Who am I? Exploring the nature of self, experience and reality with children  Donna Thomas (Health and Wellbeing, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire United Kingdom)   C6

In the social and psychological sciences, children are viewed, researched on and supported as material objects. Debates about the nature of children shift between postmodern and posthuman ideas. Although epistemological positions differ in how children are viewed, most are rooted in cartesian-materialist ontology. Children are challenging mainstream ontology through their experiences of self and the world, experiences that are often tended to as "mental disorder" or "non-ordinary" experiences. In this paper, set out the findings from a pilot study and suggest that children are validating new movements in philosophy and science concerned with "Objective Idealism" and "non-local" mind. I discuss results from exploring with children and young people the nature of "self" and their "non-ordinary" experiences.