Best Practices – Provider

Practice
I had the opportunity to interview a young man at a Group Home more than 3 years ago. The young man was quite shy, legally blind, and spent most of the interview sitting in the corner playing with his recorder and listening to his music. He participated very little despite my attempts to get him involved in the interview.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to interview the same young man at the group home. I could not believe the transformation in this young man. He sat with us during the entire interview and answered practically all of the questions on his own. He was very friendly, polite, and hospitable during the interview. He always had a passion for music and Mrs. Thomas explored with him if he would like to learn to play an instrument. He wanted to learn to play the guitar and Mrs. Thomas searched and found a wonderful music instructor. Last week I was at a WSC meeting and he and his music instructor performed some selections for us where he played his guitar and sang. I understand that this is not his first public performance.

Who Benefits?
How? All persons benefit when the provider attempts to assist the person to build on their strengths, interests, and abilities. This particular young man is obviously more self-confident and social. He had developed new dreams of performing for a living and also one day having his own place which in our prior interview he did not identify any such dreams.