People who have things to say

Back in September I mentioned a new book, Music Therapy with Adults with Learning Disabilities.   I was reading it this morning (since I’m an incredibly slow reader, I haven’t gotten very far yet) and thinking how much I like the approach which seems to be used in the UK.  It reminded me of some papers I’d read online at the Paradigm website (not about music therapy) with regard to folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Tony Osgood is my current favorite (or “favourite” as they say in England) writer from that collection (even though he is a behaviourist).  He’s written such thought-provoking commentaries as: “‘Suit you, sir?’:  Challenging Behaviour in Learning Disability Services”, “‘Doing it For Attention’: Non Physical Reactive Strategies”, and “‘Falling on Deaf Ears’: Self-Harm, Self-Injury and Ourselves:  Different Rules?”- all of which, in spite of the heavy material, are written with his wonderful sense of “humour” tossed in throughout.  

I think what I like best about Tony Osgood’s writing is that he is willing to poke fun at himself and he’s not afraid to fuss about the various organizational elements which, I think we’d mostly agree, figure strongly into the mix when supporting people with various disabilities.  

Tony Osgood seems to be the British counterpart to the United States’ David Pitonyak  and Canada’s Dave Hingsburger (I just discovered his blog!).   Definitely people who have important things to say.   And how nice of them to share so much of it on the internet where we, the masses, can access it, eh?