Jeff Hughes, Chartered Educational Psychologist, writes about how he came to use the "flower" model.
Over many years I have been concerned with people, children and adults, who don't quite fit into one of the conventional diagnostic "boxes" . They are as severely, and often more seriously, disabled by the conspiracy of their difficulties as anyone who meets one of the classic diagnoses. I have often described them as having the condition "dis-bits" - bits of this and bits of that but not enough to be in any one diagnostic box.
This did not seem to be a very good piece of terminology so I have, and am still, searching for a better descriptive term. What I realised was that all of these difficulties were related to information processing in some way. What is more I was increasingly attracted to the concept that since assessment has to look at the whole profile of skills and potential, both strengths and weaknesses, I should be really be looking at differences and trying to identify pragmatic approaches which minimise, develop or avoid areas of difficulty and rely on, maximise and develop the strengths.
In my, incomplete, model I hold that dyslexic, dyspraxic, dyscalculaic, ADD, ADHD, semantic pragmatic and other specific differences are part of a universe of coexisting (co-morbid) characteristics and that the description of a person's profile depends on which differences are the most prominent and have the most significant effect at the time of diagnosis. It is, therefore, possible for some very significant differences to be have very little effect for much of a person's life but, as circumstances and demands change, can become very obvious. While I am not confident of the link, I see that the two-way communication, language and nonverbal, differences seen in autistic people can be described in similar terms.
I have used the term "Multiple Specific Processing Differences" (MSPD) to indicate that one person will often have many differences from the mythical "normal" person. I am also quite fond of the terminology, that has recently come into use, which describes people as having some "neuro-typical" and some "neuro-diverse" characteristics . This fits well with the assertion that we need conformity for society to function but we also need diverisity to meet and survive the inevitable changes and challenges thrown at us by life, the universe and everything. (That is why we are Box42!)
Within the SPD model there is less of an urgent need to definitively categorise people as having one or another "condition" as the specific differences can be identified and can be considered in the context of how the individual is able to function in the real world - at least in that sub set of the real world that we each experience. The model also allows for changes over time and in different circumstances. (Not to mention the consequences of inappropriate input, experience and overload!) However, there are always times when it is beneficial to use terminology that the rest of the world thinks they understand, especially when it delivers support and makes life easier.
I would expect each of the characteristic differences seen in people to have one or more correlates in the physiology/neurology of the individual. However, I and those I assess, cannot sit round waiting for science to find definitively which bit does what and discover the definitive corrective treatment for each. I would rather look for proven and promising approaches which can make a difference now....
I will probably be found to be wrong on some things when new research comes along but I hope that some adjustments will have been made to make the individual's life easier.
This diagramme shown above, which provides a visual representation of the overlaps between some of the diagnostic categories, is taken from a Power Point presentation I have used when explaining this model. There are about twenty slides, some of which look at how differnt areas of functioning are inked together with conventional diagnostic criteria. It was created about five years ago so I will be re-working the whole preserntation in the near future, adding our new logos and making some corrections to the terminology to reflect the changes in my thinking since first it was created. I will post more of the slides, with an expansion of my commentary, as soon as I can......
The "flower" slide, which is shown above, is part of a presentation of about twenty slides written and used over the past five years by Jeff Hughes.
The slide and the presentation is (C) Hughes&Co / Box42 Ltd, and can be downloaded from here as an Acrobat file (.pdf) 23 Kb
Your comments, views and suggestions are welcomed!
Jeff Hughes, 31 October 2004
