What is Presuming Competence?
This blog post was written by Kindred co-founder Nolan Shaffer.
Presuming competence is the foundation of the spelling community. To presume competence means to presume an individual is understanding what is happening around them and able to learn from it regardless of how they respond to it. The only way that we can determine if they are understanding is by communication.
For ages, an individual's intelligence and capacity to learn has been assessed through an individual's ability to perform an action or express their understanding through speech. Technology and neurobiology have shed light on the fact that many individuals who cannot speak are in fact smarter than they can articulate themselves. For example, individuals with Lou Gehrig's Disease slowly lose their motor skills and often completely lose their speech.
Many people are familiar with Stephen Hawking, a brilliant cosmologist and physicist who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in his late twenties. The disease caused his motor skills to decline and crippled his ability to remain independent and communicate effectively. Eventually, the only part of his body which could move efficiently was his eyes. Through visual tracking, he used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to direct a laser with his eyes to the letters and words that he wanted to communicate. Decades ago this would have been impossible and he would have been considered a vegetable after losing his speech. Lou Gehrig’s disease is a tragic reality but the steady decline gives those who suffer with it an ability to display their intelligence before their disease completely takes over their body. The world knew he was competent based upon his ability to communicate.
Individuals who are unable to communicate effectively from birth are often mistaken as incompetent and unable to comprehend what is happening around them. Individuals are lucky if they are diagnosed with Apraxia, which validates that they are unable to communicate all of their thoughts. Often they are not given the opportunity to adequately express themselves which can result in not being included in conversation and education which validates their intelligence. This is a huge problem and the reason we have pursued AAC and created Kindred Communication.
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kin·dred /ˈkindrəd/ : a group of persons related to another; kinfolk, kin, family, tribe, or clan.
Communication /kə-ˌmyü-nə-ˈkā-shən/ : sharing or exchanging thoughts, opinions, and ideas between two or more people.
Weeping willow: symbolizes new life, a willow tree can be planted in the ground and from it, a new tree will grow in its place. The ability to grow and survive is powerfully symbolic and shows how we can thrive in even challenging conditions.
We want to support and coach families into furthering communication and also shifting a widespread paradigm of incompetence in our non-speaking and un-reliably speaking loved ones. We have created 6 helpful tips to have a home that is built on presuming competence. You can see those 6 tips at this on our website: gokindred.com
