>I often find myself heavily constrainded by social conventions in
>instituions where I work inhibiting myself from acting in ways that
>could appear to a non-member as too familiar, too non-standard,
>because while it might create a fine local zoped for the child and
>me, it would cause real harm as interpreted from outside the system.
I couldn't agree with you more. In the sense that in creating a "local"
zoped, one creates a non-conventional interactional space, there is, many
times, a genuine problem with the lack of congruence with the "norms" that
are being violated, as Diane's narrative of her work with the putative
AD/HD kid attests. The social conventions in the institutions of public
school or mental health systems, such as the one within which my husband
works, do not generally allow for interactions which may destabilize the
status-quowhich includes the social construction of the clients and their
problems. This is all the more unfortunate when we know that so- called"
patients" (or nowdays, "clients," as they are called) appear to get better
in the more facilitative, activity rich- environments of some private
mental hospital settings (Nugenboren, 1997).
Is there some insight to be gained here about what we can claim for the zoped?
Carol Berkenkotter