Assessing Happiness for Very Special Learners-Flo Longhorn
We are all uniquely different. Our brains are all ‘wired’
differently, causing us to view the world in a multitude of
different ways, with different values and emotions. No one
is better or worse, merely different. Most of us however,
are at our happiest when we feel secure, safe and valued –
living in an anxiety-free environment. In such
surroundings, our moods, emotions and behaviours are
usually channelled usefully and productively. Very special
people are just the same as anyone else in this regard.
Emotions are identified in six major areas:
joy (pleasure)
–
fear –
surprise –
disgust –
anger -
sadness.
Happiness is part of “joy” and it can be gauged by
happiness indices and through physical means, such as
measurement of blood pressure, skin response and brain
activity. It can also be assessed by keen observations,
such as observing:
The
emotions, including happiness and sadness, are very
powerful and take precedence over everything happening in
the brain. Imagine a tiger about to pounce on you – your
emotions override logic immediately! If we take emotional
happiness as an excellent framework for learning, it can
provide the optimum environment for learning by very
special learners.
There is very little research on happiness and very special
people. Green et al (1996) looked at happiness for six
adults using conventional happiness indices. Conclusions
were simple – there was an increase in happiness when a
person was given a preferred sensory stimuli and
unhappiness when given a least favoured activity. Staff
used the assessments to plan and extend programmes. For
example, Sonny liked human voices, so he began to be
included in an intensive interaction programme with an
emphasis on voices.
Happiness can also be observed on the simple level of
sensory happiness through provision of positive sensory
environments, interactions and events. However, very
special people may sometimes portray the opposite of what
they actually feel emotionally when placed in such
situations.
Observations,
therefore, need to be ongoing and open to unexpected
interpretations of happiness, as shown in Illustration1.
Illustrations
2 and 3 show simple assessment sheets for observation of an
individual’s sensory happiness and preferred environment of
happiness. Remember to observe at a good time in the day
(not a wet Friday afternoon!), to ask family or carers
about happiness at home and to build up a picture of
happiness over time.
With
this happiness baseline, it is then up to the educator to
ensure, within each learning experience on offer, that
there is an element of happiness included. Environments
that are optimal then can be extended into formal
curriculum, as indicated in Illustration 4.
References.
Buzan, Tony. 2000. Head First. Published by Thorsons.
Goleman, D.1995. Emotional Intelligence. Published by
Bantam Books.
Marion Janner ‘the
sense of humour project’ PMLD
Link Vol17 No.1 issue 50 p15-18
Greenfield, Susan (ed). 1999. Brain Power. Published by
Element.
Green, Carolyn W and Reid, Dennis H. 1996.
Defining,
Validating, and Increasing Indices of Happiness among
People with Profound Multiple
Disabilities.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Vol 29,no 1, pp
67-78, Spring1996.
Jensen, Eric. 1998. Teaching with the Brain in Mind.
Published by ASCD.
Websites of interest: World Database on Happiness at
www.eur.nl/fws/research/happiness,
which links to the Journal of Applied Happiness.
www.laughteryoga.co.uk
www.deepfun.com
www.happiness.co.uk
Flo Longhorn Flocatalyst@aol.com