Purim

With Gregory at Lieberman Center, we have been celebrating more Jewish holidays than every before :-)

Here are a few photos from the Purim Mask Making Party. At Purim children dress up as characters from the biblical story.

Purim |ˈpo͝orim, po͝oˈrēm| noun
a lesser Jewish festival held in spring (on the 14th or 15th day of Adar) to commemorate the defeat of Haman's plot to massacre the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.
Gregory back upstairs after the Purim Party.

Peaceful The Bear in his Purim Mask.

Gregory, happy as can be.

Sometimes Gregory looks "grumpy" even when he is having a good time.

Here he is with Katharine, Art therapist at Lieberman.

Painting

I arrived in the Art Studio at Lieberman a few minutes after Gregory and Manny arrived. According to Katharine, the Art Therapist, Gregory was in a good mood and in his way was joking with her. Then he was looking around the room and asked for me by name, "Michael?"

His response to my arrival was quite animated and made me feel warm all over.

The session got off to a difficult start as Katharine and Manny and I tried to get the table which Gregory would be using situated. We put it up on risers but it was too high and Gregory's chair still couldn't get under it.

Then we tried a hospital tray table on wheels but it was broken and couldn't be raised or lowered. The next tray table we tried worked perfectly but by then Gregory was a little frustrated, a little confused, a little angry, and mostly muscularly tense. Who would blame him.

First we worked at getting him to loosen up his arms and hands which seemed to take 5 or 10 minutes. When we began painting he responded well. There was a lot of down time thinking, and a lot of down time shut down because of to much stimulation. But when he got his hands moving it was with purpose.

Often we could not tell if he was looking at the paper while painting. Perhaps the feel of the slippery, sliding finger paint under his hands was enough. Also this time we tried loose thin plastic food handler gloves instead of the tightly fitting latex medical gloves. We couldn't tell if that helped or hindered. Next week we will go back to the medical gloves.

Also, for next time Katharine will try keeping the tubes of paint in the refrigerator to see if the tactile cold touch of the paint might help Gregory focus more closely on what his hands are doing.

During the session Gregory made appropriate comments or got the giggles. I call these moments of insight on his part, "Mini-Miracles!" I asked if he had a good time and I asked if he would like to paint again next week. He replied "Yes." to both.

In leaving I said, "Gregory, say 'Thank You' to Katharine."

"Yes," he replied.

I repeated this a couple times and each time he replied yes.

Finally, I said, "Thank You," several times. He said, "Thank You," back.

I said, "Katharine," several tines. He said, "Katharine," back.

Then he focused careful on Katharine's face and smiled and winked as if to say, "Katharine, you are in on my secret, aren't you!"

Painting III

Third time Gregory, Katharine, and I painted. Each time is a new adventure without knowing what to expect.

This time Gregory was very tired so he seemed to be even less engaged. We got him into his painting shirt, put his hands into the latex gloves, and tried to paint.

He really had a hard time moving his hands and/or arms around today. When we would suggest, "OK, paint!" his hand would twitch but he just didn't seem able to control any movement.

At one point Katharine got a Rain Stick from the other side of the art room. She turned it over a few times. The soothing sound of the seeds inside the stick, sounding like gentle rain on a metal roof, caused Gregory to open his eyes and look at the stick with wonder.

We put the stick into his hands, me controlling his left hand and Katharine controlling his right hand and we tipped the stick back and forth. Gregory continued to look at it in wonder.

At one point he tightened his hands on the stick while we still moved it up and down. Then he grabbed it on his own, put it in a vertical position, and lifted it to his mouth. He put it into his mouth, just resting there, not trying to eat it or anything.

I stared to move it away from his mouth and he distinctly told me, "Don't. Stop." So I did. He sat there with it in his mouth in what felt like a "Holy Moment." Not sure what he was feeling or thinking, but it felt magical, spiritual, important.

We asked, "Do you like the sound of the stick?" and he replied, "Yes."

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" and he replied, "Yes."

Eventually he let us remove the Rain Stick and we tried to get back to painting. While he wasn't to able to move his fingers/hands through the paint, I had the feeling that he was "painting" in his mind.

He enjoyed the session, for who knows what reasons, but he did enjoy himself and that was what counted.

Again, Katharine and I periodically glanced at each other and shared a controlled tear or two.

Painting Set-Up

Today's attempt at painting. Not too productive.

Katharine and I made most of the moves shown here.

Gregory and the Rain Stick

Katharine and Gregory and the Rain Stick

Week Two painting number one.

Week Two: painting number two.

Week Number One