HOW GOOD IS ELLA …. SHE IS REALLY GOOD!!
A while ago, on this pageI told you about Ella. Ella loves kids and books and it was important for her to find a place for them in her life.
She Did Find that Place!
Ella has a weekly role as a library assistant, helping out at the kids Storytime at the Brunswick Library. She selects the books for the story time, she also selects the songs and shares the leadership of the group with the librarian.
Most of you won’t know Ella, she is a beautiful and likeable young woman so it is easy for the kids and other staff at the library to really enjoy her company and do things like invite her to parties. Another thing to know about Ella is that she has a significant disability and she doesn’t have any spoken language. Ella can’t talk to you using words and there are quite a few things in the world that she struggles to make sense of. So what on earth is she doing helping to lead a children’s story time, and how could she possible help kids grow up to have a better understanding of the world. She does it like this:
Ella uses a Big Mac switch, you press it and is says pre-recorded words, to start off the story time by saying hello and welcome and the acknowledgment of country.
She has a pictorial book that she uses to communicate with other staff and the kids, using pictures that she picks out of a selection that she has.
She has a great smile and laugh which encourages the kids when they do something clever or exciting
I am telling Ella’s story again because it is fantastic, and she has added more to it. After the library asked, Ella now takes a basket of food from our garden each week, she shares some with the kids and leaves the rest for people who come to the library and who could use a bit of extra food.
What is so important about this session as an assistant librarian? Why should we be so impressed by Ella’s story about a once a week visit to the library for an hour or so? It’s because, in that short time, she is doing so much more than enjoying herself and building her own skills and confidence.
Ella is building friendships and acquaintances. Ella isn’t just known at the library, when she moves around Brunswick now and goes to the shops, she is frequently recognised by people, like the parents of the kids , and staff from the library who stop, say hello and have a chat. It’s good to be known and liked.
The kids and their families are more aware. There is no secret about it. Ella has some reasonably high special needs. How great is it that between 15 to 40 kids at a time, from babies to 5 years old, are seeing someone with high needs in important, and fun, roles that they look up to. There is no doubt at all when these kids see and talk about Ella , they will see and talk about difference and not disability.
Words aren’t everything. Those 15 to 40 kids each week are learning right from the start that not being able to use words, doesn’t make communication impossible or hard; that there are more ways to listen and speak. There is a good chance we won’t have to wait a long time for some of these benefits to come about. Some of these kids will be at kinder or school in the next few years and what a head start, knowing and speaking to Ella will have given them, if they happen to be in a class or playground with another child who has no words.
People have better stories to tell. With the parents attending, the size of the story time group, can vary between 25 to 60 people at a time. Whether its a kid or an adult, they are walking away with a story to tell. Its not a story about being charitable to someone with special needs or how they were able to help someone who had a disability. They have a story about a nice time, a story about how they met someone who couldn’t talk but who could speak, and who is doing ordinary things in their community.
Ella is doing something she loves doing and enjoys. That’s the aim of it all. We are here for Ella and if that’s all that ever came for her being involved with this storying telling group that would be enough for us, we would think that is great. All the rest of the stuff just happens. When you put someone in places that make sense, good things happen, they do interesting things, they get to know and like, and be liked, by people, and people they spend time with see similarities and not just differences. Ella just went out to find something she liked, she found that and without thinking about it became an influencer and change agent. Good on you Ella!
