Calligraphy lesson in the Centre of speech pathology and neurorehabilitation

The common project of the Contemporary Museum of calligraphy and the Centre of speech pathology and neurorehabilitation, “Calligraphy for everybody”, successfully continues.

On 21st of March another calligraphy lesson was held with the support of the Contemporary Museum of calligraphy. The lesson was given by the calligrapher Oksana Paponina.

The calligraphy lessons have the same importance for the patients as the feeling of legs, learning to write and to read for a little kid. In this case any fine motor skills, mental alertness, lively communication during the lesson and positive emotions are an important part of the restorative health treatment. Each person undergoing treatment in the Centre has its own story and therefore it is necessary to pay attention to each single patient, to train its hand, to tech holding correctly the pen, to show how to write and to write together the words, from simple elements to letters. If the person has been writing all of his life by the right hand, it is not easy teaching him to write by the left hand and moreover it is difficult to hold and to write with a stylo pen. The level of the students’ competence also differs from one to another. Ones of them have previously worked in the domain of architecture and design and that is why they don’t have difficulties to repeat the actions of the calligrapher and the other ones need more patience and time, the third ones follow the writing process and make their best effort to repeat element by element, training their wrists. The letters of the “Old Russian statute” are attractive by their decorativeness although the technique of writing is sometimes complicated for each unprepared person. There are various situations that occur during the lessons but one cannot be indifferent observing how the disappointment caused by the first failures is transformed into a hard work for self-improvement and ambition to obtain the result. The calligrapher Oksana Paponina is always ready to assist and help overcoming the difficulties in writing the letters’ elements, in rotating the page etc. Physicians and nurses know very well examples when the patients are not capable to surmount the depression and the feelings of alienation and self-denial become a serious obstacle between the life and consciousness. The process of creation helps maintaining the self-evaluation and coming back to social life according to the individual possibilities. It is a pleasure to see that people are impatiently waiting with joy for the next lesson.

The project acquired recognition and popularity with the support of the specialist and physicians of the Centre. There were not a single case when some of the participants ended the lesson being in low spirits. The time spins away and joyful smiles, warm hearts and amiable atmosphere remain for longtime in the people’s memory. We would like to thank the Centre of speech pathology and neurorehabilitation for cooperation!

Calligraphy lesson in the Centre of speech pathology and neurorehabilitation