising the needs of the person to whom you are directing the communication. Very tricky to teach toddlers I grant you. Care assistants, nurses, teachers and parents however need to understand this. It is certainly a good lesson to take into the work environment too even where hearing impairment may not be an issue. When communication is unclear to the person to whom it is directed we may not always see the behaviour we expect.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Behaviour, disability and the workplace.
Welcome to Integration Services
A big hello to everybody as I post our first BLOG. This is actually a tandem blog as I sort out some issues with the blog hosted on our own site so please keep posted as I "integrate" that!
It is our intention to post regularly here on the subjects of behavioural management and workplace diversity. It may seem a strange combination of services to some so allow me to build a broader picture of what we're about.I am the founding director, Denise, and my background is in aged care and disability support having spent a good proportion of my career in the pursuit of better employment support and conditions for people with disabilities. Hence, whilst at university studying psychology I also took industrial relations and HRM courses. In addition to my work in this field I am also a small business owner and have worked in frontline management so I'm very aware of the trials and tribulations of HRM from this perspective. I believe there is a lot of misunderstanding and unnecessary heartache around the integration of people with diverse needs in the workplace. Through offering very specialised training and support I aim to offer constructive solutions for job support and recruitment specialists as well as employers so that workplaces may be more inclusive and get the most out of a fabulous yet often overlooked pool of labour.We will be bringing a rapidly increasing number of services to bare as the team of specialist consultants grows and our web education packages come online.I'd really like to encourage everyone to get interactive. Give us your ten cents worth in response to blog posts, join us on Twitter, share with us on Facebook.Behaviour is a form of communication and expression, so make communicating with us a regular behaviour!
A big hello to everybody as I post our first BLOG. This is actually a tandem blog as I sort out some issues with the blog hosted on our own site so please keep posted as I "integrate" that!
It is our intention to post regularly here on the subjects of behavioural management and workplace diversity. It may seem a strange combination of services to some so allow me to build a broader picture of what we're about.I am the founding director, Denise, and my background is in aged care and disability support having spent a good proportion of my career in the pursuit of better employment support and conditions for people with disabilities. Hence, whilst at university studying psychology I also took industrial relations and HRM courses. In addition to my work in this field I am also a small business owner and have worked in frontline management so I'm very aware of the trials and tribulations of HRM from this perspective. I believe there is a lot of misunderstanding and unnecessary heartache around the integration of people with diverse needs in the workplace. Through offering very specialised training and support I aim to offer constructive solutions for job support and recruitment specialists as well as employers so that workplaces may be more inclusive and get the most out of a fabulous yet often overlooked pool of labour.We will be bringing a rapidly increasing number of services to bare as the team of specialist consultants grows and our web education packages come online.I'd really like to encourage everyone to get interactive. Give us your ten cents worth in response to blog posts, join us on Twitter, share with us on Facebook.Behaviour is a form of communication and expression, so make communicating with us a regular behaviour!
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