What's your day starter?

At the start of a recent meeting we took turns going around the table to introduce ourselves.   Of course we shared our name, but for fun, we also shared what device we each use first thing in the morning. 


There were a variety of answers like cell phone, iPad, computer...but a single answer stood out for me. One woman's answer was different from the rest: it was radio.


She listens to morning radio. 


Funny how that works, I'd been thinking along those lines myself; thinking about what morning talk radio has to offer. The mention of radio that morning however, tossed the floodgate of ideas, feels and memories open for me.   


Every weekday morning, for years--okay, for decades!---my mom listened to the radio.  One of the earliest memories I have is of Don McNeil and The Breakfast Club.  The Breakfast Club was a variety show that originated in Chicago.  One of the show's highlights was the morning march.  My brother, sister and I would be calmly sitting at the breakfast table when a hint of marching music would sound out.  We'd shoot out of our chairs to get into our best marching stance.  First, we'd march around the table, around the table again, then we'd start circling around the kitchen itself.  


I hadn't thought of the Breakfast March in ages but I'm sure you're wondering what morning radio and the Breakfast March have to do with dyslexia and autism correction? 


Sequence.


A common example I often use to describe sequence is brushing teeth. I think it's a good example because everyone's familiar with it:  pick up toothbrush, get out toothpaste, squeeze some toothpaste out.... Simple but you might be surprised at how many people struggle with some part of that 'simple' sequence of brushing their teeth. 


As Davis Facilitators our work is often about filling in missing concepts. Supplying the links for the ideas and daily functions of life that may not have been installed in our brain as we were growing up.  Making these concepts in clay, in a three-dimensional form, creates a model that sticks in the brain, filling in the missing pieces. 


Below is one version of the concept of sequence that we master. This is Chase's model of sequence: as in the way things follow each other in size. It looks like a simple model but as I watched Chase construct it I knew it was powerful in its own way. 

Chase worked hard to cut, form, shape, design and create this sequence. If you look into his eyes you might notice the deep thought they seem to hold. 


Simple, yes, but the following week when I was visiting with Chase he told how things are falling into place with his life.  He feels that the 'sequence' of how he acts transfers down the line. What I mean is he's noticing that when he acts calmly his brothers respond calmly back to him. It's a sequence of behaviors that's affecting the whole family in a positive way. You see there's a sequence of size in his family.  He's taller than his brother, who is taller than the next brother. Sequence. 


Maybe I can teach him the Breakfast March so his family can share the sequence of marching around the table as they prepare to start the morning just as my family did!


If you'd like to know more about how sequence can be affecting your life contact me at cathy@onpointlearning.org or call me at 573-819-6010.