Personal Profile - Neville - Wyvern School

Introduction

Our lives are influenced by many factors and experiences. Facets of school, family and friendships will all influence a young person's character. Neville's residential experiences are evidently important to him, demonstrated by his enthusiasm to take part as often as he can and his willingness to talk about such ventures and his role in them.

No claim is being made that Neville's dramatic social development was influenced only by the events described below. However, we believe we can trace direct links between his personal growth and the experiences shared in an inclusive and highly stimulating and motivating process based on residentials.

Before

Neville joined Wyvern after spending some time at an MLD school. Although Neville's educational difficulties are described as borderline MLD/SLD an assessment of MLD is probably more accurate. However for many years his abilities were masked by the ease with which he could become very upset - moved to tears - by a sense of failure induced by criticism of any kind, and especially by his overt and intense reaction to any form of teasing.

Although enrolment at Wyvern meant that he moved from the bottom to the top of the ability 'tree', nevertheless Neville's general demeanour continued to play a strong part in his vulnerability to the teasing he hated so much. He presented a shambling figure, head frequently cast to one side, his mouth permanently somewhat agape, often with a trace of saliva present on his lip, accentuated by his habit of sucking at an item of clothes or a cord from the hood of his jacket. At playtimes he was frequently alone or found crying because someone - often a particular boy - had taunted him. In class he was more positive, but took criticism - however mild and well meant - too much to heart.

And After

At the time of writing Neville is one of the most confident young people attending Wyvern. Although only 16 and entitled to continue at the school for 3 more years he has told us that he is contemplating going to college immediately, a transition he could handle well, though we would regret losing his presence in the 16+ Unit.

Neville has become a young man of erect stature and steady gaze, meeting one's eye directly. Only very occasionally does he require a silent reminder to keep his mouth closed when he is at rest. He stands up for himself and is, politely, quite capable of pointing out errors or faults to anyone - be they another pupil or a teacher. Conversely, he accepts criticism in the spirit intended, reflects on it and changes his behaviour if he feels it appropriate. In many ways he is quite unrecognisable from the Neville we once knew. His many accomplishments include performing an 'old chestnut' joke act to an audience of 150 year 7 mainstream and special pupils and 20-30 staff, and starting a two handed speech to a group of nearly 100 local dignitaries by introducing himself in French!

Promoting Change

Neville first took part in a joint residential at the age of about 13. In common with many of his peers his first experience was during a special joint adventure weekend tailored to the needs of young people with severe learning difficulties. It soon became clear that Neville's greatest needs were social rather than physical. He was rather nervous of challenges, but was soon horse riding and caving.

This led us to consider placing him on mainstream weekends, supported by Wyvern staff and accompanied by a very small group of other Wyvern pupils. With the exception of climbing - an activity he does not greatly enjoy - Neville made steady progress across a range of endeavours. He proved to be a good cyclist with an excellent stamina level and is a particularly adept caver, easily achieving more than his teacher. His initial anxieties about walking in the dark were soon overcome.

Nonetheless his general bearing and demeanour still marked him out from his mainstream peers. On one weekend he was briefly the butt of some teasing, but was generally tolerated by the others.

We decided to work on his social and personal skills using the reaction of others as a guide and a spur to progress. There was much discussion of, for instance, the fact that the others neither held their mouths open nor incessantly chewed at clothing. Initially Neville was somewhat upset about the criticism, but accepted this much better when it was set in the context of greater participation in the weekends - which were frequent by that time. Some very sensitive and sympathetic mainstream youngsters were informally enrolled to help him by advising on the best ways of acting and reacting.

Before long he was standing out much less, though he usually remains a little aloof from a large group unless he has a specific role to play. There was also a risk that Neville, being very compliant and rather timid, would be at risk of being led astray or treated as a joke by less responsible mainstream pupils. His toleration of criticism and gentle ridicule was enhanced by the style of relationship adopted back at school where this was made into a game. He was also encouraged to react against silly requests made by the teacher which gave him structured opportunities to stand up for himself and not to accept just any instruction without question.

In addition we started to give him simple tasks to undertake during the weekends. For example asking him to stay ahead of others on a bike ride, instructing him not to let others past till the whole group had caught up. Not all younger mainstream pupils, especially some groups of boys, were pleased to be told what to do by a Wyvern pupil, but these simple roles boosted his self esteem and, to a lesser extent, his standing in the inter-schools groups. Nominating him as the back marker in a caving group - due to his far greater level of experience - was an even more effective ploy, carrying with it some real prestige.

Through all this Neville has learned that he has many strengths, that he has a positive role to play, that appearances do count and that he can survive on his own in a group. He has also learned a range of social strategies that he can adopt. For example, on a very recent trip Neville was the only Wyvern pupil and shared a dormitory with a group of mildly unruly year 8 boys. Neville already knew the group and, unusually, elected to sleep in the kitchen area attached to the main room. We were concerned that he might be worried or upset until we asked why. He explained that he knew they would mess about for ages, and he wanted a good night's sleep. In the event he was the only member of the entire group to get more than 4 hours sleep that night - a wise and calculated move on Neville's part.

In parallel with these events Neville has also been taking part in the Curriculum Enhancement Week. For two years he has been named as a helper. In the first year Neville spent the greatest part of his time as a participant, with only occasional tasks such as being responsible for a small part of a blindfold string trail. At this time he cut an unusual figure, dressing idiosyncratically in a waterproof on dry days and chewing at his hood cord. However he gained great kudos by being prepared to do a double comedy act with his teacher acting as straight-man during the entertainments nights.

By the second year Neville was sleeping in and maintaining his own tent, taking the greatest responsibility for his own actions, proving himself a useful worker and - the cheek of it - had dispensed with my services as straight-man!

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