gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
gwunspoken: Beyond the Plan
Hear the person beyond the plan.
This podcast is where NDIS participants, families, and supporters reclaim their narrative. We dive into life beyond the diagnosis, beyond the reports, and beyond the plans—exploring identity, strength, and voice.
Whether you're a parent seeking connection, a support worker craving understanding, or someone walking their own NDIS journey, this space is for you.
Because labels don’t define people—stories do.
gwunspoken - Beyond the Plan
Mindfulness Works: How Arie Manages School and Life
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Ever wondered how children navigate complex emotions and social challenges? In this heartwarming conversation, young Arie shares his excitement about his upcoming Melbourne adventure while demonstrating remarkable emotional intelligence that many adults would envy.
The episode opens with charming authenticity as our host admits to forgetting to press the record button initially—a moment that sets the tone for this genuine conversation. Arie's enthusiasm bubbles over as he describes his plans to ride trams through Melbourne's city streets and experience a steam train (complete with protective glasses!). His childlike wonder reminds us all of the simple joys that travel and new experiences can bring.
What truly stands out is Ari'es impressive understanding of mindfulness techniques and how he applies them in real-world situations. He articulates three specific strategies—muscle relaxation, sensory grounding, and box breathing—that help him manage challenges at school. When faced with peer pressure, Arie made the mature choice to say "no" instead of following along with inappropriate behaviour. His success with these techniques offers valuable insights for parents, educators, and anyone working with children.
The conversation weaves through lightsabers fixed by helpful brothers, remote control cars accidentally driven off verandas, and saving money—everyday aspects of childhood that reveal Arie's developing character. By the end, you'll find yourself smiling at his innocent wisdom and perhaps reflecting on how his straightforward approaches to difficult situations might benefit your own life. Subscribe now to hear more conversations that bridge the gap between childhood insights and adult challenges!
Welcome to an edition of Beyond the Plan. And I've got a very special guest here and I've got Ari. How are you Good, Mate? This is the second time I've tried to do this this morning. What happened?
Speaker 1Um, you didn't press the button. I didn't press the record button.
Speaker 2And I actually said to you do you want to do it or me? And you said for me to do it and I said I'm a bit rusty. I've known this for two weeks and look what happened. I made a mistake straight away. Yeah, how have you happy?
Speaker 1That in 10 days I get to go to Melbourne.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, Are you looking forward to Melbourne? Yeah, what are you going to do at Melbourne again?
Speaker 1There's trams.
Speaker 2Oh, have you been on them before?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2They go down the middle of the city, don't they? Middle of the street? Yeah, yeah, so you go on the tram. What else will you do at Melbourne?
Speaker 1There's a steam train.
Speaker 2Oh, a steam train You're going to go on that yeah. That's cool.
Speaker 1But I need glasses.
Speaker 2Oh, you need glasses.
Speaker 1Yeah, because of the steam oh so it doesn't burn your eyes.
Speaker 2Yeah, okay, okay nice, that's good, and so obviously catching a plane there or you're driving there.
Speaker 1Plane.
Speaker 2Have you been?
Speaker 1in a plane before Four times.
Speaker 2Oh, you're a seasoned traveller. Do you like going in a plane? Yep, that's nice. Do you like when it goes really fast and then lifts off? Or what's your favourite part of the plane or the landing?
Speaker 1I like the landing because it goes like yeah, oh, yeah.
Speaker 2So when we go on a plane, we often give the pilot a rating out of 10 how smooth the landing is. Like we don't go and tell them, but we'll say to each other like sometimes you hit the landing and it'll go bang, bang, bang. Oh my gosh, that was like a four. And sometimes it's really smooth. You go oh, that was like a nine. So when you go to Melbourne, when you come back, I'm going to put you on a podcast. I'm going to say what was the landing like? Was it like a nine or eight or was it like really bad?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Do you like school holidays?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Is there parts of school you miss when you go on holidays?
Speaker 1Only one day.
Speaker 2You only miss like one day at school. Yeah, and you mainly miss your friends at school.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, cool, fair enough, now. Whose place are you at at the moment?
Speaker 1Now I'm going to Mum's, you're going to Mum's tonight.
Speaker 2Did you go to Dad's over the weekend? I think, Did you go to Dad's over the weekend for Father's Day?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2What did you do for Father's Day?
Speaker 1I gave him a cool dad club. I'm washing things. Oh, a shirt, yeah that's cool, Do washing thing oh a shirt yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2Do you like it? Yeah, and did you go? Did you go get it for lunch?
Speaker 1I got it. I got him a frame. Oh, it's a frame.
Speaker 2What's going to go in there?
Speaker 1Um Thomas.
Speaker 2Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Who died?
Speaker 2Okay, the cat. Yeah, okay To remember. That's lovely, so you can put it in his bedroom or in the land room somewhere to remember him.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Whose idea was that?
Speaker 1Mine.
Speaker 2Very sensitive. I like that. That's very thoughtful of somebody else. Well done, that's beautiful. And did you have give him breakfast in bed or did you go out for lunch running yesterday? What did you do? Did you go anywhere?
Speaker 1I went to whatever Dad wanted to go.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1Where was that Gold Coast?
Speaker 2Did you go to Gold Coast again. Oh my gosh, you might as well live there. What would you think if I said to you would you like to live at the Gold Coast?
Speaker 1What would you say? That's cool.
Speaker 2You'd like to go there. Well, guess what? What If you went to Gold Coast School? It'd be a long train trip here every day to go to school. You'd have to go to school down there, wouldn't you? Yeah, Because there's a train. What's a train? An hour and a half or two hours or something from here? Yeah, Imagine having to wake up in the morning and come to school on a train every day and go home Actually it's actually one hour. Is it.
Speaker 1You have to go to Roma Street and then Helmsvale Smart. You know how to get yourself on a train, and I now have my own go-kart.
Speaker 2Do you?
Speaker 1Tap on, tap off.
Speaker 2That charges for free. For free, I thought. Trains are only like 50 cents or something at the moment. It's really cheap, yeah, but I don't like spending a lot of money, so I Even 50 cents you like saving, do you?
Speaker 1Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2I like that about you. That's good.
Money matters and broken toys
Speaker 1And I lost a lot of money on my savings Did you. You know how I used to have $165? I used to have $175. $175, yeah, I now have $145. Well, that's not too bad. You spent $30. That's not too bad $35.
Speaker 2You spent $35. What that's not too bad you spent $30.
Speaker 1That's not too bad $35.
Speaker 2You spent $35. What did you buy? A light saber, oh my gosh. Well, sometimes it's worth spending some money to get something you really love. Yeah, that's cool, isn't it? What about when you get old and you get your own job and have your own money?
Speaker 1Yeah, so it wouldn't work. The light wouldn't work and it was not a light-up lightsaber.
Speaker 2Oh.
Speaker 1And Oscar fixed it to be a light-up lightsaber.
Speaker 2Your brother fixed it. How good's that.
Speaker 1He took off the brains.
Speaker 2Yeah, the brains yeah.
Speaker 1And then he put the Oscar's old Um lightsaber frame onto my stem. Yeah, and then did the thing.
Speaker 2And then boom Put it back on. So did he use his old one to help you with yours. Yeah, that's a good brother, that's good. Is it still working now?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Do you use it at night time, when it's dark? Do you see it glow? Yeah, does it glow when you finish with it? I used to have one that used to glow in the dark.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Does it glow Like go green or something when you turn the lights off?
Speaker 1It is blue, oh is it.
Speaker 2Yeah, that's cool. I hope you don't stab anybody with it.
Speaker 1It's not real. You don't chase people around the house with it. Good, that's good. Oscar and me go like Oscar and me fight with lightsabers.
Speaker 2Yep, just so they touch each other, just pretend, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1Like ching ching.
Speaker 2Oh, so like they just hit each other like Star Wars? Yeah, that's pretty cool. Lightsabers are always fun, aren't they? Yeah, Well, that's worth spending your $35 on. At least you've got something good.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Isn't it? I've got a question for you.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Is your remote control car still working?
Speaker 1You mean my white one.
Speaker 2The one that went off the veranda that time.
Speaker 1No, I got a new one.
Speaker 2Excuse me, what's happened there? The old one, it broke. Did. Excuse me, what's happened there? The old one, it broke. Did it go off the veranda again? It did. It was driving. Yep, you driving this time. Didn't Oscar drive last time and it fell off? Yeah, so this time you drove and it went off? Yep, did you mean to? Or did it accident? Accident, oh no. And what hit the ground?
Speaker 1Did it smash the bottom part?
Speaker 2did, did it but the other parts didn't but does that mean just doesn't work anymore?
Speaker 1it still works, just goes like.
Speaker 2Goes sideways and sideways and sideways oh, so it's hard to the remote. Doesn't let go where you need it to go. Yeah, oh dear, so you got a new one. Yeah, is it a different type of car this time? Yep, what is it this time?
Speaker 1It broke.
Speaker 2It broke again the new one I'm going to need to get a new one, you'd have 10 just ready to go, just in case one breaks.
Speaker 1I got a radio one and the wheels won't force it to go straight and turn. The wheels won't let it turn and the wheels won't let it move.
Speaker 2So what happened to this one? It just wouldn't work. So did you take it back? No, dad's going take it back.
Speaker 1No, dad's going to try and fix it.
Speaker 2Oh cool, it wasn't because you guys smashed it again, did you?
Speaker 1No we didn't.
Speaker 2Are you sure Because?
Speaker 1you started smiling when I said that I didn't, you didn't, and so what type of car. Is it this time? It's kind of like a race car.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1Not like a race car, okay, not like a Lamborghini or something.
Speaker 2Yeah, what colour is it? You say?
Speaker 1White White.
Speaker 2So you're getting that car fixed up, you've got a lightsaber at home, you've still got some money in the bank. Here's a question for you. What I know you like saving your money, but are you going to buy something when you're in Melbourne with it? A lot? Oh, you're going to spend. All right, I'm really interested now, what kind of things do you think you're going to buy in Melbourne?
Speaker 1I'm really interested now, what kind of things do you think you're going to buy in Melbourne? This is going to be good. I haven't been to Melbourne, just let's see what they're out and next podcast, I'll tell you what I got.
Speaker 2Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait that long. Can't you put me in the car, in the plane as well, and I'll come with you and I can watch you shop. No, can I hide in your suitcase, in your bag, and I'll go underneath.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 2And then when I get back, I'll just come out of the bag and say, right, let's go shopping.
Speaker 1No, that's way too cheeky.
Speaker 2It is really cheeky. I'd be in big trouble, wouldn't I, if I got caught. Yeah, plus, I don't think I'd like to be at the bottom of the plane with all those bags. No, I'd get a. Yeah. So who packs your bag for Melbourne? Does mum help you with that, or do you just do?
Speaker 1it yeah, mum helps.
Speaker 2You know what you need and how long are you going to be there for. Do you know how many days?
Speaker 1you're going to be there One week, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2That's a lot of shopping and tram riding. That's so, so good. You're looking forward to that, aren't you so good? With a big smile on your face.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Now I have to say something too in this podcast. I'm being very, very proud of you, about how you've been going at school. Good yeah, I heard last week was really good.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Made some good decisions.
Speaker 1Except for that person who tried to make me slap them.
Speaker 2Yeah, so we won't use names. But then that person tried to make them slap you and do something silly, and what did you end up doing?
Speaker 1Just saying no.
School success and mindfulness strategies
Speaker 2How helpful is that. A lot of people your age wouldn't be able to do that. They'd feel like they're pressured from their friends. They'd just go and do it. So you made a really smart choice, proud of you. Well done, fist bump. Well done, thank you. And then what are some of the things? Are you still using some of our strategies we talked about Yep? What's your favorite one? Can you remember the three again? Oh, the muscle relaxation.
Speaker 2That's the one that I keep using, where you tense yourself all up and then let it all go and have a deep breath. Yep, I can see you doing that right now. That's very good. Can you remember the other ones we did? We did two more.
Speaker 1See three things. Two more. See three things, hear two things and smell one thing.
Speaker 2Very good and that just makes you be thinking about now, not worrying about next class or what's happening tonight. Yeah, it helps you be relaxed. Yep, good memory.
Speaker 1Mate, you're on fire today and box breathing.
Speaker 2Okay, can you remember how that one works? Ari's doing it here, doing a nice deep breath. So remember, you can use your finger too to draw. You, breathe in. We're drawing a box in the air. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Yeah, so you can do that. But in class, if you do that and put your hand up in the air, people probably think what is Ari doing? That's a bit weird. So sometimes you just do your slow breathing. But if you're at home or in bed and you can't sleep or relax, you can do that at home. It calms you right down. So three strategies and you're doing really well. So you like the tense one, the muscle relaxation one yeah, that's cool, that's smart. All right, so you had Father's Day. Well, you didn't have Father's Day, did you? You're not a father, are you?
Speaker 1No, oh good.
Speaker 2Okay, cool, that'd be a bit strange, wouldn't it? So you celebrated your dad's Father's Day on the weekend. I heard you've got a new car, which doesn't work at the moment. Yep, you smashed the last car because you drove it over the edge this time.
Speaker 1Yep.
Speaker 2You've got a lightsaber that was fixed up by your brother, because he helped use his old one to fix up yours. Yep, you're going to Melbourne, which you're really happy about, because you're going on the trams and you're going to go, maybe, shopping for some things, which is good, and you're going to go on the steam train Yep, you need glasses for that Very good, yep, and you've had a really good week at school Yep Last week and you've smashed out the podcast again.
Speaker 1Yep.
Speaker 2Now, who set up the podcast today?
Speaker 1Me.
Speaker 2How come I don't do it anymore?
Speaker 1Because you.
Speaker 2Why didn't I set up the podcast this morning?
Speaker 1Why didn't I set up the podcast this morning?
Speaker 2Because you can't remember we had a chat about me forgetting things, yeah. And then we said, yeah, old people often start forgetting things as you get older, don't they?
Speaker 1Yeah.
PE activities and podcast wrap-up
Speaker 2And you start laughing. What did I forget this morning? Something else I forgot, oh, the stand, didn't I? Yeah, I put the thing on the stand so the microphones could sit on the stand. Yeah, to put the thing on the stand so the microphones could sit on the stand, yeah. And you started laughing at me again and you said, let me just do it. And then I forgot to push the record button. Oh, my gosh, maybe I need some more sleep. Maybe I need to go back and be eight, nine and ten again. What do you think? Yeah, oh, now, before we go off the podcast we better talk about. We didn't do a podcast last week. So people who are listening to our podcast are probably thinking where did Ari go? Why isn't he talking about it on the podcast? What did we do last week? Can you remember?
Speaker 1P.
Speaker 2Hmm, so we went out into the oval, and what did we do out there?
Speaker 1Um, we, we, um, did some what is those called? Yeah, like little scoops, weren't they yeah?
Speaker 2Like a little ping pong, coloured ping pong ball, and you had to catch it. Yeah, yeah, and you were very accurate. You were very straight with that one, weren't you?
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, and then what did we do?
Speaker 1Then we played soccer.
Speaker 2Yeah, and we started kicking soccer goals.
Speaker 1But I got more.
Speaker 2I don't want to talk about that, so people can hear that, please. I got more. Who was? The best goalie, me Easily, easily, the best goalie. Who was the fastest?
Speaker 1Me.
Speaker 2Yeah, you again. You again, who had the most straight kicks Me. Maybe I'm getting too old, you're too good for me. Yeah, what are we going to do next time?
Speaker 1I don't know like PE again.
Speaker 2Yeah, or maybe we're going to take turns about and then we can talk about it on the podcast. Yeah, because remember, last week you weren't feeling that good, remember? And then we went outside and afterwards you got hot and sweaty and you started feeling good again. And sometimes you know how. We did three different mindfulness things. You told me about you like the muscle relaxation one. Well, sometimes when you go outside and run around, like with the soccer ball or the scoops, it actually helps your brain calm down as well. Yep, so that's why, well done. Oh, we played something else before that too, that I did beat you in Before we went out to the oval. What are you smiling for, don't you want to talk about the podcast?
Speaker 1Fellowships.
Speaker 2Well done, your memory is amazing. Your memory is amazing and you go uh-oh, hit. We only played for a little while, didn't we? Yeah, your concentration was really good. All right, so we've got 10 days left. How many more days of school do we say Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, maybe not. Friday on the second week Might be leaving early for Melbourne, aren't we? We might be going to Friday on the last week.
Speaker 1Eight.
Speaker 2Eight school days left after today. Are you going to make it? Yep, I think you are too Very proud of you. Well, going to make it? Yep, I think you are too Very proud of you. Well done, all right Now, anything else on the podcast?
Speaker 2I haven't spoken about that you want to speak about. No, there's one more thing I want to talk about, really quickly. Yeah, when you go to Melbourne, can you please take a spare suitcase and buy me lots of things with all your money? No, what Pardon? No, yeah, you can just bring a spare one, an empty one, and then put lots of things in it. What do you think? No, you like saving your money, don't you? Yeah, I love it. Thanks for being such a champion on the podcast. Proud of you using your strategies. Eight days to go and holidays Yep, looking forward to it. All right, we'll talk to you when you come back, because next week we're going to do something different, and then the following week, when you get back after holidays, I can hear about all the things you bought and all the things you did Sound good. Well done, ari. Proud of you.
Speaker 1Thank you.