Assignment task: Growing sunflowers
It's now week 6 into the growing sunflowers project. Your team has successfully started the project, the children are enjoying watching the seeds sprout and come to life and are very enthusiastic about checking to see how high they've grown each day. A few of the pre-school parents have commented on how interested their children have become in gardening.
Sasha (She has a rare and severe form of Muscular Dystrophy and uses a wheelchair for mobility) has been the appointed project champion for the duration and up until last week, was very involved and enthusiastic.
This week, educators have commented that Sasha seems unmotivated to go outside, has been often unfocused during one-on-one conversations and generally seems listless or reluctant to do anything physical during the day. They have noticed that Sasha has more frequent periods of speech impairment and requires two people now to assist in most manual handling tasks, as Sasha is struggling to move her upper body or hold her head up for periods of time during the day.
You call Cassie and ask if she has time to discuss how Sasha is going when she comes for this afternoon's pick-up. Cassie is more than happy to come in a little earlier than normal so that you can spend 15 minutes or so together
1. Please provide three (3) open questions you'd ask. These questions need to effectively gather sufficient information to enable collaboration with key stakeholders and plan possible supports or referrals for Cassie and Sasha.
"I'm struggling!"
During your catch-up with Cassie, she opens up with you because you now have a strong and trusting relationship together. She says lately Theo has been working long shifts at work and Max and Seb have a lot of extra-curricular activities on during the week.
Cassie has noticed the increased physical dependency of Sasha and although her mum comes over more during the week to help, overall, she's struggling to cope with all the things she needs to do in a week. "I'd give anything for a day off a fortnight, just to get things done for myself and have some breathing space! I'm more 'on call' now than in all the years I spent nursing!"
2. Describe what you would say to Cassie when giving her the referral information. Remember to be validating, supportive, non-judgemental and gentle in your approach, without any expectation of Cassie to act in a particular way.